Penuel (or Pnuel;

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

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

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Succoth, on the east of the Jordan River and south of the river Jabbok in present-day

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. Penuel is mentioned in the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...

as the site of Jacob's struggle with the angel. In 1 Kings, it is mentioned as a capital for

Jeroboam Jeroboam I (; Hebrew language, Hebrew: ''Yārŏḇʿām''; ), frequently cited Jeroboam son of Nebat, was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Kingdom of Israel following a Jeroboam's Revol ...

, 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 belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

") 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), interpreted as which literally means, "he who strives with God", (literally, "God strives"). Penuel is later mentioned in the Book of Judges. The men of this place refused to give bread to Gideon 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, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

established his capital in Shechem. 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 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, Shechem and Bethel).

Identification

Up until 1970,

biblical scholars Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse academic discipline, disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the Biblical canon#Jewish canons, canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Judais ...

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 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 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