Bethel

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Bethel
Location19 km north of Jerusalem
Features- Meaning “House of God”
- A pivotal hub for east-west trade routes
- A place of worship during the Old Testament era
- A center of idol worship during the Divided Kingdom period

Bethel (Hebrew: בֵּית־אֵל),[1] meaning “House of God,” was an ancient city located about 19 kilometers (11 miles) north of Jerusalem.[2] Its original name was Luz,[3] but it was called Bethel after Jacob encountered God there and received blessings. Bethel, which is significantly mentioned in the Old Testament, became the center of idol worship in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam I, but was purified during the religious reforms of King Josiah.

Origin of Name

Jacob’s Vision and God’s Promise by the Providence Lithograph Company, 1906

The original name of Bethel was Luz. While fleeing from his brother Esau’s anger to Paddan Aram, Jacob came to this place, used a stone as a pillow, and slept. After encountering God and receiving a blessing in his dream, he named the place “Bethel.”

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: “. . . I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. . . .” When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” . . . “. . . This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel . . . Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “. . . this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house . . .”

Genesis 28:10–22


The name Bethel is derived from El (אֵל), meaning God, and Bet (בַּיִת,[4] a form meaning house).

Geographic Feature

Beitin, the Arab West Bank village believed to be the location of ancient Bethel by Francis Frith, 1857

After leaving Egypt, Abraham and Lot settled between Bethel and Ai. Both families prospered, but the land became too cramped for them to live together. When disputes arose between their shepherds, they decided to separate and settle in different areas. Abraham said to Lot, “If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left,” allowing Lot to choose first. Lot chose the eastern region and departed. Afterward, God instructed Abraham to lift his eyes and look to the north, south, east, and west, promising to give all the land he could see to him and his descendants. [5]

Bethel was situated within the land promised to Abraham, the forefather of Israel, and located along the main road leading to Shechem.[6] Bethel was a strategic transportation hub that connected the east and west, situated west of the Jordan River, beyond Jericho, and extending to the Mediterranean Sea. It also served as a key route through the Valley of Aijalon or Gophna, connecting to the Sharon plain and the Mediterranean coast.[7] Bethel was situated in the hill country of Ephraim,[8] one of the regions well-suited for Israelite settlement. Due to its geographical significance, Bethel is mentioned in the Bible more frequently than any other location except Jerusalem.

Bethel in the Bible

Patriarchal Age

The Providence Lithograph Company, 1900: Jacob dreamed of angels ascending and descending a ladder at Bethel.

The first mention of Bethel in the Bible occurs during the time of Abraham. Before moving to Egypt, Abraham built an altar there and pitched his tent.[9][10]

Jacob also had a vision of a ladder at Bethel, referring to it as the “house of God” and the “gate of heaven.” He set up a stone pillar and made a vow to God.[11][12] When Jacob returned peacefully to Canaan, God instructed him to go back to Bethel.[13] Jacob discarded all the foreign idols his family possessed and purified them before ascending to Bethel. There, he built an altar to God and named the place “El Bethel” (God of Bethel).[14] At Bethel, God appeared to Jacob again, reaffirmed his name as “Israel,” and promised blessings.[15][16] Additionally, Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, was buried under the oak below Bethel.[17]

Entry Into Canaan – Era of the Judges

For details, refer to: Joshua
  • During Joshua’s second assault on Ai, the inhabitants of Bethel allied with the people of Ai to resist Israel.[18] However, they were defeated and Bethel was captured.[19]
  • Situated on the border between the tribes of Benjamin and Ephraim,[20][21] Bethel was initially assigned to the tribe of Benjamin[22] after the conquest of Canaan. Later, it was conquered by the tribe of Ephraim, descended from one of Joseph’s sons, and became part of their territory.[23][24][25]
  • During the time of the Judges, Bethel served as a central place of worship, housing the ark of the covenant of God. The Israelites offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to God there.[26][27] The prophetess Deborah lived near Bethel,[24] and it was one of the locations where Samuel, the last judge of Israel, made his annual circuits to govern and lead the people.[28]

Period of the Divided Kingdoms

During the Divided Kingdom period, Bethel was initially part of the northern kingdom of Israel. However, King Abijah of Judah waged a campaign against Bethel, bringing it under Judah’s territory.[29] The prophet Elijah, who ministered during the reigns of Kings Ahab and Ahaziah, was also sent by God to Bethel.[30]

  • Center of Idolatry
The Golden Calf at Bethel by unknown author, 1873
Jeroboam, having divided Israel, became the king of the northern kingdom. However, he feared the presence of the temple in Jerusalem, located within the territory of the southern kingdom of Judah. He realized that if the people traveled to Judah to offer sacrifices at the temple, his position would weaken. Consequently, he decided to establish an altar within the territory of northern Israel. Jeroboam created two golden calves and set them up as altars in Dan and Bethel, misleading the people by claiming they were the gods who led them out of Egypt. Consequently, the people, deceived by Jeroboam’s scheme, worshiped these idols, and Bethel, once a place where their ancestors offered sacrifices to God, became a center of idol worship.

Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.” After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.

1 Kings 12:26–30

A man of God came from Judah to confront Jeroboam about his actions,[31] but Jeroboam did not repent but continued to worship idols.[32] The prophet Amos strongly condemned the sin of idol worship and prophesied that the altars in Bethel would be destroyed.[33][34] In response, Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, instructed Amos not to prophesy there.[35] The prophet Hosea also referred to Bethel as “Beth Aven,” meaning “house of idols” or “house of wickedness,” condemning the acts of idolatry occurring in that location.[36][37]
  • King Josiah’s Reformation
The Destruction of The Altar at Bethel and The Exhumation of The Bones From The Sepulchres 1569 from the series “King Josiah Restores the Law of the Lord” by Philips Galle, based on designs by Maarten van Heemskerck
Bethel became a land inhabited by various peoples brought in by Assyria, leading to the worship of both God and foreign gods.[38] After observing the Passover according to the words of the Book of the Covenant, King Josiah of Judah had his eyes opened and initiated a religious reform to abolish the idols. He tore down the altars of the other gods in Bethel and burned the bones of the priests who had offered sacrifices to the idols, exhuming them from their graves.

The king [King Josiah] stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to follow the LORD and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. . . . Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. . . . The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the LORD in Jerusalem.

2 Kings 23:3–23

Bethel, which had become a house of idol worship instead of the house of God, was purified during King Josiah’s religious reform. At that time, Josiah allowed the tomb of the man of God from Judah to remain undisturbed.[39] When Jeroboam set up the idols, a man of God from Judah came to condemn his idolatrous actions.[31] However, an old prophet living in Bethel heard about this and invited the man of God to his home, asking him to return and share a meal and drink water together. This act was something that God had forbidden to the man of God. As a result, the man of God encountered a lion and died. The old prophet living in Bethel buried him and instructed his sons to place his bones together with the bones of the man of God when he died. The bones of the old prophet, buried alongside the man of God, remained intact.

After Babylonian Captivity

After the Babylonian (Neo-Babylonian) exile, the tribe of Benjamin among the Israelites who were freed from captivity returned and settled in Bethel. According to the census conducted during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, a small population resided in Bethel at that time.[40][41][42]

Although Bethel does not appear explicitly in the New Testament, there is an indirect reference to it by Jesus. He said to Nathanael, “You shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man,” alluding to the scene where Jacob dreamed at Bethel.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Strong's Hebrew: 1008. בֵּית־אֵל, Bible Hub
  2. ↑ Bethel, Bible Study Monthly
  3. ↑ "Genesis 28:19".
  4. ↑ Strong's #1004 - בַּיִת, StudyLight.org
  5. ↑ "Genesis 13:3–11, 14-17".
  6. ↑ "Judges 21:19".
  7. ↑ Bethel, Bible Gateway
  8. ↑ Mount Ephraim, Bible Gateway
  9. ↑ "Genesis 12:7–8".
  10. ↑ "Genesis 13:3".
  11. ↑ "Genesis 28:10–22".
  12. ↑ "Genesis 31:13".
  13. ↑ "Genesis 35:1".
  14. ↑ "Genesis 35:4, 7".
  15. ↑ "Genesis 35:9–15".
  16. ↑ "Hosea 12:3–5".
  17. ↑ "Genesis 35:8".
  18. ↑ "Joshua 8:9–17".
  19. ↑ "Joshua 12:7–16".
  20. ↑ "Joshua 16:2".
  21. ↑ "Joshua 18:13".
  22. ↑ "Joshua 18:21–22".
  23. ↑ "Judges 1:22–26".
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "Judges 4:4–5".
  25. ↑ "1 Chronicles 7:28".
  26. ↑ "Judges 20:26–28".
  27. ↑ "Judges 21:2–4".
  28. ↑ "1 Samuel 7:15–16".
  29. ↑ "2 Chronicles 13:19".
  30. ↑ "2 Kings 2:2–3".
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 "1 Kings 13:1–3".
  32. ↑ "1 Kings 13:32–34".
  33. ↑ "Amos 3:13–14".
  34. ↑ "Amos 5:4–6".
  35. ↑ "Amos 7:10–13".
  36. ↑ "Hosea 4:15".
  37. ↑ Beth-Aven, Bible Hub
  38. ↑ "2 Kings 17:28–33".
  39. ↑ "2 Kings 23:16–20".
  40. ↑ "Ezra 2:1–2, 28".
  41. ↑ "Nehemiah 7:6, 32".
  42. ↑ "Nehemiah 11:20, 31".
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