Beth Shean

Beth Shean is a picturesque archaeological site featuring fertile, green pastures, framed by mountains on the horizon. Its geography made it an important, defensive city in Israel’s history. Along with its strategic location, Beth Shean is also the place of one of the most tragic events of the Old Testament. 

1st Samuel 9-31 tells us about a most impressive young man. He was head-and-shoulder above his peers. His name was Saul and everyone wanted him as their king. But after a tumultuous life haunted by what might have been, Saul killed himself on Mt. Gilboa rather than be taken by the Philistines (31:1-6).

When the Philistines came upon his corpse, they beheaded him. His head was taken to the temple of their god, Dagon. His family’s armor was given as a victory offering in the temple of Ashtaroth (1st Chronicles 10:8-10). His body, along with the bodies of his sons, was hung on the walls of Beth Shean. 

Messengers hurried to Philistia “to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people” (1st Samuel 31:9). Likewise, the reports of their humiliation spread throughout Israel. 

One night, some very courageous men from Jabesh-gilead, a town east of the Jordan whose inhabitants Saul had once delivered, went to Beth Shean, recovered the bodies, and carried them back to be properly buried.

King David’s intense grief over the death of the Lord’s anointed and the loss of his best friend, Jonathan, produced this beautiful lament:

“Your beauty, O Israel, is slain on your high places!

How have the mighty fallen! . . .. . . Saul and Jonathan, beloved and pleasant in their life,And in their death they were not parted;They were swifter than eagles,They were stronger than lions.”(2nd Samuel 1:19, 23)

Later, Beth Shean was renamed Scythopolis (“city of the Scythians”).