Bethel means "House of God" and is a region north of Jerusalem. Its original name was Luz, and it is mentioned in the Bible more often than any other place except Jerusalem. Jacob named it "Bethel (House of God)" after seeing God's ladder in a dream on his way to Haran to escape from Esau.
Genesis 28:19Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on,
Genesis 35:7Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.
사사 시절에도 정치적으로 종교적으로 중요한 위치를 차지했던 곳으로, 드보라가 이곳에 살며 재판을 했다.
Judges 4:5She sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh Naphtali, and said to him, “Hasn’t Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and lead the way to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
또한 사사기 20장을 보면 법궤가 이곳에 있으며 사실상 성소의 역할을 했던 것을 알 수 있다. 또한 사무엘시대에 까지 지속되었음을 알 수 있다.
1 Samuel 7:16His return was to Ramah, for his house was there; and he judged Israel there; and he built an altar to Yahweh there.
1 Samuel 10:3They will greet you, and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hand.
한편, 솔로몬 사후 분열된 북이스라엘 왕국에서는 여로보암 1세가 예루살렘을 대항하여 이곳에 성소를 지었다. 그러나 레위인이 아닌 보통 백성을 제사장으로 세웠고, 또 금송아지를 만들어 두어 우상숭배의 본거지가 되게 하였다.
1 Kings 12:27So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and behold your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”1 Kings 12:28He set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.1 Kings 12:29This thing became a sin; for the people went even as far as Dan to worship before the one there.1 Kings 12:30He made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.1 Kings 12:31Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he went up to the altar. He did so in Bethel), sacrificing to the calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.1 Kings 12:32He went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up to the altar, to burn incense.1 Kings 12:33He went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up to the altar, to burn incense.
이후 몇몇 왕들의 개혁과 회개운동이 있었으나, 그 때마다 바알의 신당은 정리하였어도 금송아지를 없애지는 못했다.
2 Kings 10:29Yahweh said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to Ahab’s house according to all that was in my heart, your descendants shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
이런 우상숭배의 흐름은 남 유다 왕국의 왕 아비야가 벧엘을 빼앗으면서 겨우 끝나게 된다.
2 Chronicles 13:19Jeroboam didn’t recover strength again in the days of Abijah. Yahweh struck him, and he died.