Beeroth (or Beer) was a Hivite city that later became part of the territory allotted to the tribe of Benjamin.
Also known as Beer · Beerothite
Beeroth, also known as Beer, was a city originally inhabited by the Hivites, one of the Canaanite tribes. During the Israelite conquest of Canaan, the people of Beeroth, along with those of Gibeon, Chephirah, and Kiriath-jearim, deceived Joshua and the Israelites into making a peace treaty with them by pretending to be from a distant land (Joshua 9:17).
After the treaty was made, Beeroth was allotted to the tribe of Benjamin as part of their inheritance in the Promised Land (Joshua 18:25). The city was located in the region north of Jerusalem, near Gibeon and Kiriath-jearim.
Beeroth is mentioned in connection with several events in the Bible. It was the hometown of two of David's mighty men, Naharai (2Sa.23.37; 1Ch.11.39) and Rechab and Baanah, who murdered Ish-bosheth, Saul's son (2Sa.4.2-3, 5, 9). After the Babylonian exile, some of the people of Beeroth returned to Judah (Ezra 2:25; Nehemiah 7:29).
In Judges 9:21, Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, fled to Beer (possibly another name for Beeroth) for safety after confronting the people of Shechem about their support for his half-brother Abimelech, who had killed Jotham's brothers.
The city of Beeroth played a role in the early history of Israel, first as a Canaanite city that deceived the Israelites, then as part of the tribe of Benjamin's inheritance, and later as the hometown of some of David's mighty men and a place of refuge for Jotham.
Approximate location: 31.900, 35.217 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
Wells, one of the four cities of the Hivites which entered by fraud into a league with Joshua. It belonged to Benjamin (Josh. 18:25). It has by some been identified with el-Bireh on the way to Nablus, 10 miles north of Jerusalem.
(wells), one of the four cities of the Hivites who deluded Joshua into a treaty of peace with them. (Joshua 9:17) It is now el-Bireh, which stands about 10 miles north of Jerusalem.
BEE'ROTH (wells), one of four Hivite cities. Josh 9:17; now el-Bireh, 10 miles north of Jerusalem. See Beer, 2.
BEE'ROTH (wells), one of four Hivite cities. Josh 9:17; now el-Bireh, 10 miles north of Jerusalem. See Beer, 2.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
11 verses in 6 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H0881
So the Israelites set out and on the third day arrived at their cities—Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.
Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,
Then Jotham ran away, escaping to Beer, and he lived there for fear of his brother Abimelech.
Saulʼs son had two men who were leaders of raiding parties. One was named Baanah and the other Rechab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite of the tribe of Benjamin—Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin,
because the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have lived there as foreigners to this day.
Now Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out and arrived at the house of Ish-bosheth in the heat of the day, while the king was taking his midday nap.
But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress,
Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah,
Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah,
the men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743;
the men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743;
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.