Beth-haggan
Beth-haggan is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Galilee in modern-day Israel. Known today as Tell Jenin. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Beth-haggan, meaning "house of the garden," appears in 2 Kings 9:27 in a dramatic episode during Jehu's revolution against the house of Ahab. After Jehu kills King Joram of Israel at Jezreel, King Ahaziah of Judah flees southward by the road to Beth-haggan. Jehu pursues him and commands his men to strike Ahaziah down in his chariot on the ascent to Gur near Ibleam. Ahaziah is mortally wounded there, eventually dying in Megiddo. The mention of Beth-haggan in the pursuit narrative places it on the road leading south from Jezreel toward the coastal plain, making it a waypoint on the ancient road through the Dothan Valley. The site likely gave its name to the modern city of Jenin, which preserves the ancient name in modified form. The violence enacted near Beth-haggan represents the extension of Jehu's bloody purge into the royal family of Judah, fulfilling the prophetic word against all who had allied themselves with the idolatrous Ahab dynasty. The episode marks a pivotal transition in the political landscape of both Israel and Judah.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Beth-haggan is widely identified with ancient Jenin (Tell Jenin), located at the southwestern edge of the Jezreel Valley. The modern city of Jenin in the northern West Bank preserves the ancient name, and the identification has long been accepted by most biblical geographers. Tell Jenin itself has not been fully excavated due to the continuous occupation of the modern city over the ancient mound, but salvage excavations and surveys have recovered ceramics spanning the Bronze and Iron Ages. The site sits at a natural geographical crossroads controlling access between the Jezreel Valley and the central hill country, making it a strategically important location consistent with the narrative of Jehu's pursuit in 2 Kings 9.
Verse Appearances (1)
2Kgs
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]