Betharbel
Fausset's Bible Dictionary [1]
("house of the snare" (or, "ambush of God".)) Scene of the sack and massacre by Shalmaneser at his first invasion ( 2 Kings 17:3; Hosea 10:14). "As Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children." Perhaps identical with the stronghold Arbela in Galilee. Jerome curiously refers "Shalman" to "Zalmunna," and Betharbel ("the house of him who judged Baal"), i.e. Jerubbaal (Judges 8). Now Irbid, a ruin S.W. of the sea of Galilee, N. of Tiberias, remarkable for its caves, hard to approach and still more to storm. Hence the resort of robbers. When they turned Bethel ("the house of God") into Bethaven ("the house of vanity"), then it became Betharbel ("the house of ambush of God"), the scene and occasion of their desolation (Pusey).
Morrish Bible Dictionary [2]
A city destroyed by Shalman, who was possibly Shalmaneser king of Assyria; nothing further is known of the city. Hosea 10:14 .
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature [3]
Beth–Ar´bel, a place mentioned only in Hosea 10:14; and as it there seems to be implied that it was an impregnable fortress, the probability is strengthened of its being the same as the Arbela of Josephus. This was a village in Galilee, near which were certain fortified caverns. They are first mentioned in connection with the march of Bacchides into Judea, at which time they were occupied by many fugitives, and the Syrian general encamped there long enough to subdue them. At a later period these caverns formed the retreats of banded robbers, who greatly distressed the inhabitants throughout that quarter, and were at length extirpated by Herod. These same caverns were afterwards fortified by Josephus himself against the Romans during his command in Galilee. There is little doubt that Arbela of Galilee, with its fortified caverns, may be identified with the present Kulat ibn Maan and the adjacent ruins, now known as Irbid.
