bethel
      n : a house of worship (especially one for sailors)


 Bethel
    house of God. (1.) A place in Central Palestine, about 10 miles
    north of Jerusalem, at the head of the pass of Michmash and Ai.
    It was originally the royal Canaanite city of Luz (Gen. 28:19).
    The name Bethel was at first apparently given to the sanctuary
    in the neighbourhood of Luz, and was not given to the city
    itself till after its conquest by the tribe of Ephraim. When
    Abram entered Canaan he formed his second encampment between
    Bethel and Hai (Gen. 12:8); and on his return from Egypt he came
    back to it, and again "called upon the name of the Lord" (13:4).
    Here Jacob, on his way from Beersheba to Haran, had a vision of
    the angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder whose
    top reached unto heaven (28:10, 19); and on his return he again
    visited this place, "where God talked with him" (35:1-15), and
    there he "built an altar, and called the place El-beth-el"
    (q.v.). To this second occasion of God's speaking with Jacob at
    Bethel, Hosea (12:4,5) makes reference.

      In troublous times the people went to Bethel to ask counsel of
    God (Judg. 20:18, 31; 21:2). Here the ark of the covenant was
    kept for a long time under the care of Phinehas, the grandson of
    Aaron (20:26-28). Here also Samuel held in rotation his court of
    justice (1 Sam. 7:16). It was included in Israel after the
    kingdom was divided, and it became one of the seats of the
    worship of the golden calf (1 Kings 12:28-33; 13:1). Hence the
    prophet Hosea (Hos. 4:15; 5:8; 10:5, 8) calls it in contempt
    Beth-aven, i.e., "house of idols." Bethel remained an abode of
    priests even after the kingdom of Israel was desolated by the
    king of Assyria (2 Kings 17:28, 29). At length all traces of the
    idolatries were extirpated by Josiah, king of Judah (2 Kings
    23:15-18); and the place was still in existence after the
    Captivity (Ezra 2:28; Neh. 7:32). It has been identified with
    the ruins of Beitin, a small village amid extensive ruins some 9
    miles south of Shiloh.

      (2.) Mount Bethel was a hilly district near Bethel (Josh.
    16:1; 1 Sam. 13:2).

      (3.) A town in the south of Judah (Josh. 8:17; 12:16).



 Beth-el, the house of God