Bible Location
2 cross references · Modern-day map available
This Bethel entry refers to a southern Judahite town, not the more famous sanctuary north of Jerusalem associated with Jacob. It is important because it appears in conquest and town-list material, showing that more than one biblical location could bear the same name. First appears in Josh 12:16.1
AI summary: The best-known Bethel in Scripture is the central sanctuary linked with Jacob and the northern kingdom, but this entry points instead to a smaller southern town in Judah. Its brief references place it within the territorial and military framework of the land rather than within the larger theological story attached to the northern Bethel. That distinction matters because duplicate names can otherwise flatten different places into one. The cross references here present this Bethel as a local Judahite site rather than a major national sanctuary.1
A town in the south of Judah (Josh. 8:17; 12:16). 3
AI-assisted summary prepared for ai-BIBLE and stored as page content, based on dictionary material, place metadata, and linked Bible cross references.
Alistair de Blacquiere-Clarkson, “ai-BIBLE Bible Names JSON Factsheet Aggregating Material from Smith’s Bible Dictionary & Hitcocks’s New and Complete Analysis of the Bible.” ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
M.G.Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
Robert Rouse, “Theographic Bible Information,” Theographic-Bible-Metadata, 2020, https://github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata.