Beth-Zechariah. See Bath-Zacharias.
Beth'-zur (1Kb. Eeyth-Tmr', l^-rva, house of the rock ; Sept. Bijjaoi'p, in 2 Chron. BcaBcroi'pa, in 1 Chron. v. r. BatSaoi/p ; Apocrypha and Josephus B&vovpa'), a town in the mountains of Judah, named between Halhul and Gedor (Josh, xv, 58). So far as any interpretation can, in their present imperfect state, be put on the genealogical lists of 1 Chron. ii, 42-40, Beth-zur would appear from verse 45 to have been founded by the people of Maon, which again had derived its origin from Hebron. However this may be, Beth-zur was "built," i. e. probably fortified, by Rchoboam, with other towns of Judah, for the defence of his new kingdom (2 Chron. xi, 7). After the cap- tivity the people of Beth-zur assisted Nehemiah in the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem (Nch. iii, 16) ; the place had a "ruler" ("V£), and the peculiar word Pe- lelc (7j?E) is employed to denote a district or circle at- tached to it, and to some other of the cities mentioned here. See Topographical Terms. In the wars of the Maccabees, Beth-zur or Beth-sura (then not a large town, TToXixv)}, Joseph. War, i, 1, 4) plaj'ed an impor- tant part. It was "the strongest place in Judaea" (Jo- seph. Ant. xiii, 5, 6), having been fortified by Judas and his brethren "that the people might have a defence against Idumaea," and they succeeded in miking it "very strong, and not to be taken without great diffi- culty" (Josephus, Ant. xii, 9, 4) ; so much so that it was able to resist for a length of time the attacks of Simon Mac. (1 Mace, xi, 65) and of Lysias (2 Mace, xi, 5), the garrison having in the former case capitulated. Be- fore Beth-zur took place one of the earliest victories of Judas over Lysias (1 Mace. iv. 29), and it was in an attempt to relieve it when besieged by An- tiochus Eupator that he was defeated in the passes between Beth-zur and Bath-zacharias, and his brother Eleazar killed by one of the elephants of the king's army (1 Mace, vi, M2-47; Joseph. Ant. xii, 9, 3). Ac- cording to Eusebiua and Jerome (Oncmasticcn, s. v. BtSaoi'p, Bethsur), it was still called Bethsoron (Ib/5- oopuiv'), a village twenty miles from Jerusalem, on the road to Hebron, containing a fountain at the foot of a hill, said to he that where Philip baptized the officer of queen Candaee. The distance of five stadia from Jerusalem in 2 Mace, xi, 5, is too small (Cellarii Notit. ii, 565). The traditional Beth-sur of the Cru- saders, near Bethlehem, where the fountain of St. Philip is pointed out (Cotovic. p. 247 ; Pococke, ii, 67 ; ;
Maundrell, p. 116), cannot be the real place, for Euse- bius places it much more to the south, and is in this supported by its history, which shows that it lay on what was the southern border of the Jordan in the time of the Maccabees, when the Idumajans had taken possession of the southernmost part of the country and made Hebron their chief town. In those times, in- deed, Beth-zur, or Bethsur, appears to have been the corresponding fortress on the Jewish side of the foun- tain to that of Hebron on the side of Idumroa, standing at a short distance, and probably over against it, as many similar fortresses are found to do at the present day. Near Hebron there is another well, called Bir es-Sur, which also gives name to the wady : this place may have been the ancient Beth-zur. However, here is no trace of ancient ruins (Robinson's lirse.tnh .■■, iii, 14). M. De Saulcy states that he heard of a modern village, corresponding in name to Beth-Zur, lying a short distjnee to the west of the road, soon after he left Hebron in passing northward, opposite Halhul, but he did not visit, it {Xurnttkr, i, 451 ). It is there- fore nearly certain that Beth-zur is near the modern ed-Dlrweh, notwithstanding the distance (about five Roman miles) of this latter place from Hebron ; it has a ruined tower, apparently of the time of the Crusades, and close by, a fountain with ruins as of an ancient for- tress, built of very large stones upon rocks hewn away to a perpendicular face (Robinson, Researches, i, 320). Mr. Wolcott learned that this hill still retained among the natives the name B it-Sur {Bib. Sac. 1843, p. 56). The recovery of the site of Beth-zur (Robinson's Lattr Researches, p. 277) explains its impregnability, and also the reason for the choice of its position, since it com- mands the road from Beershcba and Hebron, which has always been the main approach to Jerusalem from the south. A short distance from the tell, on which are strewn the remains of the town, is a spring, A in edh- Dhirweh, which in the days of Jerome and later was re- garded as the scene of the baptism of the eunuch by Philip. The tradition has apparently confounded this place with another Beth-zur (JJi3-r70i'(i)i which the Onn- masdeon (ut sup.) locates one mile from Eleutheropo- lis ; it may be noticed that Beitsur is not near the road to Gaza (Acts viii, 26 ), which runs much more to the north- west. See Gaza. This identification of Beth-zur is adopted by Wilson (Lands of the Bible, i, 386), and ap- parently coincides with that of Schwarz {Palest, p. 107).