Bible Encyclopedias
Beth-Haccherem

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

beth -ha -kē´rem , beth -hak´e -rem (the King James Version Beth-haccerem; בּית הכּרם , bēth ha -kerem ; Βηθαχχαρμά , Bēthachcharmá (see DB ), "place of the vineyard"): A district (in Nehemiah 3:14 ) ruled over by one, Malchijah; mentioned in Jeremiah 6:1 as a suitable signal station. From its association with Tekoa ( Jeremiah 6:1 ) and from the statement by Jerome that it was a village which he could see daily from Bethlehem, the Frank mountain (Herodium) has been suggested. It certainly would be a unique place for a beacon. More suitable is the fertile vineyard country around ‛Ain Kārem (the "spring of the vineyard"). On the top of Jebel ‛Ali , above this village, are some remarkable cairns which, whatever their other uses, would appear to have been once beacons. around ‛Ain Kārem appears as Carem in the Septuagint (Joshua 15:59 ). See BETH-CAR .