Bethel (god)

Bethel meaning in Hebrew and Phoenician and Aramaic 'House of El' or 'House of God' is seemingly the name of a god or an aspect of a god in some ancient middle-eastern texts dating to the Assyrian, Persian and Hellenistic periods.

In the treaty between King Esarhaddon of Assyria and Ba‘al I king of Tyre in 677 BC, curses are called down on the Tyrian king if he breaks the treaty, including:

The name Bethel begins to appear in theophorous name from the 7th century BC onward. Some, for example Porten (1969, p121), suspect it may be this god rather than the city of Bethel that is mentioned Jeremiah 48:13:

Or to put it another way, the stone at Bethel which was named House-of-God was also a god in itself, a manifestation of the god Bethel.

Bethel appears in Genesis 31.13, "I am the God of Beth-el, where thou anointedst a pillar, where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy nativity."

Zechariah 7:2 may give the personal name Bethelsharezer 'May Bethel protect the king'. This is a verse in which translators greatly differ as to whether Bethel means the town of Bethel which sent Sharezer, or that Sharezar and his fellows were sent to the House of God (that is the temple in Jerusalem), or that "they" sent Bethesharezer and his fellows.

God

In monotheism and henotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by theologians commonly includes the attributes of omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), omnipresence (present everywhere), omnibenevolence (perfect goodness), divine simplicity, and eternal and necessary existence.

God is also usually defined as a non-corporeal being without any human biological gender, but his role as a creator has caused some religions to give him the metaphorical name of "Father". Because God is concieved as not being a corporeal being, he cannot (some say should not) be portrayed in a literal visual image; some religious groups use a man to symbolize God because of his role as the "father" of the universe and his deed of creating man's mind in the image of his own.

In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe. Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one God or in the oneness of God. In pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God does not exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism. God has also been conceived as being incorporeal (immaterial), a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent". Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God.

Look to You

Look to You is the sixth live praise and worship album by Hillsong United. The CD comes with a free DVD which includes documentary footage, interviews and 'behind the scenes'. The album reached No. 30 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

Track listing

Personnel

Bonus DVD

Bethel

Bethel (Ugaritic: bt il, meaning "House of El" or "House of God",Hebrew: בֵּית אֵל, also transliterated Beth El, Beth-El, or Beit El; Greek: Βαιθηλ; Latin: Bethel) was a border city described in the Hebrew Bible as being located between Benjamin and Ephraim and also a location named by Jacob. Edward Robinson identified the village of Beitin in the West Bank with ancient Bethel in Biblical Researches in Palestine, 1838–52. He based this assessment on its fitting the location described in earlier texts, and on the philological similarities between the modern and ancient name, arguing that the replacement of the Hebrew el with the Arabic in was not unusual. During Israelite rule, Bethel first belonged to the Tribe of Benjamin, but was later conquered by the Tribe of Ephraim. Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome describe it in their time as a small village that lay 12 Roman miles north of Jerusalem, to the right or east of the road leading to Neapolis.

Ten years after the Six-Day War, the biblical name was applied to an Israeli settlement Beit El constructed adjacent to Beitin. In several countries—particularly in the US—the name was given to various locations (see Bethel (disambiguation)).

I Look to You

I Look to You is the seventh and final studio album by American recording artist Whitney Houston before her death on February 11, 2012. It was first released on August 28, 2009 through Sony Music in Europe, then August 31, 2009 with Arista Records in the United States before being released by RCA Records in the United Kingdom on October 19, 2009. The album was Houston's first studio album since 2003's One Wish, and the follow-up to 2002's Just Whitney....

It received favorable reviews from music critics, based on an aggregate score of 66/100 from Metacritic and debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 at number one with sales of 305,000, beating her previous career best first-week sale of 205,137 units with Just Whitney... (2002), and it was her first album to reach number one in the US since 1992's The Bodyguard. Additionally it became her fourth chart-topping album, thus extending her as the female artist with the most cumulative weeks at the number one position.

It has spawned two official singles: The title song, which became a top 20 U.S. R&B chart single, and the international single "Million Dollar Bill", which hit the top ten in several countries worldwide and also becoming a US top 20 R&B hit. Since its release, I Look to You has gone on to sell over 3 million units worldwide, earning platinum certification in seven countries and gold certification in eight. A promotional single, "Nothin' But Love", taken from the album, was only released to UK radio stations to promote the accompanying Nothing but Love World Tour.