Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Bethel

​Bethel (i.e., in Hebrew, the "House of God"), originally called Luz, an ancient city of Palestine, on the borders of the tribe of Benjamin, eleven English miles north of Jerusalem. Of the origin of its new name two accounts are given in Genesis, both of them, however, connecting it with the history of Jacob. After the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites Bethel became a resting-place of the ark, and at a later date it was chosen as a royal residence and a seat of idolatrous worship by several of the renegade kings. It seems to have continued to flourish down into the Christian era, some remains still existing of its ecclesiastical buildings. Its ruins, which now bear the name of Beitin, occupy about three or four acres.

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