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Bethel - location profile

Location and Setting

• Originally called Luz (Gen 28:19), Bethel (lit. "house of God") was located on the north-south Ridge Road ("The Patriarch’s Highway") at the crossing of the east -west route between Jericho and Aphek. This latter route connected the Transjordanian Highway with the International Coastal Highway along the Mediterranean coast.
• From its high elevation, one can see Jerusalem from Bethel, some twelve miles to the south.
• Perennial springs in the surrounding hills provided abundant water resources for Bethel, a further important factor determining its location.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• When he entered the land for the first time, Abram pitched his tent and built an altar between Bethel and nearby Ai. Here Abram "called upon the name of the Lord" (Gen 12:8).
• When Abram returned from Egypt, he passed through the Negev and traveled back to Bethel, ". . .to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there formerly, and there Abram called on the name of the Lord" (Gen 13:3,4). It is evident that for Abram, the place between Bethel and Ai had unique spiritual significance. It was there that he had met God in those early days of entering the land of promise. Bethel was very near the center of the land, a place Abraham and his descendants would often pass as they traveled the "Patriarch’s Highway" from Shechem to Hebron and Beersheba.
• It was at Bethel that Jacob camped on his flight from Esau, en route to Paddan-aram in the north. Here God revealed himself to Jacob in an unusual way, through angels ascending and descending on a ladder from heaven. From above the ladder, God reconfirmed to him the covenant He had made with his grandfather Abraham, the promise of a land, a nation, and descendants through whom He would bless the whole world.
• As Jacob was arranging for his departure from Laban, God again spoke to him, reminding him that "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth" (Gen 31:13).
• When he returned from Paddan-aram after twenty years, God directed Jacob back to Bethel and "to make an altar there to God" (Gen 35:1). Jacob obeyed. "So Jacob came to Luz (that is to Bethel) . . . and he built an altar there and called the place El-Bethel, because there God revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother" (Gen 35:6,7).
• After the Conquest, Bethel was included in the tribal territory of Benjamin (Josh 18:21,22).
• During the times of the Judges, Deborah, a prophetess, established her center of governance (judgeship) under a palm tree between Bethel and Ramah, two of the most spiritually significant places in the land. It was at Bethel that Abraham and Jacob had met God; it was at Ramah where Samuel would anoint Saul, the first king of Israel.
• For a time, the ark of the covenant resided at Bethel. During the traumatic days of the civil war with the tribe of Benjamin, the people and their leaders came to Bethel to sacrifice and to seek God’s guidance "for the ark of the covenant was there in those days. . ." (Judg 20:18, 26-28).
• Samuel, a prophet and the last of the judges, ministered in the circuit of Gilgal, Mizpah and Bethel, each an historic city. The latter two were located on the Central Benjamite Plain (1 Sam 7:16).
• When the kingdom was divided, Jeroboam established a worship center at Bethel in an attempt to replace Jerusalem as the center of the worship of God and of civil administration. Here he set up two golden bulls and inducted priests to perform sacrifices in high places, similar to Canaanite worship (1 Kgs 12:26-30,32). Many years later, the prophets Amos and Hosea preached against this sin (Amos 3:14; 4:4-6; Hos 4:15). Reform did not come, however, until Josiah became king in Jerusalem in 640 B.C. He killed the priests and removed the houses on the high places, restoring the nation to true worship of God (2 Kgs 23:15-20).
• Following the Babylonian exile, some of the Jews who returned resided at Bethel (Ezra 2:29; Neh 11:31).

For further study, see also: Ai

Bibliography

1. Bimson, John J., ed. Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Places. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1995.
2. Gregory, Stewart. Israel, the Holy Land: The Concise Biblical Study & Travel Guide. Jerusalem: Bibleland Workshops, 1987.
3. Jamieson, H.M. "Bethel" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.
4. Millard, A.R. "Bethel" The New Bible Dictionary. 2^nd ed. Ed. J.D. Douglas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982.