Luz

Luz (Hebrew, meaning separation, departure, or an almond tree) was the ancient Canaanite name of the city later known as Bethel (house of God). Jacob named it Bethel after his dream of a heavenly ladder there (Gen. 28:11–19), but the Canaanite name Luz persisted in usage (Gen. 35:6; Josh. 16:2; 18:13; Judg. 1:23–26). The city lay in the hill country of Ephraim at the southern border of that tribe's territory, approximately ten miles north of Jerusalem on the main road from Jerusalem to Shechem.

A second Luz is mentioned in Judges 1:26: when the Israelites captured the original Luz/Bethel, a man who had shown them the entrance was released, and he went and founded a new city in Hittite territory which he also named Luz, the name surviving there unto this day. The original Luz/Bethel became one of the most theologically significant sites in Israel's history—the location of Jacob's theophany, one of the two sanctuaries established by Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:29), and a prophetic center (Amos 3:14; 4:4).