Bible Location
Meaning: the house of vanity; of iniquity of trouble · 7 cross references · Modern-day map available
Beth-aven was a place east of Bethel in the hill country of Benjamin, and its name later became a prophetic way of mocking Bethel's false worship. It is important because it links ordinary geography with Hosea's sharp criticism of idolatry in the northern kingdom. First appears in Josh 7:2.1
AI summary: Beth-aven begins as a location near Bethel in conquest and monarchy-era geography, but its significance grows through the prophets. Hosea uses the name as a deliberate reworking of Bethel, turning "house of God" into language of emptiness and wrongdoing because the sanctuary had been corrupted by idol worship. That wordplay makes the place far more than a map reference. The historical and prophetic cross references together present Beth-aven as both a real Benjaminite site and a theological indictment of false religion centered at Bethel.1
House of nothingness; i.e., “of idols”, a place in the mountains of Benjamin, east of Bethel (Josh. 7:2; 18:12; 1 Sam. 13:5). In Hos. 4:15; 5:8; 10:5 it stands for “Bethel” (q.v.), and it is so called because it was no longer the “house of God,” but “the house of idols,” referring to the calves there worshipped. 3
| Book | Cross-References |
|---|---|
| Josh | |
| 1Sam | |
| Hos |
Figure1: A table of cross references between the selected passage and other passages (Data from Robert Rouse, “Theographic Bible Information,” Theographic-Bible-Metadata, 2020, https://github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata.)
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.