Bethel (god)

Did You Know?

• The personal name Bethelsharezer means 'Bethel, šarra-uṣur', an Akkadian term for 'Protect the king!'.
• The divine name appears in composite forms Ashim-Bethel and Herem-Bethel in the Elephantine archives.
• Anat-Bethel appears as an epithet of Anat, the consort of Bethel.

Historical records

A 1977 book by Javier Teixidor cites early references supporting Bethel as a god of Aramaean or Syrian origin, with the origin of the cult unknown. Teixidor provides what he considers some of the earliest references: theophoric names from the seventh century BC; the 677 BC Esarhaddon's Treaty with Ba'al of Tyre, which invokes Bethel and Anat-Bethel in a curse; and an Aramaic tablet from Aleppo dated to 570 BC containing three theophoric names of Bethel. Teixidor states that Bethel became popular during the Neo-Babylonian Empire, beginning in the seventh century BC. He found numerous references to the cult in fifth-century Egypt literature, and notes mentions in the Elephantine papyri and ostraca and the Hermopolis Aramaic papyri, which also include the variant names Eshembethel and Ḥerembethel. Papyrus Amherst 63 syncretizes Bethel with Yaho.

Biblical references

Opinions differ on whether biblical references to Bethel denote a god or a place. Porten suspects that the Bethel in Jeremiah 48:13, 'Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence,' refers to the god Bethel rather than the city. Rodney Hutton, however, says the Bethel in this verse is a location and a metaphor for religious apostasy because Jeroboam installed the golden calf there. Hutton also regards Bethel as a place in his commentary on Samuel 7:16, where Jacob names the site Bethel.

David M. Carr's commentary on Genesis generally treats Bethel as a place in Genesis 31:13 and 35:9-15, noting that the Hebrew phrase 'I am the God of Bethel' is unclear. The Rabbinical Assembly of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, in its commentary on the Revelation at Bethel, follows medieval Rabbinic commentaries and treats Bethel as a place. Another interpretation holds that the stone Jacob placed at Bethel, named House-of-God, was itself a god, a manifestation of the god Bethel.