the same with Bethel. This city, upon the revolt of the ten tribes, belonged to the kingdom of Israel, and was therefore one of the cities in which Jeroboam set up his golden calves. Whence the prophet in derision calls it, "Bethaven," the house of vanity or idols, Hosea 4:15 , instead of "Bethel," the house of God, the name which Jacob formerly gave it, when he had the vision of the mysterious ladder, reaching from earth to heaven, Genesis 28:19 .