Beit-She’an Israel
Beit-She’an Israel. Beit- She’an is alluded to in the Bible as having been controlled by the Philistines, and that on the walls of Beit She’an they hanged the bodies of Saul and his sons (I Sam. 31:10). Bei’t Shean is not mentioned by name in the New Testament, but it was a member of the ‘Decapolis’, a league of ten pagan cities which Jesus visited (cf. Matthew 4:25). Jesus may have visited Be’it Shean on his way to the baptism as well as on one of his pilgrimages to Jerusalem.
Decapolis cities were politically and culturally affiliated and were supported by the Romans. The Gospels record Jesus visiting the cities of the Decapolis (Mark 7:31), but none are mentioned by name.
