Berea

a city of Macedonia, where St. Paul preached the Gospel with great success, and where his hearers were careful to compare what they heard with the scriptures of the Old Testament, Act 17:10; for which they are commended, and held out to us as an example of subjecting every doctrine to the sole test of the word of God.

Bere´a (Act 17:10), a city of Macedonia, situate on the river Astraeus, not far from Pelia, towards the south-west, and near Mount Bermius. It was afterwards called Irenopolis, and is now known by the name of Boor. Paul and Silas withdrew to this place from Thessalonica; and the Jewish residents are described as more ingenuous, and of a better disposition (not ’more noble,’ as in the Authorized Version) ’than those of Thessalonica,’ in that they diligently searched the Scriptures to ascertain the truth of the doctrines taught by the Apostles.

A city of Macedonia, not far from Pella towards the southwest, and near Mount Bermius. It was afterwards called Irenopolis, and is now called by the Turks, Boor; by others, Cara Veria. Paul preached the gospel here with success; the ingenuous Bereans examined his doctrine by the Old Testament scriptures, and many believed, Mal 17:10,14 ; 20:4.\par

A city of Macedon, whither Paul withdrew, with Silas and Timothy, at his first visit to Europe, from Jewish persecution at Thessalonica, whence also, when the persecutors followed him from Thessalonica, he retired seawards to proceed to Athens (Act 17:10-15). The Berean Jews were "more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word (preached) with all readiness of mind (not in a cavilling, critical spirit), and (yet not in a credulous spirit, for they) searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so." (See Isa 8:20; Joh 5:39; Gal 1:8-9.) The result was necessarily, "many believed; also of honorable women, which were Greeks, and of men not a few."

Sopater, or Sosipater, one of them, became Paul’s missionary companion (Act 20:4; Rom 16:21) in returning to Asia from his second visit to Europe, where he had been with him at Corinth. Now Verria, or Kara-verria, commanding a wide view of the plain of the Axius and Haliacmon; one of the most pleasant towns of Roumelia, with 20,000 inhabitants. One of the two roads from Thessalonica to Berea passed by Pella. A road led from Berea to Dium, whence probably Paul sailed to Athens, leaving Silas and Timothy behind.

(Βερέα), a place in Judea apparently not very far from Jerusalem, where Bacchides, the general of Demetrius, encamped shortly before the engagement in which Judas Maccabaeus was slain (1Ma 9:4). Other copies, however, read Berzath (Βεηρζάθ, Βεηρθάζ, Βηρζήθ, etc., see Grimm, in loc.), from in which Reland conjectures (Palaest. p. 624) that it may be the BEZETH (q.v.) of 1Ma 7:19, especially as Josephus, in his parallel account (Ant. 12, 11, 4), calls the place in question Bethzetho (Βηθζηθώ, Ant. 12, II, 1; compo. 10, 2). SEE BEROEA.

Berea

(1Ma 9:4). Lieut. Conder (Tent Work, ii, 335) proposes to identify this place with Bireh, which, however, has long since been settled as the site of Beeroth.

Berea (be-rç’ah). A city of Macedonia, Act 17:10-13 (Berœa in R. V.), on the eastern side of the Olympian mountains; now Verria, with a population of about 6000.

[Bere’a]

City of Macedonia, visited by Paul, where he found some Jews who were more noble than those of Thessalonica, inasmuch as they tested by the scriptures what Paul preached: to which is added "therefore many of them believed." Sopater was of this city. It is now called Kara Verria, on the eastern slope of the Olympian range. Act 17:10; Act 17:13; Act 20:4.

By: Morris Jastrow, Jr., Gerson B. Levi

Place where Bacchides encamped (I Macc. ix. 4). From the context it would seem to be near Jerusalem, though some scholars have identified it on unsatisfactory evidence with Beeroth (Josh. ix. 17; I Esd. v. 19).

BEREA (1Ma 9:4).—See Berœa, 3.

be-rē´a. See BERCEA

Bereave; Bereaver; Bereft

bē̇-rēv´, bē̇-rēv´ẽr, bē̇-reft´: Bereave is frequently used in the Old Testament in the (now almost obsolete) meaning of “to deprive,” “to take away,” especially with reference to loss of children. The Hebrew word used here is שכל, shākhōl, “to be childless,” or in the Piel “to make childless” (compare Gen 42:36 et al.). In the King James Version Ecc 4:8 (from the Hebrew חסר, ḥāṣēr, “to lack”) we read “and bereave my soul of good” (the Revised Version (British and American) “deprive”), and in Eze 36:14 (from Hebrew כּשׁל, kāshal, “to stumble”), “neither bereave thy nations any more” (the Revised Version, margin “cause to stumble”).

Bereaver, otherwise very rare, is found the Revised Version (British and American) Eze 36:13 (from Hebrew שׁכל, shākhōl “to be childless”), “a bereaver of thy nation” (the King James Version “hast bereaved”).

Bereft is found in 1Ti 6:5 (from the Greek aposteréō, “to rob”) “bereft of the truth” (the King James Version “destitute”). The expression bereavement (the Revised Version (British and American) Isa 49:20) in the phrase “the children of thy bereft” means “the children born to thee in the time when God had afflicted thee.”

Paul, accompanied by Silas, first visited Berea on his second missionary journey (Act 17:10). The town was in the province of Macedonia in northern Greece, on the main road from Thessalonica in the north to Athens in the south. (For map of the region see ACTS, BOOK OF.)

The Jews of the local synagogue, unlike many of the Jews Paul met on his travels, were prepared to listen to Paul’s teaching and test it against the Scriptures. As a result, many believed. However, Paul was forced to leave the young church when Jews from neighbouring Thessalonica forced him out of the town (Act 17:11-14). Paul most likely revisited Berea on his third missionary journey (Act 20:1-2). A representative from the Berean church joined his party to take an offering from the Greek churches to the poor Christians in Jerusalem (Act 20:4; Rom 15:26; 2Co 8:1-4; 2Co 9:1-4).