Bible Encyclopedias
Beth-Barah

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

beth -bā´ra ( בּית בּרה , bēth bārāh ; Βαιθηρά , Baithērá ): Perhaps Bēth -‛ăbhāra , the guttural being lost in copying. It is a ford which the Midianites were expected to pass in fleeing from Gideon. Messengers were therefore sent by Gideon to the Ephraimites bidding them "take before them the waters, as far as Beth-barah, even (the Revised Version, margin "and also") the Jordan" (Judges 7:24 ). "The waters" were the streams emptying themselves into the Jordan: "even the Jordan" is a gloss on "the waters." Between the Jordan and the modern Wady Fari‛ah an enemy could be entrapped; it is therefore probable that Beth-barah was on that stream near its entrance into the Jordan. See BETHABARA .