What does the last name Bethel mean in the Bible?

Answer 1

The name Bethel is used several times in The Bible. In Genesis 12:8, Abraham had pitched his tent to the east of Bethel and built an altar. Later, in verse 13:3, he returned to Bethel and to the sacred altar. Yet in chapter 28, his grandson Jacob slept in a certain place and dreamed of a ladder going up to heaven then he named that place Bethel, but before then it had been called Luz. Jacob used a stone for a pillow and after waking put it on a pillar and poured oil on it.

A rather confusing story can be found in Genesis chapter 35. First, God told Jacob to go to Bethel. Jacob went to Luz and built a stone altar and called the place El-Bethel because God had appeared to him there. Then God Almighty came and told him that he was henceforth to be called 'Israel', and renewed his covenant to Abraham. Jacob set up a stone pillar where God had talked to him and poured wine and oil on it, and named the place where God had talked to him Bethel. Also an entirely different explanation for Jacob being called 'Israel' appears in Genesis chapter 32, after having wrestled with a god all night.

In Genesis 31:13 Jacob is told either: "I am the god Bethel", or the curious introduction "I am the God of Bethel" as shown in all common English translations. The Catholic scholar Bruce Vawter says that Genesis 31:13 quite simply reads 'I am the god Bethel' ('El Bet'el). Bethel also appears to have been the national god of the city-state of Tyre in the first millennium BCE.

Jumping forward to 1 Kings chapter 12, we find that the Israelite king Jeroboam made two calves of gold, setting one up in Bethel and one in Dan. He made priests and ordained a national feast day to the god symbolised by these calves, and the people came to worship.

Answer 2

Another answer from our community:

In the New King James Version (NKJV), it first appears here: Genesis 12:8

8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

Answer 3

A place of worship