Baalath
“Mistress-ship, another form of Baalah”
☩Location and Identity
Baalath was a town in the tribe of Dan, named alongside Gibbethon, Gath-rimmon, and other Philistine places. The site has been identified by some scholars with the modern Bel'ain, seven miles east of Jimzu, while others locate it at Deir Balut on the southern edge of Wady Kerama. The Jerusalem Talmud records that Baalath lay so near the boundary between Dan and Judah that its fields were in one tribe while its buildings were in another.
☩Solomon's Fortification
Solomon rebuilt Baalath as one of his store cities, along with Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, and Tadmor. Josephus places this Baalath in the southern part of Palestine near Gazara (Gezer), consistent with Dan's original southern territory before the migration recorded in Judges 18.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Baalath," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. I (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Baalath," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. I (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.George Morrish, "Baalath," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).