BEZEK
BEZEK (
Βεζέκ,
Βεζέκη), a city of the Canaanites at the time of the entering in of the children of Israel; the capital of a district which gave its name to one of the petty kings or sheikhs of the country. (
Judg. 1.4, 5.)
It is only mentioned again in 1
Sam. 11.8, though it may be doubted whether these two are identical, as the former was in Judah, and the latter apparently in Benjamin. Eusebius and St. Jerome (
Onom. s. v.) mention two cities of that name, near each other, 17 miles from Neapolis, on the road to Scythopolis.
But these cannot represent either of the Scripture sites. The Greeks mention a place in the eastern borders of the diocese of Bethlehem, now called Beletza, which they say was formerly Bezek: this would be in Judah. (Williams's
Holy City, vol. i. Appendix, p. 493.)
[
G.W]