Bethshemesh

William Smith's Bible Dictionary

(house of the sun).


• One of the towns which marked the north boundary of Judah. (Joshua 15:10) It is now 'Ainshems, about two miles from the great Philistine plain, and seven from Ekron.

• A city on the border of Issachar. (Joshua 19:22)

• One of the "fenced cities" of Naphtali. (Joshua 19:38; Judges 1:33)

• An idolatrous temple, or place in Egypt. (Jeremiah 43:13) In the middle ages Heliopolis was still called by the Arabs Ain Shems.

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