Beth-jeshimoth
Beth-jeshimoth is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Transjordan in modern-day Israel. Known today as Tell Azeimeh. It appears across 4 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Beth-jeshimoth, whose name likely means "house of the desolations" or "place of the wastes," appears in the biblical record as a town on the northeastern frontier of Moabite territory near the Dead Sea. Numbers 33:49 records it as the last Israelite encampment before entering Canaan, where the Israelites camped in the plains of Moab stretching from Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim. This placed it at a pivotal moment in salvation history: it was here that Israel stood poised on the threshold of the Promised Land after forty years of wilderness wandering. The territory was subsequently assigned to the tribe of Reuben (Joshua 12:3; 13:20), confirming its incorporation into Israel's tribal allotments east of the Jordan. Ezekiel later lists Beth-jeshimoth among the Moabite towns subject to divine judgment (Ezekiel 25:9), indicating that the region had reverted to Moabite control during the later monarchy period. Its proximity to Shittim, the site of Israel's catastrophic moral failure with Baal-peor, places Beth-jeshimoth within one of the most theologically charged landscapes in all of Israel's wilderness narrative.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Beth-jeshimoth is generally identified with Tell Azeimeh (also spelled Tell el-Azeimeh), located on the northeast shore of the Dead Sea in the lower Jordan Valley, in modern Jordan. The tell sits at the edge of the plains of Moab and commands views across the rift valley. Archaeological surveys have identified Iron Age and Late Bronze Age pottery at the site, consistent with Israelite and Moabite period occupation. The tell remains largely unexcavated, but its topographical position aligns well with the biblical description of the Israelite encampment stretching across this section of the Moabite plains.
Verse Appearances (4)
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]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]