Beth-jeshimoth

About Beth-jeshimoth

Beth-jeshimoth was a town located in the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan River and near the Dead Sea. The name Beth-jeshimoth means "house of desolations" or "house of the desert" in Hebrew.

In Numbers 33:49, Beth-jeshimoth is mentioned as one of the places where the Israelites camped during their journey through the wilderness, shortly before crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land. The camp extended from Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim.

After the conquest of Canaan, Beth-jeshimoth was part of the territory allotted to the tribe of Reuben (Joshua 13:20). It was situated in the Arabah, the Jordan Valley, south of the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee).

In Joshua 12:3, Beth-jeshimoth is listed among the cities and territories conquered by the Israelites under Moses' leadership, along with the rest of the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites.

The prophet Ezekiel, in a prophecy against Moab, mentions Beth-jeshimoth as one of the cities that would be given to the people of the East as a possession, along with Baal-meon and Kiriathaim (Ezk.25.9). This prophecy indicates that Beth-jeshimoth was a significant Moabite town and that it would share the fate of other cities in the region due to Moab's pride and hostility towards Israel.

The exact location of Beth-jeshimoth is uncertain, but it is believed to be near the northeastern shore of the Dead Sea, possibly at the site known as Khirbet es-Suweimeh.

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.