Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
Bethphelet
(Nehemiah 11:26) [Bethpalet]
Bethrapha
a name which occurs in the genealogy of Judah as the son of Eshton. (1 Chronicles 4:12)
Bethrehob
(house of Rehob), place mentioned as having near it the valley in which lay the town of Laish
or Dan. (Judges 18:28) It was one of the little kingdoms of Aram or Syria. (2 Samuel 10:6) Robinson
conjectures that this ancient place is represented by the modern Hunin .
Bethsaida
(house of fish) of Galilee, (John 12:21) a city which was the native place of Andrew, Peter and
Philip, (John 1:44; 12:21) in the land of Gennesareth, (Mark 6:46) comp. Mark 6:53 And therefore
on the west side of the lake. By comparing the narratives in (Mark 6:31-53) and Luke 9:10-17 It
appears certain that the Bethsaida at which the five thousand were fed must have been a second
place of the same name on the east of the lake. (But in reality “there is but one Bethsaida, that
known on our maps at Bethsaida Julias.” L. Abbot in Biblical and Oriental Journal . The fact is that
Bethsaida was a village on both sides of the Jordan as it enters the sea of Galilee on the north, so
that the western part of the village was in Galilee and the eastern portion in Gaulonitis, part of the
tetrarchy of Philip. This eastern portion was built up into a beautiful city by Herod Philip, and
named by him Bethsaida Julias, after Julia the daughter of the Roman emperor Tiberius Caesar.
On the plain of Butaiha, a mile or two to the east, the five thousand were fed. The western part of
the town remained a small village.—ED.)
Bethshean
(house of rest), or in Samuel, BETHSHAN, a city which belonged to Manasseh, (1 Chronicles
7:29) though within the limits of Issachar (Joshua 17:11) and therefore on the west of Jordan. Comp.
1 Macc. 5:62. In later times it was called Scythopolis. 2 Macc. 12:29. The place is still known as
Beisan . It lies in the Ghor or Jordan valley, about twelve miles south of the Sea of Galilee and four
miles west of the Jordan.
Bethshemesh
(house of the sun).
•One of the towns which marked the north boundary of Judah. (Joshua 15:10) It is now ’Ainshems,
about two miles from the great Philistine plain, and seven from Ekron.
•A city on the border of Issachar. (Joshua 19:22)
•One of the “fenced cities” of Naphtali. (Joshua 19:38; Judges 1:33)
•An idolatrous temple, or place in Egypt. (Jeremiah 43:13) In the middle ages Heliopolis was still
called by the Arabs Ain Shems .
Bethshittah
(home of the acacia), one of the spots to which the flight of the host of the Midianites extended
after their discomfiture by Gideon. (Judges 7:22)
Bethtappuah
(house of apples), one of the towns of Judah in the mountainous district, and near Hebron.
(Joshua 15:53) comp. 1Chr 2:43 Here it has actually been discovered by Robinson under the modern
name of Teffuh, five miles west of Hebron, on a ridge of high table-land.
Bethuel
102
William Smith