Bethaven is a place near Ai and Bethel, and it shows up on both sides of Israel’s story. In Joshua 7:2 spies are sent from Jericho to Ai, “which is beside Bethaven.” In 1 Samuel 13 the Philistines pitch camp at Michmash, east of it, and in chapter 14 the battle passes over to Bethaven after the Lord saves Israel. Hosea later uses the name pointedly, telling the people “neither go ye up to Bethaven,” and speaks of “the calves of Bethaven,” a place now tied to false worship rather than to a landmark.
7 verses
And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.
And their border on the north side was from Jordan; and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north side, and went up through the mountains westward; and the goings out thereof were at the wilderness of Bethaven.
And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.
So the LORD saved Israel that day: and the battle passed over unto Bethaven.
Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.
Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin.
The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
House of nothingness; i.e., “of idols”, a place in the mountains of Benjamin, east of Bethel (Josh. 7:2; 18:12; 1 Sam. 13:5). In Hos. 4:15; 5:8; 10:5 it stands for “Bethel” (q.v.), and it is so called because it was no longer the “house of God,” but “the house of idols,” referring to the calves there worshipped.
William Smith, 1884
(house of nothingness , i.e. of idols), a place on the mountains of Benjamin, east of Bethel, (Joshua 7:2; 18:12) and lying between that place and Michmash. (1 Samuel 13:5; 14:28) In (Hosea 4:15; 5:8; 10:5) the name is transferred to the neighboring Bethel, --once the "house of God" but then the house of idols of "naught."