El-bethel

Biblical Text

El-bethel is a name that appears only once, in Genesis 35. God commands Jacob to go up to Bethel and build an altar there. Jacob tells his household to put away their foreign gods and purify themselves. He buries the idols they hand over under the oak near Shechem and then goes to Bethel. The narrative continues: "And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother" (Genesis 35:7). The full passage is found in Genesis 35:1–7.

Background and Meaning

Bethel means "house of God" in Hebrew. While fleeing from his brother Esau on the way to Haran, Jacob dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven at a place called Luz (Jacob's Ladder, Genesis 28:10–22). He named the place Bethel and vowed that if God kept him, the stone he had set up would be God's house. The "El" in El-bethel is the Hebrew word for "God" (or "a god"). El-bethel therefore means "God of Bethel." Earlier, while Jacob was still in Haran, God had identified himself to him with the words "I am the God of Bethel" (Genesis 31:13). Jacob's declaration that he would build an altar "unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went" (Genesis 35:3) is likewise connected to that earlier vow.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The name El-bethel does not occur anywhere else. Jacob's encounter with God at Bethel, however, is recalled in Hosea 12:4. Bethel itself later became the site where Jeroboam set up a golden calf, and it was condemned by the prophets. The New Testament does not use the word El-bethel. Nevertheless, when Jesus speaks in John 1:51 of "the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man," many interpreters see an allusion to the account of the ladder at Bethel.

Interpretation and Issues

• From place to God: Many preachers and commentators note that the original name, "house of God," gives way to "God of the house." They read this as a shift in the focus of faith from a place to the God encountered there. This is an interpretation, however; the text states only that the place was so named because God appeared to Jacob there.
• Textual variants: Some ancient versions, including the Septuagint, are reported to read simply "Bethel" in this verse, without "El."
• Two namings: The naming of Bethel occurs in both chapter 28 and chapter 35 (35:15). Some critical scholars regard this as evidence that different traditions have been combined. Traditional interpretation reads it as a renaming that reaffirms the first encounter.
• El-bethel is sometimes explained as the name for a "higher stage of faith," but this is a homiletical application rather than something the text itself states.

In the Korean Church

Genesis 35 is frequently used in sermons on the theme "Let us go up to Bethel," which call for repentance, the renunciation of idolatry, and a return to one's original faith. El-bethel is often discussed in the concluding portion of such sermons. "El-bethel" is also used as a name for churches and prayer houses.