Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Beth-Aram
Subjects in this Topic:
(Heb. Beyth Haram', áֵּéú äָøָí , house of the height [for the syllable ha- is prob. merely the def. art.], q. d. mountain-house; Sept. ÂçèáñÜ v. r. ÂáéèáññÜ and ÂáéèáñÜí ), one of the towns (“fenced cities”) of Gad on the east of Jordan, described as in “the valley” ( äָòֵîֶ÷ , not to be confounded with the Arabah or Jordan valley), Jos_13:27, and no doubt the same place as that named BETH-HARAN in Num_32:36. Eusebius (Onomast. s.v.) reports that in his day its appellation (“by the Syrians”) was Bethramtha ( ÂçèñáìöèÜ [prob. for the Chaldaic form áֵּú øִîְúָּà ]; Jerome, Betharam), and that it was also named Livias ( ËéâéÜò , Libias; Jerome adds, “by Herod, in honor of Augustus”). Josephus's account (Ant. 18, 2, 1) is that Herod (Antipas), on taking possession of his tetrarchy, fortified Sepphoris and the city ( ðüëéò ) of Betharamphtha ( Âçèáñáìöèᾶ ), building a wall round the latter, and calling it Julias ( É᾿ïõëéÜò ; different from the Julias of Gaulonitis, War, 2, 9, 1), in honor of the wife of the emperor. As this could hardly be later than B.C. 1, Herod the Great, the predecessor of Antipas, having died in B.C. 4, and as the Empress Livia did not receive her name of Julia until after the death of Augustus, A.D. 14, it is probable that Josephus is in error as to the new name given to the place, and speaks of it as having originally received that which it bore in his own day (see Ant. 20, 8, 4; War, 2, 13, 2). It is curious that he names Livias ( ËéâéÜò ) long before (Ant. 14, 1, 4) in such connection as to leave no doubt that he alludes to the same place. Under the name of Amathus (q.v.) he again mentions it (Ant. 17, 10, 6; comp. War, 2, 4, 2), and the destruction of the royal palaces there by insurgents from Peraea. At a later date it was an episcopal city (Reland, Palaest. p. 874). For Talmudical notices, see Schwarz, Palest. p. 231. Ptolemy gives the locality of Livias ( ËéâéÜò ) as 310° 26' lat., and 670° 10' long. (Ritter, Erdk. 15, 573); and Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v. ÂçèíáâñÜí , Bethamnaram) state that it was five miles south of Bethnabris or Bethamnaris (i.e. Beth-nimrah; see Josephus, War, 4, 7, 4 and 6). This agrees with the position of the Wady Seir or Sir, which falls into the Ghor opposite Jericho, and half way between Wady Hesban and Wady Shoaib. Seetzen heard that it contained a castle and a large tank in masonry (Reisen, 1854, 2, 318). According to Van de Velde (Memoir, p. 296), the ruins are still called Beit-Haran.
Beth-Aram
Tristram identifies this with what he calls Beit -Haran, “a conspicuous mound or tell, which might be artificial, very much like the great mounds of Jericho, and its top crowned with an old Moslem wely or tomb. . . On the mound and alongside of it were a few traces of walls and foundations” (Land of Moab, p. 360). Elsewhere, however, he says, “Beth-Aram is marked by a deserted heap of ruins at that spot, called Beit-Haran according to some, but for which my guides had no name” (Bible Places, p. 336). Prof. Merrill, on the contrary, says, “Its identity with the modern Tell er-Rama cannot be reasonably disputed” (East of the Jordan, p. 383). This latter spot is a mound a short distance east of the other site.