Use of the term can be found in and .
Jacob The
Patriarch Jacob set up four massebot in the Hebrew Bible: • In
Bethel, the origin of the term
baetyl. In
Genesis 28, "Jacob then made a vow, saying, “If God remains with me, protecting me on this journey that I am making, and giving me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and I return safe to my father’s house—
Yahweh shall be my God. And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, shall be God’s abode; and of all that You give me, I will set aside a tithe for You.” •
Miṣpā () • In Bethel a second time. In
Genesis| 31:13,
Yahweh says to Jacob, "I am the
God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to Me." • At
Rachel's grave: "Over her grave Jacob set up a pillar; it is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day." (
Genesis|35:20|HE) It could also stand as a witness: upon confronting Jacob in
Gilead: "And
Laban said to Jacob, "Here is this mound and here the pillar which I have set up between you and me: this mound shall be witness and this pillar shall be witness that I am not to cross to you past this mound, and that you are not to cross to me past this mound and this pillar, with hostile intent." (
Genesis 31:52)
Other Moses is mentioned as erecting an altar and 12 massebot, "according [representing?] to the twelve tribes of Israel", before ascending the mountain for 40 days and nights to meet with God. He also commands the people to set up "large stones" and cover them in plaster upon entering Israel to write the religious law upon. Exodus 23:24 indicates that gentiles also erected massebot, which is likely the reason for this prohibition, alongside consolidation of authorized ritual spaces to center on the Jerusalem Temple. Deuteronomy 16:21-22 supports this by banning the creation of a particular kind of sacred grove/"asherah" near the creation of altars (given the use of the word
asherah, it is referencing a pagan practice) and then bans erecting massebot, likely as a continuation of the previous passage. However, Isaiah 19:19 mentions the future erection of massebot in a positive context
outside of altars, shrines, or temples, indicating this was not a total ban in massebot. ==Archeology==