House of safety.

Three miles from Jordan on the edge of plain of Jezreel, on the road from Damascus to Egypt, and to Jerusalem via Shechem (Josh. 17: 11, 16; Judg. 1: 27; 1 Sam. 31: 10, 12; 2 Sam. 21: 12; 1 Kgs. 4: 12; 1 Chr. 7: 29). It was at Beth-shan that the dead bodies of Saul and three of his sons were fastened to the city wall (1 Sam. 31: 10-13). It was afterwards known as Scythopolis, and in our Lord’s time was one of the cities of Decapolis. Beth-shan has been an extremely fruitful archaeological site, containing Egyptian and Canaanite ruins of early Palestinian history.