Atlas Biblica

    place

    Beth-aven

    בֵּית אָ֫וֶן

    Beth-aven was a town and wilderness near Ai and Bethel, associated with idolatry and Israel's defeat.

    Where the story of Beth-aven happensWhere the gazetteer locates Beth-aven, framed to them: Beth-aven. Each dot is a coordinate from the gazetteer. The coastline is a modern one, simplified; no border, road or settlement of any period is drawn, and no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.Beth-aven
    Where the gazetteer locates Beth-aven
    verses
    7
    first named
    Joshua 7:2
    last named
    Hosea 10:5
    feature
    settlement
    coordinates
    31.87°N · 35.27°E
    settlement31.87°N · 35.27°E

    Tell Maryam (OpenBible)

    Scholarship offers 6 identifications for this place. The leading one is shown; the others are recorded in the gazetteer.

    Description

    Beth-aven in the text

    In the words of STEPBible TIPNR:

    Beth-aven, meaning "house of wickedness" or "house of idolatry" in Hebrew, was a town and wilderness area mentioned in the Old Testament. In Joshua 7:2, Beth-aven is described as being east of Bethel and near the city of Ai. Spies were sent from Joshua's camp at Gilgal to Ai, and they reported that the city was small and could be easily defeated. However, when the Israelites attacked Ai, they were defeated because of the sin of Achan (Joshua 7:3-5).

    In Joshua 18:12, Beth-aven is mentioned as part of the northern border of the territory allotted to the tribe of Benjamin, near Bethel. Later, in 1Sa.13.5, the Philistines gathered their forces at Michmash, east of Beth-aven, in preparation for battle against Israel. During this conflict, Saul's son Jonathan and his armor-bearer initiated an attack on the Philistine garrison, which led to a great victory for Israel (1Sa.14.1-23).

    The prophets Hosea and Amos used Beth-aven as a derogatory term for Bethel, which had become a center of idolatry in Israel (Hosea 4:15; 5:8; 10:5). Hosea warned the people not to go to Gilgal or Beth-aven, and Amos denounced the idolatrous practices at Bethel.

    Relations

    Direct connections

    Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.

    Stands in the same events as

    Read it

    Where to read it

    Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 7, across 3 books.

    1. Joshua2 verses

      7:218:12

    2. 1 Samuel2 verses

      13:514:23

    3. Hosea3 verses

      4:155:810:5

    Onward

    Where this page goes

    Nothing in the graph stands one hop from this entity yet. These are the best-connected entities of the same type, so the page still ends somewhere. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.

    ElsewhereJerusalemThe capital of Israel, a holy city for three religionsElsewhereEgyptAncient nation; Israelites enslaved there; plagues and ExodusElsewhereJordanA river and region, significant in Israel's history

    Where they appear

    What happened here

    Atlas's reading of each chapter this place appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.

    Sources

    What this rests on