Reevaluating Bethel

A reevaluation of the archaeology of Bethel indicates that the site prospered in the Iron Age I, Iron Age IIB and the late Hellenistic period, that it was weakly settled in the Late Iron Age IIA and the Iron Age IIC, and that it was probably uninhabited or almost deserted in the Babylonian and Persian periods (possibly also in the Early Iron Age IIA). Biblical references to Bethel should be read accordingly. The only possible period for the supposed strong scribal activity at Bethel is the Iron Age IIB, in the 8^th century B.C.E., probably before the fall of the Northern Kingdom.