Beth-ar'bel (Heb. Beyth Ariel', Jj&fa'lK PPa, house of God's court or courts), a place only alluded to by the prophet Hosea (x, 14) as the scene of some great military exploit known in his day, but not re- corded in Scripture: "All thj' [Israel's] fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel (Sept. wq upxuiv 2a\afiav t/c rov oikov 'IspofiaaX [v. r. 'ltpofiodfi and Apj&i'/X]) in the day of battle." In the Vulgate, Jerome (following the Sept.) has trans- lated the name "e domo ejus quijudicavit Baal," i. e. Jerubbaal, understanding Salman as Zalmunna, and the whole passage as a reference to Gideon's victory (Judg. viii); but tliis is fanciful. Most modern com- mentators follow the Jewish interpreters (see Hender- son, in loc), who understand the verse to relate to Shalman (q. v.), or Shalmanezer, as having gained a battle at Beth-Arbel against Hoshea, king of Israel. As to the locality of this massacre, some refer it to the Arbela of Assyria (Strabo xvi, 1, 3), the scene of Alex- ander's famous victory ; but there is no evidence of any such occurrences as here alluded to in that place. It is conjectured by Hitzig (in loc.) to be the place called Arbela ('Ap/jjjXw) by Eusebius and Jerome in the Onomasticon (s. v.), where it is jilaced near Bella, east of Jordan ; but as it is spoken of in Hosea as a strong fortress, the probability is rather that the noted locality in N.W. Palestine, called Arbela (rd "Ap/3»jXa) by Josephus and the Apocrypha, is meant. This -was a village in Galilee, near which were certain fortified caverns. They are first mentioned in connection with the march of Bacchides into Judcea, at which time they were occupied by many fugitives, and the Syrian general encamped there long enough to subdue them (Ant. xii, 11, 1 ; 1 Mace, ix, 2). At a later period these caverns formed the retreats of banded robbers, who greatly distressed the inhabitants throughout that quarter. Josephus gives a graphic account of the means taken by Herod to extirpate them. The cav- erns were situated in the midst of precipitous cliffs, overhanging a deep vallej', with only a steep and nar- row path leading to the entrance ; the attack was there- fore exceeding difficult. Parties of soldiers, being at length let down in large boxes, suspended by chains from above, attacked those who defended the entrance with fire and sword, or dragged them out with long hooks and dashed them down the precipice. In this way the place was at length subdued (Ant. xiv, 15, 4, 5; War, i, 1C, 2—4). These same caverns were after- ward fortified by Josephus himself against the Romans during his command in Galilee. In one place he speaks of them as the caverns of Arbela, and in an- other as the caverns near the Lake of Gennesareth (Life, 37; War, ii, 20, 6). According to the Tal- mud, Arbela lay between Sepphoris and Tiberias (Lightfoot, Chorog. Cent. c. 8.")). These indications leave little doubt that Arbela of Galilee, with its forti- fied caverns, may be identified with the present Kulat ibn Maan and the adjacent ruins now known as Irbid (probably a corruption of Jrbil, the proper Arabic form of Arbela). The latter is the site which Pocockc (ii, 58) supposed to be that of Bethsaida, and where he found columns and the ruins of a large church, with a sculptured doorcase of white marble. The best de- scription of the neighboring caves is that of Burck- hardt (p. 333 I, who calculates that they might afford refuge to about COO men. — Kitto, s. v. See Akbela.
Beth-a'ven (Hob. Beyth A'ren, "^x ~"z, house of nothingness, i. e. wickedness, idolatry; Sept. usual- ly BatStwv v. r. BtjScivv), a place on the mountains of Benjamin, east of Bethel (Josh, vii, 2, Sept. Baif)i)\ ; xviii, 12), and lying between that place and Michmash (1 Sam. xiii, 5. Sept. BacSaptr v. r. Baiiiono'iv; also xiv, 23, Sept. rrjv Ba/tw0). In Josh, xviii, 12, the "wilderness" (Midbar= pasture-land) of Beth-aven is mentioned. In Hosea iv, 15 ; v, 8; x, 5, the name is transferred, with a play on the word very characteris-
BETII-BARAII
tic of this prophet, to the neighboring Bethel — once the "house of God," but then the house of idols, of "naught." The Talmudists accordingly everywhere confound Beth-aven with Bethel (coinp. Schwarz, Pal- est, p. 89), the proximity of which may have occasioned the employment of the term as a nickname, after Beth- el became the seat of the worship of the golden calves. See Bethel. The name Beth-aven, however, was properly that of a locality distinct from Bethel (Josh. vii, 2, etc.), and appears to have been applied to a vil- lage located on the rocky eminence Burj Beitin, twenty minutes south-east of Beitin (Bethel), and twenty min- utes west of Tell el-Hajar (Ai) (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 294).
Beth-az'maveth (Heb. Beyth- Azma'vcth, -JV3 rf21V,houseofAzmavetk; Sept. BaiSartfjwd v.r. B))5), a village of Benjamin, the inhabitants of which, to the number of forty-two, returned with Zerubbabel from Babylon (Neh. vii, 28). In Neb., xii, 29 ; Ezra ii, 24, it is called simply Azmaveth (q. v.).
Beth-ba'al-me'on (Heb. Beyth Ba'al Mean', "l""*2 P?2 n^a, house of Baal-Meon; Sept. oiKovg BesX^uv v. r. oIkoq MitXfiwS; Vulg. oppidum Baxd- maon), a place in the possession of Reuben, on the Mishor (~lid""2) or downs (Auth. Vers, "plain") east of Jordan (Josh, xiii, 17). At the Israelites' first ap- proach its name was Baal-meon (Num. xxxii, 38, or in its contracted form Beon, xxxii, 3), to which the Beth was possibly a Hebrew prefix. Later it would seem to have come into possession of Moab, and to be known either as Beth-meon (Jer. xlviii, 23) or Baal-meon (Ezek. xxv, 9). It is possible that the name contains a trace of the tribe or nation of Meon — the Maonites or Meunim. See Maon ; Mehunim. The name is still attached to a ruined place of considerable size a short distance to the south-west of Hesban, and bearing the name of "the fortress of AlVun" according to Burck- hardt (p. 8G5), or Maein according to Seetzen (Reisen, i, 408), which appears to give its appellation to Wady Zerka Main (jb. p. 402). — Smith. See Baal-meon.