Amos lists a lot of place names in his book and it was for a very specific reason.
Every name of a nation or town/city in the Bible, has some very significant meaning.
In verse 4 Amos mentions Bethel and Gilgal.
Amos 4:4 HEB:בֹּ֤אוּ בֵֽית־ אֵל֙ וּפִשְׁע֔וּ הַגִּלְגָּ֖ל NAS: Enter Bethel and transgress; Gilgal KJV: Come to Bethel, and transgress; Gilgal INT: Enter Bethel and transgress Gilgal
Bethel in Hebrew אֵֽל
means:
House of God
Beth = house and El = God
Strongs 1008 Betheel: “house of God,”
a city in Ephraim, also a place in S. Judah
Original Word: בֵּית־אֵל Transliteration: Betheel Phonetic Spelling: (bayth-ale’) Definition: “house of God”
Bethel was located about 11 miles north of Jerusalem near Ai. It was a major trading center, Bethel stood at a crossroads, with its north-south road passing through the central hill country from Hebron in the south to Shechem in the north, and its main east-west route leading from Jericho to the Mediterranean Sea.
Only Jerusalem is mentioned more frequently than Bethel in the Old Testament.
Bethel is first mentioned in the Bible in connection with Abram, who built an altar to God there: “From there [Abram] went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD” Genesis 12:8. After visiting Egypt, Abraham returned to Bethel and offered a sacrifice to God Genesis 13:3–4.
Originally namedLuzGenesis 28:19; Judges 1:23, the city was renamed Bethel by Jacob after the patriarch experienced a remarkable dream there. While traveling from Beersheba to Haran to escape his brother Esau, Jacob stopped for the night in Luz. As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway or ladder that stretched up from earth to heaven. The angels were climbing up and down the ladder as God stood at the topGenesis 28:10–13. The Lord spoke and revealed Himself to Jacob as the God of his fathers. When Jacob awoke, he declared, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven” Genesis 28:17.Then Jacob set up a sacred pillar, named the place Bethel verses 18–19, and consecrated the site as a place to worship God verse 21.
Many years later, Jacob returned toBethel,built an altar to God there, and called the place El-Bethel, which means“God of Bethel.”
Bethel remained one of the main worship centers of Israel.
The ark of the covenant was kept at Bethel for a time, and the people often went there to seek God during times of trouble. Judges 20:18–28.
The Bible says Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, was buried under an oak tree nearBethel, Genesis 35:8;and the better-known Deborah, judge of Israel, held court at a site between Ramah andBethel.Judges 4:5.
During the time of the divided kingdoms, King Jeroboam of Israel established two temples for the northern kingdom, one atBetheland the other at Dan. In these temples, he set up golden calves.1 Kings 12:26–33.
The Lord God often sent prophets to preach atBethel.
1 Kings 13:1–10.
Many of these prophets pronounced judgment and condemnation on Bethel as a center of idolatry.
Amos 3:14; 5:5–6; Hosea 10:15.
On Elijah’s last day of ministry on earth, he and Elisha encountered a company of prophets atBethel. These prophets confirmed Elijah’s soon departure:
“Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here; the LORD has sent me to Bethel.’ But Elisha said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.’ So they went down to Bethel. The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, ‘Do you know that the LORD is going to take your master from you today?’ ‘Yes, I know,’ Elisha replied, ‘so be quiet’” 2 Kings 2:2–3).
Elisha refused to leave Elijah. He was committed to receiving the older prophet’s mantle and did not want to miss the blessing.
The Gilgal near Jericho is the Gilgal most frequently mentioned in Scripture.
According toJoshua 4:19
after he and the Israelites crossed the river,
Gilgal
was the first place that the Israelites camped in the Holy Land.
Joshua 4:19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.
It was here 12 memorial stones taken from the bed of the river, were set up by Joshua, after the miraculous crossing of the Jordan.
One stone to represent each of the twelve tribes.
When the entire nation had finished crossing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,2 “Pick twelve men from the people, one man per tribe.3 Command them, ‘Pick up twelve stones from right here in the middle of the Jordan, where the feet of the priests had been firmly planted. Bring them across with you and put them down in the camp where you are staying tonight.’” Joshua 4:1-3
Joshua 4:19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.
Joshua 4:20 Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal.
Joshua 5:9 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you.” Therefore the name of that place was called Gilgal, to this day.
Joshua 5:10
The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.
Gilgal means:
circle, rolling together or
uniting with God.
Where Gilgal means ‘a rolling’; it is indicating that something is rolled off you which actually oppressed you. We need not let our past failures hang over us, we need to let the past go and move forward into the future.
Both of the names express the picture of a place of worship, a memorial place where Gods presence was; and a place to praise Him.
In that time when Amos was called by the Lord God to prophesy His message to the Israelites, both of these places were locations where people travelled to experience the presence of God. From historical references it would seem that these were equal to the venues for convention/conference centers or places for retreats today.
Bethel and Gilgal were popular destinations as a gathering place for good teaching, prophesies and miracle services/meetings and 1000’s of people travelled there from miles away, to join in worship to God and to have a time of fellowship.
Why did Amos focus on Bethel and Gilgal? What was wrong with these places?
What did Amos mean to come to Bethel and transgress/sin and Gilgal multiply your transgressions/sins?
The word transgress is Pasha
which means: to Rebel or offend.
Strongs 6586 – pasha: to rebel, transgress
Original Word: פָשַׁע Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: pasha Phonetic Spelling:paw-shah’ Definition: to rebel, transgress
This transgression is an offense in the speaking of divine power and spiritual insight.
Amos then says go to gilgal and multiply your transgressions.
A word for multiply is ravah – רָוָה
This is the idea of: abundance, increasing or making great, to be saturated, drink one’s fill – but interestingly, in its semitic root, it has the idea of wearing something around your neck as a necklace as a symbol of pride.
These days many gang leaders and popular worldly music stars and celebrities often wear thick, heavy, gold or silver chains around their necks. Pridefully displaying the popularity, wealth and social standing they have achieved.
In Amos day what was taking place at Bethel and Gilgal turned into what we would call a ‘spiritual county fair’ or ‘amusement theme park’. It had become a place where all the prophets, rabbis/teachers gathered together with the, ‘teacher-prophet wannabees,’ all displaying their assumed spirituality and giftings for everyone to admire. It had become a place to show off how spiritually mature one was, replete with spiritual charisma and ‘anointings’ designed to impress others and to give astounding testimonies to back up their claims. This became an opportunity for people to try and ‘out-do’ one another as spiritual giants; and by this, it became a place where people wore their spiritual pride like a necklace for all to see and admire. They had descended into idolatry and spiritual adultery and another aspect of this idolatry showed in the early mornings where sacrifices could be seen by everyone and the unnecessary tithes that were offered were publicly displayed.
The bitter ironic words the prophet uses seemingly calling Israel to the calf-worship of Bethel, and to the similar rites of illegitimate Jehovah-worship at Gilgal are clear in these verses. Both of these locations were full of sacred associations and Holy encounters with the Most High God. In the english version of the scripture the words for “three years” read every three days. The Torah/law only required a tithe every third year(Deuteronomy 26:12); but here Amos is admonishing the people, pointing out the irony in their overwhelming generosity to the priests and false sanctuaries; and because of the translation, the sarcastic force of the passage is diminished.
Amos was not condemning the places themselves, but rather what was happening in those locations.
It was about people who spent so much time and energy trying to have ‘a new thrill’ or ‘experience’ or ‘a new revelation’, that they devoted little to no time in seeking after Gods heart. He was making a point to remind them that in times past, these two cities were known as being places where Gods’ Holy presence was. However, in the days when Amos was called to prophesy, many of the people who made the pilgrimage to both places had a personal motive and agenda, wanting to promote themselves by drawing attention away from the One True God. This was what Amos was required to speak out about, a call to repent from spiritual idolatry, false worship, faithlessness and adultery.
May we all check ourselves carefully, and identify the real reason we are attending conferences and retreats the next time we are planning to visit a Bethel or a Gilgal. Let’s be sure that our motive is to seek our Heavenly Fathers face, and not the popular speaker; but to be in His presence seeking His heart. We need to be drawing near to the altars of repentance, humility and selfless service, not man made altars with false idols and other gods of self aggrandizement. Let’s make sure we are not doing what Amos called going to Bethel and transgressing or going to Gilgal and wearing displaying those sins around our necks.
Shalom aleikhem
chaverim and mishpachah!
Peace to friends and family.
Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
Not sure ..you can be…
SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute,
SAY IT RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.
What is the significance of the place names 
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