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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

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BETH-HORON

Canaanite place-name perhaps meaning “the house of Hauron,” the god of the underworld. Beth-horon was a dual settlement 10 and 12 miles (16.1 and 19.3 kilometers) northwest of Jerusalem. Located on the boundary between the tribal territories of Ephraim and Benjamin (Jos 16:3, 5 OET JOS 16:3 · OET JOS 16:5), the twin settlements controlled the valley of Aijalon, one of the most important ancient routes between the Mediterranean coast and the interior hill country. The upper town controlled a strategic pass. Ephraim’s “Beth-horon with its pasture lands” was assigned to the Levite family of Kohath (Jos 21:22; 1 Chr 6:68).

Many armies marched through the Aijalon Valley. Amorites pursued by Joshua’s army fled past Beth-horon after being defeated at Gibeon on “the day the sun stood still” (Jos 10:1-14). A band of Philistines approached it to make war with Saul (1 Sm 13:18). The Egyptian army of Shishak passed by Beth-horon (according to his Karnak inscription). Syrian armies under Seron (1 Macc 3:13-24) and Nicanor (7:39-43) were defeated by Judas Maccabeus at Beth-horon. The Romans under Cestius were nearly annihilated there by the Jews, according to Jewish historian Josephus.

Beth-horon was probably destroyed and rebuilt more than once. Sheerah, Beriah’s daughter and Ephraim’s granddaughter, is credited with building both lower and upper Beth-horon (1 Chr 7:24). King Solomon fortified both Beth-horons after raids in the vicinity by an Egyptian pharaoh (1 Kgs 9:15-17; 2 Chr 8:5). In the intertestamental period Beth-horon was fortified by the Syrian general Bacchides after a battle with Jonathan Maccabeus (1 Macc 9:50).