place
Beth-millo
בֵּית מִלּוֹא
Beth-millo was a fortified place in Shechem where the men of the city made Abimelech king, later becoming his enemies. (Judges 9:6, 20)
- verses
- 3
- first named
- Judges 9:6
- last named
- 2 Kings 12:20
- feature
- structure
Description
Beth-millo in the text
Beth-millo, meaning "house of the filling" or "house of the rampart" in Hebrew, was a fortified place or citadel within the city of Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim. It is mentioned in the context of Abimelech's rise to power and his subsequent conflict with the people of Shechem.
In Judges 9:6, the men of Shechem and Beth-millo gathered together to make Abimelech, the son of Gideon (Jerubbaal), king over them. This event took place by the terebinth tree at the pillar in Shechem, suggesting that Beth-millo was a significant part of the city and that its inhabitants had a say in the selection of their ruler.
However, the relationship between Abimelech and the people of Shechem and Beth-millo deteriorated over time. In Judges 9:20, Jotham, Abimelech's half-brother, prophesied that fire would come from Abimelech to devour the men of Shechem and Beth-millo and that fire would come from them to devour Abimelech. This prophecy came true when the men of Shechem turned against Abimelech and he, in turn, destroyed the city and killed its inhabitants (Judges 9:23-49).
The exact nature and location of Beth-millo within Shechem are not specified in the Bible. Some scholars suggest that it may have been a fortified citadel or a residential area for the city's upper class. Others propose that it could have been a part of the city's defensive structures, such as a filled-in rampart or a tower.
The story of Abimelech and Beth-millo highlights the political instability and power struggles that characterized the period of the judges in Israel's history. It also demonstrates the consequences of making alliances with those who do not follow God's ways.
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.
Site of
Stands in the same events as
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 3, across 2 books. The name is written 4 times in them.
Onward
Where this page goes
Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
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