I. Name

According to the classical texts, Baitylos (Greek τ for θ: see Eissfeldt 1962:228 n. 1; Hemmerdinger 1970:60) is a ‘Stone-god’. According to Semitic etymology the divine name could be interpreted as ‘House of God/El’, Bethel. Some scholars therefore identify Baitylos with the deity Bethel. The divine name Bethel is known from Gen. 31.13, Gen. 35.7, Amos 5.5 and elsewhere; it may be intended in Jer. 48.13; as a theophoric element in a Babylonian personal name it occurs in Zech. 7.2. The issue of the or…