Bethel, a town west of Jericho and between Shechem and Hebron, had early ties to both Abram and Jacob.
All those towns were west of the Jordan River. Bethel existed in an area where the West Bank is today.
Genesis 12:6-10:
6. Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7. The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
8. From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and 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.
9. Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
10. Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
Genesis 13:1-4:
1. So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him.
2. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
3. From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier
4. and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.
Genesis 28:16-22:
16. When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it."
17. He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."
18. Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
19. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
20. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear
21. so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God
22. and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."
Genesis 31:11-13:
11. The angel of God said to me in the dream, `Jacob.' I answered, `Here I am.'
12. And he said, `Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.
13. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.'"
Genesis 35:1-16:
1. Then God said to Jacob, "Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau."
2. So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.
3. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone."
4. So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem.
5. Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.
6. Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.
7. There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.
8. Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So it was named Allon Bacuth.
9. After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.
10. God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel." So he named him Israel.
11. And God said to him, "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body.
12. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you."
13. Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.
14. Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.
15. Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.
16. Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty.
17. And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, for you have another son."
18. As she breathed her last--for she was dying--she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.
19. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
20. Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel's tomb.
Hosea 12:2-5
2. The LORD has a charge to bring against Judah; he will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.
3. In the womb he grasped his brother's heel; as a man he struggled with God.
4. He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there--
5. the LORD God Almighty, the LORD is his name of renown!
Joshua led the Israelites to victory after the inhabitants of Bethel and Ai warred against them in Joshua 7 and 8. Joshua 12 listed Bethel, Ai and the other towns conquered by Joshua and the Israelites. Joshua 16:1-2 and 18:13-22 listed Bethel as one of the towns allocated to the tribe of Benjamin.
Judges 1:22-26 made another reference to Luz which might have been rebuilt in Hittite land.
21. The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.
22. Now the house of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them.
23. When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz),
24. the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, "Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well."
25. So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family.
26. He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.
1 Chronicles 7:28 stated that Bethel was home to some of Ephraim's descendents:
28. Their lands and settlements included Bethel and its surrounding villages, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its villages to the west, and Shechem and its villages all the way to Ayyah and its villages.
Judges 4:4-5:
4. Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.
5. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.
After the concubine of a Levite was brutally raped and killed near Gibeah in Benjamite terrotory, the rest of the Israelites gathered in Bethel and decimated the Benjamites in Judges 20 and 21.
Just as Deborah did, Samuel traveled throughout the same region, settling disputes as a judge in 1 Samuel 7:15-17:
15. Samuel continued as judge over Israel all the days of his life.
16. From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places.
17. But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also judged Israel. And he built an altar there to the LORD.
Before David replaced Saul as king, Bethel was one of the towns he sent war booty after defeating the Amalekites - 1 Samuel 30:27.
Despite God's favor of Abraham and Jacob felt in Bethel, after the kingdom split between David's and Saul's supporters, the northern kingdom of Israel's first king set up 2 golden calf idols in Bethel and Dan.
1 Kings 12:31-33:
31. Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.
32. He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made.
33. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.
2 Chronicles 13:18-20:
18. The men of Israel were subdued on that occasion, and the men of Judah were victorious because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.
19. Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took from him the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephron, with their surrounding villages.
20. Jeroboam did not regain power during the time of Abijah. And the LORD struck him down and he died.
Amos 3:14:
13. "Hear this and testify against the house of Jacob," declares the Lord, the LORD God Almighty.
14. "On the day I punish Israel for her sins, I will destroy the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.
15. I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed and the mansions will be demolished," declares the LORD.
When the prophet Elijah was taken up to heaven by chariots of fire, he and Elisha were traveling to Bethel from Gilgal - 2 Kings 2.
Josiah tried to restore Judah to God's grace by destroying the items used in worshipping the false gods - 2 Kings 23:14-19:
14. Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.
15. Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin--even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also.
16. Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.
17. The king asked, "What is that tombstone I see?" The men of the city said, "It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it."
18. "Leave it alone," he said. "Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
19. Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed and defiled all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria that had provoked the LORD to anger.
Comparing Ezra 2:28 and Nehemiah 7:32, at least 123 people returned to Bethel and Ai from exile in Babylon.
Nehemiah 11:31-35:
31. The descendants of the Benjamites from Geba lived in Micmash, Aija, Bethel and its settlements,
32. in Anathoth, Nob and Ananiah,
33. in Hazor, Ramah and Gittaim,
34. in Hadid, Zeboim and Neballat,
35. in Lod and Ono, and in the Valley of the Craftsmen.
