בֵּית כַּר
Beth-Car, a place in Palestine
Definition
Beth-Car is a place name meaning 'house of pasture' or 'house of the lamb,' referring to a location in ancient Palestine. It is mentioned only once in the Bible as the site to which the Israelites pursued and defeated the Philistines after God's intervention at Mizpah (1 Samuel 7:11). As a proper noun, it functions solely as a geographical identifier, with no other attested meanings or senses in the biblical text. Its significance is entirely tied to this single historical event in Israel's early conflict with the Philistines.
Biblical Usage
This word is used only once in the Old Testament, in 1 Samuel 7:11, where it identifies the geographical limit of an Israelite military pursuit. The context is the narrative of Samuel's judgeship, following a great victory where God 'thundered with a mighty sound' against the Philistines at Mizpah. The usage pattern is strictly as a place name, with no symbolic or metaphorical application elsewhere in Scripture.
Etymology
The name Beth-Car is a compound of two Hebrew words: 'beth' (H1004, בַּיִת), meaning 'house' or 'household,' and 'kar' (H3733, כַּר), meaning 'pasture,' 'lamb,' or 'ram.' It is constructed similarly to other biblical place names beginning with 'Beth-' (e.g., Bethel, Bethlehem), indicating a settlement or notable site. The combined meaning suggests a location associated with grazing or livestock.
Semantic Range
As a place name, Beth-Car reflects the Israelite practice of naming locations based on geographical features or functions. A 'house of pasture' would have been understood as a settlement in a fertile area suitable for flocks, highlighting the agrarian and pastoral basis of the economy. Its mention marks the farthest point of a decisive military victory, which in ancient Near Eastern culture served to memorialize the event and define territorial control.
Bethel (Bêyth-'Êl, H1008) — A major cultic site meaning 'house of God.' | Bethlehem (Bêyth Lechem, H1035) — A city meaning 'house of bread.'
Word Details
How this works
Hebrew definitions are from Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906) and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), both public domain. BDB was groundbreaking for its era but reflects 19th-century assumptions about Semitic etymology. Modern scholarship (HALOT, DCH) has revised many entries. Use these definitions as a starting point for exploration, not as the final word on a term's meaning in context.
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