Beth-Jeshimoth

or (as it is less correctly Anglicized in Numbers 33:49) Beth-jes'imoth (Heb. Beyth ha-Yeshimoth', בֵּית הִיְשִׁימוֹת [in Numbers 33:49, בֵּית הִיְשִׁמֹת ], house of the wastes; Sept. Αἰσιμώθ [v. r. Αἰσιμώθ ], but Βηθασιμώθ in Joshua 13:20, and Βηθιασιμούθ [v. r. Ι᾿ασιμούθ, Βηθασιμούθ ] in Ezekiel 25:9), a town or place not far east of Jordan, near Abel-Shittim, in the "deserts" (עֲרְבֹת ) of Moab — that is, on the lower level at the south end of the Jordan valley (Numbers 33:49)-and named with Ashdothpisgah and Beth-Peor. It was one of the limits of the encampment of Israel before crossing the Jordan. It lay within the territory of Sihon, king of the Amorites (Joshua 12:3), and was allotted to Reuben (Joshua 13:20), but came at last into the hands of Moab, and formed one of the cities which were "the glory of the country" (Ezekiel 25:9). According to Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v. Βηθασιμούθ, Bethsimuth) it was still called by the same name (τόποι τῇς Ι᾿σμούθ, Domus Isimuth), being "opposite Jericho, 10 miles to the south, near the Dead Sea," meaning apparently southeast, and across the Jordan. It is evidently the Besimoth (Βησιμώθ ) captured by Placidus, the general of Vespasian (Josephus, War, 4, 7, 6). Schwarz (Palest. p. 228) states that there are still "the ruins of a Beth-Jisimuth situated on the north- easternmost point of the Dead Sea, half a mile from the Jordan;" a locality which, although reported by no other traveler, cannot be far from correct (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 296).