NETOPHAH (mbl, a dropping ;' NercoOci ; • ' tircolxi ; Alex. Necktord, and 'AvErcbcpa ; Netupha), a town mentioned in the lists given by Ezra (ii. 22) and Nehemiah (vii. 26) of those who returned from the captivity. It is grouped between Bethle hem and Anathoth, and apparently it was closely connected with the former (I Chron. ii. 54). The name of the town itself occurs only in these two pas sages ; but the Gentile noun Netophathite orinirm ; Nertogmrl-rns, NerunkaWrns ; Alex. Nortottacir7is, etc. ; Netophathites) is used several times by the sacred writers. Two of David's mighty men were Nctophathitcs (2 Sam. xxiii. 28, 29 ; cf. i Chron. xi. 3o). In I Chron. ix. 14-16 we read of certain Levites there named that they dwelt ' in the villages of the Netophathites,' which would seem to suggest that there was more than one village of the same name—probably a small district in the neighbour hood of Bethlehem (cf. Neh. xii. 28). The Neto phathites seem to have been a warlike race, for one of the great military leaders of the Jews, during the rule of the Persian satrap Gedaliah at Mizpah, was Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netopha thite (2 Kings xxv. 23 ; Jer. xl. 8). All, therefore,
that can now be ascertained regarding this ancient village or district is, that it belonged to Judah, was situated near Bethlehem, and was occupied, in part at least, by a family of Levites. It is not mentioned by classic or ecclesiastical writers. Mr. Grove (Smith's Diet. of the Bible, s. v.) has sug gested its identity with the Antt1beh of Van de Velde's map, and the Um Thba of Tobler (Dritte Wanderung, p. 80), a half-ruined village a mile and a half north-east of Bethlehem. The site agrees with the notices of the sacred writers, and the name bears some remote resemblance to Netophah. There is a large and ancient village called Beit Nettiy fifteen miles south-west of Jeru salem, on the brow of the valley of Elah ; it is too far from Bethlehem to be identified with Netophah, though the names are radically identical, yet it is probably the Belk ATetopha of the Rabbins (see Reland, pp. 65o, 9o9 ; Robinson, ii. 17).—J. L. P.