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Beth Horon Pass
by Galyn Wiemers, Generation Word

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Beth Horon in the Bible:

Joshua 16:5; 21:22, Benjamin/Ephraim border passed along Lower and Upper Beth Horon which belonged to Ephraim;
2 Chronicles 8:5; 1 Kings 9:17, Solomon built Upper and Lower Beth Horon by fortifying them with walls, gates and bars;
Joshua 21:22;
1 Chronicles 6:53,
Beth Horon is a city for the Levites;

Beth Horon is the name of two adjacent towns 2 miles apart: Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon. They are 10 miles NW of Jerusalem and 23 miles SE of Joppa. Both were located on the strategically important Gibeon to Aijalon road. They protected the way into the hill country from the Coastal Plain through the Valley of Aijalon.
The road that ascends through the Valley of Aijalon known as the “Pass of Beth Horon” or “Ascent of Beth Horon, becomes narrow and rocky as it nears Lower Beth Horon. The elevation between Lower and Upper Beth Horon changes 800 feet in less than two miles. (1,240 feet to 2,022 feet) In 166 BC Judas Maccabaeus fought the Seleucid forces fo General Seron at the The Battle of Beth Horon. Seron was defeated as he tried to march his troops in phalanx formation of the steep incline of the Beth Horon pass and the Maccabaean forces used the terrain to their advantage and set ambushes to defeat the Seleucid troops.


Joshua 10:10, Joshua slew the kings of the Amorites at Gibeon and chased them by the way of the “Ascent of Beth Horon;

1 Samuel 13:17-18, While Saul and Jonathan were in Gibeah the Philistines camped at Micmash and sent raiding parties out, one went to Beth Horon to hold the pass.

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