Bible Word of the Day
El Bethel (Bethel, Ancient Luz)
Meaning
The Hebrew word “El” means God. The word “Bethel” means house. Together they refer to the house of God, or more appropriately a place which belongs to God. El Bethel was formerly the ancient city of Luz. However, it was renamed “Bethel” by Jacob and later renamed by Jacob again to “El Bethel.” This was because of two theophanies which occurred in the same location some thirty years apart. A “theophany” is an appearance of God to mankind. And for our study it refers to the times God made Himself known to the people of the Bible. The first event happened when Jacob entered the land. He had a vision of a ladder stretching from the ground into heaven. Jacob could see the angels going to and from the earth on the ladder. Then God spoke to Jacob and promised the coming of the Messiah, who is Christ Jesus our Lord. And there, God gave Jacob the land of Canaan. After that vision Jacob changed the name of the location from Luz to Bethel.
God with this vision reaffirmed the covenant He had made with Abraham (Jacob’s grandfather) and Isaac (Jacob’s father). God had promised to give Jacob and his descendents, (the children of Israel) the entire land of Canaan (modern day Palestine, along with parts of Iraq and Saudi Arabia). God also promised that the Messiah (Jesus Christ) would come from the descendents of Jacob. Thirty years later, God told Jacob to go back to Bethel where God once again reaffirmed the promise. Shortly after the second vision, God once again appeared to Jacob changing Jacob’s name. God told him, he would no longer be called “Jacob,” but instead would be go by the name Israel. El Bethel is located ten miles north of Jerusalem, between Hebron and Shechem.
“Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: ‘I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.’ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven’ Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.” (Book of Genesis 28:12-19)
“Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.’ And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.’ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem. And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother.” (Book of Genesis 35:1-7)
“Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.’ So He called his name Israel. Also God said to him: ‘I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.” (Book of Genesis 35:9-11)