Betho'ron (Ba&mpwv), a Grascized form (Judith Jv, 4) of the town Beth-horon (q.v.).
Beth-pa'let (Heb. Beyth Pe'kt, dbs P^3, house of escape, but found only "in pause," Beyth Pa let, -33 pl^S [or "f^S] ; Sept. Bifity'tXiS and ti>fi(pa\ciT or BaiScpaXdS), one of the towns in the extreme south of Judah (i. e. assigned to Simeon), named between Heshmon and Hazar-shual (Josh, xv, 27), and inhab- ited after the captivity (Neh. xi. 26, where it is Angli- cized " Beth-phelet"). It corresponds possibly to the "considerable ruin" on Till el-Kuseifeh (Robinson's Researches, ii, 620), a short distance N.E. of Moladah (Van dc Velde, Map).
Beth-paz'zez (Heb. Beyth Puts/sets', ^23 tVja, house of 'dispersion ; Sept. BnS<patr!ig v. r. BiipvaQf/r), a town (? near the border) of Issachar, named in connec- tion with En-haddah (Josh, xix, 21); possibly the ru- ined site Beit-Jenn, about five miles west of the south end of the Lake of Galilee (Van do Velde, Map).
Beth-pe'or (Heb. Beyth Peor', "T]VQ V*3, hov.-e of Peor, i. e. temple of Baal-Peor; Sept. oIkoi; 4>oytijp, but in Josh. Bty&^oywp or Bai9(poywp), a place in Moab, no doubt dedicated to the god Baal-peor, on the east of Jordan ; according to Eusebius and Jerome (J)nouuut. s. v. BeSnpoyop, Bcthfogo), it lav opposite Jericho, and six miles above Livias or Beth-haran. It was in the possession of the tribe of Reuben (Josh, xiii, 20). In the Pentateuch the name occurs in a formula by which one of the last halting-places of the children of Israel is designated — "the ravine (^KSrt) over against fa~) Beth-poor" (Deut. iii, 29 ; iv, 46). In this ravine Moses was probably buried (Deut. xxxiv, 6). It appears to have been situated on the slope of the eminence (Nebo or Peor), about half way between Heshbon and the north end of the Dead Sea.
Here, as in other cases, the Beth- may be a Hebrew substitution for Baal-, or the name may be an abbre- viation of Baal-peor (q. v.). — Smith, s. v.
Beth'phage (Bj/^ayij and Bifirpayt}, prob. for Syro-Chald. iGQ P"1?, h ruse of the unripe fig), the name of a village (iciopij) on the Mount of Olive, along the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and situated at a fork of the road, where our Lord, on his way from Bethany to Jerusalem, procured an ass just be- fore reaching the summit of the Mount of Olives (Matt, xxi, 1 ; Mark xi, 1 ; Luke xix, 29). From the two being twice mentioned together (.Mark xi, 1 ; Luke xix, 29), it was apparently close to Bethany (q. v.), and it appears (from Matt, xxi, 1) to have 1 een nearer to the city. The fact of our Lord's making Bethany his nightly lodging-place (Matt, xxi, 17, etc.) is no confirmation of its direction from Bethphage, since he would doubtless take up his abode in a place where he had friends, even though it were not the first place
BETH-PHELET
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BETHSAIDA
at whirl) he arrived on the road. Dr. Robinson argues (Researches, ii, 103) from the order of the names in these pass iges thai Bethphage lay to the east of Beth- any instead of westward, as the local tradition states; but his view has evidently been biassed by his arrange- ment of the gospel narrative at that point, by which he places this event on the way from Jericho instead <>f after the feast at Bethany (see his Harmony of the Gospels compared with Strong's Harmony and Exposi- tion). The name of Bethphage occurs often in the Talmud (Buxtorf, Lex Talm. col. 1691); and the Jew- ish glossarists misled (see Hug, Einl. i, 18,19) Light- foot (Ckoroff. Cent.ch. xli) and Otho (Lex. Rabb. p. 101 sq.) to regard it as a district extending from the foot of the Mount of Olives to the precincts of Jerusalem, and including the village of the same name (comp. Schwarz, Palest, p. 257). By Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. -. v.), and also by Origen (see Biisching, Harmonie d. Evang. p. 35), the place was known, though no indication of its position is given ; they describe it as a village of the priests, possibly deriving the name from "Beth-phace," signifying in Syriac the "house of the jaw," as the jaw in the sacrifices was the portion of the priests (Reland, p. 653). Schwarz (p. 263 sq.) appears to place Bethphage on the southern shoulder of the " Mount of Offence," above the village of Siloam, and therefore west of Bethany. No remains which could answer to such a position have been found (Rob- inson. ii, 103), and the traditional site is above Betha- ny, half way between that village and the top of the mount (see Feustel, De Bethphage, Lips. 1686). Dr. Olin mentions (Trav. ii, 257) having seen foundations of houses and a cistern hewn in the rock at that place. Dr. Barclay, however {City of the fire if King, p. 66), identities Bethphage with traces of foundations and cisterns on the rocky S.W. spur of Olivet, a few hun- dred yards to the south of the Jericho-Jerusalem road, between Bethany and the Ivdron (comp. Stewart, Tent and Khan, p. 332). The name of Bethphage, the sig- nification of which, as given above, is generally accept- ed, is, like those of Bethany, Caphenatha, Bezetha, and the Mount of Olives itself, a testimony to the ancient fruitfulness of this district (Stanley, p. 187).