BETH SHAN, BETH SHEAN (bĕth' shăn, bĕth' shē'ăn, Heb. bêth shan, bêth sheān, house of quiet). A town of Manasseh in the territory of Issachar. The people of Israel were not able to drive the Canaanites out of this town (Josh.17.11-Josh.17.12; Judg.1.27). It lay fourteen miles (twenty-three km.) south of the [[Sea of Galilee]], overlooking the [[Plain of Esdraelon]] in the Valley of Jezreel. After Saul died on [[Mount Gilboa]], the Philistines fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan and put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths as trophies of their victory (1Sam.31.8-1Sam.31.12). Later the men of [[Jabesh Gilead]] stole the bones of Saul and his sons from the street of Beth Shan, but David recovered them and gave them a proper burial (2Sam.21.12-2Sam.21.14).