BETHSHEMESH (t,,tpty flu, of the Sun;' Sept. 77-6N.cs iNlou, and BalOcanes). There are four places of this name mentioned in ture.
z. A very ancient Canaanitish town situated on the eastern side of the Shepheleh, or plain of Philistia, and close to the foot of the mountains. It lay on the northern border of Judah, and in those marches' so often the scene of the struggles the Israelites and Philistines ( Josh. xv. to; 2 Chron. xxviii. z8). In this border-land the tribe of Dan had a territory allotted out of that of Judah, and among their towns we find l,ahemesh, which is identical with Bethshemesh (compo. Josh. xix. ; Kings iv. 9; 2 Chron. xxviii. iS). The town is called Kings the house (flu) of the sun,' and the city of the sun ' (Sept. roXes 'Eau !Laos). Though within Dan's territory, it was assigned to the priests in connection with Judah (Josh. sod. 16; r Chron. vi. 59). Reland thinks the two places were distinct, but the weight of evidence is against him (Pal. p. 656 ; see Robin. B. R. ii. 225). Eusebius and Jerome place Beth shemesh in Benjamin, though they rightly describe its position ten miles from Eleutheropolis, east of the road to Nicopolis (Onomast. s. v. Betlaamis).
At the place indicated by the notices in ture and Eusebius, is the ruin of Ain esh-Shems, IFountain of the Sun,' which we can have no difficulty in identifying with Bethshemesh. It is singular that the very same change of Ain tain') for Beth (` house '), has taken place in regard to the Egyptian Bethshemesh. The ruins are beautifully situated on the rounded point of a low ridge, having on the north Wady Swiar, and on the south a smaller Wady. The two unite below the ridge, forming a broad fertile vale which runs away westward into the plain of Philistia. Immediately behind the ruins, rise up the steep sides of the Judman mountains. The name Ain esh-Shems is now given to the ruins of a modern village; but west of these, on the very point of the ridge, is the site of the ancient town. Little of it is left. There are some confused heaps of stones and rubbish, some fragments of old walls, and a few indistinct traces of massive foundations, cover ing a space three or four acres in extent. A luxuriant crop of thistles almost concealed these when the writer visited the spot in the spring of 1857. The thistles, however, were of various hues, and were intermixed with multitudes of bright marigolds and scarlet poppies, so that the whole ridge resembled, at a little distance, a great flower bank.
Bethshemesh is chiefly celebrated as the place to which the Philistines brought the ark from Ekron; and one cannot but observe, when stand. ing on the spot, the minute accuracy of Biblical topography. Round Bethshemesh are some low hills, spurs of the mountain range. Through these runs the wide and beautiful vale of Sorer, and opens into the plain about three miles west ward. Ekron is ten miles distant in the same
direction, but is hid by an intervening swell. Standing on the site of Bethshemesh, one can trace the line of the old road to Ekron for miles through the valley. Along that road the ark was brought. The people of Bethshemesh were reap ing in the valley below the town, `and they lifted np their eyes and saw the ark,' they could see it in the distance. It was brought to the fields and laid upon a 'great stone ;' and the Philistine lords, having given it up, returned to Ekron the same day' (I Sam. vi. 9, 16).
The fatal result of the curiosity of the Beth shemites in looking into the ark, forms one of the difficulties of the Bible. The construction of the Hebrew is peculiar, and the meaning is not very clear : 'And he smote of the men of Bethshemesk because they looked into the ark of Jehovah ; And he smote of the people seventy men, fifty thousand men' (I Sam. vi. 19). The translation in the A. V. is not agreeable to the original, nor can it be in accordance with fact. Bethshemesh was a small town. It never could have contained more than four or five thousand inhabitants. If the text be pure as it now stands, the meaning may be, as given in the Vulgate ; et percussit de populo septuagmta viros, et quinquaginta millia plebis.' It has been found, however, that five ancient MSS. omit the words ' fifty thousand Josephus also omits them. Some able critics have hence concluded that these words were interpolated (see Kennicott, Bib. Heb. • De Rossi, Van Lect. ; Barrett, Syn. Crit). The Targum of Jonathan appears to support this view.* In later times, Bethshemesh was the residence of one of Solomon's twelve purveyors (I Kings iv. 9). It was the scene of the battle between Judah and Israel, in which Amaziah was taken prisoner (2 Kings xiv. a r). After its capture by the Philis tines in the reign of Ahaz, it appears no more in history. (Robinson, B. R., ii. 223, sq.; Handbook for S. and P., 281, sq.) 2. A town of Issachar not far distant from Tabu, apparently to the eastward (Josh. xix. 22). The site is unknown.
3. A town in the territory of Naphtali. It appears to have been situated among the moun tains, and probably in a strong position, as the Israelites were unable to expel the ancient inhabi tants. (Josh. xix. 38; Judg. i. 33).
4. An ancient city of Egypt referred to by Jeremiah (Sept. '11XLourdAts ep "Dv, Jer. xliii. 13). It was one of the chief seats of Egyptian idolatry and learning. It is the same place which is called On in Gen. xli. 45, where Joseph's father-in-law was priest. Hence the rendering of the Septuagint both in Jeremiah and Genesis is the same. Arab geographers give to it the name AM esh-Shems, and that name is still attached to a well amid the ruins. [ON.]—J. L. P.