Vespasian named it Neapolis; coins are extant with its name "Flavia Neapolis"; now Nablus by corruption. Ge 28:11-19; 31:13 Jacob lived there. Toward the end of Jeroboam's life Bethel fell into the hands of Judah. He obeyed and departed from Ur with his father Terah and his nephew Lot. The name appears in Assyro-Babalonian as Charran, which means "road"; possibly because here the trade route from Damascus joined that from Nineveh to Carchemish. The war of conquest being done, Joseph's bones were buried in the parcel of ground which Jacob had bought, and which fell to the lot of Joseph's descendants (24:33). 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. Late travellers have found its source in Lake Victoria Nyanza, three degrees south of the equator. The great peculiarity of the river is its annual overflow, caused by the periodical tropical rains. History of the City. It is supposed by some to be the tree under which Abraham pitched his tent, and is called "Abraham's oak." (Josh. Jos 15:13,14; 21:13 Sarah died at Hebron; and Abraham then bought from Ephron the Hittite the field and cave of Machpelah, to serve as a family tomb Ge 23:2-20 The cave is still there, and the massive walls of the Haram or mosque, within which it lies, form the most remarkable object in the whole city. The first European who was permitted to enter this mosque was the Prince of Wales in 1862. Jews, Christians and Muslims all agree that Abraham is the Patriarch of their religions and founder of Monotheism. 2Ch 13:19 Elijah visited Bethel, and we hear of "sons of the prophets" as resident there. It is called the "city of Nahor" (Gen. 24:10), and Jacob resided here with Laban (30:43). Eusebius, Onomasticon places it 12 Roman miles from Jerusalem, on the road to Neapolis. The journeys of abraham (pdf for print) map of abraham's journey with trade routes (freely distributed for personal or church use) map of abram's journey from ur to haran to egypt. Historical: This place is first mentioned in connection with Abraham's journey from Haran. Learn about Godly choices. Hebron. Sometime around 1900 BC the Lord told Abraham to leave his home and country and go to a land that He would show him. Later God appeared to Abram and promised him that if he would leave his country and journey to a land that he has never seen, God would make of his descendants a great nation and through them the Savior of the world would come, through his "seed." For personal, church or classroom use only. Bethel, the place, is expressly distinguished from Luz, the old Canaanite city. It lies about a mile and a half up the valley on its southern slope, and on the north of Gerizim, which rises about 1,100 feet above it, and is about 34 miles north of Jerusalem. Ge 11:29 and Iscah. Damascus was a great city in the ancient world and it was located in ancient Aram (Syria). (See OAK T0002758.) The Damming of the Nile 4. Judaism and Christianity teach that the story of Abraham is more than the story of one man. Ev. In Jos 16:1 and 1Sam 13:2 Mount Bethel, a hilly section near Beth-el, is referred to.Bethel in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE beth'-el (beth-'el; Baithel and oikos theou, literally, "house of God"): (1) A town near the place where Abraham halted and offered sacrifice on his way south from Shechem. This place bears the name of Huruk in the native inscriptions, and was in the countries known to the Jews as the land of the Chaldaeans. ; the King James Version gives "Sichem" in Gen 12:6; and "Sychem" in Acts 7:16): 1. With the disruption of the kingdom came Bethel's greatest 2 Kings 23:15 - Moreover the altar that [was] at Bethel, [and] the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, [and] stamped [it] small to powder, and burned the grove.1 Chronicles 7:28 - And their possessions and habitations [were], Bethel and the towns thereof, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; Shechem also and the towns thereof, unto Gaza and the towns thereof:2 Kings 2:23 - And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.2 Chronicles 13:19 - And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Bethel with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephrain with the towns thereof.1 Samuel 10:3 - Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine:1 Kings 12:33 - So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, [even] in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.Joshua 8:17 - And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel, that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.1 Samuel 13:2 - Saul chose him three thousand [men] of Israel; [whereof] two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent.2 Kings 23:4 - And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.Joshua 12:9 - The king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which [is] beside Bethel, one;Joshua 12:16 - The king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;Genesis 31:13 - I [am] the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, [and] where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.Joshua 18:13 - And the border went over from thence toward Luz, to the side of Luz, which [is] Bethel, southward; and the border descended to Atarothadar, near the hill that [lieth] on the south side of the nether Bethhoron.1 Kings 13:4 - And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. (2.) Includes Dozens of Bible Maps + Clear Plastic Overlays Old Testament Bible Maps cover areas such as Middle East, Holy Land (Old Testament), Assyrian Empire, Babylonian Kingdoms, and Persian Empire. . (See DINAH; HAMOR.) 8:17; 12:16).Bethel in Fausset's Bible Dictionary ("house of God".) A town in southern Judah (Joshua 12:16; 1 Samuel 30:27). Red Dashed - Abraham's journey from an area between Bethel and Ai to Egypt. It still exists under the same name, and is one of the most ancient cities in the world. Hebron now contains about 5000 inhabitants, of whom some fifty families are Jews. 17:2). The bottom of the valley is about 1800 feet above the level of the sea, and the top of Gerizim 800 feet higher still. ver. In Ge 10:18-20 the seats of the Canaanite tribe are given as on the seashore and in the Jordan valley; comp. Roman Empire Map - Ur lies six miles distant from the present coarse of the Euphrates, and 125 from the sea; though it is thought it was anciently a maritime town, and that its present inland site is due to the accumulation of alluvium (?). The worship of Jehovah and of the calves had been all along strangely blended. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.Joshua 16:1 - And the lot of the children of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho, unto the water of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goeth up from Jericho throughout mount Bethel,Genesis 28:19 - And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city [was called] Luz at the first.Amos 7:10 - Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.Amos 7:13 - But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it [is] the king's chapel, and it [is] the king's court.Joshua 8:9 - Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.Amos 3:14 - That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.Jeremiah 48:13 - And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.1 Samuel 7:16 - And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places.2 Kings 23:19 - And all the houses also of the high places that [were] in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [the LORD] to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.Genesis 35:1 - And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.1 Kings 13:32 - For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which [are] in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.Judges 4:5 - And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.2 Kings 2:3 - And the sons of the prophets that [were] at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? Click on image to see ultra high resolution image of map. Abraham left Hebron and for a time sojourned among the Philistines in Gerar which was in southern Canaan west of Beersheba. He lived some twenty-eight hundred years B.C., and took part in building the famous temple of the moon-god Sin in Ur itself. Visiting Home for the Last Time. The chief temple was the scene of heathen worship until the 11th century, and was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th. Bethel became the king's chapel" (sanctuary) "the king's court" ("house of the kingdom") (Amos 7:13; Amos 3:14-15). It was formerly a maritime city, as the waters of the Persian Gulf reached thus far inland. The plural "rivers" is used for the different mouths, branches, and canals of the Nile. Ge 11:26 (B.C. Samuel visited Bethel on circuit, judging Israel (1 Sam 7:16). Under Abraham's oak at Shechem Jacob buried the family idols and amulets (Genesis 35:1-4). But "Hebron would appear to have been the original name of the city, and it was not till after Abraham's stay there that it received the name Kirjath-arba, who [i.e., Arba] was not the founder but the conqueror of the city, having led thither the tribe of the Anakim, to which he belonged. The charge to "be clean and change garments" may have respect to the recent slaughter of the Shechemites, which polluted those who took part in it (Blunt, Undesigned Coincidences). Under the oak in the neighboring sanctuary he set up the stone of witness (24:26). The situation is lovely; the valley runs W. with a soil of rich, black, vegetable mold, watered by fountains, sending forth numerous streams flowing W.; orchards of fruit, olive groves, gardens of vegetables, and verdure on all sides delight the eye. and the "flood of Egypt" (Amos 8:8). 24:4; Josh. It contains about 10,000 inhabitants, of whom about 160 are Samaritans and 100 Jews, the rest being Christians and Mohammedans. 1. Abraham's family settled in Haran for many years until Terah died at the age of 205, then God called Abraham to go and continue the journey to Canaan. Shechem. Now El Khalil, the house of "the friend" of God. Likewise nahar mitsrayim, "brook of Egypt," a border stream in no way connected with the Nile, has sometimes been mistaken for that river.