McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Beth-jeshimoth

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McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Beth-jeshimoth


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or (as it is less correctly Anglicized in Num_33:49) Beth-jes'imoth (Heb. Beyth ha-Yeshimoth', áֵּéú äִéְùִׁéîåֹú [in Num_33:49, áֵּéú äִéְùִׁîֹú ], house of the wastes; Sept. Áἰóéìώè [v. r. Áἰóéìώè ], but Âçèáóéìώè in Jos_13:20, and Âçèéáóéìïýè [v. r. É᾿áóéìïýè , Âçèáóéìïýè ] in Eze_25:9), a town or place not far east of Jordan, near Abel-Shittim, in the “deserts” ( òֲøְáֹú ) of Moab — that is, on the lower level at the south end of the Jordan valley (Num_33:49)-and named with Ashdothpisgah and Beth-Peor. It was one of the limits of the encampment of Israel before crossing the Jordan. It lay within the territory of Sihon, king of the Amorites (Jos_12:3), and was allotted to Reuben (Jos_13:20), but came at last into the hands of Moab, and formed one of the cities which were “the glory of the country” (Eze_25:9). According to Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v. Âçèáóéìïýè , Bethsimuth) it was still called by the same name ( ôüðïé ôῇò É᾿óìïýè , Domus Isimuth), being “opposite Jericho, 10 miles to the south, near the Dead Sea,” meaning apparently southeast, and across the Jordan. It is evidently the Besimoth ( Âçóéìώè ) captured by Placidus, the general of Vespasian (Josephus, War, 4, 7, 6). Schwarz (Palest. p. 228) states that there are still “the ruins of a Beth-Jisimuth situated on the north- easternmost point of the Dead Sea, half a mile from the Jordan;” a locality which, although reported by no other traveler, cannot be far from correct (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 296).