When I returned from BYU Jerusalem, I would often get a question about my favorite spot. There are so many amazing things in the Holy Land and there is a special feeling in the area in general. I absolutely loved the Garden tomb and I wish I could have visited there every day. My favorite place, however, was a relatively small, rocky hill about ten miles outside of Jerusalem. 

When the bus pulled up to what looked like, to me, a pile of rocks, I really was ignorant and did not know what to expect. It was windy and hard to hear (luckily we had headsets to hear him through a lapel mic). We were instructed by our teacher to spread out and listen as he explained the significance of this sacred ground. I sat on a rock overlooking the valley below. 

It is called Bethel. Bethel “in Hebrew, means ‘house of God’ and is one of the most sacred spots in Israel. It is located about ten miles north of Jerusalem. Here Abraham built his altar at the time of his first arrival in Canaan (Gen. 12:8; 13:3). Here Jacob saw in vision a ladder reaching up into heaven (Gen. 28:10–19). It was also a holy place in the days of Samuel (1 Sam. 7:16; 10:3)”¹.

In short, this is a Holy place where our forefathers communed with God, worshipped Him, and made covenants with Him–just as we do in the temple.

After the instruction from the teacher, we were then left to ponder, read from our patriarchal blessings and the scriptures, and commune with God ourselves. As I read my patriarchal blessing, Alma 7 popped in my mind. I couldn’t remember what it said, so I turned there and started reading.

I was struck by two verses in particular (especially considering the context of where I was sitting—essentially that which was a temple for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).

“And he doth not dwell in unholy temples; neither can filthiness or anything which is unclean be received into the kingdom of God; therefore I say unto you the time shall come, yea, and it shall be at the last day, that he who is filthy shall remain in his filthiness” (Alma 7:21).

“And may the Lord bless you, and keep your garments spotless, that ye may at last be brought to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since the world began, having your garments spotless even as their garments are spotless, in the kingdom of heaven to go no more out” (Alma 7:25).

I left Bethel more committed to keep the covenants I had made. Those covenants are a tremendous blessing if we keep them. They keep us close to God so we can return to him.

I later found even greater insight in Hymn #100, “Nearer, My God to Thee”:

Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!
E’en though it be a cross
That raiseth me.
Still all my song shall be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!

Though like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone,
Yet in my dreams I’d be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!

There let the way appear,
Steps unto heav’n;
All that thou sendest me,
In mercy giv’n;
Angels to beckon me
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!

Then with my waking thoughts
Bright with thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs
Bethel I’ll raise;
So by my woes to be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!

Or if, on joyful wing
Cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot,
Upward I fly,
Still all my song shall be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!

So, when people ask which was my favorite spot in Jerusalem and then wonder why that favorite spot would be a stony hill, the answer is because Bethel changed me; it is more than a pile of rocks to me.

This version of “Nearer, My God to Thee” below is AWESOME (even though my favorite verse is not in this version). Take a listen:

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1. See “Bethel”, Guide to the Scriptures