BET ḤARODON

BET ḤARODON, locality 3 mi. (5 km.) S. of Jerusalem. It was on the road leading to Bukei'a in the wilderness where the he-goat that was allotted to azazel in the Temple ritual on the Day of Atonement was pushed to its death from a cliff (Yoma 4:2ff.; Yoma 66bff.). It has been identified with Khirbat Ḥarazān near the wilderness of Ẓuq. Bet Ḥarodon is also mentioned (in the form Ḥarodona) in a marriage contract from 117 C.E., written in Aramaic, found in the Murabbaʿat cave. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Avi-Yonah, Geog, 104, 226; P. Benoit et al., Les Grottes de Murabbaʿat (1961), 111. (Michael Avi-Yonah)