Penuel (or ''Pniel'', ''Pnuel'';

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: ''Pənūʾēl'') is a place described in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Succoth, on the east of the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...

and south of the river

Jabbok The Zarqa River ( ar, نهر الزرقاء, ''Nahr az-Zarqāʾ'', lit. "the River of the Blue ity) or Jabbok River (Hebrew: נַחַל יַבּוֹק ''Nahal Yabōq'') is the second largest tributary of the lower Jordan River, after the Yarmo ...

in present-day

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. Penuel is mentioned in the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...

as the site of Jacob's struggle with the angel. In

1 Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the bo ...

, it is mentioned as a capital for

Jeroboam Jeroboam I (; Hebrew: ''Yārŏḇə‘ām''; el, Ἱεροβοάμ, Hieroboám) was the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel. The Hebrew Bible describes the reign of Jeroboam to have commenced following a revolt of the ten northern ...

, first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel, which he fortified.

Biblical narrative

According to the Biblical narrative, the site was named ''Peniel'' ("Face of

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typicall ...

") by Jacob: Here Jacob wrestled (Gen. 32:24–32) "with a man" ("the angel", Hos. 12:4) "till the break of day." This episode resulted in God (or the angel) changing Jacob's name to "Israel" (Gen. 32:28) which literally means, "he who strives with God" or "God strives". Penuel is later mentioned in the Book of Judges. The men of this place refused to give bread to

Gideon Gideon (; ) also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth, was a military leader, judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites are recounted in of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. Gideon was the son of Joash, from the Abiez ...

and his three hundred men when they were in pursuit of the Midianites (). On his return, Gideon tore down the tower there and killed all the men of the city. According to the Jewish Bible, king

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

established his capital in

Shechem Shechem ( ), also spelled Sichem ( ; he, שְׁכֶם, ''Šəḵem''; ; grc, Συχέμ, Sykhém; Samaritan Hebrew: , ), was a Canaanite and Israelite city mentioned in the Amarna Letters, later appearing in the Hebrew Bible as the first ca ...

. A short time later, he left Shechem and fortified Penuel, declaring it as his new capital (). He and his son, Nadab, ruled there, until Baasha seized the throne in 909 BCE and moved the capital to Tirzah (). In the scriptures, it is identified as both an El-site and a

Jahwist The Jahwist, or Yahwist, often abbreviated J, is one of the most widely recognized sources of the Pentateuch (Torah), together with the Deuteronomist, the Priestly source and the Elohist. The existence of the Jahwist is somewhat controversial ...

site. ‘Pnuel’ is also a common name given to males in Assyrian culture. Some scholars consider that the material of Genesis 32–35, including the account of Jacob being renamed Israel at Penuel, may be a later addition that introduces a new power structure centered around the establishment of sacral places in the North (Penuel,

and

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite san ...

Identification

Up until 1970,

biblical scholars Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 For ...

identified Penuel with the twin peaks of Tulul adh-Dhahab in modern-day

. Based on the account given in Genesis, scholars believed Penuel to be the location of a sacred sanctuary, and presumed that there must have been a temple from Iron Age I or earlier on one of the peaks. Since such a structure has not been found, this identification was questioned. Tell_ad-dahab_ash-sharqiya2841

Contemporary Israeli archaeologist

Israel Finkelstein Israel Finkelstein ( he, ישראל פינקלשטיין, born March 29, 1949) is an Israeli archaeologist, professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University and the head of the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa. F ...

suggested to see the twin peaks as two distinct sites that probably featured distinct names during antiquity. He suggested identifying the western, larger, hill (Tell edh-Dhahab al-Gharbi) with

Mahanaim Mahanaim ( he, מַחֲנַיִם ''Maḥănayīm'', "camps") is a place mentioned a number of times by the Bible said to be near Jabbok, in the same general area as Jabesh-gilead, beyond the Jordan River. Although two possible sites have bee ...

and the eastern one (Tell edh-Dhahab esh-Sharqi) with Penuel.

References

{{Coord, 32, 11, N, 35, 42, E, type:city_region:JO_source:dewiki, display=title Torah places Jacob Book of Genesis Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)

Biblical narrative

Identification

See also

References