Beth-anath

Beth-anath appears as a fortified town within the tribal allotment of Naphtali, named both in the inheritance roster and in the later record of Israel's incomplete conquest.

In Naphtali's Inheritance

Beth-anath is included among the towns that close out Naphtali's allotment: "And Iron, and Migdal-el, Horem, and Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh; nineteen cities with their villages" (Jos 19:38). The town is grouped with Beth-shemesh in this final cluster of the tribe's holdings.

Canaanites Not Driven Out

When the conquest summary returns to Naphtali, Beth-anath surfaces alongside Beth-shemesh as a place whose original inhabitants the tribe failed to dispossess: "Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to slave labor" (Jud 1:33). The town remains in Naphtali's territory, but its Canaanite population is reduced to forced labor rather than cleared from the land.