Literature. — Robinson, BRP iit 69, with references there to patristic and other writers; Siiiitb, Hi^t. Gtog. of the Holy Land, 210, 213, 264 ; Baedeker, FaL and Syria, 142 ; Stanley, Sin. and Pal. 212.
Battles of Bethhoron. — The Gibeonites, being besieged by the five kings, had summoned Joshua to their relief. By a forced march he obeyed the summons. At sunrise ' he was already in the open ground at the foot of the heights of Gibeon,' and the battle began. It had three stages.
The Canaanites were thrown into dismay by the shout and the sudden onset of Israel, and broke, flying up the rocky ascent to Upper B. (Jos 10'").
But tney made no stay there, and we next see them in headlong flight down the other side of the ridge towards Lower B., while a terrible storm raged, and contributed more to their defeat than even the pursuit of the Israelites (v.").
It is here that the prose narrative is interrupted by the quotation from the Book of Jashar, wnere ' the hero appears in the ancient song of the Book of Heroes,' standing on the crest of the hill with outstretehed hand and spear, calling to the sun to stand still upon Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Aijalon (v.""-)-
' In the lengthened day thus given to Joshua's prayer comes the third stage,' the hiding of the kings in the cave of Makkedah, where they were guarded while the pursuit of their beaten forces lasted, and were then put to death (w. '•"").
The second battle of Beth-horon was won by Judas Maccabaeus over Seron, 'a prince of the army of Syria.' Judas, bom at Modin, in the neighbourhood, must have foreseen his advantage from the nature of the ground, as he saw the Syrians 'coming near to the going up of Beth- horon.' But he trusted more to the help of J", and, encouraging his scanty host by reminding them that 'the victory of tattle standeth not in the multitude of a host, but strength cometh from heaven,' he 'leapt suddenly' upon the foe, and drove them down to the plain. This waa in B.C. 166. Five years later he won another victory on the same ground over Nicanor (1 Mao 3U-« tW-m. Joe, ^nt. xu. vii. 1, x. 5.).
A. S. AOLKH.
BETHINK.— In 1 K 8", 2 Ch 6" b. occurs as a reflex, verb in the obsol. sense of ' to take thought,' ' to come to oneself ' : ' if they shall b. themselves . . . and repent ' (3^V(i aVij ' bring back to heart.' See the same phrase in Dt 4* ' consider it in thine heart,' RV ' lay it to thine heart ' ; 30" ' call to mind ' ; Is 44" ' none considereth in his heart,' RV ' calleth to mind ' ; 46" [^a] ' brine again to mind ' ; La 3" ' recall to mind '). Cf. Lk 15" ' when he came to himself ' (Gr. els iavrir Atfuf).
T Hasttnos
BETH-JESHIUOTH (in AV also Jesimoth) '('j n^Dp;:!, ' the place of the desert '), the S. limit of the encampment on ' the plains of Moab ' at the close of the joumeyings, Nu 33**. In Jos 12* it is men- tioned as in the S. of the Arabah towards the Dead Sea. In 13*> it is assigned to Reuben, the ' slopei
BETH-LE-APHRAH
BETH-2JLMRAH
281
of PUgah ' being mentioned immediately before it ; and in Ezk 25" it is spoken of as belonging to Moab. EosebioB places it )U miles S. of Jericho, and Jos. {Jewish }^ an, IV. \-ii. 6) refers to Bijaifniff in that direction. Some ruins and a well at the N.E. end of the Dead Sea bear the name of Suwaimeh, which is considered as a moditication of Jeshimoth ; and this situation suite the requirements of the biblical narrative. A. T. Chapman.
BETH-LE-APHRAH (m.sy^Ti'j, AV ' house of Aplirah '). — The name of a town apparently in Phil, territory, whose site is quite unknown (Mic l'"). In the call 'at B. roll thyself in the dust,' there is a double play upon words, 'Aphrah contain- ing a punning allusion to 'Aphar (dust) and "f'Jsnn (roll thyself) to 'Pf^? (Philistine). It seems out of the question to identify the place with Ophrah of Benjamin (.los 18"). See G. A. Smith, Twelve Prophets, 383 f. J. A. Selbie.
BETH-LEBAOTH (n^Kji" n-j), Jos 19" ' house of lionesses ' ? — A town of Simeon near Sharuhen. Unknown. (See Ueth-Biri.)
BETHLEHEM (on^ n-j • place of bread'). — Two places so named in Palestine are noticed in the OT.
1. Bethlehem Jndah, called also Ephrathah, the home of David, 5 miles S. of Jerusalem. It is now a small white towTi on a spur running out east from the watershed. The inhiibitants are Christians, and wear a peculiar costume. At the east end of the town is the Churcli of the Nativity and attached mona-stery, standing above the orchards of figs and olives, and the vineyards which surround this prosperous village. The church is perhaps the oldest in existence founded for orthodox Greek rites : the pillars are those of Constantine's Basilica, commenced about A.D. 330; the mosaics on the wall above belong to the 12th cent. The oak roof was given by Edward III. To the north is the Latin chapel, and under this the cave-chapel, in which Jerome is said to have lived while writing the Vulgate. The Cave of the Nativity, onder the choir of the ancient Basilica, is the only site (excepting the chapel on Olivet) connectea with the history of Christ, which is noticed before the establishment of Christianity by Constantino. A cave in Bethlehem, supposed to mark the ' inn' of the Nativity, is noticed by Justin Martyr in the 2nd cent. A.D. {Trypho, 78): it was known to Origen, and appears to have been found, in the 4th century A.D., consecrated to Tammuz, and standing in a grove, which was cut down when the place was reconsecrated bv queen Helena. An ' inn ' at Bethlehem is possiuly referred to in Jer41" (RVm), the place being on one of the high- ways to the soath. In the Hebron hills there are many rock-cut stables for cattle, which resemble the cave under the choir at Bethlehem, which poRsesHes a rock-cut recess that may have been a mangoT.