Barry J. Beitzel (born August 6, 1942, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania) is an Old Testament scholar, geographer, cartographer, and translator of the Bible.
Dr. Beitzel is married to his wife Carol (née Watson); together they have three children (Bradley Jay [1968], Bryan Kent [1970], Kelly Melinda [1980]) and ten grandchildren.
Following a BA in Bible and an MA in Old Testament, Beitzel matriculated into The Dropsie University (Philadelphia; merged with the University of Pennsylvania in 1993; renamed the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies in 2008), where he earned a PhD degree in ancient Near Eastern Languages and Literatures in 1976; his dissertation is titled "The Place-Names in the Mari Texts: An Onomastic and Toponymic Study," supervised by Nahum M. Waldman, Theodor H. Gaster, and Hayim M. I. Gevaryahu (Jack M. Sasson, external reader).
He obtained a post-doctorate in ancient Near Eastern Geography at L'Université de Liège (Belgium, 1981), where he worked with the doyen of Near Eastern geography, Professor J.-R. Kupper, as well as with the renowned Assyriologist, Professor Georges Dossin.
Beitzel's academic areas of interest include the geographic and spatial dimension of the biblical storylines within the context of their physical world.
His primary archaeological work relates to the geographic context and socio-spatiality of the network of paved communication and transportation arteries and unpaved thoroughfares across the ancient Near East, more recently focusing on the structure and location of ancient roadways and milestones in the southern Levant east of the Jordan River (corresponding mostly with the modern country of Jordan); he also spent one season in eastern Syria, with the UCLA team excavating the site of Tell Ashara (ancient Terqa, 1980), where he was also a member of Giorgio Buccellati's geographical team surveying the terrain and searching for undiscovered ancient sites in the Middle Euphrates and Lower Habur River valleys.
Beitzel's professional work has taken him to Western Asia and/or the greater Mediterranean world on more than 50 occasions.
He has also lectured in various countries, including Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, South Korea, Philippines, Syria, and Turkey.
Beitzel has contributed to such serial publications as Archaeology in the Biblical World; Bible Review; Biblical Archaeology Review; Biblical Archaeologist; Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research; Iraq, the British Schools of Archaeology in Iraq; Journal of the American Oriental Society; ANE Today; Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society; Trinity Journal; Christianity Today, and the Journal of Near Eastern Studies.
He has contributed chapters to numerous monographs as well as essays in the Festschriften of Cyrus H. Gordon (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Verlag Butzon & Bercker Kevelaer, 1973); William Sanford LaSor (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978); Gleason L. Archer (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986); Michael C. Astour (Bethesda: CDL Press, 1992); and K. Lawson Younger, Jr. (München: Zaphon, 2022).
Winner, 1986 American Congress on Surveying and Mapping Map Design Competition, sponsored by the Association of American Geographers; Finalist, 1986 Evangelical Christian Publishers Gold Medallion Book Award for the "Bible and Reference Study" category.
Member of the Board of Advisers and Chief Map Consultant, The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas.
General Editor and Author, Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels.
General Editor and Author, Lexham Geographic Commentary on Acts Through Revelation.
General Editor and Author, Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Pentateuch.
General Editor and Author, Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Historical Books.
General Editor and Author, Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Poetic and Prophetic Books.
Some of his maps appear in the Atlas of the Ancient World (National Geographic, 2016, 2019).