My first encounter with Beth Alpha occurred quite by accident. I was hiking Mt. Gilboa from east to west, starting at a point west of Beth Shean in the Jordan Valley, when, as the day wore on and it was getting late, I realized that I didn’t have a plan for returning to Haifa. I pulled out Google Earth to examine my options. Beth Alpha was the closest town with a bus stop. At the time, I was on the north side of Mt. Gilboa and had to scramble over the mountain before I could start my descent to the town. I took the photo in the group of photos below (green landscape) following a path through one of the ravines above Beth Alpha, which came into view just before I reached the bottom. Walking to the bus stop through town, I passed close to the synagogue, not knowing it was even there. I recently returned to Beth Alpha (July 2025) to see the synagogue, which I had since learned about (photos below).
For more on synagogues before and after the destruction of the Second Temple, see “Ancient Synagogues,” in Blessed Pilgrimage: The Way of Christ the Lord, on this website.
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An explanation of the beautiful four-panel mosaic floor of the Beth Alpha synagogue appears with each of the last four photos (below). Clicking the images brings up an even larger version of each. The synagogue, like other fifth-century Byzantine period structures, contains a courtyard (atrium), an anteroom (narthex), a main hall, an apse at the end of the main hall, and two aisles with pillars that supported the roof. Excavators found the remains of a tiled roof in the main hall.
The fourth panel is before the apse of the synagogue, which faces Jerusalem. It is a depiction of the Ark of the Covenant that was kept in Shiloh during the period of the Judges (Josh. 18:1). Above the Ark is a cornucopia. Around the Ark are two menorahs, birds, a pair of lions, and various utensils from the Temple in Jerusalem.
The third panel depicts a Jewish zodiac, accompanied by symbols representing the months along with their names in Hebrew and Aramaic. The center of the zodiac depicts the sun god Helios, riding in a chariot drawn by four horses. He represents God’s role in creation as the source of light and life. The figures of women in the corners symbolize the four seasons of the year.
The second panel depicts the sacrifice of Isaac. Visible are two youths and a donkey, a ram with its horns caught in the thicket, and a bearded Abraham holding Isaac over the altar. The caption above the altar reads “Lay not,” from God’s words to Abraham: “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me” (Gen. 22:12, emphasis added; cf. Jacob 4:5).
The Book of Mormon passage (Jacob 4:5) provides a fascinating insight. The prophet Jacob compared Abraham sacrificing Isaac to God the Father sacrificing His Only Begotten Son, even Jesus Christ. With this thought in mind, consider what President Eyring said on his social media account this week (July 30, 2025): “The loving God who allowed these tests [i.e., the challenges of mortality] . . . also designed a sure way to pass through them. Heavenly Father so loved the world that He sent His Beloved Son to help us. His Son, Jesus Christ, gave His life for us. Jesus Christ bore in Gethsemane and on the cross the weight of all our sins. He experienced all the sorrows, the pains, and the effects of our sins so that He could comfort and strengthen us through every test in life” (emphasis added). Indeed, the sure way is Jesus Christ, now and forever.
The first panel at the entrance to the synagogue contains two inscriptions, flanked by a lion and a bull (see the main photo above). The partly destroyed Aramaic inscription reads, “This mosaic was laid in the year of the reign . . . of Justin the [Byzantine] emperor for the sale sum of one hundred measures of wheat . . . that were donated by the people of the village.” The Greek inscription above it reads, “May the craftsmen who carved out this work, Marianos and his son Hanina, be held in remembrance.” Their names also appear in the synagogue of Beth Shean, where the two men probably had their shop.
Photos of kidnapped Israelis being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. The sign reads: “Until the last hostage [comes home]” — Other signs in town read, “The people [of Israel] stand with the hostages.”
View southeast: The entrance gate to Beth Alpha. This photo was taken from the bus stop where I pick up the bus to Afula (see the map). The mountain behind the town is Mt. Gilboa, where King Saul and his son Jonathan were killed in a battle with the Philistines (1 Sam. 31:1–13). Photo date: July 27, 2025.
View northwest: The town of Beth Alpha from Mt. Gilboa. The hills across the valley (Harod or Beth Shean valley) north of town are the "hill of Moreh" (left; Judg. 7:1) and Mt. Tabor (right; Judg. 4:6). Photo date: March 7, 2022 (see the map).
The Beth Alpha dairy is across from the bus stop leading out of town. The kibbutz has three primary industries, with dairy being one of them. It was the first dairy in Israel to use robotic milking technology. The other two industries are poultry and furniture manufacturing.
(Click map to toggle overlay)
View north. Note: I use the caption “well of Harod” because that’s how the KJV translates the Hebrew word for Ein or En in Judg. 7:1. Ein is the shortened form of the full Hebrew word for spring, ma’ayan. Thus, it should be “spring of Harod” and not well of Harod. The full name of the park is Ma'ayan Harod National Park.
Whenever I visit an ancient synagogue in Israel, two things come to mind: (1) Jews have continuously occupied this land for centuries, and (2) synagogues before the destruction of the Second Temple (Herod the Great's temple) were like town halls of today. Local people congregated in the synagogue to listen and discuss both religious and community affairs. This setting is the one in which we find Jesus throughout the New Testament, whenever He teaches in a synagogue.
Earlier this week, I visited the synagogue of Beth Alpha, an Israeli kibbutz west of Beth Shean. I also managed to put up a Beth Alpha National Park page on Bible Land Images (https://biblelandimages.com/sites/bet_alpha.php) that explains the stunning four-panel mosaic floor discovered at the kibbutz in 1928. It's the most beautiful mosaic floor in the country and has a compelling story to tell.
As always, I present other photos to give you a glimpse into Israeli society. Remember to click the page title, "Beth Alpha National Park," to get an orientation map of the area.
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