Bether

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

We meet with this word only in the Songs of Solomon. In  Song of Song of Solomon 2:17, the word is retained in its original, Berber; but in  Song of Song of Solomon 8:14, it is translated "mountains of spices." In the margin of the Bible it is rendered division; as if separating from Christ. Some of the copies read the word Bethel; but it certainly is a different word, and of a different meaning. It hath been rendered very sweet and gracious, I believe at times, to the follower of the Lord, when feeling the desires of the soul going out in longings for the Lord Jesus. So Old Testament saints sought the coming of Christ, as upon the mountains of Bether, when in the dark shade of Jewish ordinances they saw the type and shadow of good things to come, and longed for the substance. And so New Testament believers, who have once seen and tasted that the Lord is gracious, are longing for renewed visits of Jesus, when in seasons of distance, and darkness, and unbelief, they feel as on the mountains of Berber, waiting his coming. And how do the best of saints, in the present day, and they who enjoy most of the Redeemer's presence and grace, still long for the full manifestation of his person, and the coming of that great day, when he will come "to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all that believe." ( 2 Thessalonians 1:10) Say, reader, doth not your heart go forth, as the church of old did, (sure I am it must, if so be Christ is precious) crying out with the same rapture, "Make haste my beloved; and until that everlasting day, break upon my redeemed soul, be thou like to a roe, or a young hart, upon the mountains of Berber." ( Song of Song of Solomon 2:17; Son 8:14)

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

BETHER (‘mountains of cutting’ or ‘of divisions,’   Song of Solomon 2:17 ). If a proper name, the famous site of Bether, near Jerusalem, might be intended. Bether is celebrated for the resistance of the Jews to Hadrian under Bar Cochba in a.d. 135. The site was recognized by Canon Williams at Bittîr , south-west of Jerusalem a village on a cliff in a strong position, with a ruin near it called ‘Ruin of the Jews,’ from a tradition of a great Jewish massacre at this place. See Malobathron.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

 Song of Solomon 2:17. Perhaps Bithron, separated from the main part of Palestine by Jordan ( 2 Samuel 2:29), a ravine district, through "all" of which Abner passed, on the N. of the Jabbok, between the Jordan and Mahanaim. It means a cutting. Spiritually "the mountains of Bether" mean mountains of division (margin), or mountains intersected with deep valleys, separating the bride from the heavenly Bridegroom.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Be'ther. (Depth). The Mountains Of Bether .  Song of Solomon 2:17. There is no clue to guide us as to what mountains are intended here.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Bether, the Mountains of ( Bç'Ther ).  Song of Solomon 2:17. Probably near the Lebanon range.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Mountains not identified, and to what the name refers is not known.  Song of Solomon 2:17 . It reads 'division' in the margin and in the LXX.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Song of Solomon 2:17

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Song of Solomon 2:17

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. id. בֶּתֶר ), the name of certain "mountains" mentioned only in  Song of Solomon 2:17. The word means, properly, Dissection (as in  Genesis 5:10;  Jeremiah 34:18-19, "piece"); the mountains of Bether may therefore be Mountains Of Disjunction, Of Separation, that is, mountains cut up, divided by ravines, etc. The Sept. gives Ὄρη Κοιλωμάτων , mountains Of Hollows in this sense. They may be the same with those rendered mountains of spices" in 8:14, from the growth of trees from which odorous gums distilled. (See Bithron).

If it be the name of a place, it may possibly be identical with the Bether where the impostor Barcocheba (q.v.) was at last overcome by Hadrian (see the Zemach David, cited by Eisenmenger, Entdeck. Judenth. 2, 656), a strongly fortified city (see Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. col. 371, where the Hebrews form is given בִּיתֵר , Bither, Chald. בִּתְרָא , Bithra; the correct pointing being perhaps בִּיתִר , i.e. Baethar, for בֵּיתאּתִּר , Beth-Tar, Lat. Bether, Biter, etc.), not far from Jerusalem ( Βίθθηρα , Eusebius, Hist. Ecclesiastes 4, 6 ). For the history of the campaign at this place, see Minter, Jud. Krieg, § 20, translated under the title "Jewish War under Adrian," in the Bibliotheca Sacra, 1843, p. 393 sq.; and for notices of the place, see the editor's remarks appended to the translation, p. 456 sq. The locality is thought by Dr. Robinson ( Later Bib. Researches, p. 266-271) to be identical with that of the Benjamite Bethel (q.v.), the modern Beitin; but Williams ( Holy City, 2, 210) and Stewart ( Tent And Khan, p. 347), apparently with better reason, fix it in the present village Bittir, two hours W.S.W. of Jerusalem (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 295). This latter position also seems to agree with that of a Bether ( Βαιθήρ , i.e. Baether, v. r. Θηθήρ ) mentioned by the Sept. in  Joshua 15:59, among the names of an additional group of eleven towns near Bethlehem, in the tribe of Judah (q.v.), thought by some to have accidentally dropped from the Hebrews text (see Keil, Comment. in loc.).

Evidently different from this place was a Bether (with the same orthography) mentioned in the Talmud as lying four Roman miles from the sea (see Reland, Palaest. p. 639), the Betarum (of the Itin. Anton. and Hieros.) on the way from Caesarea to Antipatris; now probably the village of Barin, about 1 ½ hour south of Kakun (Schwarz, Palest. p. 144; Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 295).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

bē´thẽr ( בּתר , bether ): In  Song of Solomon 2:17 mention is made of "the mountains of Bether." It is doubtful if a proper name is intended. The Revised Version, margin has, "perhaps, the spice malobathron ." A B ether is prominent in late Jewish history as the place where the Jews resisted Hadrian under Bar Cochba in 135 ad. Its identity with Bittı̄r , 7 miles Southwest of Jerusalem, is attested by an inscription.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Be′ther. The Mountains of Bether are only mentioned in  Song of Solomon 2:17;  Song of Solomon 8:14; and no place called Bether occurs elsewhere. The word means, properly, dissection. The mountains of Bether may therefore be mountains of disjunction, of separation, etc., that is, mountains cut up, divided by ravines, etc.