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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Genesis 28 Pulpit Commentary</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; 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Intermarriage with the women of the land was expressly forbidden to the theocratic heir, while his attention was directed to his mother's kindred. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-2.htm">Genesis 28:2</a></div><div class="verse">Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Arise, go to Padan-aram</span> (<span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/genesis/14-10.htm">Genesis 14:10</a>; <a href="/genesis/25-20.htm">Genesis 25:20</a>; <a href="/genesis/27-43.htm">Genesis 27:43</a>), <span class="cmt_word">to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father</span>; - (<span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/genesis/14-24.htm">Genesis 14:24</a>). If yet alive, Bethuel must have been very old, since he was Isaac's cousin, and probably born many years before the son of Abraham - <span class="cmt_word">and take thee a wife from thence</span> - though Isaac's wife was found for him, he does not think of imitating Abraham and dispatching another Eliezer in search of a spouse for Rebekah s son. Probably he saw that Jacob could attend to that business sufficiently without assistance from others - <span class="cmt_word">of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother</span> (<span class="accented">vide</span> Genesis 14:29). "Isaac appears to entertain no doubt of Jacob's success, which might be the more probable since the same reason which kept Jacob from marrying in Canaan might prevent Laban's daughters from being married in Haran, the worshippers of the Lord being few (Inglis). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-3.htm">Genesis 28:3</a></div><div class="verse">And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 3.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And God Almighty</span> - El Shaddai (<span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/genesis/17-1.htm">Genesis 17:1</a>) - <span class="cmt_word">bless thee</span>, - the Abrahamic benediction in its fullest form was given by El Shaddai (<span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/genesis/17-1.htm">Genesis 17:1-8</a>) - <span class="cmt_word">and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be</span> - literally, <span class="accented">and thou shalt become</span> (or grow to) - <span class="cmt_word">a multitude</span> - an assembly, or congregation, or crowd called together, from a root signifying to call together (Gesenius), or to sweep up together (Furst); corresponding to <span class="greek">ἐκκλησία ιν</span> Greek - <span class="cmt_word">of people.</span> </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-4.htm">Genesis 28:4</a></div><div class="verse">And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And give thee the Blessing of Abraham</span>, - <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. promised to Abraham (<span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/genesis/12-2.htm">Genesis 12:2</a>; <a href="/genesis/22-17.htm">Genesis 22:17, 18</a>). The additions of <span class="greek">τοῦ παρός μου</span> (LXX.), <span class="hebrew">אביך</span> = <span class="greek">τοῦ πατρὸς</span> <span class="greek">σου</span> (Samaritan), are unwarranted - <span class="cmt_word">to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger</span>, - literally, <span class="accented">the land of thy sojournings</span> (<a href="/genesis/17-8.htm">Genesis 17:8</a>) - <span class="cmt_word">which God gave unto Abraham</span> - by promise (cf. <a href="/genesis/12-7.htm">Genesis 12:7</a>; <a href="/genesis/13-15.htm">Genesis 13:15</a>; <a href="/genesis/15-7.htm">Genesis 15:7, 18</a>; <a href="/genesis/17-8.htm">Genesis 17:8</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-5.htm">Genesis 28:5</a></div><div class="verse">And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And Isaac sent away Jacob</span> (Rebekah only counseled, Isaac commanded): a<span class="cmt_word">nd he went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethel the Syrian</span> (<span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/hosea/12-12.htm">Hosea 12:12</a>), <span class="cmt_word">the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother</span>. The historian here perhaps intentionally gives the first place to Jacob. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-6.htm">Genesis 28:6</a></div><div class="verse">When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 6-9.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">When</span> (literally, and) <span class="cmt_word">Esau saw that Issue had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-aram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge</span>, - literally, <span class="accented">in his blessing</span> him (forming a parenthesis), <span class="accented">and he commanded him - <span class="cmt_word"></span>saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; and that</span> (literally, <span class="accented">and</span>) <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone</span> (or went) <span class="cmt_word">to Padan-aram; and Esau seeing that</span> (more correctly, <span class="accented">saw that</span>) <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>the daughters of Canaan pleased not</span> (literally, <span class="accented">were evil in the eyes of</span>) <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>Isaac his father; then</span> (literally, <span class="accented">and</span>) <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>went Esau unto Ishmael</span> (<span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. the family or tribe of Ishmael, aiming in this likely to please his father), <span class="cmt_word">and took unto the wives which he had</span> (so that they were neither dead nor divorced) <span class="cmt_word">Mahalath</span> (called Bashemath in <a href="/genesis/36-3.htm">Genesis 36:3</a>) <span class="cmt_word">the daughter of Ishmael</span> (and therefore Esau's half-cousin by the father's side, Ishmael, who was now dead thirteen years, having been Isaac's half-brother) <span class="cmt_word">Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth,</span> - Ishmael's firstborn (<span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/genesis/25-13.htm">Genesis 25:13</a>) - <span class="cmt_word">to be his wife.</span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> CHAPTER 28:10-22 </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-7.htm">Genesis 28:7</a></div><div class="verse">And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-8.htm">Genesis 28:8</a></div><div class="verse">And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-9.htm">Genesis 28:9</a></div><div class="verse">Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-10.htm">Genesis 28:10</a></div><div class="verse">And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 10.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And Jacob went out from Beersheba, -</span> in obedience to his father's commandment to seek a wife (ver. 2), but also in compliance with his mother's counsel to evade the wrath of Esau (<a href="/genesis/27-43.htm">Genesis 27:43</a>; cf. <a href="/hosea/12-12.htm">Hosea 12:12</a>. On Beersheba <span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/genesis/21-31.htm">Genesis 21:31</a>; <a href="/genesis/26-33.htm">Genesis 26:33</a> - <span class="cmt_word">and went towards Haran</span> - probably along the route traversed by Abraham's servant (cf. <a href="/genesis/14-10.htm">Genesis 14:10</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-11.htm">Genesis 28:11</a></div><div class="verse">And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put <i>them for</i> his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 11.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And he lighted upon a certain place</span>, - literally, he <span class="accented">struck upon the place</span>; <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. either the place best suited for him to rest in (Inglis), or the place appointed for him by God (Ainsworth, Bush), or more probably the well-known place afterwards mentioned (Keil, Wordsworth, 'Speaker's Commentary'). Situated in the mountains of Ephraim, about three hours north of Jerusalem, it was not reached after one, but after several days' journey (cf. <a href="/genesis/22-4.htm">Genesis 22:4</a>) - <span class="cmt_word">and tarried there all night, because the sun was set;</span> - being either remote from the city Luz when overtaken by darkness, or unwilling to enter the town; not because he hated the inhabitants (Josephus), but because he was a stranger - <span class="cmt_word">and he took of the stones of that place</span>, - i.e. one of the stones (<span class="accented">vide</span> ver. 18). "The track (of pilgrims) winds through an uneven valley, covered, as with gravestones, by large sheets of bare rock; some few here and there standing up like the cromlechs of Druidical monuments" (Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' p. 219; cf. 'Lectures on Jewish Church,' p. 59) - <span class="cmt_word">and put them for his pillows,</span> - literally, <span class="accented">and put for his head-bolster</span>, the word signifying that which is at the head of any one (cf. <a href="/1_samuel/19-13.htm">1 Samuel 19:13</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/26-7.htm">1 Samuel 26:7, 11, 16</a>; <a href="/1_kings/19-6.htm">1 Kings 19:6</a>) - <span class="cmt_word">and lay down in that place to sleep</span> (cf. <a href="/genesis/19-4.htm">Genesis 19:4</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/3-5.htm">1 Samuel 3:5, 6, 9</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-12.htm">Genesis 28:12</a></div><div class="verse">And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And he dreamed</span>. This dream, which has been pronounced "beautifully ingenious," "clever" and "philosophical," the work of a later Hebrew poet and not of Jacob (De Wette), was not wonderful considering the state of mind and body in which he must have been - fatigued by travel, saddened by thoughts of home, doubtless meditating on his mother, and more than likely pondering the great benediction of his aged and, to all appearance, dying father. Yet while these circumstances may account for the mental framework of the dream, the dream itself was Divinely sent. <span class="cmt_word">And behold a ladder</span> - the rough stones of the mountain appearing to form themselves into vast staircase (Stanley, Bush) - <span class="cmt_word">set up an the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven:</span> - symbolically intimating the fact of a real, uninterrupted, and close communication between heaven and earth, and in particular between God in his glory and man in his solitude and sin - <span class="cmt_word">and behold the angels of God</span> <span class="accented">- literally</span>, <span class="accented">the messengers of Elohim</span>, <span class="accented">i</span>.e. the angels (<a href="/psalms/103-20.htm">Psalm 103:20, 21</a>; <a href="/psalms/104-4.htm">Psalm 104:4</a>; <a href="/hebrews/1-14.htm">Hebrews 1:14</a>) - <span class="cmt_word">ascending and descending on it</span> - <span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/john/1-51.htm">John 1:51</a>, which shows that Christ regarded either the ladder in Jacob's vision as an emblem of himself, the one Mediator between God and man (Calvin, Luther, Ainsworth, 'Speaker's Commentary,' Murphy), or, what is more probable, Jacob himself as type of him, the Son of man, in whom the living intercourse between earth and heaven depicted in the vision of the angel-trodden staircase was completely fulfilled (Hengstenberg, Baumgsrten, Lange, Bush). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-13.htm">Genesis 28:13</a></div><div class="verse">And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I <i>am</i> the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 13.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And, behold</span>, - "the dream-vision is so glorious that the narrator represents it by a threefold <span class="hebrew">הִגֵּה</span> (Lange) - <span class="cmt_word">the Lord stood above it,</span> - the change in the Divine name is not to be explained by assigning vers. 13-16 to the Jehovistic editor (Tuch, Bleek) or to a subsequent redactor (Davidson), since without it the Elohistic document would be abrupt, if not incomplete (Kalisch), but by recalling the fact that it is not the general pro<span class="accented">vide</span>nce of the Deity over his creature man, but the special superintendence of the God of Abraham and of Isaac over his chosen people, that the symbolic ladder was intended to depict (Hengstenberg) - <span class="cmt_word">and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac:</span> - thus not simply proclaiming his personal name Jehovah, but announcing himself as the Elohim who had solemnly entered into covenant with his ancestors, and who had now come, in virtue of that covenant, to renew to him the promises he had previously given them - <span class="cmt_word">the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed</span> - given to Abraham, <a href="/genesis/13-15.htm">Genesis 13:15</a>; to Isaac, <a href="/genesis/26-3.htm">Genesis 26:3</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-14.htm">Genesis 28:14</a></div><div class="verse">And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 14.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth,</span> - promised to Abraham, <a href="/genesis/13-16.htm">Genesis 13:16</a>; to Isaac, under a different emblem, <a href="/genesis/26-4.htm">Genesis 26:4</a> - <span class="cmt_word">and thou shalt spread abroad</span> (literally, break forth) <span class="cmt_word">to the west,</span> <span class="cmt_word">and to the east, to the north, and to the south</span>: - (cf. <a href="/genesis/13-14.htm">Genesis 13:14</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/12-20.htm">Deuteronomy 12:20</a>). In its ultimate significance this points to the world-wide universality of the kingdom of Christ (Murphy) <span class="cmt_word">- and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed</span> (<span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/genesis/12-3.htm">Genesis 12:3</a>; <a href="/genesis/18-18.htm">Genesis 18:18</a>; <a href="/genesis/22-18.htm">Genesis 22:18</a> (Abraham); 26:4 (Isaac). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-15.htm">Genesis 28:15</a></div><div class="verse">And, behold, I <i>am</i> with thee, and will keep thee in all <i>places</i> whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done <i>that</i> which I have spoken to thee of.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And, behold, I am with thee</span>, - spoken to Isaac (cf. 26:24); again to Jacob (<a href="/genesis/31-3.htm">Genesis 31:3</a>); afterwards to Christ's disciples (<a href="/matthew/28-20.htm">Matthew 28:20</a>) - <span class="cmt_word">and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest</span>, - literally, <span class="accented">in all thou goest - <span class="cmt_word"></span>in all thy goings</span> (cf. <a href="/genesis/48-16.htm">Genesis 48:16</a>; <a href="/psalms/121-5.htm">Psalm 121:5, 7, 8</a>) - <span class="cmt_word">and will bring thee again into this land</span>; - equivalent to an intimation that his present journey to Padan-aram was not without the Divine sanction, though apparently it had been against the will of God that Isaac should leave the promised land (<span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/genesis/14-6.htm">Genesis 14:6, 8</a>) - <span class="cmt_word">for I will not leave thee,</span> - a promise afterwards repeated to Israel (<a href="/deuteronomy/31-6.htm">Deuteronomy 31:6, 8</a>), to Joshua (<a href="/genesis/1-5.htm">Genesis 1:5</a>), to Solomon (<a href="/1_chronicles/28-20.htm">1 Chronicles 28:20</a>), to the poor and needy (<a href="/isaiah/41-17.htm">Isaiah 41:17</a>), to Christians (<a href="/hebrews/13-7.htm">Hebrews 13:7</a>) - <span class="cmt_word">until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of</span> - cf. Balaam's testimony to the Divine faithfulness (<a href="/numbers/23-19.htm">Numbers 23:19</a>), and Joshua's (Genesis 21:45), and Solomon's (<a href="/1_kings/8-56.htm">1 Kings 8:56</a>). It is impossible, in connection with this sublime theophany granted to Jacob at Bethel, not to recall the similar Divine manifestation vouchsafed to Abraham beneath the starry firmament at Hebron (<span class="accented">vide Genesis</span> 15:1). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-16.htm">Genesis 28:16</a></div><div class="verse">And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew <i>it</i> not.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And Jacob awaked out of his sleep</span> (during which he had seen and talked with Jehovah), <span class="cmt_word">and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not</span>. Jacob does not here learn the doctrine of the Divine omnipresence for the first time (Knobel), but now discovers that the covenant God of Abraham revealed himself at other than consecrated places (Rosenmüller, Keil, Lange, Murphy); or perhaps simply gives expression to his astonishment at finding that whereas he fancied himself alone, he was in reality in the company of God <span class="accented">- so plus adeptum ease quam sperare ausus fuisset</span> (Calvin). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-17.htm">Genesis 28:17</a></div><div class="verse">And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful <i>is</i> this place! this <i>is</i> none other but the house of God, and this <i>is</i> the gate of heaven.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 17.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And he was afraid</span>, - so were Moses (<a href="/exodus/20-18.htm">Exodus 20:18, 19</a>), Job (<a href="/genesis/42-5.htm">Genesis 42:5, 6</a>), Isaiah (<a href="/genesis/6-5.htm">Genesis 6:5</a>), Peter (<a href="/luke/5-8.htm">Luke 5:8</a>), John (<a href="/revelation/1-17.htm">Revelation 1:17, 18</a>), at similar discoveries of the Divine presence - <span class="cmt_word">and said,</span> <span class="cmt_word">How dreadful is this place</span>! - <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. how to be feared! how awe-inspiring! <span class="greek">φοβερὸς</span> (LXX.), <span class="accented">terribilis</span> (Vulgate) - <span class="cmt_word">this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.</span> Not literally, but figuratively, the place where God dwells, and the entrance to his glorious abode (Keil); the idea that Jacob was "<span class="accented">made</span> aware by the dream that he had slept on one of those favored spots singled out for a future sanctuary, and was fearful that he had sinned by employing it for a profane purpose" (Kalisch), being fanciful. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-18.htm">Genesis 28:18</a></div><div class="verse">And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put <i>for</i> his pillows, and set it up <i>for</i> a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 18.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And Jacob rose up early in the morning</span> (cf. <a href="/genesis/19-27.htm">Genesis 19:27</a>; <a href="/genesis/22-3.htm">Genesis 22:3</a>), <span class="cmt_word">and took the stone that he had put for his pillows</span> (<span class="accented">vide supra</span>), <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>and set it up for a pillar</span> - literally, <span class="accented">set it up</span>, <span class="accented">a pillar</span> (or something set upright, hence a statue or monument); not as an object of worship, a sort of fetish, but as a memorial of the vision (Calvin, Keil, Murphy; cf. <a href="/genesis/31-45.htm">Genesis 31:45</a>; <a href="/genesis/35-14.htm">Genesis 35:14</a>; <a href="/joshua/4-9.htm">Joshua 4:9, 20</a>; 14:26; <a href="/1_samuel/7-12.htm">1 Samuel 7:12</a>) - <span class="cmt_word">and poured oil upon the top of it.</span> <span class="accented">Quasi signum consecrationis</span> (Calvin), and not because he regarded it as in itself invested with any degree of sanctity. The worship of sacred stones (Baetylia), afterwards prevalent among the Greeks, Romans, Hindoos, Arabs, and Germans, though by some (Kuenen, Oort; <span class="accented">vide</span> 'The Bible for Young People,' vol. 1. p. 231) regarded as one of the primeval forms of worship among the Hebrews, was expressly interdicted by the law of Moses (cf. <a href="/exodus/22-24.htm">Exodus 22:24</a>; <a href="/exodus/34-13.htm">Exodus 34:13</a>; <a href="/leviticus/26-1.htm">Leviticus 26:1</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/12-3.htm">Deuteronomy 12:3</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/16-22.htm">Deuteronomy 16:22</a>). It was probably a heathen imitation of the rite here recorded, though by some authorities (Keil, Knobel, Lange) the Baetylian worship is said to have been connected chiefly with meteoric stones which were supposed to have descended from some divinity; as, e. g., the stone in Delphi sacred to Apollo; that in Emesa, on the Orontes, consecrated to the sun; the angular rock at Pessinus in Phrygia worshipped as hallowed by Cybele; the black stone in the Kaaba at Mecca believed to have been brought from heaven by the angel Gabriel (<span class="accented">vide</span> Kalisch in /Gee). That the present narrative was a late invention, "called into existence by a desire" on the part of the priests and prophets of Yahweh (Jehovah) "<span class="accented">to</span> proclaim the high antiquity of the sanctuary at Bethel, and to make a sacred stone harmless" ('The Bible for Young People,' vol. 1. p. 231), is pure assumption. The circumstance that the usage here mentioned is nowhere else in Scripture countenanced (except in <a href="/genesis/35-14.htm">Genesis 35:14</a>, with reference to this same pillar) forms a sufficient pledge of the high antiquity of the narrative (<span class="accented">vied</span> Havernick's 'Introd.,' § 20). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-19.htm">Genesis 28:19</a></div><div class="verse">And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city <i>was called</i> Luz at the first.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 19.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And he called the name of that place Bethel</span> - i.e. a house of God. Rosenmüller and Kalisch find a connection between Bethel and Baetylia, the former regarding Beetylia as a corruption of Bethel, and the latter viewing Bethel as the Hebraised form of Beetylion. Keil objects to both that the interchange of <span class="greek">τ</span> in <span class="greek">βαιτύλιον</span>, and <span class="greek">Θ</span> in <span class="greek">βαιθήλ</span>), would be perfectly inexplicable. On the site of Bethel (Beitin) <span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/genesis/12-8.htm">Genesis 12:8</a>. <span class="cmt_word">But the name of that city was called Luz at the first.</span> Originally the Canaanitish town, built according to Calvin after this event, was called Luz, or "almond tree," a name it continued to bear until the conquest (<a href="/judges/1-23.htm">Judges 1:23</a>). From the circumstances recorded in the narrative, Jacob called the spot where he slept (in the vicinity of Luz) Bethel - the designation afterwards extending to the town (<a href="/genesis/35-6.htm">Genesis 35:6</a>). Until the conquest both titles appear to have been used - Luz by the Canaanites, Bethel by the Israelites. When the conquest was completed the Hebrew name was substituted for the Hittite, the sole survivor of the captured city building another Luz in another part of the country (<span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/judges/1-26.htm">Judges 1:26</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-20.htm">Genesis 28:20</a></div><div class="verse">And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 20, 21.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And Jacob vowed a vow</span>, - not in any mercenary or doubtful spirit, but as an expression of gratitude for the Divine mercy (Calvin), as the soul's full and free acceptance of the Lord to be its own God (Murphy), as the instinctive impulse of the new creature (Candlish) - <span class="cmt_word">saying, If</span> (not the language of uncertainty, but equivalent to "since, ' or "forasmuch as;" Jacob by faith both appropriating and anticipating the fulfillment of the preceding promise) <span class="cmt_word">God</span> (Elohim; for the reason of which <span class="accented">vide infra</span>) <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>will be with me,</span> - as he has promised (ver. 15), and as I believe he will - <span class="cmt_word">and will keep me in this way that I go</span>, - a particular appropriation of the general promise (ver. 15) - <span class="cmt_word">and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on</span> (<span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. all the necessaries of life, included, though not specially mentioned, in the preceding promise), <span class="cmt_word">so that I come again to my father's house</span> - also guaranteed by God (ver. 15), and here accepted by the patriarch - <span class="cmt_word">in peace</span> (<span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. especially free from Esau's avenging threats); <span class="cmt_word">then shall the Lord be my God</span> - literally, <span class="accented">and Jehovah will be to me for Elohim</span> (Rosenmüller, Hengstenberg, Keil, Kalisch, 'Speaker's Commentary'), though the received translation is not without support (LXX., Vulgate, Syriac, Calvin, Michaelis, Lange, Murphy, Wordsworth); but to have bargained and bartered with God in the way which this suggests before assenting to accept him as an object of trust and worship would have been little less than criminal. Accordingly, the clause is best placed in the protasis of the sentence, which then practically reads, "if Elohim will be Jehovah to me, and if Jehovah will be to me Elohim" (<span class="accented">vide</span> Hengstenberg, 'Introduction,' vol. 1. p. 358). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-21.htm">Genesis 28:21</a></div><div class="verse">So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/28-22.htm">Genesis 28:22</a></div><div class="verse">And this stone, which I have set <i>for</i> a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 22.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And</span> (or then, the apodosis now commencing) <span class="cmt_word">this stone which I have set for a pillar</span> (<span class="accented">vide</span> on ver. 18) <span class="cmt_word">shall be God's house</span> - Bethel, meaning that he would afterwards erect there an altar for the celebration of Divine worship - a resolution which was subsequently carried out (<span class="accented">vide</span> <a href="/genesis/35-1.htm">Genesis 35:1, 15</a>). "The pillar or cairn or cromlech of Bethel must have been looked upon by the Israelites, and may be still looked upon in thought by us, as the precursor of every "house of God" that has since arisen in the Jewish and Christian world - the temple, the cathedral, the church, the chapel; nay, more, of those secret places of worship that are marked by no natural beauty and seen by no human eye - the closet, the catacomb, the thoroughfare of the true worshipper (Stanley's 'Jewish Church,' lect. 3. p. 60). <span class="cmt_word">And of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.</span> Literally, <span class="accented">giving I will give the tenth</span> (cf. <a href="/genesis/14-20.htm">Genesis 14:20</a>). The case of Jacob affords another proof that the practice of voluntary tithing was known and observed antecedent to the tune of Moses <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. 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