1 Samuel 7:16

to Beth-el About 8 miles N. of Jerusalem the ruins of Beitînmark the site of the ancient city of Beth-el, formerly the royal Canaanite city Luz(Genesis 28:19), at the head of the pass of Michmash and Ai. (a) Near it Abraham built an altar (Genesis 12:8). (b) There Jacob saw the Vision of the Ladder set up to heaven (Genesis 28:11 ff.), and received the confirmation of his new name Israel (Genesis 35:10), and from these revelations called the place Beth-el or "The House of God." (c) There in the days of the Judges the Ark rested for a time and an altar was set up (Judges 20:18; Judges 20:26-28, where "the house of God" in the E. V. should be "Beth-el:" cp. 1 Samuel 10:3). (d) There after the Disruption of the Kingdoms Jeroboam set up his idolatrous parody of the worship of Jehovah (1 Kings 12:32-33), and Beth-el "the house of God" became in the language of the prophet Beth-aven "the house of naught," i.e. of idols(Hosea 4:15; Hosea 10:5).

The name Beth-el appears to have been applied originally to the sanctuary in the neighbourhood of Luz, and not to have been given to the city till after its conquest by the tribe of Ephraim.

For a graphic description of Beth-el see Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, pp. 217 333.

and Gilgal Gilgal ("the Rolling," Joshua 5:9) was the first station of the Israelites after the passage of the Jordan, where (a) the men born in the wilderness were circumcised (Joshua 5:2); (b) the First Passover was celebrated (Joshua 5:10); (c) in all probability the Ark rested during the conquest of the land. Now it appears as the chief religious and political centre of the nation, where (1) sacrifices are offered (ch. 1 Samuel 10:8); (2) assizes held; (3) the national assembly convened (1 Samuel 11:14-15); (4) the army mustered (1 Samuel 13:4; 1 Samuel 13:7). It was probably selected for these purposes on account of its historical associations and its remoteness from the Philistines, whose invasions had pushed the centre of gravity of the kingdom back to the banks of the Jordan.

Lieut. Conder has fixed the site of Gilgal by the discovery of the name Jiljûlieha mile and a half E. of the village of Erîha, between the ancient Jericho and the Jordan. Tent Work, 11. p. 7.

and Mizpeh See note on 1 Samuel 7:5.

in all places The Sept. has "in all these sanctuaries." This reading whether original or not expresses the fact that all these places were, like Ramah, places for sacrifice and worship. Even before the captivity of the Ark, Shiloh was not the sole religious centre; for instance there was a sanctuary at Shechem in Joshua's time (Joshua 24:6); and now that the Ark and Tabernacle had disappeared from view, no effort seems to have been made to preserve the religious unity of the nation.