Beth-horon Upper

About Beth-horon Upper

Upper Beth-horon was a town located in the territory of Ephraim, near its border with Benjamin. It was situated in the central hill country of Israel, not far from its sister city, Lower Beth-horon.

The name Beth-horon means "house of caves" or "house of hollows" in Hebrew, possibly referring to the topography of the area. Upper Beth-horon was located at a higher elevation than Lower Beth-horon and was connected to it by a road known as the Ascent of Beth-horon.

In Joshua 16:5, Upper Beth-horon is mentioned as part of the description of Ephraim's border. The town was rebuilt by Sheerah, the daughter of Ephraim, along with Lower Beth-horon (1Ch.7.24).

During the reign of King Solomon, Upper Beth-horon was one of the cities he fortified as part of his building projects (2Ch.8.5). This fortification was likely due to the town's strategic location along the road connecting the coastal plain with the interior of the country.

Although Upper Beth-horon is mentioned less frequently in the Bible than Lower Beth-horon, its proximity to the latter and its inclusion in the list of fortified cities suggest that it played a significant role in the defense and administration of the region.

Today, the ancient site of Upper Beth-horon is identified with the modern Palestinian village of Beit Ur al-Foqa.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.