Bethel
A town in the hills north of Jerusalem where Jacob dreamed of a stairway to heaven and named the place “house of God”. It later held one of the two royal sanctuaries of the northern kingdom.
Bethel is identified with the village of Beitin, about seventeen kilometres north of Jerusalem. Genesis says that its older name was Luz (Genesis 28:19). Abram built an altar in the hills between Bethel and Ai (Genesis 12:8). Jacob dreamed here on his way to Haran and set up a stone as a pillar, and on his return he built an altar (Genesis 28:10–22) (Genesis 35:6–7). In the time of the judges Israel went up to Bethel to ask counsel of God (Judges 20:18), and Samuel came here on his yearly circuit (1 Samuel 7:16). When the kingdom divided, Jeroboam set up a golden calf at Bethel as a rival to the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:26–29). Amos was told not to prophesy there, “for it is the king’s sanctuary” (Amos 7:13), and King Josiah later destroyed its altar (2 Kings 23:15).
What happened here
- about 1929 BC to 1909 BC, traditional dateJacob Becomes Israel
Jacob, fleeing his brother Esau, receives the promise of Abraham in a dream at Bethel. Twenty years later he wrestles through the night at the Jabbok and is given the name Israel, which his descendants will bear.
- about 930 BC, estimated dateThe Kingdom Divides
After Solomon’s death the northern tribes reject his son Rehoboam at Shechem and make Jeroboam their king. Israel in the north and Judah in the south become separate kingdoms, and Jeroboam sets up his own sanctuaries at Bethel and Dan.
- about 755 BC, estimated dateAmos and Hosea Prophesy to Israel
In the prosperous years of Jeroboam II, Amos, a herdsman from Judah, denounces injustice and worship without righteousness at Bethel. Hosea makes his own marriage a picture of Israel’s unfaithfulness and of a love that will not give it up.
- 622 BC, estimated dateJosiah’s Reform and the Book of the Law
During repairs to the temple in Josiah’s eighteenth year the high priest Hilkiah finds a book of the law. The king consults the prophetess Huldah, renews the covenant, destroys the shrines of other gods throughout the land and keeps a great Passover.