Luz (of Israel)

1. Original Canaanite name of the city of Bethel (Gn 28:19; 35:6). It was here that Jacob had a vision of God. In recognition of God’s presence he called the place “the house of God” (beth-El). Jacob may not have been in the city itself, which might account for the seeming discrepancy in Joshua 16:2. The phrase “from Bethel to Luz” in the description of the border of the land allotted to Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) seems to distinguish Bethel from Luz as though they were two different cities. Perhaps the solution is to be found in that originally the name Luz continued to be used of the city, while at the same time the Israelites knew, through tradition, of the place where Jacob had named Bethel outside the city of Luz. According to Joshua 16:2, then, Bethel would be an area lying east of the city of Luz. At the time of Conquest (Jgs 1:22–25), or subsequently, the Israelites changed the name of Luz to Bethel.