Bethel means house of God, and it earned the name in one unforgettable night. Jacob, a fugitive fleeing his brother's anger, lay down with a stone for a pillow and dreamed of a ladder set up between earth and heaven, angels ascending and descending, and God himself renewing the promise. He woke and said, surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.
Jacob set up his stone pillow as a pillar and named the place Bethel, marking the spot where heaven had touched earth in the life of a man on the run. It became a byword for the unexpected nearness of God — the discovery that even in flight, in the wilderness, with a stone for a pillow, the house of God can be anywhere he meets us.
Bethel in Scripture
And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.