When done deliberately through shaving the head, baldness is a physical expression of mourning in the OT. In Scripture, most instances of baldness are self-imposed. Often a corporate act, baldness is accompanied by wearing sackcloth, sprinkling dust on one’s head, weeping, and rolling in ashes (Ezek. 27:30–31). The prophets declare that God’s people will exhibit baldness as their prosperity turns into mourning (Isa. 3:24; Mic. 1:16). Sometimes God commands against baldness and all mourning when he himself has brought the devastation as punishment (Jer. 16:6), or when it is inappropriate for his priests (Lev. 21:5). Apart from an act of mourning, baldness is named as an outcome of extreme exertion in battle (Ezek. 29:18). Baldness is ceremonially clean unless accompanied by leprous-like spots (Lev. 13:40–46). A memorable story concerning baldness occurs when the prophet Elisha curses a group of youths for ridiculing his baldness, leading to the dismembering of forty-two of them by two bears (2 Kings 2:23–25).

The only Hebrew term used for this animal in the Bible is dob. It refers to the Syrian brown bear (Ursus syriacus), which was last seen in the land of Israel in the early twentieth century AD. In the Bible, the bear is often paired with the lion (1 Sam. 17:34–37; Prov. 28:15; Lam. 3:10; Hos. 13:8; Amos 5:19) and is thought to be dangerous especially when bereft of its cubs (2 Sam. 17:8; Prov. 17:12; Hos. 13:8). “Bear” imagery is also employed in apocalyptic visions (Dan. 7:5; Rev. 13:2) and in descriptions of God himself (Lam. 3:10–11; Hos. 13:8; cf. Amos 5:19). The bear is also ironically paired with the cow in Isa. 11:7, and it functions as an agent of divine judgment in 2 Kings 2:24.

The ancient site of Bethel is probably to be identified with the modern village of Beitin, 10.5 miles north of Jerusalem. Its location is described and pinpointed in Gen. 12:8; Judg. 21:19. Bethel’s situation and importance are explained by its copious springs and its location at the intersection of major ancient highways, the north-south mountain road and the east-west road from Jericho to the coastal plain.

From the patriarchs to the judges. The first mention of Bethel in the Bible is in Gen. 12:8, where Abram camped “east of Bethel” on his first entry into the Promised Land. He camped there again on his return from a stay in Egypt (13:3). On the first occasion Abram erected “an altar to the Lord.” When Abram returned to that spot, he “called on the name of the Lord.”

It was Jacob who gave it the name “Bethel,” meaning “house of God,” due to the dream he received in that location. In the dream he saw a ladder reaching to heaven, and God spoke to him (28:10–19). Its former name was Luz. God later appeared in Mesopotamia and spoke to Jacob, identifying himself as “the God of Bethel,” instructing him to return to his native land. The title taken by God implied that God would be faithful to his earlier promise to bring Jacob back to his land (31:13). Later God specifically instructed Jacob to settle in Bethel (35:1–6). Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died in Bethel and was buried there (35:8). God appeared to Jacob a second time in Bethel and spoke to him, reiterating the promise to give him the land of Canaan (35:9–15; cf. 28:13). All God’s dealings with Jacob are connected to the theophanies and divine promises associated with Bethel.

Bethel is mentioned a number of times in the account of Joshua’s capture of Ai, a city that lay to the east of Bethel (Josh. 7). The king of Bethel is listed among the kings defeated by Joshua (12:16). Under Joshua, the city was apportioned to Benjamin (18:13, 22), but the Canaanites repopulated it after the near extinction of the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. 20–21). Bethel was reconquered by the house of Joseph and incorporated into Ephraimite territory (Judg. 1:22–25; 1 Chron. 7:28), and later it became a fortress on its southern tribal border. Deborah held court between Ramah and Bethel (Judg. 4:5). Under the judgeship of Samuel, Bethel was one of his regular stops in his yearly circuit (1 Sam. 7:16). It continued throughout this period to be a sanctuary where offerings were made (see 1 Sam. 10:3).

From the monarchy to the exile. This long-term cultic association explains the choice of Bethel as one of the two chief sanctuaries of the northern kingdom, the other center being in Dan. Jeroboam I built a royal shrine at Bethel to rival Jerusalem and to prevent the Israelites from drifting back to the Davidic dynasty (1 Kings 12:26–33). The prophet Ahijah’s criticism of Jeroboam’s actions was not due to Ahijah’s commitment to a central sanctuary at Jerusalem (14:1–16) but rather arose from the use of bull images (golden calves). This was not an innocent move by Jeroboam, returning to pre-Jerusalem and more ancient cultic symbols. It is not adequate simply to view Jeroboam’s calves as a “pedestal” upon which the Lord was believed to be enthroned (as accepted by W. F. Albright), for an explicit link is made with the idolatrous golden calf set up by Aaron in the desert: “Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28 [cf. Exod. 32:8]). This became known as the chief sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat. It tainted the northern kingdom (see 2 Kings 10:29) and eventually led to that kingdom’s judgment by God at the hands of the Assyrians (2 Kings 17:21–23).

The southern king Abijah captured Bethel from Israel in the latter part of Jeroboam’s reign (2 Chron. 13:19), but then it later returned to northern control. The unnamed “man of God” in 1 Kings 13 predicted the later destruction of the Bethel altar by King Josiah (1 Kings 13:1–3), a prediction subsequently fulfilled (2 Kings 23:4, 15–18). Bethel was visited by Elijah before his translation to heaven (2 Kings 2:2–4), and a company of prophets dwelt there. Elisha revisited Bethel after his master’s translation and cursed the forty-two youths who insulted him (2 Kings 2:23–25).

Hosea condemned the great wickedness of Bethel, presumably because of the false worship that went on there (Hos. 10:15), but more positively, he recalled that this was the location where God had talked with the patriarch Jacob (12:4). Jeremiah also explained the sad fate of Israel to be a result of their trust in Bethel (Jer. 48:13). Amos, in his condemnation of the worship system of the northern kingdom, ironically called to the people, “Go to Bethel and sin” (Amos 4:4). Later he dropped the irony and spoke plainly: “Do not seek Bethel” (5:5), predicting its destruction (5:6; cf. 3:14). It was in Bethel that Amos was criticized by the head priest Amaziah (7:10–17) and was told to no longer prophesy there because it was “the king’s sanctuary.”

From the exile to the Roman period. The city was destroyed by the Assyrians about the time of their capture of Samaria (722 BC), but the shrine was revived in the form of a syncretistic cult at the close of the Assyrian period by the foreign peoples deported to the area (2 Kings 17:24–41). Some descendants of the inhabi­tants of Bethel were among those who returned from Babylonian exile in the first great caravan (Ezra 2:28; Neh. 7:32), and these Benjamite returnees resettled in their hometown (Neh. 11:31). Bethel prospered in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

Prophet, coworker of and then successor to Elijah. Both men resisted the Baal worship that infected the northern kingdom during the reign of Ahab and his successors (Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Jehoash) in the latter half of the ninth and first half of the eighth centuries BC.

Elisha began as a disciple of Elijah, whom God had used to confront Ahab and Jezebel’s prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18). When Elijah was taken to heaven, Elisha succeeded him (2 Kings 2:19–23). God accredited Elisha as prophet and demonstrated his authority through miracles. Many of the miracles involve water, such as making the bitter water of Jericho drinkable (2 Kings 2:19–23) and raising an ax head from the bottom of the Jordan River (6:1–7). These miracles were implicitly directed at Baal and his supporters, since Baal was thought to be a god who specialized in providing and controlling the waters.

Elisha also demonstrated God’s power and compassion with acts such as providing a poor woman with olive oil (2 Kings 4:1–7), curing a Syrian general of leprosy (2 Kings 5), and even raising a child from the dead (4:8–37).

God also told the prophet to anoint Hazael, king of Syria, and Jehu, a military man who usurped the throne of Israel (2 Kings 8:7–15; 9:1–13). God used these men to bring a violent conclusion to those leaders who promoted the worship of Baal.

Elisha’s miracles continued even after his death. Some Israelites threw a dead man’s body in Elisha’s grave, and when it touched Elisha’s bones, the man sprang back to life (2 Kings 13:20–21).

Amos was the first of the writing prophets, ministering during the long reigns of Uzziah (769–733 BC) and Jeroboam II (784–748 BC). During this period Judah and Israel were prosperous and secure, which made Amos’s threats sound ridiculous; however, they were quickly fulfilled. After Jeroboam’s death the northern kingdom rapidly deteriorated (ending in 722 BC).

Amos was a noqed (“sheep raiser”), a word used of Mesha king of Moab (2 Kings 3:4) and indicating a sheep breeder or dealer, not a rustic shepherd (ro’eh). Though a champion of the poor (Amos 2:6–7), Amos may have been wealthy, so that it was his own social class that he criticized. His hometown of Tekoa, ten miles south of Jerusalem, was a center for pastoral work. Amos called himself a boqer (“herdsman”), a word that does not specify what animals he raised, and said that he cared for “sycamore-fig trees” (7:14). The fruit and leaves of sycamores were used as winter feed for stock, so these were two linked professional activities. Amos was no career prophet, and presumably he eventually went back to his profession.

Amos’s Judean origins influenced his preaching to sinful Israel. The book of the prophecy of Amos begins with oracles against eight nations that were once part of the Davidic empire (1:3–2:16) and ends with the promise of a restored Davidic empire (9:11–12). The fact that Amos was from the south yet spoke in the north hinted at a coming Davidic reunification of the twin nations. God’s words through Amos are pictured as coming from Zion (= Jerusalem), the Davidic capital (1:2).

Amos’s prophecy records what he “saw” (1:1), the word indicating “saw [in a vision],” and climaxes with five visions. The priest Amaziah used the term “seer” in a derogatory sense: “Get out, you seer!” (7:12). The altercation with Amaziah is the one incident of Amos’s ministry narrated (7:10–17). Amaziah accused him of sedition because he spoke at the royal sanctuary of Bethel. Amos was told to “eat bread” (literally) back in Judah—that is, earn his living there—with Amaziah implying that Amos was commercially motivated. In response to Amaziah’s taunts, Amos said, “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son,” meaning not a prophet by profession, and he denied being a member of any prophetic guild (cf. “the sons of the prophets” in 2 Kings 2). Instead, Amos stressed the divine initiative and call that alone explained his prophetic activities (7:15).

A number of Hebrew and Greek words are used in the Bible to refer to hair and hairstyles. Most of the references are to human hair (e.g., Lev. 19:27), but occasionally animal hair is intended (Matt. 3:4; Rev. 6:12). God numbers the hairs of our head (Matt. 10:30); not one hair will perish if God is the protector (Isa. 46:4; Luke 21:18).

Hairstyles varied throughout the ancient Near East according to place and period. For example, the Egyptians shaved their heads, but Semitic men and women generally wore their hair long and admired black hair (2 Sam. 14:26; see also Song 5:11, where hair is described as wavy). Ancient Near Eastern tomb paintings and reliefs depict Semitic men with thick black hair and pointed beards and women with their long, black hair tied and hanging down the back. As a sign of age, white hair was regarded with great respect (Lev. 19:32; Prov. 16:31). Much later, at the time of the apostle Paul, long hair on men was considered shameful (1 Cor. 11:14), while for women long hair was the ideal (11:15).

Beards and hair were dressed, adorned, anointed with oil, perfumed, and curled (2 Kings 9:30; Eccles. 9:8; Isa. 3:18–24; Matt. 26:7). The NT, however, advises moderation in hairstyles (1 Tim. 2:9; 1 Pet. 3:3–6). Barbers used razors to cut hair and beards (Ezek. 5:1; cf. Isa. 7:20). To shave or pluck out another person’s hair was a grave insult (2 Sam. 10:4–5; Isa. 50:6). It was also uncommon to untie a woman’s hair in public (Num. 5:18; cf. Luke 7:38).

Cutting or shaving hair often had social or religious significance. During times of mourning and affliction, hair on the head and beard was shaved or plucked out (Ezra 9:3; Isa. 15:2; Jer. 16:6). Sometimes the beard was left untrimmed (2 Sam. 19:24). A Nazirite was not to cut his hair during the days of his vow (Num. 6:5). At the conclusion of the vow, his hair was offered with a sacrifice (Num. 6:18). Offering hair for the dead and cutting the corners of the beard was prohibited in the law (Deut. 14:1; Lev. 19:27). Priests were not to shave their heads or allow their hair to grow long (Lev. 21:5; Ezek. 44:20). Prophets may have marked themselves by a partial shaving of the head (1 Kings 20:35–43; 2 Kings 2:23).