ADONI-BEZEK, i. e. the lord of Bezek, king of the city Bezek, in Canaan, seventeen miles N. £. from Napolose, towards Scythopolis. — Adoni-bezek was a powerful and cruel prince, who, having at various times taken seventy kings, ordered their thumbs and great toes to be cut on, and made them gather their meat under his table, Judg. i. 7. After the death of Joshua, the tribes Judah and Simeon marched against Adoni-bezek, who commanded an army of Canaanites and Perizzites. They vanquished him, killed ten thousand men, and having taken him, cut off his thumbs and his great toes ; Adoni-bezek acknowledging the retributive justice of this punish ment from God. He was afterwards carried to Jerusalem, where he died, Judg. i. 4, seq.

Notwithstanding that the barbarity of Adoni-bezek, in thus mutilating his enemies, was so enormous in its character, there is reason to think that similar cruelties are by no means uncommon in the East. Much more severe, in fact, is the cruelty contained in the following narration of Indian war: — " The inhabitants of the town of Lelith Pattan were disposed to surrender themselves, from fear of having their noses cut off, like those of Cirtipur, and also their right hands; a barbarity the Gorchians had threatened them with, unless they would surrender within five days!" (Asiat. Researches, vol. ii.l Another resemblance to the history of the men of Jabesh ; who desired seven days of melancholy respite from their threatened affliction by Nahash, of having their right eyes thrust out, 1 Sam. xi. 2.

The following is another similar scene of cruelty : " Prithwinarayan issued an order to Suruparatana his brother, to put to death some of the principal inhabitants of the town of Cirtipur, and to cut off the noses and lips of every one, even the infants who were found in the arms of their mothers ; ordering, at the same time, all the noses and lips that had been cut off to be preserved, that he might ascertain how many souls there were ; and to change the name of the town to Nashatapir, which signifies the town of cut noses. The order was carried into execution with every mark of horror and cruelty, none escaping but those who could play on wind instruments; many put an end to their lives in despair; others came in great bodies to us in search of medicines ; and it was most shocking to see so many living people with their teeth and noses resembling the skulls of the deceased," i. e. by being bare ; because deprived of their natural covering. (Asiatic Re searches, vol. ii. page 187.) The learned reader will recollect an instance of the very same barbarity, in the town which, from that circumstance, was named Rhinocolura, or " cut noses," between Judea and Egypt. See Rhinocolura.