Bezaleel
Bezal'eel (Heb. Betsalel', בּצִלאֵל, in [otherwise son of, q. d. בֶּןאּ] the shadow of God, i.e. under his protection; Sept. Βεσελεήλ v. r. [in Ezra] Βεσελήλ and Βεσσελήλ), the name of two men.
1. The artificer to whom was confided by Jehovah the design and execution of the works of art required for the tabernacle in the wilderness (Ex 31:2; Ex 35:30; Ex 37:1; 2Ch 1:5). B.C. 1657. His charge was chiefly in all works of metal, wood, and stone, Aholiab being associated with him for the textile fabrics; but it is plain from the terms in which the two are mentioned (36:1:2; 38:22), as well as from the enumeration of the works in Bezaleel's name in 37 and 38, that he was the chief of the two, and master of Aholiab's department as well as his own. Bezaleel was of the tribe of Judah, the son of Uri, the son of Hur (or Chur). Hur was the offspring of the marriage of Caleb (one of the chiefs of the great family of Pharez) with Ephrath (1Ch 2:20,50), and one of his sons, or descendants (comp. Ru 4:20), was Salma or Salmon, who is handed down under the title of "father of Bethlehem," and who, as the great-grandfather of Boaz, was the direct progenitor of king David (1Ch 2:51,54; Ru 4:21). SEE BETHLEHEM; SEE HUR.
2. One of the sons of Pahath-moab, who divorced the foreign wife whom he had taken after the exile (Ezr 10:30). B.C. 458.
