Beth Shemesh
בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ · “Beit Shemesh” on the map
Where was biblical Beth Shemesh? At Tel Beit Shemesh, just northeast of modern Beit Shemesh, about 25 km west of Jerusalem. I mark it certain.
Farmers were reaping wheat in the valley when they looked up and saw the Ark coming home from Philistia. Two cows pulled the cart, lowing as they walked, and the Philistine lords trailed behind.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tel Beit Shemesh, just northeast of modern Beit Shemesh
- How sure
- Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
- Other names
- Beth-shemesh, Ir-shemesh, 'Ain Shems, Tell er-Rumeileh, Tel Beit Shemesh
- Location
- 31.7503° N, 34.9755° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The name held on. Beit Shemesh means "House of the Sun." The Arab village beside the tel was 'Ain Shems, "Spring of the Sun."
Now follow the cows. The tel sits on the south bank of the Sorek Valley, the natural route from Ekron up into the hills. Nobody drove them. The Philistines turned them loose to see where they would go, and they walked straight up this valley to the first Israelite town. The farmers split the cart for firewood and offered the cows on a great stone in the field. Then some of the men of Beit Shemesh looked into the Ark, and they were struck down.
Excavators found a gate from the Middle Bronze Age, a prosperous Canaanite city, and then an Iron Age Judean town with large public buildings and a big underground reservoir. The animal bones tell a story of their own. The Iron Age people here avoided pork. Their Philistine neighbors at Ekron did not. This was a border town between two peoples, and you can see the line in the kitchen scraps.
Its later history stays on that border. Beit Shemesh was given to the priests as a Levitical city. King Jehoash of Israel defeated Amaziah of Judah here. And in the days of Ahaz the Philistines took it.
Visiting today
The tel is open and free to walk, right beside Route 38, with exposed walls and the Iron Age water reservoir.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Beit Shemesh on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Zorah (Tzorah) 3 km north
- Jarmuth 5 km south
- Eshtaol 5 km northeast
- Azekah 7 km southwest
- Timnah 7 km northwest
- Socoh 8 km south