BETHEL

Geography has never been my strong suit. Nevertheless, there are times when you need to understand where countries and cities are located in order to appreciate the historical events taking place in the Holy Land during the OT period. One particular location has always been a bit confusing to me, and that is the city of Bethel. At times it seems to be associated with the proper worship of God, while in other stories it appears to represent aberrant beliefs. It has apparently had a rather checkered past in the OT.

The city was located 10-12 miles north of Jerusalem almost at the border between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms during the time of the divided monarchy. It was part of the territory belonging to the tribe of Ephraim. Because of its geographical location, it was involved in border wars between the two kingdoms (II Chronicles 13:19; 14:8)

We first hear about it when Abram builds an altar to God there (Genesis 12:8) and revisits the site in Genesis 13:3. The next patriarch who invests this city with special prominence is Jacob who, after his night-time vision, changes its name from Luz to Bethel (“house of God”) and sets up a pillar of remembrance there (see Gen. 28:11-22; 31:13; and 35:1-15). Jacob also vows to give a tithe to God there. Fast forward a number of generations to Amos 4, where the prophet accuses the inhabitants of Bethel of being scrupulous concerning their tithes while continuing to oppress the poor. One might be reminded of Jesus' denunciation of those pious leaders of his time who gave their money to the temple for all to see while refusing to support their own parents.

The destruction of the Canaanite fortified city is then allotted to Ephraim (I Chronicles 7:28). Subsequently, the Israelites settle there during the period of the Judges (see 1:23) and choose it as the location for the Ark of the Covenant (Judges 20:18-28; 21:1-4). The prophet Samuel visits the sanctuary there yearly (I Samuel 7:16; 10:3). Thus, it became an important sacred site for all of Israel during that time period.

With such an exalted pedigree, it is sad to see how far it falls spiritually during the divided kingdom. Under King Jeroboam I, it became the center for a cultic site to rival worship at Jerusalem (I Kings 12:28-13:32; II Kings 10:29). He set up two locations for worship in Israel (the Northern Kingdom), one in the far north at Dan and one in the far south at Bethel. At both sites, he set up a golden calf to worship. Actually, Pienaar points out that golden bulls were worshiped by the Canaanites as symbols of male potency. The images in Israel were no doubt identical to them, showing how the Israelites had turned worship of God into a synchronistic religion. Merrill says, “In sum, Jeroboam's illicit cultus constituted a middle way between orthodox Mosaism and paganism.”

But the biblical references to these bulls turn them into little calves instead as a way of mocking them. In the same manner, Hosea (in 10:5) refers to Bethel (“house of God”) as Beth-Aven (“House of Trouble or Iniquity”). Other commentators feel that Beth-Aven may have been the name of a small village located close to Bethel. In either case, it provided another good way for the Southern Kingdom to make fun of Israelite worship. Similarly, the shrine at Bethel was condemned by Jeremiah (see 48:13), Hosea (8:6; 10:15), and Amos (in 4:4; 5:5-6).

Earlier, the prophet Elisha met a group of mocking boys from Bethel who were probably a typical reflection of the moral decline in the city at that time (II Kings 2:23). It has even been proposed that they were sent to harass Elisha by the priest of Bethel. This same pattern of rejecting God's prophets is seen later when the priest in charge of the Bethel temple asks the king of Israel to send Amos back to Judah due to his denunciation of the cult worship there (Amos 7:10-17). In his speech to the people, Amos describes their place of worship as “the king's sanctuary” and “temple of the kingdom.” In other words, the temple of Bethel was not a place to worship God anymore – it was the symbol of national patriotism instead. What a shame that the people thought they had to make the choice between the two! I remember the line in the movie Chariots of Fire where an English aristocrat says, “Well, in my day, it was the king first and religion second.”

The righteous King Josiah desecrated the temple at Bethel by burying dead bodies there (II Kings 23:15-18). This was in fulfillment of the prophecy in II Kings 23:15-16. After the return from Exile, Bethel was resettled, but by then worship was centered in Jerusalem (Nahum 11:31; Zechariah 7:2).

Butler summarizes the rise and fall of Bethel spiritually as the “story of a city chosen at the beginning of God's interaction with the patriarchs gone bad as an ongoing representation of a nation's violence and false worship.”

There are at least two other times in the OT when something ordained by God as good was taken by sinful people and turned into a symbol opposing Him. One occasion is described in Numbers 21 where Moses, at God's command, fashions an image of a serpent and lifts it up to cure the people. Years later, we learn in II Kings 18:4, the people begin to worship this image in place of God. The other example comes from the time of the Judges. Gideon makes an ephod out of gold earrings, probably to be used as a means of discerning God's will in any situation. However, we learn that it seduced him, his people, and all Israel instead (Judges 8:24-27).

Moving on to the NT, we only have to read the Gospels to see how the religious leaders of Jesus' day had totally perverted the original intent behind God's law and temple worship. Please take a minute or two to contemplate the church that Jesus instituted and the principles he gave us to live by in order to grow the Kingdom. In what ways have we so perverted Christianity that it actually opposes God's will entirely? I would say that if you can't see anything at all wrong with the way you and your congregation or denomination live out your religious beliefs in practice, then you probably would have been quite at home with the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes and priests two millennia ago.

Enough preaching for one day!