And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful [is] this place! this [is] none other but the house of God, and this [is] the gate of heaven.
17. How dreadful ] This adjective is rendered unsuitable by colloquial usage. The sense would be better given by “awesome” or “terrible.” Jacob believes that he has been in the presence of Jehovah and of the heavenly host. The belief that those who saw “the angel of the Lord” face to face would die is expressed in the terror of Jacob. Cf. Jdg 6:22-23; Jdg 13:21-22.
the house of God ] Heb. bth Elohim, i.e. “a dwelling-place of the Divine Being.” This clause contains the popular etymology of the name Bethel.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 28:17
How dreadful is this place I this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven
Reverential awe
I.
It must have been the freshness of Jacobs sense of recent sin that made a spot so peaceful and so blessed seem to him a dreadful place. Everything takes its character from the conscience. Even a Bethel was awful, and the ladder of angels terrible, to a man who had just been deceiving his father and robbing his brother. The gates of our heaven are the places of our dread.
II. Strange and paradoxical as is this union of the sense of beauty, holiness, and fear, there are seasons in every mans life when it is the sign of a right state of mind. There is a shudder at sanctity which is a true mark of life. The danger of the want of reverence is far greater than the peril of its excess. Very few, in these light and levelling days, are too reverent. The characteristic of its age is the absence.
III. Our churches stand among us to teach reverence. There are degrees of Gods presence. He fills all space, but in certain spots He gives Himself or reveals Himself, and therefore we say He is there more than in other places. A church is such a place. To those who use it rightly it may be a gate of heaven. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The gate of heaven
I. GODS HOUSE IS ALWAYS WHERE THE LORDS PRESENCE IS.
1. No forms whatsoever for church organization, or Sunday service, are given in the Bible.
2. Out-of-the-way places, unusual times, and unexpected assemblages of people, have been often chosen for extraordinary manifestations of the Lords presence.
3. The Head of the Church has given blessings to all Christians alike, of every name, when they have fully kept His covenant.
II. THE LORDS PRESENCE IN GODS HOUSE MAKES IT TO BE THE GATE OF HEAVEN.
1. The figure used. Importance of gates to Eastern cities.
2. The Lords presence, so near, so splendid, so significant, made Jacob seem to himself to be at the very portal of the celestial city.
Practical thoughts:
1. Learn to prize church privileges.
2. Honour the Fourth Commandment.
3. Have done with jargon–sectarian clash and presumption.
4. Do not make the Lords house the gate of hell. Gods mercy never leaves a man where it found him. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The house of God and the gate of heaven
I. THE PLACE HERE SPECIFIED.
1. It was a place distinguished by favourable circumstances.
2. It was a place of sacred instruction.
(1) Jacob was instructed by what God here exhibited to his view. This ladder represented–
(a) the mediation of Christ;
(b) the Providence of God;
(c) the ministry of angels.
(2) Jacob was also instructed by what God said to him.
3. This was a place of covenant engagement between God and man.
II. THE NAMES GIVEN TO IT.
1. The house of God.
(1) In every such place Gods family are associated in one community.
(2) In every such place God is actually present.
(3) In every such place Gods favours are obtained by devout seekers (Luk 11:9-10).
2. None other but the house of God.
(1) Not the house of amusement.
(2) Not the house of merchandise.
(3) Not the house of iniquity.
3. The gate of heaven.
III. THE REFLECTIONS SUGGESTED BY IT. How dreadful is this place! The worship of God should be attended with habitual seriousness.
1. With serious consideration.
2. With serious watchfulness against all distractions.
3. With serious concern to obtain present blessings from God.
4. With serious intercession in behalf of others.
5. With serious gratitude for favours received. (Sketches of Sermons.)
Moral aspect of the world
The world itself is a dreadful place.
I. Because the visible things that are made display an eternal power and Godhead.
II. Because the world evidences a design rising above, and superior to, the exhibition of a power capable of producing a mere physical universe.
III. Because of its occupancy by an intellectual being. Intellect employs itself in a variety of ways, but these may all be classed under–
1. Regard of the external or physical world.
2. The intellectual or spiritual.
3. The author of both. Under one of these may be placed all the subjects which have engaged man from the commencement of the world.
IV. Because man is a moral being. I cannot think of an intellectual being as other than a moral one, because I cannot well conceive how a mind free and unconstrained can, while investigating the works of God, fail to have awakened some of those moral views and feelings, which to any mind are the legitimate concomitants. I have therefore adopted the distinction merely for the sake of the different position from which it enables us to regard man.
V. Because man is a fallen being.
VI. Because of the forbearance of God and mans consequent increased criminality.
VII. Because of Gods amazing condescension in seeking mans restoration.
VIII. Because of the enormous expense at which the means of reconciliation were secured.
IX. Because of the awful consequences resulting from the neglect of these means. (F. Wright.)
Places of worship
I. IN WHAT LIGHT ARE WE TO VIEW PLACES OF WORSHIP?
1. The house of God.
(1) It originates with God.
(2) It is the place where God chooses peculiarly to dwell.
(3) It is the grand repository of Gods eternal truth.
(4) It is the theatre of Gods greatest wonders.
(5) It is the scene of Gods richest mercies and greatest blessings.
(6) It is most honourable to God.
2. The gate of heaven. It may be called so–
(1) Because it is ordinarily in places of worship, and in hearing the gospel, that men begin to think about God and saving their souls.
(2) Because it is there men enter actually on the way to heaven.
(3) Because it is there both worlds meet. In old times all meetings were held at the gates of the cities. And the house of God is the gate of heaven, the meeting place, the assembly of all the spiritual beings in existence.
3. It is said, This is none other than the house of God. And I trust this house never will be for any other purpose. I never like to see a place of worship turned to any other use, except it be for a school, for a place of instruction, or for something analogous to a place of worship.
II. WHAT OUGHT TO BE OUR SENTIMENTS AND FEELINGS AS TO THE HOUSE OF GOD–AS TO A PLACE OF WORSHIP.
1. We should reverence it. So did Jacob. How dreadful, said he, is this place! The Hebrew is, How solemn–how reverential is this place! I never like to see people enter a place of worship heedlessly, lightly, merrily.
2. We should delight to go up to the house of God.
3. We should come full of expectation. The house of God is the scene of mercy, the region of grace, the very element of salvation.
4. We should endeavour, by every means, to support places of worship to the best of our ability. (John Stephens.)
Public worship: how it is, and how it ought to be, attended
I. How DO PERSONS USUALLY ATTEND THE HOUSE OF GOD?
1. Thoughtlessly.
(1) Without sober and becoming thoughts of the great and glorious object of all religious homage and adoration.
(2) Ignorant of their spiritual necessities.
2. Prayerlessly.
3. Faithlessly.
II. How OUGHT PEOPLE TO COME THITHER?
1. With thought.
2. With prayer.
3. With faith.
It is as faith is in lively and vigorous exercise that God is apprehended and felt to be really present. It is by faith we embrace the proffered mercies of the gospel. Concluding remarks:
1. See the true reason why many profit so little from their means of grace.
2. How abundantly you might profit by a more thoughtful, prayerful, and faithful use of your means. (W. Mudge, B. A.)
Gods home, heavens gate
There are four particular remarks which we have to make upon these words.
1. First, we observe from them that intercourse with God, instead of producing levity of mind, produces serious impressions. The man who was not at all afraid to lie down in this place, surrounded with danger and enveloped in darkness, is filled with fear in the morning. At what? At the thought of a present Deity. Not that this was a slavish dread, like that which Belshazzar felt when he saw the handwriting upon the wall, and his countenance was changed in him, and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote together; but he was filled with what the apostle calls reverence or godly fear. Such the seraphim know–they cover their faces when they appear before God. Such Isaiah knew when he said, Woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts! Such Peter felt when he said, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Such Job felt when he said, I heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and in ashes.
2. Secondly, we observe from these words, that wherever God meets with His people, that place may be deservedly considered His house. How does this condemn bigotry! How seldom does God receive anything more than lip service and formality from those whose attachment to any particular place or usages induces them to say, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we. Nothing makes a people dear to God but their conformity to Him; and nothing makes a place of worship sacred but the Divine presence.
3. The experience of Christians sometimes approximates towards heaven. Therefore said Jacob–not only, this is the house of God, but–this is the gate of heaven. There was nothing that was outwardly inviting; but oh, that land, the angels ascending and descending!–oh, his God above, standing, and looking down, and addressing him!–oh, such scenery!–oh, such language!–oh, such communion made Jacob think that, though he saw from the place it was not heaven, heaven could not be far off.
4. Lastly, the house of God and the gate of heaven are related; there Jacob mentions them together, and mentions them in their proper order–this is the house of God–this is the gate of heaven. The one precedes the other–the one affords us the earnest and foretaste of the other. Philip Henrywas accustomed to say at the close of his sabbath-days exercises, Well, if this be not heaven, it is the way to it. Those who call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, will enjoy an eternal sabbath. They who can now say, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honour dwelleth, shall serve Him day and night in His temple above, never more to go out. (W. Jay.)
Beautiful doors
Michael Angelo Buonar-rotti said of the doors of the Baptistery at Florence, executed by Lorenzo Ghiberti, when asked what he thought of them, They are so beautiful that they might stand at the gates of paradise. (Old Testament Anecdotes.)
Entrance to heaven
Al Strut is a bridge extending from this world to the next, over the abyss of hell, which must be passed by every one who would enter the Mohammedan paradise. It is very narrow, the breadth being less than the thread of the famished spider, according to some writers; others compare it to the edge of a sword or of a razor. The deceased cross with a rapidity proportioned to their virtue. Some pass with the rapidity of lightning; others with the speed of a horse at full gallop; others still slower, on account of the weight of their sins; and many fall down from it, and are precipitated into hell. (Wheeler.)
Astronomical heavens
There is a saying of Hazlitts, bold, and at first seeming wondrous true: In the days of Jacob there was a ladder between heaven and earth; but now the heavens have gone farther off, and have become astronomical. (George Dawson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. How dreadful is this place!] The appearance of the ladder, the angels, and the Divine glory at the top of the ladder, must have left deep, solemn, and even awful impressions on the mind of Jacob; and hence the exclamation in the text, How dreadful is this place!
This is none other but the house of God] The Chaldee gives this place a curious turn: “This is not a common place, but a place in which God delights; and opposite to this place is the gate of heaven.” Onkelos seems to suppose that the gate or entrance into heaven was actually above this spot, and that when the angels of God descended to earth, they came through that opening into this place, and returned by the same way. And it really appears that Jacob himself had a similar notion.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
How dreadful is this place, or venerable, both for the majesty of the Person present, and for the glorious manner of his discovery of himself!
The house of God; the habitation of God and of his holy angels.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he was afraid,…. Not with a servile but filial fear; not with a fear of the wrath and displeasure of God, but with a fear of his grace and goodness; not with a fear of distrust of it, of which he had just had such a comfortable assurance; but with an awe of the greatness and glory of God, being conscious of his own unworthiness to receive such favours from him;
and said, how dreadful [is] this place! not terrible and horrible, being not like Mount Sinai, but like Sion; not as the suburbs of hell, but as the gate of heaven majestic and venerable, because of the glory of God that appeared in it, whose name is holy and reverend and because of the holy angels here present: and so the church, of which this was an emblem, is a solemn assembly, awful and venerable; a city of solemnities, because of the worship of God in it, and his presence there; who is to be feared in the assembly of his saints, and to be had in reverence of all that are about him; and where persons should behave in a serious and solemn manner. The Targum of Jonathan is,
“how tremendous and praiseworthy is this place! this is not a common place:”
this [is] none other but the house of God; wherefore he afterwards called it Bethel, which signifies the house of God; and so the church of God is often called, Ps 23:6; which is of God’s building, where he dwells, and his family is, of which he is the master and governor; which he beautifies and adorns, fills, repairs, and defends:
and this [is] the gate of heaven: Mr. Mede renders it “the court of heaven”, because of the angels; since in gates justice was administered by kings, attended with their retinue; but royal courts were not kept there, only courts of judicature: this place seems to be so called, because the heavens were opened and the glory of God was seen, attended by his angels, who were passing and repassing, as people through the streets of a city; and was an emblem of the church of Christ, who is figured by the ladder set on earth, whose top reached to heaven, the door, the gate, the way of ascent to it; here he is preached in the word as the way of salvation, the way to heaven and eternal happiness; here he is held forth in the ordinances; here he grants his presence to his people, and indulges them with communion with him, which makes it like and next to heaven unto them: and, generally speaking, though not always, God brings his people to heaven this way, through a Gospel church state, and by means of the word and ordinances; and here angels also attend, 1Co 11:10.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17. And he was afraid, and said. It seems surprising that Jacob should fear, when God spoke so graciously to him; or that he should call that place “dreadful,” where he had been filled with incredible joy. I answer, although God exhilarates his servants, he at the same time inspires them with fear, in order that they may learn, with true humility and self-denial, to embrace his mercy. We are not therefore to understand that Jacob was struck with terror, as reprobates are, as soon as God shows himself; but he was inspired with a fear which produces pious submission. He also properly calls that place the gate of heaven, on account of the manifestation of God: for, because God is placed in heaven as on his royal throne, Jacob truly declares that, in seeing God, he had penetrated into heaven. In this sense the preaching of the gospel is called the kingdom of heaven, and the sacraments may be called the gate of heaven, because they admit us into the presence of God. The Papists, however, foolishly misapply this passage to their temples, as if God dwelt in filthy places. (59) But if we concede, that the places which they designate by this title, are not polluted with impious superstitions, yet this honor belongs to no peculiar place, since Christ has filled the whole world with the presence of his Deity. Those helps to faith only, (as I have before taught,) by which God raises us to himself, can be called the gates of heaven.
(59) In foetidis lupanaribus.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) How dreadful.The manifestation of God must always inspire awe and dread, but not fear: for where He reveals Himself, there is the gate of heaventhe appointed entrance for prayer now, and for admission to the glorified life hereafter.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. House of God gate of heaven This thought thrills him with a sense of terror . So far from being away from house and friends and care, behold, he is in God’s house, and the very gates of heaven have been opened to his eye .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rev 1:17 ; Mat 17:6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 28:17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful [is] this place! this [is] none other but the house of God, and this [is] the gate of heaven.
Ver. 17. How dreadful is this place! ] The place of God’s public worship is a place of angels and archangels, saith Chrysostom; a it is the kingdom of God; it is very heaven. What wonder, then, though Jacob be afraid, albeit he saw nothing but visions of love and mercy? “In thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple,” saith David. Psa 5:7 The very Turk, when he comes into his temple, lays by all his state, and hath none to attend him all the while. Omnino opertet nos, orationis tempore, curiam intrare coelestem , saith St Bernard, b in qua Rex regum stellato sedet solio ,& c. Quanta ergo cum reverentia, quanto timore, quanta illuc humilitate accedere debet e palude sua procedens et repens vilis ranuncula ? Our addresses must be made unto God with the greatest reverence that is possible.
a T ‘ A ‘ A, B, Y, .
b Bern., De Divers ., 25.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the house of God. This “house” is the place where God meets the unworthy in grace. It was so with David (1Ch 22:1). It is so for us. Our “place of worship” is where God manifests Himself to us in grace. “The God of all grace” is emphatically “the God of Jacob” (Psa 146:5).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he was: Exo 3:6, Jdg 13:22, Mat 17:6, Luk 2:9, Luk 8:35, Rev 1:17
the house: Gen 28:22, Gen 35:1-13, 2Ch 5:14, Ecc 5:1, 1Ti 3:15, Heb 10:21, 1Pe 4:17
Reciprocal: Gen 16:13 – called Exo 3:5 – put off Lev 19:30 – reverence Jdg 13:6 – terrible 1Ch 22:1 – This is the house 1Co 3:17 – destroy 2Pe 1:18 – the holy
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
HALLOWED GROUND
How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
Gen 28:17
I. It must have been the freshness of Jacobs sense of recent sin that made a spot so dreadful and so blessed seem to him a dreadful place. Everything takes its character from the conscience. Even a Bethel was awful, and the ladder of angels terrible, to a man who had just been deceiving his father and robbing his brother. The gates of our heaven are the places of our dread.
II. Strange and paradoxical as is this union of the sense of beauty, holiness, and fear, there are seasons in every mans life when it is the sign of a right state of mind. There is a shudder at sanctity which is a true mark of life. The danger of the want of reverence is far greater than the peril of its excess. Very few, in these light and levelling days, are too reverent. The characteristic of the age is its absence.
III. Our churches stand among us to teach reverence. There are degrees of Gods presence. He fills all space, but in certain spots He gives Himself or reveals Himself, and therefore we say He is there more than in other places. A church is such a place. To those who use it rightly it may be a gate of Heaven.
Rev. J. Vaughan.
Illustration
(1) We also, in our Christian pilgrimage, have an unerring Guide, who never mistakes the way. Have you not heard of the wonderful powers of those Indian guides? Egerton Young was much struck by their sagacity and shrewdness. When he started to go on a pastoral visit to the Nelson River he had a journey of nearly 400 miles over frozen lakes, through dense forests, and across hills and ravines. But no matter whether clouds obscure the sky or not they never lose their way through the primeval forest.
Our pilgrimage is just as tangled, and our Guide is just as reliable. He is never at fault. He who led Abraham forth to new lands, who was Jacobs guide, and who led Israel like a flock through the desert, will lead His pilgrims in safety through perplexing duties, and perilous pathways. Jesus Christ promised to the disciples that after His departure the Holy Spirit should come to them and guide them into all truth. And that same Holy Spirit was the guide of Christs human life. It was owing to the fact that the Holy Spirit was given to Him without measure that his life was so great.
(2)Our blest Redeemer, ere He breathed
His tender last farewell,
A Guide, a Comforter bequeathed
With us to dwell.
And His that gentle voice we hear,
Soft as the breath of even,
That checks each fault, that calms each fear,
And speaks of heaven.
And every virtue we possess,
And every victory won,
And every thought of holiness,
Are His alone.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Gen 28:17. He was afraid So far was he from being puffed up with this divine vision. The more we see of God, the more cause we see for holy fear and blushing before him. Those to whom God is pleased to manifest himself, are laid and kept very low in their own eyes, and see cause to fear even the Lord and his goodness, Hos 3:5. And said, How dreadful is this place! That is, the appearance of God in this place is never to be thought of but with a holy awe and reverence; I shall have a respect for this place, and remember it by this token as long as I live. Not that he thought the place itself any nearer the divine visions than any other place; but what he saw there at this time was, as it were, the house of God, the residence of the Divine Majesty, and the gate of heaven, that is, the general rendezvous of the inhabitants of the upper world, as the meetings of a city were in their gates; or, the angels ascending and descending, were like travellers passing and repassing through the gates of a city.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
28:17 And he was {f} afraid, and said, How dreadful [is] this place! this [is] none other but the house of God, and this [is] the gate of heaven.
(f) He was touched with a godly fear and reverence.