ABSTRACT
Tell Beitin is located about nine miles north of Jerusalem (see Figure 12). In biblical times it was in the tribal territory of Benjamin. In 1838 Edward Robinson (1794-1863), an American biblical scholar and explorer, identified Tell Beitin with the biblical place of Bethel. For the most part, Robinson’s identification has been upheld by later authorities (but see Livingston, 1989). This identification was re-confirmed recently by Anson F. Rainy in a paper given at the 2004 meeting of the American School of Oriental Research in San Antonio, Texas (Rainy, 2004). Except for Jerusalem, Bethel (“house of El” (or God)) is the most often mentioned town in the Hebrew Bible (some 70 times). Throughout its history, the site seems to have
ever, the biblical writers considered it to be an apostate site, at least from the time of Jeroboam I (late tenth-early ninth century BCE) who is accused of setting up the “golden calf” here (1 Kgs. 12: 29-33). The tradition in 2 Kings (23) claims that the sanctuary was finally destroyed by King Josiah during the last half of the seventh century BCE. Whether this is history remembered or idealized stories created by the later Deuteronomic Historian cannot be determined by the archaeological data alone.
