The Russian Meteor and the House of God

Amazing videos of the meteor that struck Russia today.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=152_1360906606

It is worth noting that ancient peoples too saw meteors falling, and sometimes recovered the remains and placed them in temples to venerate them as stones from heaven.  The Black Stone at the Muslim Kaaba in Mecca is one such example.  They were sometimes called Baetylos by the Greeks, a term derived from Semitic “Bet-El/Beth-El” meaning “house of God.”  (cf. the Bethel stone Jacob slept on in Gen. 28:11-19).

The temple of El-Gabel (“God of the Mountain”) in Syria contained a Baetylos which was represented on this coin.