לוּז
Luz, the name of two places in Palestine
Definition
Luz is the name of two distinct cities in ancient Palestine. The first and most significant is the Canaanite city later renamed Bethel by Jacob after his vision of the ladder to heaven (Genesis 28:19, 35:6). This Luz was located in the territory of Benjamin. The second Luz was a city in the land of the Hittites, built by a man who betrayed the original Luz to the Israelites (Judges 1:23-26). This second city was likely located further north.
Biblical Usage
The name Luz appears seven times in the Old Testament, primarily in historical narratives. It is used to identify a specific geographical location, first in Genesis (28:19, 35:6, 48:3) in connection with Jacob's story and the renaming to Bethel. Later, it appears in the conquest narratives of Joshua (16:2, 18:13) as a border marker for the tribes of Ephraim and Benjamin. Finally, Judges (1:23, 1:26) records its capture and the founding of a second, namesake city.
Etymology
The proper noun Luz (לוּז) is likely derived from the root verb לוז (H3869), meaning 'to turn aside, depart, or be perverse.' It may refer to a place of 'turning' or a winding path. Some scholars also connect it to a word for 'almond tree,' suggesting it was a place where such trees grew.
Semantic Range
Luz is theologically significant as the site of Jacob's profound encounter with God (Genesis 28:10-22), where God reaffirmed the Abrahamic covenant. Its renaming to Bethel ('House of God') marks a pivotal moment of divine revelation and promise, transforming a pagan location into a sacred space central to Israel's patriarchal history. Understanding this name change highlights God's power to redeem and repurpose places and people.
In the ancient Near East, names held deep significance, often describing a location's physical features or history. The survival of the name 'Luz' for the Canaanite city, even after its Israelite conquest and renaming to Bethel (Judges 1:23), reflects the cultural persistence of pre-Israelite place names. The story in Judges 1:26 of a man founding a new Luz in Hittite territory after betraying the old one illustrates the practice of naming new settlements after ancestral homes.
Bethel (Bêyth-'Êl, H1008) — The name given by Jacob to the site of Luz, meaning 'House of God'.
Word Details
How this works
Hebrew definitions are from Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906) and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), both public domain. BDB was groundbreaking for its era but reflects 19th-century assumptions about Semitic etymology. Modern scholarship (HALOT, DCH) has revised many entries. Use these definitions as a starting point for exploration, not as the final word on a term's meaning in context.
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