Bela

The name Bela attaches in the UPDV to four distinct figures and to one city. The same three letters cover a town on the southern edge of the Plain of the Jordan, an early Edomite king, the firstborn son of Benjamin (with a clan and a long line of descendants), and a Reubenite landholder east of the Jordan. The verses gather around four pegs in turn.

A City Also Called Zoar

In the war of the kings against Sodom, "the king of Bela (the same is Zoar)" stands among the five city-kings of the plain. The gloss is given twice in the same chapter, fixing the identification: "that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar)" (Gen 14:2); "And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar); and they set the battle in array against them in the valley of Siddim" (Gen 14:8). Bela is the older name; Zoar is the name that survives the cataclysm narrative.

A King of Edom

In the Edomite king-list of Genesis 36 — the kings "before any king reigned over the sons of Israel" — Bela the son of Beor is the first named: "And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah" (Gen 36:32). His reign closes immediately: "And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead" (Gen 36:33). The Chronicler repeats the same notice in nearly identical words. The opening: "Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the sons of Israel: Bela the son of Beor; and the name of his city was Dinhabah" (1 Chr 1:43). The closing: "And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead" (1 Chr 1:44). The Edomite Bela is named, located at Dinhabah, and succeeded — no further deeds are recorded.

A Son of Benjamin and the Belaites

The most extended Bela in the UPDV is Benjamin's firstborn. He stands at the head of a clan and a multigenerational genealogy. The wilderness census fixes his place at the head of his sons: "The sons of Benjamin after their families: of Bela, the family of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites; of Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites" (Num 26:38). His own house then divides further: "And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the family of the Ardites; of Naaman, the family of the Naamites" (Num 26:40).

The Chronicler returns to him several times. Genesis 46 lists his sons in the migration into Egypt: "And the sons of Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel; and the sons of Bela were: Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, and Muppim; and Gera begot Ard" (Gen 46:21). The Chronicler's Benjamin opens with the same three-son grouping: "[The sons of] Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three" (1 Chr 7:6). He then expands Bela's house into a warrior register: "And the sons of Bela: Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of fathers' houses, mighty men of valor; and they were reckoned by genealogy twenty and two thousand and thirty and four" (1 Chr 7:7).

A second Chronicler pedigree of Benjamin re-fixes Bela's birth-order: "And Benjamin begot Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, and Aharah the third" (1 Chr 8:1), and again names his sons: "And Bela had sons: Addar, and Gera, and Abihud" (1 Chr 8:3). The various son-lists do not all match each other word-for-word, but Bela's place at the head of Benjamin's line is constant across them.

A Son of Azaz Among the Reubenites

A fourth Bela appears in the Chronicler's roll of Reuben, with territory east of the Jordan: "and Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who dwelt in Aroer, even to Nebo and Baal-meon" (1 Chr 5:8). His descent runs through Azaz, Shema, and Joel; his settlement reaches from Aroer to Nebo and Baal-meon. He is mentioned only here.

Same Name, Four Pegs

The umbrella holds four references that the UPDV does not collapse: a city of the plain glossed as Zoar, a son of Beor who reigned in Edom from Dinhabah, the firstborn of Benjamin whose Belaite clan persists from the census through the Chronicler's warrior-rolls, and a Reubenite settler from Aroer to Baal-meon. Each comes with its own father-name or its own gloss, so the four are kept distinct on the page.