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•BRAMBLE (1.) Hebrew atad, Judges 9:14; rendered “thorn,” Psalm 58:9. The LXX. and Vulgate render by rhamnus, a thorny shrub common in Palestine, resembling the hawthorn.
(2.) Hebrew hoah, Isaiah 34:13 (R.V. “thistles”); “thickets” in 1 Samuel 13:6; “thistles” in 2 Kings 14:9, 2 Chronicles 25:18, Job 31:40; “thorns” in
2 Chronicles 33:11, Cant. 2:2, Hos. 9:6. The word may be regarded as denoting the common thistle, of which there are many species which encumber the corn-fields of Palestine. (See THORNS.)
•BRANCH a symbol of kings descended from royal ancestors (Ezekiel 17:3, 10; Daniel 11:7); of prosperity (Job 8:16); of the Messiah, a branch out of the root of the stem of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), the “beautiful branch” (4:2), a “righteous branch” (Jeremiah 23:5), “the Branch” (Zechariah 3:8; 6:12).
Disciples are branches of the true vine (John 15:5, 6). “The branch of the terrible ones” (Isaiah 25:5) is rightly translated in the Revised Version “the song of the terrible ones,” i.e., the song of victory shall be brought low by the destruction of Babylon and the return of the Jews from captivity.
The “abominable branch” is a tree on which a malefactor has been hanged (Isaiah 14:19). The “highest branch” in Ezekiel 17:3 represents Jehoiakim the king.
•BRASS which is an alloy of copper and zinc, was not known till the thirteenth century. What is designated by this word in Scripture is properly copper (Deuteronomy 8:9). It was used for fetters (Judges 16:21; 2 Kings 25:7), for pieces of armour (1 Samuel 17:5, 6), for musical
instruments (1 Chronicles 15:19; 1 Corinthians 13:1), and for money
(Matthew 10:9).
It is a symbol of insensibility and obstinacy in sin (Isaiah 48:4; Jeremiah 6:28; Ezekiel 22:18), and of strength (Psalm 107:16; Micah 4:13).