Bible Location
5 cross references · Modern-day map available
Beth-shean was the important city at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley near the Jordan. It is important because it linked valley routes with the Jordan corridor, remained difficult for Israel to control early on, and became tragically associated with the death of Saul. First appears in Josh 17:11.1
Coordinates
32.50, 35.50
First appears
Josh 17:11
AI summary: Beth-shean sits at a major junction of geography and history. The allotment and Judges texts show that Israel's hold on the area was contested, which reflects the city's strategic importance between plain, valley, and river route. Its wider story becomes darker and more memorable when Saul's body and those of his sons are displayed on its walls, fixing Beth-shean in Israel's memory as part of the collapse of Saul's reign. Later administrative references show it remained an important district center. The cross references present Beth-shean as a strategic city where incomplete conquest, royal tragedy, and organized rule all meet.1
Latitude
32.50
Longitude
35.50
Bible references
5
House of security or rest, a city which belonged to Manasseh (1 Chr. 7:29), on the west of Jordan. The bodies of Saul and his sons were fastened to its walls. In Solomon’s time it gave its name to a district (1 Kings 4:12). The name is found in an abridged form, Bethshan, in 1 Sam. 31:10, 12 and 2 Sam. 21:12. It is on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus, about 5 miles from the Jordan, and 14 from the south end of the Lake of Gennesaret. After the Captivity it was called Scythopolis, i.e., “the city of the Scythians,” who about B.C. 640 came down from the steppes of Southern Russia and settled in different places in Syria. It is now called Beisan. 3
Source note: this 1893 dictionary language reflects its period and may be culturally insensitive or outdated. It is presented as historical source material, not as ai-BIBLE’s language, interpretation, or endorsement.
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.