BETHUEL, BETHUL (Person and Town), bĭ thōō’ əl (בְּתוּאֵ֥ל, beṭū’el in 1 Chron 4:30; בְּת֖וּל in Josh 19:4; כְּסִ֖יל in Josh 15:30; and prob. 1 Sam 30:27 בֵּֽית־אֵ֛ל.

1. The last named son of Nahor, brother of Abraham; father of Rebekah and Laban (Gen 22:22, 23; 24:15, 24, 47, 50; 25:20; 28:2, 5). Genesis 25:20 and 28:5 call Bethuel “the Aramean of Padan-aram.” E. Speiser has recently pointed to the Nuzu “sistership documents” (ṭuppi ahātūti) to explain the prominent part played by Rebekah’s brother Laban in the marriage request of Isaac’s servant, rather than the father Bethuel who was living at this time (Gen 24:50 contrary to Josephus, Antiq. I, xvi, 2 which says he was dead).

2. A town of Simeon mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:30 as Bethuel—the form Albright prefers after comparing the various corrupted forms: Bethul (Josh 19:4), Bethel (1 Sam 30:27—a name which never occurs in the lists of Judean cities), and Chesil (Josh 15:30). Grollenberg suggests Khirbet el- Qaryatein, a ruin S of Hebron as a possible location.

Bibliography W. F. Albright, “Egypt and the Early History of the Negeb,” JPOS IV (1924), 149-161; E. A. Speiser, “The Wife-Sister Motif in the Patriarchal Narratives,” in A. Altmann, (ed.) Biblical and Other Studies (1963), 15-28.