BETHHACCAREM
BETHHACCAREM (Βαιθαχαρμά, Βηθαγχαρίμ), mentioned by Jeremiah (6.1.) as the place where the beacon fire should be lighted to give the alarm of the Chaldaeans' approach to Jerusalem. “Malchiah, the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of Beth-haccarem,” is mentioned by Nehemiah (3.14), which would seem to intimate that it was a place of considerable importance after the captivity. St. Jerome (Comment. in Jerem. l.c.) speaks of it as a village of Juda, situated on a mountain between Aelia and Thecua--i. e. Tekoa. Its site was conjecturally fixed by Pocock (Trav. ii. p. 42) to a very remarkable conical hill, about three miles east of Bethlehem, and about the same distance north of [p. 1.397]Tekoa, conspicuous over all the neighbourhood, called by the natives Jebel Fureidîs, the Frank Mountain of European travellers, at the foot of which are the ruins of HERODIUM. (Robinson, B. R., vol. ii. pp. 170, 174.) [G.W]BETH-HARAN [BETHARAMPHTHA]