Judges 1:23

sent to spy out Beth-el lit. made a reconnaissance at B. Perhaps we should read -encamped against B.," as LXX and Vulgate imply.

Now the name … Luz A gloss, as in Genesis 28:19; cf. ib.Genesis 35:6; Genesis 48:3; Joshua 18:13 P. In Joshua 16:2 JE the two places are distinguished, -from Beth-el to Luz"; but the text is uncertain, and in the LXX the two are usually identified. Luz is supposed to mean -almond-tree"; more suggestively Winckler proposes -asylum," from the Arab lâdha-to seek a refuge" (Gesch. Isr.2:65 f.). If the latter is right, Luz may have been a sanctuary before it became famous under the name of Beth-el. According to JE the place was called Beth-el because Jacob set up a stone there after his vision when he fled from Esau (Genesis 28:10-22); according to P, because God appeared to him there when he returned from Paddan-aram (Genesis 35:9-15).