BETHSUR. - Palestinian city (Heb. Beth-šūr "house of the rock"), Gk. Βεθαούρ(α), Arabic Bejt Šūr. It belonged to the tribe of Judah (Jos. 15, 58; cf. I Par. 2, 45), and was situated at the 29th km. of the road from Jerusalem to Hebron. Already before the exile it was an important city, fortified by Rehoboam (II Par. 11, 7, 11, 12); invaded by the Idumeans during the exile, it was again occupied by the returning Jews, and made the capital of a district (περίγραφος, cf. Neh. 3, 16).

The name of B. is linked to the history of the Maccabees, particularly to the brilliant victory won by Judas Maccabeus in 165 B.C. over the army of Lysias (I Mach. 4, 28-35; for v. 29 cf. the Septuagint: ἐν Βεθαούραις). B. was powerfully fortified (I Mach. 6, 7, 26), but two years later it was occupied by treachery by Antiochus V Eupator (I Mach. 6, 49 sq.). After the alternating fortunes that followed the death of Judas, his brother Simon liberated it and fortified it again in 142 (I Mach. 11, 65; 14, 7, 33).

In the Roman era B. was part of Palestina II, as territory of Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). In Christian tradition, attested by Eusebius, Onomasticon, 52, 3-4 (ed. Klostermann), followed later by others, and marked in the Madaba Map, B. is indicated as the place ('Ajn ed-Dirweh) where the deacon Philip baptized the Eunuch of Queen Candace (Act. 8, 26-39).

Today, after the excavations carried out in 1931 by the American School, B. is identified with Hírbet es-Tabejgh, near the medieval Burğ Bejt Šūr, which has preserved the ancient name.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: F.-M. Abel, Topographie des campagnes macchabiennes, in Revue biblique, 33 (1924), 208-12; O. R. Sellers-W. F. Albright, The first campaign of excavation at Beth Zur, in Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 63 (1931), 2-13; O. R. Sellers, The citadel of Beth-Zur, Philadelphia 1933, (cf. Revue biblique, 43 [1934], 315-17).

Teofilo Antolin

@incollection{ec2_bethsur, author = {Antolin, Teofilo}, title = {Bethsur}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {1514}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/bethsur} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

About this entry