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What does Beth Shemesh mean in the Bible?
house of the sun
Etymology. Beit Shemesh means “house of the sun” or “temple of the sun” in Hebrew. The Bronze-Age city was originally named after the Canaanite sun-goddess Shapash, sometimes called Shemesh, who was worshipped there in antiquity.
Who lived in Beth Shemesh?
Part of the territory allotted to the Levites, the biblical town of Beit Shemesh was settled by Israelites in the 11th or 10th century B.C.E. There were already Jews living there when, during a battle with the Israelites, the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant.
Why was the ark returned to the Israelites in Beth Shemesh?
Beit Shemesh was in a volatile border area between the Philistines and areas controlled by the ancient Israelites. In a battle the Philistines then took the ark, but after God punished them with illness, they returned it to the Israelites.
What is the meaning of the name Shemesh?
Sun
Shemesh means “Sun” in Hebrew.
What happened at Beth Shemesh?
Beit Shemesh was destroyed by the Assyrian king Sennacherib in his campaign against Judah in 701 BCE, and abandoned.
When was the ark returned to Israel?
The ark vanished when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in 587 B.C. When the ark was captured by the Philistines, outbreaks of tumors and disease afflicted them, forcing the Philistines to return the ark to the Israelites. Some stories describe how death would come to anyone who touched the ark or looked inside it.
Was Beth Shemesh a part of Israel?
Beth Shemesh (House of the Sun) is the name of three distinct biblical places in Israel and one location in Egypt also mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: a city in southwest Judah, remains excavated next to modern Beit Shemesh. a city in northern Israel allocated to the Tribe of Naphtali.
How do you say Beit?
“bet”, which means “house”. In Hebrew, it’s “bayit”, but when it’s used in a compound word with another noun it’s pronounced “beit”, like in “beit sefer”, the word for school. In Arabic, it’s “beit” or “bayit”.