Bethel
The place where Jacob dreamed of a ladder with angels going up and down, and named the spot 'the gate of heaven'.
- Location
- Just north of Jerusalem, central hill country
- Modern site
- Beitin, West Bank
- Earlier name
- Luz
- Biblical events
- Jacob's dream of a ladder to heaven (Genesis 28)
- Later role
- Royal sanctuary of the northern kingdom under Jeroboam I
- Excavated by
- American School of Oriental Research, 1930s–1960s
What is Bethel known for?
Bethel was an ancient town just north of Jerusalem, usually identified with the village of Beitin. Genesis says it was first called Luz. It was linked with both Abraham and Jacob, and after Israel split into two kingdoms in the 10th century BCE, Jeroboam I made it a royal sanctuary with a golden calf. The prophet Amos preached there, and King Josiah of Judah later destroyed its altar.
In Genesis 28, Jacob sleeps on a stone and dreams of a ladder or stairway set on earth with its top reaching heaven, with angels of God going up and down on it. He calls the place Bethel, 'house of God', and 'the gate of heaven', and sets up the stone as a pillar.
Modern readers have compared the ladder to a space elevator or landing site. Scholars read it in its ancient setting, as a story explaining an old sanctuary and comparable to Mesopotamian temple stairways connecting heaven and earth.
Jacob's ladder: a fixed structure between earth and sky with angels going both ways.
Mentioned on these pages
- PassageJacob's ladder (Genesis 28:12)
- PersonJacob
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Bethel'Reference
- Genesis 28 (KJV), Bible GatewayPrimary text
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