Talk:Bethel

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"A Semitic, possibly Phonecian word meaning 'sacred stone/pillar'". Are you sure? Looks to me like it means House (beth) of El (either god in general or the god El in particular). — Preceding unsigned comment added by PiCo (talk • contribs) 08:27, 16 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The name suggests the House of God. El is God in the Ugarit tablets defined as being the Creator of the Universe and all the people on Earth. Bethel is a House, a sacred house as built by Abraham. The Arabian tradition tells the story of Abraham who built the "House" and the Altar with his son Ismael. It is a house of worship by all means. Over the centuries, the name of the area around Bethel took several names according to events. Tiglath-pileser III in 733/732 deported the Israelites but Josiah came back a century after that to destroy Bethel, perhaps because other people were dedicating it to their gods and deities but this a proof that the people of ancient Israel came back to the bethel and called the area surrounding it "Hebron". Then came Micah and his silver idols and assigned himself as Grand Rabbi just like his grandfather Juddah. The area then took his name : Micah or more precisely: Makkah. Please see my article about Micah and Mecca, and also about Abraham and Ai. I believe that the subject of migrations of tribes from South Arabia to the North is a subject worth investigating. In addition, the Arabian oral tradition cannot be ignored, it should be studied along with the local Arabian dialects. This would remove the barrier between the Modern Hebrew and the Arabic language. This barrier if lifted, will solve innumerable mysteries surrounding the Biblical mysteries. I believe that the problem separating the English-speaking scholars and the truth is a matter of pronunciation and understanding the Arabian traditions and dialects. Respectfully, Noureddine 13:40, 29 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As the previous post and the article suggest, Bethel translates literally to "House of God". The article says Bethel was formerly called Luz without ever bringing up the fact that Luz could be a different place entirely. For instance, [Jacob] could be calling Luz a "House of God" due to the fact that God spoke to him there. Respectfully, Soonerzbt (talk) 23:05, 14 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I deleted a paragraph which claimed that the Bethel of the book of Joshua was a different one from the one in Genesis and Kings. Plainly from the details given (being to the west of Ai etc.) it was exactly the same place.

I also deleted this paragraph, which seems contentious: Jeroboam's decision to pass over the Mushite priests of Shiloh, the original religious center for Israel, deeply offended the Shiloh priesthood and seems to lie behind much of the animosity directed at Jeroboam and the golden calf, which probably emanated from the Mushite priestly clan. - No evidence is cited for this claim, or any published source. It may well be true but some sort of source or citation is necessary. Kanjuzi (talk) 09:15, 20 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The contributor who changed 'boys' to 'young men' is probably right in his interpretation; though it should be pointed out that the NIV has 'boys', the RSV 'small boys', and the New English Version 'young boys'. In justification, although נְעָרִים ne'arim could refer to a youth in his twenties, the text does add קְטַנִּים qetannim, which means 'small', so there is some room for argument. At any rate I have changed 'mistranslated' to 'translated' to make the statement slightly less polemic. Kanjuzi (talk) 11:13, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The article describes Bethel as being near where Abram pitched his tent. While Abram is the original spelling, it is not helpful, and can be confusing, to use a lesser known version of Abraham's name in this article. I do not see any reference to discussion on this, but I don't want to change something that has already come to an understanding. However, for what it's worth, I think it should read "Abraham" for clarity and consistency, especially when presenting an general overview. Stratblue (talk) 06:07, 29 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]