Editing Bethel (section)

==Identification==
Bethel is widely identified by most scholars with the modern Arab village of [[Beitin]], situated in the central part of the [[West Bank]].<ref name="Brodsky" />

Among the earliest proponents of this identification was biblical scholar and traveler [[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]], in his work ''[[Biblical Researches in Palestine]]'' (1838–1852). Robinson based this assessment on the location described in ancient texts, and on the philological similarities between the modern and ancient name, arguing that [[Place names of Palestine|the replacement]] of the Hebrew ''el'' with the Arabic ''in'' was not unusual.<ref>{{cite book |title=Confronting the Past: Archaeological and Historical Essays on Ancient Israel in Honor of William G. Dever |last=Rainey |first=Anson F. |publisher=Eisenbrauns |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-57506-117-7 |pages=270 |editor-last=Gitin |editor-first=Seymour |chapter=Looking for Bethel: An Exercise in Historical Geography |editor-last2=Wright |editor-first2=J. Edward |editor-last3=Dessel |editor-first3=J. P. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oYearm8YobQC&pg=PA270}}</ref> This viewpoint was later reaffirmed by another early scholar, [[Henry Baker Tristram]].<ref name="Baker Tristram">{{cite book |last=Baker Tristram |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Baker Tristram |url=https://archive.org/details/landisraelajour00trisgoog |title=The Land of Israel |publisher=[[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]] |year=1876 |page=[https://archive.org/details/landisraelajour00trisgoog/page/n193 162] |quote=Bethel Beitin ruins.}}</ref> The final 'l' in the name "Bethel" endured until the [[Crusades|Crusader]] period. The name "Beitin," with the /n/ ending, was not documented until the 19th century, possibly coming into use after the Early Middle Ages.<ref name=":1" />[[File:Bethel, 72.Holy land photographed. Daniel B. Shepp. 1894-1.jpg|250px|thumb|Beitin in 1894, from the book ''Holy Land'' photographed by Daniel B. Shepp]]A minority view was proposed by David Palmer Livingston and John J. Bimson, who proposed an alternative identification, suggesting that Bethel might be equated with [[al-Bireh]], while positing Beitin as biblical [[Taybeh, Ramallah|Ophrah]]. However, Ophrah is commonly identified with the nearby village of [[Taybeh, Ramallah|Taybeh]].{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} These proposals have been rejected by Jules Francis Gomes, who wrote that "The voices of Livingston and Bimson have hardly been taken seriously by those who worked on the excavations of Bethel."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gomes |first=Jules |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nj09AWrgpnkC&pg=PA2 |title=The Sanctuary of Bethel and the Configuration of Israelite Identity |date=13 May 2006 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=9783110189933 |page=5}}</ref>