Beth-ashbea

Beth-ashbea was a settlement of linen-weavers in the tribe of Judah, preserved in the Chronicler's detailed genealogy of Judahite craftsmen and family guilds: "The sons of Shelah the son of Judah were... and the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen, of the house of Ashbea" (1 Chronicles 4:21). The catalog gives a rare glimpse of the trade-guild families that filled the Judean economy — linen workers descended from Shelah son of Judah whose craft was passed down through the generations. The exact site of Beth-ashbea is unknown but lay somewhere in the Shephelah or southern hill country of Judah.