- BETH-HORON house of the hollow, or of the cavern, the name of two
towns or villages (2 Chronicles 8:5; 1 Chronicles 7:24) in the territory of
Ephraim, on the way from Jerusalem to Joppa. They are distinguished as
Beth-horon “the upper” and Beth-horon “the nether.” They are about 2
miles apart, the former being about 10 miles north-west of Jerusalem.
Between the two places was the ascent and descent of Beth-horon, leading
from Gibeon down to the western plain (Joshua 10:10, 11; 18:13, 14),
down which the five kings of the Amorites were driven by Joshua in that
great battle, the most important in which the Hebrews had been as yet
engaged, being their first conflict with their enemies in the open field.
Jehovah interposed in behalf of Israel by a terrific hailstorm, which caused
more deaths among the Canaanites than did the swords of the Israelites.
Beth-horon is mentioned as having been taken by Shishak, B.C. 945, in the
list of his conquests, and the pass was the scene of a victory of Judas
Maccabeus. (Comp. Exodus 9:19, 25; Job 38:22, 23; Psalm 18:12-14;
Isaiah 30:30.) The modern name of these places is Beit-ur, distinguished
by el-Foka, “the upper,” and el-Tahta, “the nether.” The lower was at the
foot of the pass, and the upper, 500 feet higher, at the top, west of
Gibeon. (See GIBEON.) - BETH-JESHIMOTH house of wastes, or deserts, a town near
Abel-shittim, east of Jordan, in the desert of Moab, where the Israelites
encamped not long before crossing the Jordan (Numbers 33:49; A.V.,
“Bethjesimoth”). It was within the territory of Sihon, king of the Amorites
(Joshua 12:3). - BETH-LE-APHRAH (R.V. Micah 1:10), house of dust. The Authorized
Version reads “in the house of Aphrah.” This is probably the name of a
town in the Shephelah, or “low country,” between Joppa and Gaza. - BETHLEHEM house of bread. (1.) A city in the “hill country” of Judah. It
was originally called Ephrath (Genesis 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11). It was
also called Beth-lehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2), Beth-lehem-judah (1 Samuel
17:12), and “the city of David” (Luke 2:4). It is first noticed in Scripture
as the place where Rachel died and was buried “by the wayside,” directly
to the north of the city (Genesis 48:7). The valley to the east was the
scene of the story of Ruth the Moabitess. There are the fields in which she
gleaned, and the path by which she and Naomi returned to the town. Here
was David’s birth-place, and here also, in after years, he was anointed as
kiana
(Kiana)
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