BEZEK(Βεζέκ, Βεζέκη), a city of the Canaanites at the time of the entering in of the children of Israel; the capital of a district which gave its name to one of the petty kings or sheikhs of the country. ( Judg. 1.4, 5.) It is only mentioned again in 1 Sam. 11.8, though it may be doubted whether these two are identical, as the former was in Judah, and the latter apparently in Benjamin. Eusebius and St. Jerome ( Onom. s. v. ) mention two cities of that name, near each other, 17 miles from Neapolis, on the road to Scythopolis. But these cannot represent either of the Scripture sites. The Greeks mention a place in the eastern borders of the diocese of Bethlehem, now called Beletza, which they say was formerly Bezek: this would be in Judah. (Williams's Holy City, vol. i. Appendix, p. 493.)
[G.W]