Beeroth

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("wells".) One of the four Hivite cities (the others being Gibeon, Chephirah, and Kirjath Jearim:  Joshua 9:17), which obtained peace with Joshua by false pretenses. Allotted to Benjamin ( Joshua 18:25). Ishbosheth's murderers Baanah and Rechab, and their father Rimmon, belonged to it. Its original occupants repaired to the Philistine Gittaim ( Nehemiah 11:33;  2 Samuel 4:2-3;  2 Samuel 4:7). The men of Beeroth were among those who returned from Babylon ( Ezra 2:25). Now El-bireh, on the road to Nablus, ten miles N. of Jerusalem, below a ridge bounding the northward view. The traditional site of Jesus' parents not finding Him in their company ( Luke 2:43-45). The usual halt at the first day's close for caravans going N. from Jerusalem. Naharai, one of David's mighty men, was a Beerothite ( 1 Chronicles 11:39).

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. Station of Israel belonging to Jaakan.  Deuteronomy 10:6 .

2. One of the four cities of the Hivites which deceived Joshua into making a treaty of peace. It was given to Benjamin.  Joshua 9:17;  Joshua 18:25;  2 Samuel 4 .  2 . It is identified with Bireh, 35 13' E 31 54' N , about 7 miles north of Jerusalem. The inhabitants of the city were called BEEROTHITES,  2 Samuel 4:2-9;  2 Samuel 23:37;  1 Chronicles 11:39 (BEROTHITE); and 'children' or 'men of Beeroth' on returning from exile.   Ezra 2:25;  Nehemiah 7:29 .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

BEEROTH (‘wells’). A Gibeonite city, usually coupled in enumeration with Chephirah and Kiriath-jearim (  Joshua 9:17 ,   Ezra 2:25 ,   Nehemiah 7:29 ); assigned to the tribe of Benjamin (  Joshua 18:25 ,   2 Samuel 4:2 ); the home of Rechab, murderer of Ish-bosheth (  2 Samuel 4:2 ), and of Naharai, armour-bearer of Joab (  2 Samuel 23:37 ). Bireh , about 10 miles from Jerusalem on the main road to the north, is the usual identification, and there seems no special reason for objecting thereto. The circumstances and date of the flight of the Beerothites to Gittaim (  2 Samuel 4:3 ) are not recorded.

R. A. S. Macalister.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Numbers 33:31 Deuteronomy 10:6 2 Joshua 9:17 Joshua 18:25 2 Samuel 4:2 2 Samuel 4:3 2 Samuel 21:1-9  2 Samuel 23:37 Ezra 2:25

The city had to be close to Gibeon, but its exact location is debated. Among suggestions are: el-Bireh, tell en-Nasbeh, Nebi Samwil, Khirbet el-Burj, Biddu, Khirbet Raddana, ras et-Tahune.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Be-e'roth. (Wells). One of the four cities of the Hivites, who deluded Joshua into a treaty of peace with them.  Joshua 9:17. It is now El-Bireh, which stands about 10 miles north of Jerusalem.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 18:25

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Betroth', בְּאֵרוֹת , wells; Sept. Βηρώτ , Βεηρωθά , Βηρωθ ), one of the four cities of the Hivites who deluded Joshua into a treaty of peace with them, the other three being Gibeon, Chephirah, and Kirjath-jearim ( Joshua 9:17). Beeroth was with the rest of these towns allotted to Benjamin ( Joshua 18:25), in whose possession it continued at the time of David, the murderers of Ishbosheth being named as belonging to it ( 2 Samuel 4:2). From the notice in this place ( 2 Samuel 4:2-3), it would appear that the original inhabitants had been forced from the town, and had taken refuge at Gittaim ( Nehemiah 11:34), possibly a Philistine city. Beeroth is once more named with Chephirah and Kirjath-jearim in the list of those who returned from Babylon ( Ezra 2:25;  Nehemiah 7:29; 1 Esdras 5, 19). Besides Baanah and Rechab, the murderers of Ishbosheth, with their father Rimmon, we find Nahari "the Berothite' ( 2 Samuel 23:37), or "the Berothite" ( 1 Chronicles 11:39), one of the "mighty men" of David's guard. (See Beeroth-Bene-Jaakan).

The name of Beeroth is the plural of BEER, and it has therefore been taken by many for the same place. Eusebius and Jerome, however, both distinguish it from Beer (Onomast. s.v. Βηρώθ ), although there has been much misunderstanding of their language respecting it (see Reland, Palaest. p. 618, 619). The former says that it could be seen in passing from Jerusalem to Nicopolis, at the seventh mile; a description that to this day is true of a place still bearing the corresponding name of el-Bireh, which, since Maundrell's time, has been identified with this locality (Journey, March 25). According to Robinson (Researches, 2, 132), the traveler in that direction sees el-Bireh on his right after a little more than two hours from Jerusalem. Jerome, on the other hand, apparently misconceiving Eusebius as meaning that Beeroth was on the road, from which he says it is visible, changes "Nicopolis" to "Neapolis," which still leaves the distance and direction sufficiently exact. Bireh is mentioned under the name of Bira by Brocard (vii. 278), in whose time it was held by the Templars. By the Crusaders and the later ecclesiastics it was erroneously confounded with the ancient Michmash. Bireh is situated on the ridge, running from east to west, which bounds the northern prospect, as beheld from Jerusalem and its vicinity, and may be seen from a great distance north and south. It is now a large village, with a population of 700 Moslems. The houses are low, and many of them half underground. Many large stones and various substructions evince the antiquity of the site; and there are remains of a fine old church of the time of the Crusades (Richter, Wallfahrten, p. 54). According to modern local tradition it was the place at which the parents of "the child Jesus" discovered that he was not among their "company" ( Luke 2:43-45); and it is a fact that the spring of El-Bireh is even to this day the customary resting-place for caravans going northward, at the end of the first day's journey from Jerusalem (Stanley, Palest. p. 215; Lord Nugent, 2:112).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

bē̇ - ē´roth , bē´ẽr - oth ( בּארות , be'ērōth  ; Βηρώθ , Bērō̇th ): One of the cities of the Canaanites whose inhabitants succeeded in deceiving Israel, and in making a covenant with them ( Joshua 9:3 ). Apparently they were Hivites ( Joshua 9:7 ). The occasion on which the Beerothites fled to Gittaim where they preserved their communal identity is not indicated. The town was reckoned to Benjamin ( 2 Samuel 4:2 f). Eusebius, Onomasticon places it under Gibeon, 7 Roman miles from Jerusalem on the way to Nicopolis ( Amwās ). If we follow the old road by way of Gibeon ( el - Jı̄b ) and Bethhoron, Beeroth would lie probably to the Northwest of el - Jı̄b . The traditional identification is with el - Bı̄reh , about 8 miles from Jerusalem on the great north road. If the order in which the towns are mentioned ( Joshua 9:17;  Joshua 18:25 ) is any guide as to position, el-Bireh is too far to the Northwest. The identification is precarious. To Beeroth belonged the murderers of Ish-bosheth ( 2 Samuel 4:2 ), and Naharai, Joab's armor-bearer ( 2 Samuel 23:37;  1 Chronicles 11:39 ). It was reoccupied after the Exile ( Ezra 2:25;  Nehemiah 7:29 ).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Bee´roth, the plural of Beer, and by many taken for the same place. It is mentioned as a city of the Gibeonites ( Joshua 9:17), and was reckoned in the tribe of Benjamin ( 2 Samuel 4:2;  Ezra 2:25).