Bdellium

בדלה , occurs Gen 2:12, and Num 11:7. Interpreters seem at a loss to know what to do with this word, and have rendered it variously. Many suppose it a mineral production. The Septuagint translates in the first place, ανθρακα, a carbuncle, and in the second, κρυσταλλον, a crystal. The rabbins are followed by Reland in calling it a crystal; but some, instead of bedolah, read berolah, changing the ד into ר , which are not always easily distinguished, and are often mistaken by transcribers; and so render it the beryl, which, say they, is the prime kind of crystal. The bedoleh, in Genesis, is undoubtedly some precious stone; and its colour, mentioned in Numbers, where the manna is spoken of as of the colour of bdellium, is explained by a reference to Exo 16:14; Exo 16:31, where it is likened to hoar frost, which being like little fragments of ice, may confirm the opinion that the bdellium is the beryl, perhaps that pellucid kind, called by Dr. Hill the ellipomocrostyla, or beryl crystal.

Bdel´lium. This word occurs but twice in the Scriptures: in Gen 2:12, as a product of the land of Havilah; and Num 11:7, where the manna is likened to it. It has been much disputed among critics, both ancient and modern. Some consider it as a precious stone, and the Jewish Rabbins, together with some modern commentators, translate it by pearl. But it is more than probable that the pearl was as yet unknown in the time of Moses; and it is nowhere mentioned in the Old Testament under its proper name except in Est 1:6.

It is, therefore, most probable that the Hebrew bedolach is the aromatic gum bdellium, which issues from a tree growing in Arabia, Media, and the Indies. Pliny’s description of the tree from which the bdellium is taken makes Kaempfer’s assertion highly probable, that it is the sort of palm-tree so frequently met with on the Persian coast and in Arabia Felix: The term bdellium, however, is applied to two gummy resinous substances. One of them is the Indian bdellium, or false myrrh (perhaps the bdellium of the Scriptures), which is obtained from Amyris (balsamo-dendron?) Commiphora. The trunk of the tree is covered with a light-colored pellicle, as in the common birch, which peels off from time to time, exposing to view a smooth green coat, which in succession supplies other similar exfoliations. This tree diffuses a grateful fragrance, like that of the finest myrrh, to a considerable distance around. Dr. Royle was informed that this species yielded bdellium; and in confirmation of this statement, we may add that many of the specimens of this bdellium in the British Museum have a yellow pellicle adhering to them, precisely like that of the common birch, and that some of the pieces are perforated by spiny branches—another character serving to recognize the origin of the bdellium. Indian bdellium has considerable resemblance to myrrh. Many of the pieces have hairs adhering to them.

The other kind of bdellium is called African bdellium. It is a natural production of Senegal, and is called by the natives, who make toothpicks of its spines, niottout. It consists of rounded or oval tears, from one to two inches in diameter, of a dull and waxy fracture, which in the course of time become opaque, and are covered externally by a white or yellowish dust. It has a feeble but peculiar odor, and a bitter taste.

Commonly supposed to mean the aromatic gum of a tree growing near the Persian gulf, etc. It is transparent, and bitter to the taste, yet very fragrant while burning. But the substance so called, whatever is was, is mentioned in connection with gold and gems; while gum is certainly not so remarkable a gift of nature as to deserve this classification, or as that the production of it should confer on Havilah a peculiar celebrity, Gen 2:12 . Hence the opinion of the Jewish writers is not to be contemned, namely, that pearls are to be here understood, of which great quantities are found on the shores of the Persian gulf and in India, and which might not inaptly be compared with manna, as in Num 11:7 .\par

Bdellium. (Hebrew, bedolach). Gen 2:12; Num 11:7. It is quite impossible to say whether bedolach denotes a mineral or an animal production or a vegetable exudation. Bdellium is an odoriferous exudation from a tree which is perhaps the Borassus flabelliformis, of Arabia Felix.

Bedolach (Gen 2:12), a production of Havilah. Num 11:7; "The color of the manna was as the color of Bdellium." A gum exuding from a tree (the Borassus flabelliformis) in Arabia, India, and Babylonia, white and transparent, according to some; but this is hardly precious enough to be ranked with the gold and precious stones of Havilah. Others, a precious stone, crystal or beryl. This hardly suits Gen 2:12, where "stone" is added to onyx, but not to it. Gesenius therefore takes it pearls, found abundant at the Persian gulf. This answers to the parallel comparison of manna to the white hoar frost on the ground (Exo 16:14). Smith’s Dictionary Appendix adheres to its being a gum.

(בְּדֹלִח, bedo’lach) occurs but twice in the Scriptures — in Gen 2:12, as a product of the land of Havilah, and Num 11:7, where the manna is likened to it and to hoar — frost on the ground. In the Sept. it is considered as a precious stone, and translated (Gen.) by ἄνθραξ, and (Num.) by κρύσταλλος; while Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and the Vulgate render it bdellium, a transparent aromatic gum from a tree. Of this opinion also is Josephus (Ant. in 1, 6), where he describes the manna — ὅμοιον τῇ τῶν ἀρωμάτων βδέλλῃ, i.e. similar to the aromatic bdellium (Num 11:7). SEE MANNA. Reland supposes it to be a crystal, while Wahl and Hartmann render it beryl (reading בְּרֹלִח). The Jewish rabbins, however, followed by a host of their Arabian translators, and to whom Bochart (Hieroz. 3, 593 sq.) and Gesenius (Thesaur. 1, 181) accede, translate bedolach by pearl, and consider Havilah (q.v.) as the part of Arabia, near Catipha and Bahrein, on the Persian Gulf, where the pearls are found.

Those who regard bedolach as some kind of precious stone rest their argument on the fact that it is placed (Gen 2:12) by the side of “the onyx-stone” (שֹׁה — ם, shoham), which is a gem occurring several times in the Scriptures, and that they are both mentioned as belonging to the productions of the land Havilah. But if thism meaning were intended, the reading ought to be, “there is the stone of the onyx and of the bdellium,” and not “there is the bdellium and the stone of the onyx,” expressly excluding bedolach from the mineral kingdom. Those who translate bedolach by “pearl” refer to the later Jewish and Arabian expounders of the Bible, whose authority, if not strengthened by valid arguments, is. but of little weight. It is, moreover, more than probable that the pearl was as yet unknown in the time of Moses, or he would certainly not have excluded it from the costly contributions to the tabernacle, the priestly dresses, or even the Urim and Thummim, while its fellow shoham, though of less value, was variously used among the sacred ornaments (Exo 25:7; Exo 35:9; Exo 35:27; Exo 28:20; Exo 39:1,). Nor do we find any mention of pearl in the times of David and Solomon. It is true that Luther translates פְּנִינַים, peninim’ (Pro 3:15; Pro 8:11; Pro 10:25; Pro 31:10), by pearls, but this is not borne out by Lam 4:7, where it is indicated as having a red color. The only passage in the Old Test. where the pearl really occurs under its true Arabic name is in Est 1:6 (דִּר, dar); and in the N.T. it is very frequently mentioned under the Greek name μαργαρίτης. SEE PEARL. It is therefore most probable that the Hebrew bedolach is the aromatic gum bdellium, which issues from a tree growing in Arabia, Media, and the Indies. Dioscorides (1, 80) informs us that it was called μάδελκον or βολχόν, and Pliny (12, 19), that it bore the names of brochon, malacham, and maldacon. The frequent interchange of letters brings the form very near to that of the Hebrew word; nor is the similarity of name in the Hebrew and Greek, in the case of natural productions, less conclusive of the nature of the article, since the Greeks probably retained the ancient Oriental names of productions coming from the East. Pliny’s description of the tree from which the bdellium is taken makes Kaempfer’s assertion (Amaen. Exot. p. 668) highly probable, that it is the sort of palm-tree (Borassus flabelliformis, Linn. 101, 6, 3, Trigynia) so frequently met with en the Persian coast and in Arabia Felix.

The term bdellium, however, is applied to two gummy-resinous substances. One of them is the Indian bdellium, or false myrrh (perhaps the bdellium of the Scriptures), which is obtained from Amyris (balsamodendron?) Commiphora. Dr. Roxburgh (Flor. Ind. 2, 245) says that the trunk of the tree is covered with a light-colored pellicle, as in the common birch, which peels off from time to time, exposing to view a smooth green coat, which, in succession, supplies other similar exfoliations. This tree diffuses a grateful fragrance, like that of the finest myrrh, to a considerable distance around. Dr. Royle (Illust. p. 176) was informed that this species yielded bdellium; and, in confirmation of this statement, we may add that many of the specimens of this bdellium in the British Museum have a yellow pellicle adhering to them, precisely like that of the common birch, and that some of the pieces are perforated by spiny branches, another character serving to recognize the origin of the bdellium. Indian bdellium has considerable resemblance to myrrh. Many of the pieces have hairs adhering to them. The other kind of bdellium is called African bdellium, and is obtained from Heudolotia Africana (Richard and Gaillemin, Fl. de Senegambie). It is a natural production of Senegal, and is called by the natives, who make tooth-picks of its spines, niottout. It consists of rounded or oval tears, from one to two inches in diameter, of a dull and waxy fracture, which, in the course of time, become opaque, and are covered externally by a white or yellowish dust. It has a feeble but peculiar odor, and a bitter taste. Pelletier (Ann. de Chim. 80, 39) found it to consist of resin, 59.0; soluble gum, 9.2; bassorin, 30.6; volatile oil and loss, 1.2. Resin of bdellium (African bdellium?) consists, according to Johnstone, of carbon, 40; hydrogen, 31; oxygen, 5. See Penny Cyclopoedia, s.v.

Bdellium (dĕl’yŭm). A substance said to be found in the land of Havilah. Gen 2:12. It is also said that the manna, like the hoar-frost, Exo 16:14, or coriander-seed in size, was like bdellium in color. Num 11:7. Some believe this bdellium was a precious stone; some think it of vegetable origin, a kind of gum exuding from a tree. And this, indeed, is the ordinary meaning of that which ancient writers commonly call bdellium.

The word bedolach has been interpreted to signify both a white transparent oily gum, and a white pearl. Its colour is referred to in the description of the manna, Num 11:7, and in Gen 2:12 it is mentioned with gold and onyx stones as characterising the land of Havilah. The white pearl seems the more probable allusion, for the manna is in Exo 16:14 compared also to the hoar frost.

( "bedolaḥ"):

By: Morris Jastrow, Jr., Immanuel Benzinger

A precious stone mentioned in Gen. ii. 12 by the side of gold and the "shoham" stone as one of the chief products of Havilah. Since manna is compared in appearance to Bdellium (Num. xi. 7), it may be concluded that the latter was generally known among the Hebrews, and was considered very precious. The meaning of the word is not quite certain. The Septuagint translates it in Genesis with ἄνθραζ (anthrax), in Numbers with κρύσταλλος (crystal), thus interpreting it as a precious stone. Similarly, Reland and others regard it as crystal. Bochart ("Hierozoicon, sive de Animalibus Scripturæ Sacræ," ii. 674-683), who places Havilah on the Arabian coast, interprets "bedolaḥ" as equivalent to "pearl," following Saadia, Ḳimḥi, and others (compare Lagarde, "Orientalia, iii. 44). Most plausible seems the statement of Josephus ("Ant." iii. 1, § 6), who identifies manna with Bdellium (βδέλλιον). Dioscorides ("De Materia Medica," i. 80) describes this Bdellium as "the tear of an Arabian tree." It is therefore a resinous substance; according to Pliny ("Historia Naturalis," xii. 35), transparent, fragrant, resembling wax, greasy to the touch, and of a bitter taste. Pliny furthermore says that the tree on which it is found is about as large as an olive-tree, with leaves like the holm-oak and fruit like the wild fig; that it grows in Bactria—where the best Bdellium is found—Arabia, India, Media, and Babylonia. This description is not sufficiently clear to enable one to classify the tree; but most probably it belongs to the Balsamodendron.

Bibliography:

See the various commentaries (Delitzsch, Dillmann, Gunkel, Strack, etc.) to Gen. ii. 12;

Dawson, Medical Science in Bible Lands, p. 115;

Tristram, in Expository Times, iv. 259.

BDELLIUM.—The probably correct tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of the Heb. bedôlach, which in Gen 2:12 is classed with gold and onyx as a product of the land of Havilah, and in Num 11:7 is described as characterizing the ‘appearance’ (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ) of manna. Bdellium is the fragrant yellow resin of the tree Balsamodendron mukul, growing in N.W. India, Afghanistan, Belucbistan, and at one time perhaps in Arabia.

E. W. G. Masterman.

del´i-um (בּדלח, b^edhōlaḥ): The word occurs twice in the Pentateuch: (1) in Gen 2:12, in conjunction with gold and onyx, as a product of the land of HAVILAH (which see), and (2) in Num 11:7, where the manna is likened to this substance in appearance: “The appearance thereof as the appearance of bdellium.” The latter comparison excludes the idea of b^edhōlaḥ being a precious stone, and points to the identification of it with the fragrant resinous gum known to the Greeks as bdellion, several kinds being mentioned by Dioscorides and Pliny. It was a product of Arabia, India, Afghanistan, etc.