BETHBAALMEON [smith]
(
house of Baalmeon), a place in the possessions of Reuben, on the downs (Authorized Version "plain") east of the Jordan. (
Joshua 13:17) At the Israelites? first approach is name was BAAL-MEON, (
Numbers 32:38) or, in its contracted form, BEON (
Numbers 32:3) to which the Beth was possibly a Hebrew addition. Later it would seem to have come into possession of Moab, and to be known either as Beth-meon, (
Jeremiah 48:23) or Baal-meon. (
Ezekiel 25:9) The name is still attached to a ruined place of considerable size a short distance to the southwest of
Hesban , and bearing the name of "the fortress of
Mi?un, " or
Makin .
