Betheden
Beth-e'den (Heb. Beyth E'den, בֵּית עֶדֶן, house of pleasantness; Sept. confusedly translates ἄνδρες Χαῤῥάν; Vulg. domus voluntatis), apparently a city of Syria, situated on Mount Lebanon, the seat of a native king, threatened with destruction by the prophet (Am 1:5, where the Auth. Vers. renders it "house of Eden"); probably the name of a country residence of the kings of Damascus. Michaelis (Suppl. ad Leg. Hebr. s.v.), following Laroque's description, and misled by an apparent resemblance in name, identified it with Ehden, about a day's journey from Baalbek, on the eastern slope of the Libanus, and near the old cedars of Bshirrai. Baur (Amos, p. 224), in accordance with the Mohammedan tradition that one of the four terrestrial paradises was in the valley between the ranges of the Libanus and Anti- Libanus, is inclined to favor the same hypothesis. But Grotius, with greater appearance of probability, pointed to the Paradise (Παράδεισος, park) of Ptolemy (5, 15) as the locality of Eden. The village Jusieh el-Kadimeh, a site with extensive ruins, about 1.5 hour S.E. of Riblah, near the Orontes, but now a paradise no longer, is supposed by Dr. Robinson (Later Researches, p. 556) to mark the site of the ancient Paradisus; and his suggestion is approved by Mr. Porter (Handb. p. 577), but doubted by Ritter (Erdk. 17, 997-999). Again, it has been conjectured that Beth-Eden is no other than Beit-Jenn, "the house of Paradise," not far to the south- west of Damascus, on the eastern slope of the Hermon, and a short distance from Medjel. It stands on a branch of the ancient Pharpar, near its source (Rosenmuller, Bibl. Alt. 2, 291; Hitzig, Amos, in loc.; Porter, Damascus, 1, 311).
