- BETH-ARABAH house of the desert, one of the six cities of Judah,
situated in the sunk valley of the Jordan and Dead Sea (Joshua 18:22). In
Joshua 15:61 it is said to have been “in the wilderness.” It was afterwards
included in the towns of Benjamin. It is called Arabah (Joshua 18:18). - BETH-ARAM house of the height; i.e., “mountain-house”, one of the
towns of Gad, 3 miles east of Jordan, opposite Jericho (Joshua 13:27).
Probably the same as Beth-haran in Numbers 32:36. It was called by king
Herod, Julias, or Livias, after Livia, the wife of Augustus. It is now called
Beit-haran. - BETH-ARBEL house of God’s court, a place alluded to by Hosea (10:14)
as the scene of some great military exploit, but not otherwise mentioned in
Scripture. The Shalman here named was probably Shalmaneser, the king of
Assyria (2 Kings 17:3). - BETH-AVEN house of nothingness; i.e., “of idols”, a place in the
mountains of Benjamin, east of Bethel (Joshua 7:2; 18:12; 1 Samuel 13:5).
In Hos. 4:15; 5:8; 10:5 it stands for “Bethel” (q.v.), and it is so called
because it was no longer the “house of God,” but “the house of idols,”
referring to the calves there worshipped. - BETH-BARAH house of crossing, a place south of the scene of Gideon’s
victory (Judges 7:24). It was probably the chief ford of the Jordan in that
district, and may have been that by which Jacob crossed when he returned
from Mesopotamia, near the Jabbok (Genesis 32:22), and at which
Jephthah slew the Ephraimites (Judges 12:4). Nothing, however, is
certainly known of it. (See BETHABARA.) - BETH-CAR sheep-house, a place to which the Israelites pursued the
Philistines west from Mizpeh (1 Samuel 7:11). - BETH-DAGON house of Dagon. (1.) A city in the low country or plain
of Judah, near Philistia (Joshua 15:41); the modern Beit Degan, about 5
miles from Lydda.
(2.) A city near the south-east border of Asher (Joshua 19:27). It was a
Philistine colony. It is identical with the modern ruined village of Tell
D’auk.
- BETH-DIBLATHAIM house of two cakes of figs, a city of Moab, upon
which Jeremiah (48:22) denounced destruction. It is called also