Blood (1.) As food, prohibited in Gen 9:4, where the use of animal food is first allowed. Compare Deu 12:23; Lev 3:17; Lev 7:26; Lev 17:10. The injunction to abstain from blood is renewed in the decree of the council of Jerusalem (Act 15:29). It has been held by some, and we think correctly, that this law of prohibition was only ceremonial and temporary; while others regard it as still binding on all. Blood was eaten by the Israelites after the battle of Gilboa (Sa1 14:32). (2.) The blood of sacrifices was caught by the priest in a basin, and then sprinkled seven times on the altar; that of the passover on the door posts and lintels of the houses (Ex. 12; Lev 4:5; Lev 16:14). At the giving of the law (Exo 24:8) the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled on the people as well as on the altar, and thus the people were consecrated to God, or entered into covenant with him, hence the blood of the covenant (Mat 26:28; Heb 9:19, Heb 9:20; Heb 10:29; Heb 13:20). (3.) Human blood. The murderer was to be punished (Gen 9:5). The blood of the murdered "crieth for vengeance" (Gen 4:10). The "avenger of blood" was the nearest relative of the murdered, and he was required to avenge his death (Num 35:24, Num 35:27). No satisfaction could be made for the guilt of murder (Num 35:31). (4.) Blood used metaphorically to denote race (Act 17:26), and as a symbol of slaughter (Isa 34:3). To "wash the feet in blood" means to gain a great victory (Psa 58:10). Wine, from its red colour, is called "the blood of the grape" (Gen 49:11). Blood and water issued from our Saviour's side when it was pierced by the Roman soldier (Joh 19:34). This has led pathologists to the conclusion that the proper cause of Christ's death was rupture of the heart. (Compare Psa 69:20.)
Bloody Sweat The sign and token of our Lord's great agony (Luk 22:44).
Blot A stain or reproach (Job 31:7; Pro 9:7). To blot out sin is to forgive it (Psa 51:1, Psa 51:9; Isa 44:22; Act 3:19). Christ's blotting out the handwriting of ordinances was his fulfilling the law in our behalf (Col 2:14).
Blue Generally associated with purple (Exo 25:4; Exo 26:1, Exo 26:31, Exo 26:36, etc.). It is supposed to have been obtained from a shellfish of the Mediterranean, the Helix ianthina of Linnaeus. The robe of the high priest's ephod was to be all of this colour (Exo 28:31), also the loops of the curtains (Exo 26:4) and the ribbon of the breastplate (Exo 28:28). Blue cloths were also made for various sacred purposes (Num 4:6, Num 4:7, Num 4:9, Num 4:11, Num 4:12). (See COLOURS.)
Boanerges Sons of thunder, a surname given by our Lord to James and John (Mar 3:17) on account of their fervid and impetuous temper (Luk 9:54).
Boar Occurs only in Psa 80:13. The same Hebrew word is elsewhere rendered "swine" (Lev 11:7; Deu 14:8; Pro 11:22; Isa 65:4; Isa 66:3, Isa 66:17). The Hebrews abhorred swine's flesh, and accordingly none of these animals were reared, except in the district beyond the Sea of Galilee. In the psalm quoted above the powers that destroyed the Jewish nation are compared to wild boars and wild beasts of the field.
Boaz Alacrity. (1.) The husband of Ruth, a wealthy Bethlehemite. By the "levirate law" the duty devolved on him of marrying Ruth the Moabitess (Rut 4:1). He was a kinsman of Mahlon, her first husband. (2.) The name given (for what reason is unknown) to one of the two (the other was called Jachin) brazen pillars which Solomon erected in the court of the temple (Kg1 7:21; Ch2 3:17). These pillars were broken up and carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.
Bochim Weepers, a place where the angel of the Lord reproved the Israelites for entering into a league with the people of the land. This caused them bitterly to weep, and hence the name of the place (Jdg 2:1, Jdg 2:5). It lay probably at the head of one of the valleys between Gilgal and Shiloh.
Boil (rendered "botch" in Deu 28:27, Deu 28:35), an aggravated ulcer, as in the case of Hezekiah (Kg2 20:7; Isa 38:21) or of the Egyptians (Exo 9:9, Exo 9:10, Exo 9:11; Deu 28:27, Deu 28:35). It designates the disease of Job (Job 2:7), which was probably the black leprosy.
Bolled (Exo 9:31), meaning "swollen or podded for seed," was adopted in the Authorized Version from the version of Coverdale (1535). The Revised Version has in the margin "was in bloom," which is the more probable rendering of the Hebrew word. It is the fact that in Egypt when barley is in ear (about February) flax is blossoming.