Bet Shemesh, Israel
Tourism

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Qiryat Gad and Ashqelon. Bet Shemesh has developed in a relatively short time from a tented settlement for new immigrants into a modern town. Since most of the settlers were employed on re-afforestation there are extensive pinewoods in the area. There is a cement factory, using limestone from quarries in the Judaean Hills.

History

The new settlement was named after the Biblical Beth-shemesh, the site of which was identified in 1838 on a tell to the west of the town and excavated before and after the First World War. The excavations revealed the existence on this site of a Hyksos and later a Canaanite town dating back to the 18th century B.C. The name Beth-shemesh means "House of the Sun" - probably referring to a Canaanite temple, the foundations of which were found.

In the 13th century Joshua took the town (Joshua 21,16). In the 11th century the Philistines defeated the Israelites in a battle at Eben-ezer and captured the Ark of the Covenant; but its possession brought them ill luck and they returned it to the Israelites. The cart carrying the Ark, drawn by two milch kine, halted for a time in Beth-shemesh (1 Samuel 6,12) and then continued to Kirjath-jearim (Qiryat Yearim, near Abu Ghosh). About 800 B.C. there was a battle at Beth- shemesh between King Amaziah of Judah and King Jehoash of Israel (2 Kings 14,11).

The excavations showed that the site was still occupied in Hellenistic and Roman times. Over these remains the Mamelukes built a caravanserai in the 13th or 14th century.