Page 20
CHAP. XX. Beth-el. Beth-aven. (Book 20)
JOSEPHUS thus describes the Land of Benjamin, a 1.1 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. The Benjamites portion of land was from the River Jordan to the Sea, in length: in bredth it was bounded by Jerusalem and Bethel. Let these last words be marked, The bredth of the land of Benja∣min was bounded by Jerusalem and Bethel. May we not justly conclude from these words, that Jerusalem and Bethel were opposite as it were in a right line? But if you look upon the Maps, there are some that separate these by a very large tract of land, and make them bend and slope from one another.
Beth-el heretofore was Luz: of which the Rabbines upon Judg. I. 23. &c. do not a little trifle. Sometimes it is called Beth-aven: so the Talmudists. b 1.2 That Town which some∣times was called Beth-el, afterwards was called Beth-aven. And the Chaldee upon Hos. IV. 15. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Go not up to Beth-el, for the Hebrew 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Go not up to Beth-aven. So also Chap. X. 5, 8. Not that there was not another Town, named Beth-aven (see Jos. XVIII. 12, 13.) but that Beth-el too deservedly bore the reproach of that name, in the same manner as Hierusalem bore the name of Sodome, Esa. I. 10.
It is said of Deborah that she lived between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim, Judg. IV. 5. where the Targum thus, She had Gardens in Ramatha, Olive-trees making oyl in the valley, an house of watering in Bethel. Not that Beth-el properly was in the Hill-coun∣try of Ephraim, since that Town stood upon the very Boundaries of Judea, but that the dwelling of Deborah was at the beginning of that Hill-country, a valley running be∣tween that Hill-country and those boundaries. Beth-el it self was situate in a Hilly-country, Jos. XVI. 1. which yet one would scarcely call the Hill-country of Ephraim, (since there was a time, when Beth-el and her Towns belonged to Judea, 2 Chron. XIII. 19. Hence the Idolatry of those of Judah are sometimes mixed with the Ephraimites, of which they hear often enough from the Prophets) but it was a certain hilly place running out be∣tween Judea and the land of Ephraim, see Jos. XVIII. 12.
On the East of Beth-el heretofore was Hai, Gen. XII. 8. Jos. VIII. 9, &c. But upon the very first entrance almost of Israel into the land of promise, it became thenceforth of no name, being reduced into eternal ashes by Joshua. The Town Beth-aven was not far from it, Jos. VII. 2. which gave name to the wilderness adjacent, Jos. XVIII. 12. In which we suppose Ephraim stood, 2 Chron. XIII. 19. Which Ephraim in the New Testament is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the region near the wilderness, Joh. XI. 54. concerning which we shall speak afterwards.