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ounded by an 11 ft. (3⅓ m.) thick stone wall. The biblical account
of Abraham’s building an altar to the Lord between
Beth-El and Ai (Gen. 12:6–8) is usually assigned to this period.
Beth-El’s main importance, however, is derived from its
traditional association with Jacob’s dream. Fleeing from his
brother Esau, Jacob spent the night there and dreamed he saw
a ladder reaching to heaven with angels of God ascending and
descending it. A voice then spoke to him and assured him of
God’s protection and confirmed the promise that the land on
which he rested would be given to him and his descendants
(ibid., 28:10–22). Arising the next morning, Jacob erected
a maẓẓevah (“sacred pillar”) over which he poured oil as a
thanksgiving sacrifice. The name of the place, which was formerly
Luz, was now called Beth-El (i.e., “home of God”; ibid.,
5:19; 35:6, 15; 48:3; Josh. 18:13; according to Josh. 16:2, however,
Beth-El was east of Luz).
Canaanite Beth-El continued to flourish in the Late
Bronze Age (15th–14th centuries, B.C.E.), when it had commercial
relations with Cyprus, indicated by the pottery finds.
The remains of a house with rooms built around a large courtyard,
plastered or stone flooring, and masonry sewage channels
belong to this period. A burnt layer indicates that the
city was captured and burned down around the first half of
the 13th century B.C.E. and resettled by an Israelite population
(cf. Judg. 1:22ff.; Josh. 12:16). The city was on the southern
border of Ephraim (Josh. 16:1–2; 18:13; I Chron. 7:28), but it
is also listed as a Benjamite town (Josh. 18:22). There was a
decline in the standard of living at Beth-El during the Israelite
period, when the building became cruder, but a recovery
is noticeable during the reigns of David and Solomon.
The stormy epoch of the Judges is reflected in three building
phases, while the relatively calm period of the United Monarchy
is represented in a single building phase. The Tabernacle
and the Ark were set there for a while, and in the conflict
with Benjamin the Israelites prayed, fasted, and offered
sacrifices there. They invoked the oracle of the Urim and the
answer was provided by Phinehas (Judg. 20:18, 28). Deborah
lived near the city (Judg. 4:5), and Samuel visited it periodically
to judge the people (I Sam. 7:16). During Saul’s war with
the Philistines, he concentrated his forces in the mount of
Beth-El (I Sam. 13:2).
With the division of the Monarchy, Beth-El passed into
the possession of Jeroboam I. In order to wean his people
away from making pilgrimages to Jerusalem, he erected one
of the two principal shrines of his kingdom there (the other
one was at Dan), with its own priesthood. The golden calf he
set there was apparently designed to serve as a substitute for
the cherubim in the Temple of Jerusalem. In the same spirit he
ordered the 15th day of the eighth month to be celebrated instead
of the Feast of Ingathering (Sukkot), which was observed
on the 15th of the seventh month in Jerusalem as the main pilgrim
festival (I Kings 12:29–33). This schism aroused vehement
opposition among the prophets (I Kings 13) and caused a rift
between Jeroboam and Ahijah the Shilonite (I Kings 14:7ff.).
The biblical story of Hiel the Bethelite, who ignored the curse
bet-el
of Joshua and rebuilt Jericho on its ruins (I Kings 16:34), and
that of the children of Beth-El who mocked Elisha (II Kings
2:23) may serve as proof of the strained relations existing between
the inhabitants of Beth-El and the prophetic circles.
This antagonism assumed its most acute form in the days of
Amos (3:14; 4:4; etc.) and Hosea (10:15), both of whom call
Beth-El Beth-Aven (“The House of Iniquity”; Amos 5:5; Hos.
4:15; cf. Jer. 48:13).
Beth-El and its surroundings were conquered by Abijah,
king of Judah, in his war against Jeroboam (II Chron. 13:19),
but it was returned to Israel not later than the reign of *Baasha
and remained there until the fall of the kingdom. In the
eighth century B.C.E., Beth-El was enclosed by a thick wall
with towers that was repaired in the following century. Even
after the destruction of Samaria (721 B.C.E.), priests still served
at Beth-El (II Kings 17:28) until Josiah captured it, broke down
its altar, destroyed its high place, and defiled the site (II Kings
23:15). Beth-El was destroyed during the Babylonian invasion
(587 B.C.E.) and remained in ruins until the Persian period.
In the time of Nehemiah, it was included in the territory of
Judah (Ezra 2:28; Neh. 7:32). During the Hasmonean revolt, it
was fortified by the Syrian general Bacchides (I Macc. 9:50).
Beth-El is not mentioned again until its capture by Vespasian
in 69 C.E. (Jos., Wars, 4:551). Coins found there date only from
the period between 4 B.C.E. and its capture. In the Byzantine
period, Beth-El was a village in the territory of “Aelia Capitolina”
(Jerusalem), located 12 (Roman) miles from the capital
“on the right, as one goes to Neapolis” (Eusebius, Onom. 192
etc.). The Christian traveler the Pilgrim of Bordeaux (333 C.E.)
and the Christian writer Theodosius (c. 503 C.E.) also refer to
it. According to Jerome (fifth century) a church was erected
at Beth-El. On the Madaba Map “Luzah, which is also Beth-
El” is also represented as a village north of Jerusalem. Very
few remains of the Roman and Byzantine periods have been
discovered at the site.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
Modern Beit El
Beit El (Heb. לֵ א תי ּב) ֵ is a settlement in the Judean hills, northeast
of Ramallah. The first settlers, numbering 17 families, took
over an army base in 1977. Subsequently the community divided
into two settlements: Beit El Alef was a residential religious
community and Beit El Bet a yeshivah community. Over
the years, new religious settlers joined both settlements, until
in 1997 the two were united again under a single municipal
council. In 2002 the combined population was 4,410. As the
seat of a regional council, Beit El provided a variety of social
and educational services. There were also some private businesses,
stores, restaurants, and light industry, most notably
the Beit El tefillin factory.
[Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]
Bibliography: Y. Kaufmann, Religion, index; N.H. Tur-
Sinai, Ha-Lashon ve-ha-Sefer, 2 (1950), 307; Alt, in: PJB, 21 (1925),
28ff.; Noth, in: PJB, 31 (1935), 7–29; Albright, in: BASOR, 55 (1934),
23–25; 56 (1934), 2–5; 57 (1935), 27–30; 74 (1939), 15–17; U. Cassuto,
La Questione della Genesi (1934), 284–6, 291–7; Galling, in: ZDPV, 66
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