Bethel

The town in the central hill country, about seventeen kilometers north of Jerusalem, where Jacob has his dream of the stairway between heaven and earth and names the place Beth-El, "house of God" (Genesis 28). After the kingdom divides, Jeroboam I sets up one of his two golden-calf shrines at Bethel as a southern alternative to Jerusalem, and the town becomes the byword the prophets Amos and Hosea use for the corruption of northern worship. In 2 Kings 2 a community of prophets lives at Bethel and meets Elijah and Elisha on the morning of Elijah's ascension.