Around Jerusalem and the Dead Sea Places

Bet Shemesh

The modern town of Bet Shemesh, a thriving bedroom suburb serving both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, takes its name from its ancient predecessor, now entombed by the tell on a rise on Route 38, 2 km (1 mi) south of the main entrance.

This is Samson country. Samson, one of the judges of Old Testament Israel, is better known for his physical prowess and lust for Philistine women than for his shining spiritual qualities, but it was here,"between Zorah and Eshta'ol," that "the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him" (Judges 13). Today, Eshta'ol is a moshav (a cooperative settlement composed of individual farms) a few minutes' drive north, and Tzora (Zorah) is the wine-producing kibbutz immediately to the west.