{"id":14547,"date":"2008-03-28T21:01:58","date_gmt":"2008-03-29T02:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=14547"},"modified":"2019-10-31T21:04:57","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T02:04:57","slug":"what-does-beth-mean-in-various-town-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-beth-mean-in-various-town-names\/","title":{"rendered":"What does &#8220;beth&#8221; mean in various town names?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>I have a question that came up in my most recent studies with maps. My study sent me to look at the maps in the back of my Bible, and I found something quite interesting. There are some towns with names that begin with &#8216;Beth&#8217;, such as Bethlehem. My question pertains to the &#8216;Beth&#8217; part. Some of the locations are not hyphenated, Bethlehem or Bethel. However, several are, such as Beth-nimrah, Beth-arbel, Beth-shean. One town is Abel-beth-maacah. Why the hyphen, and what does &#8216;Beth&#8217; mean? Is this Hebrew? Is there a difference indicated by the hyphen, to signify something about the town?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Beth&#8221; is a transliteration of a Hebrew word which means &#8220;house.&#8221; It functions very much like &#8220;ville&#8221; or &#8220;borough&#8221; does in our town names.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bethel is literally &#8220;house of God.&#8221; &#8220;el&#8221; is the Hebrew word for God. This is where Jacob had the vision of a ladder to heaven.<\/li>\n<li>Bethlehem means &#8220;house of bread.&#8221; In others, it probably was known for its bakeries.<\/li>\n<li>Beth-nimrah means &#8220;house of the leopard.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Beth-haran means &#8220;house east of Jordan.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Beth-aven means &#8220;house of vanity.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Beth-horon means &#8220;house of hollowness.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Beth-baal-meon means &#8220;house of the habitation of Baal.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Beth-arbel means &#8220;house of God&#8217;s ambush.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Beth-shean means &#8220;house of ease.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Abel&#8221; in Hebrew means &#8220;meadow.&#8221; Maachah is a person&#8217;s name, so Abel-Beth-Maachah is the meadow by the house of Maachah. The use of hyphens is to indicate that in Hebrew the names are separate words as oppose to a word when a special ending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: I have a question that came up in my most recent studies with maps. My study sent me to look at the maps in the back of my Bible, and I found something quite interesting. There are some towns with names that begin with &#8216;Beth&#8217;, such as Bethlehem. My question pertains to the &#8216;Beth&#8217;&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[223,998],"class_list":["post-14547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-geography","tag-names"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12183,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-mission-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":14547,"position":0},"title":"The Mission of Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Matthew 5:17-20 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is hardly a denomination in existence that does not appeal to the Old Testament for portions of their practices. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many of the rituals in the Catholic church find their roots in the Old Testament, such as the burning of incense. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Protestants are not beyond dipping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sermon&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40908,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/psalms-119\/","url_meta":{"origin":14547,"position":1},"title":"Psalms 119","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Proverb 4:10-17 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How do you learn? What do you need to learn? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The evil decay, but a child of God must learn - II Timothy 3:13-17 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is important for all aspects of life - II Peter 1:3 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Your parents have invested a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18207,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-word-lord-mean-baal\/","url_meta":{"origin":14547,"position":2},"title":"Does the word &#8220;lord&#8221; mean &#8220;baal?&#8221;","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: It is my understanding that the word \"lord\" means \"baal.\" Can you shed some light on this? Answer: The word\u00a0baal\u00a0is a root word in Hebrew and other Semitic languages which can mean lord, owner, master, possessor, or husband depending on the context in which it is used. Owner \"If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50854,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-the-differences-between-the-three-names-of-god-in-psalms-1361-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":14547,"position":3},"title":"What are the differences between the three names of God in Psalms 136:1-3?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What are the differences between the three names of God in Psalms 136:1-3? Answer: \"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, For His\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28897,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-christian-supposed-to-be-natsarim\/","url_meta":{"origin":14547,"position":4},"title":"Is &#8220;Christian&#8221; supposed to be &#8220;natsarim&#8221;?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, brethren in Christ, I hope you are well and my greetings to you and the church. I have been going on your website for many answers to questions that I study and I get provided many concrete answers. I wanted to get some clarification on the word \"natsarim\".\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54338,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-were-michael-and-satan-arguing-about-the-body-of-moses\/","url_meta":{"origin":14547,"position":5},"title":"Why were Michael and Satan arguing about the body of Moses?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a Bible question about Jude:\u00a0 Why were Michael and Satan arguing about the corpse of Moses? Answer: \"Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}