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BETH-ZUR

(Heb. bêṯ-ṣûr)

A town in the southern hill country of Judah (Josh. 15:58) which may have been of Calebite origin (1 Chr 2:45). It is said to have been fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chr 11:7) and was apparently the center of an administrative district in the postexilic period (Neh. 3:16). Judas Maccabeus defeated Lysias near Beth-zur in 165 b.c. (1 Macc. 4:29). Lysias returned in 163 and took Beth-zur by siege (1 Macc. 6:31, 49), leaving behind a small garrison. Bacchides rebuilt the fortifications in 160 (1 Macc. 9:52), and it remained in Seleucid hands until Simon recaptured the city in 145 (11:65-66).

The name of the town apparently survives in the small site of Khirbet Burj eṣ-Òur, 20 km. (12 mi.) S of Jerusalem. Since this site dates to the Arab and Byzantine periods, most scholars accept the claim that ancient Beth-zur is to be identified with the larger ruins of Khirbet eṭ-Öubeiqah (1590.1108) only 500 m. (.5 mi.) from the smaller, more recent site. Two excavation seasons in 1931 and 1957 exposed extensive remains dating from the Middle Bronze Age through the Second Temple period. These excavations discovered that the Iron Age settlement at the site was unfortified, despite its being included in the list of towns fortified by Rehoboam. The fit between the archaeological and the historical evidence is much better for the period of the Maccabean Revolt.

Bibliography. R. W. Funk, “Beth-Zur,” NEAEHL 1:259-61; O. R. Sellers, et al., The 1957 Excavations at Beth-Zur. AASOR 38 (New Haven, 1968).

Wade R. Kotter

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BETH-ZUR

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)