Bethel
The name of the city Bethel Park comes from Bethel (Hebrew: ????? ???), also written as Beth El or Beth-El, meaning “House of God” (in general), or “House of (the specific god named) El”, was a town in ancient Israel, about 10 miles north of Jerusalem. Its location is generally identified with the modern Palestinian village of Beitin in the West Bank; the biblical name has been applied to the adjacent Israeli settlement of Beit El. A second biblical Bethel, in the southern Judah, is mentioned in Joshua (8:17 and 12:16), and seems to be the same as Bethul or Bethuel, a city of the tribe of Simeon.
Bethel was an important cult-centre for the northern Kingdom of Israel following the break-up of the united kingdom of David and Solomon. The Second Book of Kings describes how Jeroboam, first king of Israel, set up centres for his Golden Calf cult at Bethel on the southern boundary of his kingdom and Dan on the northern boundary, and appointed non-Levites as his priests. Jeroboam’s decision to pass over the Mushite priests of Shiloh, the original cult-centre for Israel, deeply offended the Shiloh priesthood and seems to lie behind much of the animosity directed at Jeroboam and the golden calf, which probably emanated from the Mushite priestly clan.
Bethel escaped destruction during the Assyrian conquest of Israel (721 BC), but was occupied by king Josiah of Judah (c.640-609 BC), who, according to the book of Kings, destroyed the ancient Israelite cult centre.[4] The site of this centre has not been located by modern archaeologists.