What is…
Bethshean

also known as: Beth-shean, Bethshan, Beit She'an, Scythopolis

Meaning: house of security or rest

This is a city which belonged to the tribe of Manasseh (1 Chronicles 7:29), on the west of Jordan.

The bodies of Saul and his sons were fastened to its walls.

In Solomon’s time it gave its name to a district (1 Kings 4:12).

The name is found in an abridged form, Bethshan, in 1 Samuel 31:10, 12 and 2 Samuel 21:12.

It is on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus, about 5 miles from the Jordan, and 14 from the south end of the Lake of Gennesaret.

After the Captivity, it was called Scythopolis, i.e., “the city of the Scythians,” who about B.C. 640 came down from the steppes of Southern Russia and settled in different places in Syria. It is now called Beit She'an (Beisan).