Bible Location
Meaning: house of the sun · 2 cross references · Modern-day map available
This Beth-shemesh entry refers to the town in Naphtali, not the more famous Beth-shemesh on the Judah-Philistia border. The northern identification is preserved in the tribal lists, though the older source notes possible overlap with another record, and it is important as a northern settlement in the land. First appears in Josh 19:38.1
AI summary: Beth-shemesh is best known from stories about the ark and the borderlands of Judah, but this entry points to a different northern location in Naphtali. Its references place it within the geography of tribal inheritance rather than within the better-known narrative of the ark's return. That makes it a good example of why duplicate place names need separate treatment. The cross references present this Beth-shemesh as a northern town of settlement geography, distinct from the Judahite city.1
One of the fenced cities of Naphtali (Josh. 19:38), between Mount Tabor and the Jordan. Now Khurbet Shema, 3 miles west of Safed. But perhaps the same as No. 2. 3
AI-assisted summary prepared for ai-BIBLE and stored as page content, based on dictionary material, place metadata, and linked Bible cross references.
Alistair de Blacquiere-Clarkson, “ai-BIBLE Bible Names JSON Factsheet Aggregating Material from Smith’s Bible Dictionary & Hitcocks’s New and Complete Analysis of the Bible.” ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
M.G.Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
Robert Rouse, “Theographic Bible Information,” Theographic-Bible-Metadata, 2020, https://github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata.