Penuel (Peniel)
Atlas

Penuel (Peniel) and surrounding area

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Additional data from OpenBible.info
Occurrences
Genesis 32:31 The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh.

Judges 8:8 He went up there to Penuel, and spoke to them in like manner; and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.

Judges 8:9 He spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, "When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower."

Judges 8:17 He broke down the tower of Penuel, and killed the men of the city.

1 Kings 12:25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived in it; and he went out from there, and built Penuel.

Encyclopedia
PENIEL

pe-ni'-el, pen'-i-el, pe'-ni-el (peni'el, "face of God"; Eidos theou): This is the form of the name in Genesis 32:30. In the next verse and elsewhere it appears as "Penuel." The name is said to have been given to the place by Jacob after his night of wrestling by the Jabbok, because, as he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." It was a height evidently close by the stream over which Jacob passed in the morning. Some have thought it might be a prominent cliff, the contour of which resembled a human face. Such a cliff on the seashore to the South of Tripoli was called theou prosopon, "face of God" (Strabo xvi.2, 15). In later times a city with a strong tower stood upon it. This lay in the line of Gideon's pursuit of the Midianites. When he returned victorious, he beat down the place because of the churlishness of the inhabitants (Judges 8:8, 9, 17). It was one of the towns "built" or fortified by Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:25). Merrill would identify it with Telul edh-Dhahab, "hills of gold," two hills with ruins that betoken great antiquity, and that speak of great strength, on the South of the Jabbok, about 10 miles East of Jordan (for description see Merrill, East of the Jordan, 390 if). A difficulty that seems fatal to this identification is that here the banks of the Jabbok are so precipitous as to be impassable. Conder suggests Jebel 'Osha. The site was clearly not far from Succoth; but no certainty is yet possible.

W. Ewing

Peniel
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