Beit HaKerem (Bible)

Beit HaKerem (Hebrew: בית הכרם, lit. "house of the vineyard"; Beth HakKerem in Biblical Hebrew) is a biblical place associated with the Tribe of Judah (Nehemiah 3:14).

For other uses, see Beit HaKerem (disambiguation).

Possible location

Some identify Beit HaKerem with Ein Kerem.[1] Others place Beit HaKerem south of Jerusalem, at Ramat Rachel, where cairns on the ridge may have served as beacons of old.[2] Others say it was near Tekoa, later known as Herodium.[3][4] Neubauer, citing the Church Father Jerome, writes that from Bethlehem one could see Bethacharma, thought to be the Beit HaKerem of Jeremiah.[5] According to the Bible, the trumpet sounded against the invading army of Babylon at this place (Jeremiah 6:1).

Beit Hakerem was a district center during the Persian Period, (Nehemiah 3:14). Archeological finds at Ramat Rachel have yielded dozens of seal impressions on jar handles from the 4th-3rd centuries BCE bearing the inscription yehud, the official name of the province of Judah in this period.[2]

References
  1. Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. p. 20.
  2. "Ramat Rahel - A Royal Citadel and a Palace of the Last Kings of Judah", Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, June 24 2001. Retrieved on September 9, 2011
  3. "Bethhaccerem", Smith's Bible Dictionary. Retrieved on September 9, 2011.
  4. Morris Jastrow Jr. and Frants Buhl. "BETH-HACCEREM", JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved on September 9, 2011
  5. Neubauer’s Geography: Adolphe Neubauer, La Géographie du Talmud, Paris 1868, pp. 131 – 132, s.v. Jerome, Comm. ad Amos, VI, 1
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