Beerah
Beerah, a leader from the tribe of Reuben, was taken into exile by Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria.
Biography
Beerah was a prince of the tribe of Reuben, identified in 1 Chronicles 5:6 as the son of Baal and a leader among his people. His story concludes in tragedy: he was carried into exile by Tiglath-Pileser III, king of Assyria, during the Assyrian campaigns against the northern tribes of Israel around 733-732 BC (1 Chronicles 5:6, 26). The Assyrian deportation of the Transjordanian tribes, Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, was a devastating blow, scattering communities that had settled east of the Jordan since the days of Moses. Beerah's deportation was part of the broader judgment that fell on the northern kingdom for its persistent idolatry and covenant unfaithfulness, which the Chronicler explicitly notes as the reason for the exile.
Significance
Beerah's exile at the hands of Tiglath-Pileser III serves as a sobering illustration of the covenantal consequences Israel faced for abandoning God. The Chronicler presents the Assyrian deportation not as political misfortune but as divine judgment: the tribes 'played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land' (1 Chronicles 5:25), and God 'stirred up the spirit' of the Assyrian king against them. Beerah's story thus embodies the prophetic warning that unfaithfulness to the covenant carries real and irreversible consequences. His fate is a historical anchor for the theological message that God's patience has limits and that national apostasy invites national ruin.
Verse Appearances (1)
1 Chronicles
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]