BETH-BARAH

(Beth-barʹah) [house of the ford or passage].

When Gideon’s forces were pursuing the fleeing Midianites, Gideon sent word to the men of Ephraim to capture “the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan” (Judg. 7:24), evidently to prevent the enemy from crossing the Jordan. Since the battle took place in the low plain of Jezreel (Judg. 6:33), this would indicate a site W of the Jordan. The identification is uncertain, but a location near the mouth of the Wadi Farʽah is suggested as a likely and strategic site. A similar tactic was employed by Ehud in the fight against the Moabites and they “got to capture the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites.”—Judg. 3:27, 28.