HEBREW WORD STUDY – BETHEL AND GILGAL

HEBREW WORD STUDY – BETHEL AND GILGAL –  בתל גלגל

Amos 4:4  “Come to Bethel and transgress,   (Come to) Gilgal and multiply your transgressions, bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithe after 3 days.”

You read this book and you will find a lot of different names of nations and towns are being thrown around.  There is a reason for this.  Each name of a town or nation has some very significant meaning.  I would like to focus on the prophecy for Bethel and Gilgal (which is their Hebrew pronunciation).

Bethel means house of God.  Gilgal means rolling together or uniting with God.  Both words express the idea of a place of worship and praise.  Indeed, these two cities were places people went to experience the presence of God.  Indeed, historically, these were equivalent to our present day convention centers or retreats.  People would travel from miles around to go to Bethel and/or Gilgal to worship God.  This was a gathering place for lots of good teaching, prophecies and “miracle services.”  Literally, thousands of people would gather at Bethel and Gilgal to worship God and enjoy the fun and fellowship. 

So what can be so wrong with Bethel and Gilgal? Actually nothing.  So what does the prophet mean: “Come to Bethel and transgress, come to Gilgal and multiply your transgressions?”  The word transgress is pasha which means to rebel or offend.  This transgression is an offense in the speaking of divine power and spiritual insight.   Then the prophet says to go to Gilgal and multiply your transgressions.  The word multiply is ravah which has the idea of increasing or making great, but in its Semitic root it  has the idea of wearing something around your neck as a necklace as a symbol of pride. 

What was happening was that Bethel and Gilgal became a spiritual amusement park or a spiritual county fair.  It became a gathering place for all the teachers and prophets and teacher and prophet wanna-b’s to show off their spiritual dynamic.  It was a place where someone could out rabbi a rabbi.   It was a place to display your spiritual charm, and your spiritual maturity, a place to impress your fellow believer with amazing testimonies.  It became a place where all your spiritual achievements become an offense to God. Gilgal became a place where you could wear your spiritual achievements around your neck for all to see and admire.  A place where you could offer your sacrifices every morning or pay your tithes for all to notice.  

Note that it is not Bethel and Gilgal that is being condemned.  It was the abuses that took place.  It was about people who spent so much time and energy trying to have a new thrill or experience or new revelation that they devoted little to no time in discovery of the heart of God. For Bethel and Gilgal was a place you could go to seek God’s heart. However,  in Amos’s time people were making the pilgrimage to Bethel and Gilgal with a personal motive, to promote one’s own agenda and to do a little showboating 

I’m sure such a thing never happens today!? Well, at least in my case, next time I travel to a Bethel or Gilgal, I need to really check my baggage to make sure I have not another agenda than that of seeking the heart of God.  Otherwise I will end up going to Bethel and transgressing or going to Gilgal and wearing my transgressions around my neck.

Your Friend 

Clyde