Penuel (orPnuel;Hebrew:פְּנוּאֵלPənūʾēl) is a place described in theHebrew Bible as being not far fromSuccoth, on the east of theJordan River and south of the riverJabbok in present-dayJordan.
Penuel is mentioned in theBook of Genesis as the site ofJacob's struggle with the angel. In1 Kings, it is mentioned as a capital forJeroboam, first king of the northernKingdom of Israel, which he fortified.
According to the Biblical narrative, the site was namedPeniel ("Face ofGod") by Jacob:
It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.
— Gen. 32:30 NIV
HereJacob 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",[1] (literally, "God strives").
Penuel is later mentioned in the Book of Judges. The men of this place refused to give bread toGideon and his three hundred men when they were in pursuit of the Midianites (Judges 8:1–21). On his return, Gideon tore down the tower there and killed all the men of the city.
According to the Jewish Bible, kingJeroboam ofIsrael established his capital inShechem. A short time later, he left Shechem and fortified Penuel, declaring it as his new capital (1 Kings 12:25). He and his son,Nadab, ruled there, untilBaasha seized the throne in 909 BCE and moved the capital toTirzah (1 Kings 15:25–34).[original research?] In the scriptures, it is identified as both anEl-site and aJahwist site.[2]
‘Pnuel’ is also a common name given to males inAssyrian 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 andBethel).[3]
Up until 1970,biblical scholars identified Penuel with the twin peaks ofTulul adh-Dhahab in modern-dayJordan. Based on the account given in Genesis, scholars believed Penuel to be the location of a sacred sanctuary,[4] and presumed that there must have been a temple fromIron Age I or earlier on one of the peaks.[5] Since such a structure has not been found, this identification was questioned.
Contemporary Israeli archaeologistIsrael 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) withMahanaim and the eastern one (Tell edh-Dhahab esh-Sharqi) with Penuel.[6]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897).Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.{{cite encyclopedia}}:Missing or empty|title= (help)
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