And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city [was called] Luz at the first.
19. Beth-el ] That is, The house of God: see Gen 35:1; Gen 35:6. This place was one of the most famous sanctuaries in Canaan. It was selected by Jeroboam as one of the High Places at which he set up the calves of gold (1Ki 12:29-33). For its repute and popularity as a sanctuary and place of pilgrimage, see Amo 7:13: close by the altar of Bethel would stand the pillar connected with its worship, and associated with this story of Jacob. The site has been identified with the modern Beitin.
Luz ] The old city’s name mentioned also in Gen 35:6, Gen 48:3, Jdg 1:23, not identical with, but close to Bethel, Jos 16:2. The narrative does not suggest that Jacob’s dream was in the vicinity of a town.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 28:19
And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first
A Divine transformation
Luz transformed into Bethel! A grove of almonds into the house of God! The Bible is full of transformations.
There is a law of gravitation spiritual as well as physical. The downward plunge, the leap earthward is natural because in accordance with this law. But what natural law can turn the current upward, heavenward? A burning brand and natural law can accomplish a transformation of ruin; but it needs Divine intervention, a law of supernatural potency, to repair the ruin, erect the pillars of redemption, and upon them to sweep the arch of perfected restoration. In other words, between Luz and Bethel–the grove of almonds and the house of God–I recognize the necessity of a Divine heart and a Divine hand.
I. Let us view LUZ BEFORE THE TRANSFORMATION. In the midst of a wild and rugged region, broken here and there by hills, from the top of one of which Lot surveyed the well-watered valley of Jordan, and Abraham scanned his promised inheritance, a few stunted almond trees, drawing precarious nourishment from the scanty soil, afford grateful shade to the traveller. Gray, bare rocks everywhere shoot their sharp peaks through the parched earth, and not a vestige of verdure relieves the eye save the little clump of trees which gives Luz its name. Significant symbol–the almond tree! Precious, princely, yet, if embittered, deadly poison. Does the patriarch in famine-stricken Canaan design to send presents to Egypt to propitiate the man, the lord of the country, then he chooses the fruit of the almond tree to make his offering acceptable. Precious fruit! There is uniting in the wilderness among the princes of the host of Israel against the supremacy of Aaron, and a rod of the almond tree is chosen to represent the head of each tribe in the tabernacle of witness. Princely fruit! Precious, princely man! The almond tree of this bleak and rugged world. Let us reverence humanity. Not the rank or station, the varied and varying adventitious enwrapments of his lot, but the man himself! But alas! the almond may become embittered and tranformed into deadly poison. Strangely, the bitter fruit does not differ in chemical composition from the other, yet by a mysterious change of nature, it becomes a deadly thing. Sad, yet striking symbol of man! A virulent poison has entered his life-blood and venomed the whole. Men are apt to regard sin as the commission of a few evil acts, and they are disposed to balance their so-called good acts, against the evil, with a secret complacency that the account must balance in their favour. But sin is a permeating poison, engendering the habitual disposition of rebellion against and distrust toward God, circulating its venom through every artery of the soul and tainting all the issues of life and thought.
II. But notice THE TRANSFORMATION. Luz is changed to Bethel; the grove of almonds into the house of God. One evening a solitary traveller, with weary step, approaches the little clump of almond trees, and, noticing the grateful shade, casts his way-worn form upon the scant but welcome grass. His countenance betokens youth, but there are lines of deep sorrow and premature care upon his brow. The story of the prodigal son is being rehearsed in the desert of Haran. It is Jacob, the dishonest supplanter, leaving his fathers house. The curtains of darkness fall upon the scene and we see the pilgrim no longer with his awful burden of woe. Does he pray? Does he weep? Jacob sleeps as soundly and sweetly that night with the bare ground for a bed, and a rock for a pillow, as he ever did when a child, upon his mothers breast. In other words, Luz is transformed into Bethel, the grove of almonds into the house of God. But wherein does this transformation consist?
1. Jehovah unbars the casement of heaven and reveals Himself to Jacob. Now it is not Jacob who discovers God; it is God who reveals Himself to the poor wanderer. Wondrous revelation! Luz is transformed into Bethel, the place is sacred ground, for where the Supreme reveals Himself, there is the house of God. This is the age of exploration and discovery. Hidden continents, unscaled summits, untraversed deeps, secret forces have been tracked and discovered. But why is it that the explorer, the man of science, the astute discoverer has brought no tidings of God? The knowledge of the Divine Being is not a discovery by man, but a revelation from God! It is He and He alone who can unfilm the eye and unstop the ear and reveal Himself. And this He does to the babes, to those who, like Jacob, get to the end of their resources, and in their extremity and self-destitution cry out to Him. And where He reveals Himself there is Bethel, the house of God.
2. But there is more here than a dim and distant revelation; broad as is the gulf between earth and heaven, that gulf is bridged by a ladder, the foot of which rests upon earth while the top reaches heaven. The revelation of
God as He is, without such a connecting bridge, would be no boon to the sinful soul. On the 10th of May, 1869, at a place called Promontory Point, the junction was made completing the railway communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the United States of America. A silver spike was brought by the Governor of Arizona, another was contributed by the citizens of Nevada. They were driven home into a sleeper of Californian laurel with a silver mallet. As the last blow was struck the hammer was brought into contact with a telegraph wire, and the news was flashed and simultaneously saluted on the shores of two great oceans, and through the expanse of a vast continent, by the roar of cannon and the chiming of bells. When the awful abyss between God and man had to be bridged, the junction over the deepest chasm was made by the outstretched arms of the Son of God; and as the spikes crashed through His open palms He cried: It is finished; and swifter than electric current or lightnings flash, the tidings were winged to the farthest bounds of three worlds. The stairway connecting earth with heaven is completed; the awful chasm is bridged; Luz is transformed into Bethel. Christ by dying has opened up the way to God.
3. But Jacob not only saw the ladder erected; there was actual communication between earth and heaven; he beheld the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. Much interest concentres in the first or trial trip upon a new road, or over a wide and difficult bridge. And many a fair structure has succumbed to the actual strain of traffic. There are two angels at least with whom each of us may and ought to be acquainted; their names are Faith and Love. Let faith bear up your cry to the throne of God, and love will bring the answer down. Swifter than the eagles wing, the message of grace will be borne to your needy heart, if faith but bear the plea. And your weariness will be transformed into joy, your night of sorrow into a mid-day of gladness: in other words, Luz will be transformed into Bethel, the grove of almonds into the house of God. (D. Osborne.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. He called the name of that place Beth-el] That is, the house of God; for in consequence of his having anointed the stone, and thus consecrated it to God, he considered it as becoming henceforth his peculiar residence; see on the preceding verse. This word should be always pronounced as two distinct syllables, each strongly accented, Beth-El.
Was called Luz at the first.] The Hebrew has Ulam Luz, which the Roman edition of the Septuagint translates Oulamlouz; the Alexandrian MS., Oulammaus; the Aldine, Oulammaous; Symmachus, Lammaous; and some others, Oulam. The Hebrew ulam is sometimes a particle signifying as, just as; hence it may signify that the place was called Beth-El, as it was formerly called Luz. As Luz signifies an almond, almond or hazel tree, this place probably had its name from a number of such trees growing in that region. Many of the ancients confounded this city with Jerusalem, to which they attribute the eight following names, which are all expressed in this verse: –
Solyma, Luza, Bethel, Hierosolyma, Jebus, AElia, Urbs sacra, Hierusalem dicitur atque Salem.
Solyma, Luz, Beth-El, Hierosolyma, Jebus, AElia, The holy city is call’d, as also Jerusalem and Salem.
From Beth-El came the Baetylia, Bethyllia, , or animated stones, so celebrated in antiquity, and to which Divine honours were paid. The tradition of Jacob anointing this stone, and calling the place Beth-El, gave rise to all the superstitious accounts of the Baetylia or consecrated stones, which we find in Sanchoniathon and others. These became abused to idolatrous purposes, and hence God strongly prohibits them, Le 26:1; and it is very likely that stones of this kind were the most ancient objects of idolatrous worship; these were afterwards formed into beautiful human figures, male and female, when the art of sculpture became tolerably perfected, and hence the origin of idolatry as far as it refers to the worshipping of images, for these, being consecrated by anointing, c., were supposed immediately to become instinct with the power and energy of some divinity. Hence, then, the Bactylia or living stones of the ancient Phoenicians, &c. As oil is an emblem of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, so those who receive this anointing are considered as being alive unto God, and are expressly called by St. Peter living stones, 1Pe 2:4; 1Pe 2:5. May not the apostle have reference to those living stones or Baetyllia of antiquity, and thus correct the notion by showing that these rather represented the true worshippers of God, who were consecrated to his service and made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and that these alone could be properly called the living stone, out of which the true spiritual temple is composed?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Either of that city which was nearest to the field in which Jacob lay; or of that city which afterwards was built in or near to this place, and was known by the name of
Bethel.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he called the name of that place Bethel,…. The house of God, which he took this place to be:
but the name of that city [was called] Luz at the first; which signifies an almond or hazel nut, Ge 30:37; perhaps from the number of this sort of trees that grew there, under which Jacob might lay himself down, which was probably in the field of Luz; and being at night, he might not know there was a city so near, until the morning. Though Josephus r says he did it purposely, out of hatred to the Canaanites, and chose rather to lie under the open air. This was about twelve miles from Jerusalem, as Jerom s says.
r Antiqu. l. 1. c. 19. sect. 1. s De loc. Heb. fol. 89. C.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
19. And he called the name of that place Beth-el. It may appear absurd that Moses should speak of that place as a city, respecting which he had a little while before said that Jacob had slept there in the open air; for why did not he seek an abode, or hide himself in some corner of a house? But the difficulty is easily solved, because the city was not yet built; neither did the place immediately take the name which Jacob had assigned, but lay long concealed. Even when a town was afterwards built on the spot, no mention is made of Beth-el, as if Jacob had never passed that way; for the inhabitants did not know what had been done there, and therefore they called the city Luz, (60) according to their own imagination; which name it retained until the Israelites, having taken possession of the land, recalled into common use, as by an act of restoration, the former name which had been abolished. And it is to be observed, that when posterity, by a foolish emulation, worshipped God in Beth-el, seeing that it was done without a divine command, the prophets severely inveighed against that worship, calling the name of the place Bethaven, that is, the house of iniquity: whence we infer how unsafe it is to rely upon the examples of the fathers without the word of God. The greatest care, therefore, must be taken, in treating of the worship of God, that what has been once done by men, should not be drawn into a precedent; but that what God himself has prescribed in his word should remain an inflexible rule.
(60) The word לוז ( Luz) signifies an almond-tree, and the town may have derived this name from the fact that almond-trees abounded in the neighborhood. Yet the verb from which it is taken means “to turn away, to depart, to go back;” also “to be perverse, or wicked;” and it is not impossible that this name may have been assigned to it on account of the wickedness of its inhabitants. See the Lexicons of Schindler, Gesenius, etc. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
7. The Naming of the Place, Gen. 28:19.
Jacob called the name of that place, Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at first. It is not easy to discover whether Beth-el is identical with Luz, or they were two distinct places. Some passages seem to countenance the former view (Gen. 35:6, Jdg. 1:23), others the latter (Gen. 12:8, Gen. 13:3; Jos. 16:2; Jos. 18:13). The probability is that they were in close contiguity, and were in time merged into one (CECG, 200). Originally the Canaanitish town was called Luz, or almond tree, a name it continued to bear until the conquest (Jdg. 1:23). From the circumstances recorded here in the narrative, Jacob called the spot where he slept (in the vicinity of Luz) Bethelthe designation afterward extending to the town (Gen. 35:6), Until the conquest both titles appear to have been usedLuz 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 (vide Jdg. 1:26) (PCG, 351). Luz, probably meaning almond tree, was renamed by Jacob Bethel, meaning house of God, and became a holy place to the children of Israel. It was located on land which later was granted to the tribe of Benjamin and was about twelve miles north of Jerusalem. The sacred place was defiled when Jeroboam erected a golden calf (1Ki. 12:28-33), therefore God decreed the destruction of the altar (1Ki. 13:1-5, 2Ki. 23:15-17, Amo. 3:14-15) (HSB, 47). Jacob then gave the place the name of Bethel, i.e., House of God, whereas the town had been called Luz before. The antithesis shows that Jacob gave the name, not to the place where the pillar was set up, but to the town, in the neighborhood of which he had received the divine revelation. He renewed it on his return from Mesopotamia (Gen. 35:15). This is confirmed by ch. Gen. 48:3, where Jacob, like the historian in ch. Gen. 35:6, speaks of Luz as the place of this revelation. There is nothing at variance with this in Jos. 16:2; Jos. 18:13; for it is not Bethel as a city, but the mountains of Bethel, that are here distinguished from Luz (BCOTP, 282). Beth-el, house of God. A town about twelve miles North of Jerusalem, originally Luz (Gen. 28:19). It was here that Abraham encamped (Gen. 12:8; Gen. 13:3), and the district is still pronounced as suitable for pasturage. It received the name of Beth-el, house of God because of its nearness to or being the very place where Jacob dreamed (Gen. 28:10-22). Beth-el was assigned to the Benjamites, but they appear to have been either unable to take it or careless about doing so, as we find it taken by the children of Joseph (UBD, 139). (Cf. Jdg. 1:22-26; Jdg. 20:26-28; 1Sa. 7:16; 1Ki. 12:28-33; 2Ki. 23:15-20; Ezr. 2:28; Neh. 11:31. Excavations at Bethel, conducted by Albright and Kelso reveal house walls from the time of the Judges; its occupation is thought to have begun about 2250 B.C.). Fleeing the vengeance of Esau, Jacob passed the night at Bethel about twelve miles north of Jerusalem on the road to Shechem. There he received the divine promise of a safe return to the land of his birth. The vision of the heavenly ladder reminded Jacob that the God of his fathers would not forsake him in his journeys. Bethel later became an important shrine. Golden calves were placed there by Jeroboam I to dissuade his people from going to the Temple at Jerusalem (BBA, 60). The problem of a twofold naming, as, for example, the naming of Bethel by Jacob at one time (Gen. 28:19) and again at a later time (Gen. 35:15) poses no serious problem. At the first time Jacob made a vow that, if God would bless and keep him till his return, the pillar which he had set up should be Gods house. Upon his return, in view of the abundant blessings which he had received, he performed his vow, changing the ideal to an actual Bethel, and thus encompassing and confirming the original name (Haley, ADB, 410). To the rationalistic objection that identical names of places are not imposed twice, we may reply, in general, that it is in full accordance with the genius of the Oriental languages and the literary tastes of the people to suppose that a name may be renewed; in other words, that a new meaning and significance may be attached to an old name. This fact sweeps away a host of objections urged against this and similar cases (ibid., 410). The place-name Bethel must have been known as far back as Abrahams time: as Murphy put it, Abraham also worshipped God here, and met with the name already existing (see Gen. 12:8, Gen. 13:3, Gen. 25:30). Or indeed the place may have been known as Luz in earlier times, this having been the Canaanite name, and somehow the two names became associated in the later historical accounts. (For examples, i.e., of twofold naming, cf. Gen. 14:14, Deu. 34:1, Jos. 19:47, Jdg. 18:29, with reference to Laish (or Leshem) and Dan; also Num. 32:41, Deu. 3:4; Deu. 3:14, Jdg. 10:3-4, with reference to Havoth-jair. Note also the name Beer-sheba: in Gen. 21:31, we read that Abraham gave this name to the place where he entered into a covenant with Abimelech; in Gen. 26:33, however, we read that Isaac called the place Shiba; but from Gen. 26:15; Gen. 26:18, we find that all the wells dug by Abraham in this region had been filled with earth by the Philistines, but that Isaac re-opened them and called them by the old familiar names. This certainly is a satisfactory explanation of the problem.)
Speiser seems to conclude properly in these statements: The link with Bethel carries its own symbolism as well. The theophany made Jacob realize that this was an abode of the Deity, hence the new name replaced the older Luz, as this aetiology sees it. Actually, Bethel was an old center (cf. Gen. 12:8, Gen. 13:3), which managed to retain its religious influence until late in the seventh century, when the site was destroyed by Josiah (2Ki. 23:15). The etymology seeks to fix the locale of Jacobs spiritual experience, but does not otherwise circumscribe its significance (ABG, 220). Skinner, following the critical line, writes: From Joh. 16:2; Joh. 18:13 it appears that Luz was really distinct from Bethel, but was overshadowed by the more famous sanctuary in the neighborhood (ICCG, 378). Note well Greens appraisal of the sanctuary notion: The sacred writer, he says, makes no reference whatever to the idolatrous sanctuary subsequently established at Bethel; least of all is he giving an account of its origin. There is no discrepancy in different patriarchs successively visiting the same place and building altars there. These descriptions of patriarchal worship are not legends to gain credit for the sanctuary; but the superstition of later ages founded sanctuaries in venerated spots, where the patriarchs had worshipped, and where God had revealed himself to them (UBG, 343). Bethel was assigned to the Benjamites, but they appear to have been either unable to take it or careless about doing so, as we find it taken by the children of Joseph, Jdg. 1:22-26). Later Old Testament history makes it clear that Jeroboam I did establish idolatrous sanctuaries both at Bethel and Dan (1Ki. 12:28-33), and that King Josiah later destroyed the high places that Jeroboam had instituted; specific mention is made of the destruction of the idolatrous altar at Bethel, (cf. 2Ki. 23:15-20). As stated above, however, Lange suggests that through Jehovahs revelation, this place, which is viewed as a heathen waste, becomes to Jacob a house of God, and therefore he consecrates it as a permanent sanctuary (Lange, CDHCG, 523).
Review Questions
See Gen. 28:20-22.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(19) Beth-el . . . Luz.In Jos. 16:1-2, we find that Luz and Beth-el were distinct places, though near one another; and with this agrees the present passage. For plainly, Jacob and his attendants did not go inside the city, but slept on the open ground; and as they would carry their provisions with them, they would need no supplies from its Canaanite inhabitants. Probably at the time of Joshuas conquest Beth-el was rather a holy place than a town, and when Ephraim seized upon Luz and put the people to the sword (Jdg. 1:23-25), the victors transferred the name of Beth-el to it. Thus the spot where Jacob slept would not be the town of Beth-el, but some place a mile or two away from it.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Bethel Luz The spot where Abraham built his altar and Jacob had his dream was certainly not in a city, but, doubtless, on the mountain east of the city . See Gen 12:8. The names Bethel and Luz both long survived, and were distinguished from each other in the time of Joshua . Jos 16:2. The prominence of this place, in the subsequent history of Israel, led, probably, to the supplanting of the more ancient name by that of Bethel .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 28:19. Of that place, Beth-el That is, the house of God. It is imagined from what follows, (the name of that city was Luz,) that there was a city near the place where Jacob slept; but it is more probable that a city was built there in after-times. From the word Beth-el some derive the baetylia or baetylii of the Heathens, mentioned by Sanchoniatho; a sort of rude stones, which they worshipped as symbols of divinity. The word matzebah, says Stack-house, which our interpreters render a pillar, is by the Septuagint translated , and by the vulgar Latin titulus; and hence several, both ancients and moderns, have supposed that there was an inscription on this pillar. The manner of consecrating this pillar was by pouring oil upon it, which Jacob might have by him without a miracle, (considering how common the use of oil is in these hot countries,) to refresh his limbs when weary with travelling; and how necessary upon that account it was to carry some with him in his journey: nor is there any reason to suppose that Jacob made use of this form of consecration in compliance with the custom of the country where he then was. It is uncertain whether this custom was established in Jacob’s time; but if it was, it is hardly credible that so pious a man as he is represented, would have adopted a superstitious ceremony into the worship of the true God. The much more probable opinion therefore is, that as the rites of sacrificing and circumcision were instituted before the promulgation of the law; so this manner of consecrating things in the way of unction or libation was at first enjoined the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac by God; and, either by precept or tradition from them, came afterwards to be practised by Jacob: nor is it unlikely but that Jacob’s practice in this particular, and the great veneration which was afterwards paid to his monumental pillar, might give occasion to the worshipping such erected stones in future ages, and (upon such abuse) to God’s so strictly prohibiting any to be set up: Ye shall not make you any idols or graven image, neither shall ye rear up any matzebah (statue or pillar) to bow down unto it, for I am the Lord your GOD.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Bethel, means the house of God. Luz, means an almond-tree. When souls are awakened and brought into the bond of the covenant, gracious names supply the place of those which are natural.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 28:19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city [was called] Luz at the first.
Ver. 19. Bethel, ] i.e., The house of God; yet afterwards for the calf worshlp there set up by Jeroboam, it became Bethaven. Hos 4:15 See the note there. God grant that Anglia , once called Regnum Dei , never become Thronus Satanae , the place “where Satan’s seat is”. Rev 2:13 And let all true hearted Englishmen with one mind and one mouth say, Amen and Amen.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Beth-el. Hebrew the house of El.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Bethel
i.e. the house of God. Cf. Gen 35:7.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the name: Gen 12:8, Gen 35:1, Gen 48:3, Jdg 1:22-26, 1Ki 12:29, Hos 4:15, Hos 12:4, Hos 12:5
Bethel: i.e. the house of God
Reciprocal: Gen 13:3 – Bethel and Hai Gen 16:13 – called Gen 22:14 – called Gen 32:30 – Peniel Gen 35:6 – Luz Gen 35:7 – General Gen 35:14 – General Gen 35:15 – Bethel Jos 7:2 – Bethaven Jos 12:16 – Bethel Jos 16:2 – Bethel Jos 18:13 – side of Luz Jdg 1:23 – Luz Jdg 15:19 – Enhakkore 1Sa 7:12 – took a stone 1Sa 10:3 – Bethel 1Sa 30:27 – Bethel 2Ki 2:2 – Bethel 1Ch 7:28 – Bethel 2Ch 20:26 – the name Neh 11:31 – Aija
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
LIFES BETHELS
He called the name of that place Bethel.
Gen 28:19
Jacob had his Bethel, and it came to him just at the moment when we should least have expected it, just at the time when he was smarting under the sense of his own sin, and loneliness, and outlawry. The King of Love Himself appears to him, and says: I will go with thee wherever thou goest. Mans extremity is Gods opportunity, and we never find a man down on his luck, out of work, or in trouble, or in any difficulty, but what the Bible comes and speaks to him, and says: God loves you; Jesus died for you. And even now and here, in the midst of your present extremity, God is ready to befriend you. Yea, though thy father and thy mother forsake thee, the Lord will take thee up. Oh, this blessed linking of earth to Heaven, of the sinner to God by the great Mediator Jesus Christ Himself!
I. What makes our Bethel? Is it not the sense of Gods nearness to us and our need of Him? The churches would all be full if the people felt their need of God, for this is Gods house, and we want it to be the gate of Heaven to you all. Now, and here in Gods house, we may look up into Heaven and see there our Saviour, Who loves us with an everlasting love, and round about Him those whom we have loved and lost awhile, our dear ones who worshipped perhaps in this very church, who found it good to be here, who often said when they left church, This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven. If they could speak to us from Paradise to-day, do you not think they would say something like this: Oh, I am so glad to find you in Gods house, thinking about Him, and His love, and His great claims upon your life. I am so glad to find you there, away from the rush and the roar, and the unsatisfactoriness of mere earthly pleasure and excitement? What is the great reason why pious men of all ages have built these Bethels? Is it not in order that we, with all our multiplicity of temptation, and difficulty, and work, may have close at hand a quiet, holy, beautiful place where we may draw aside from the cares of earth and get close to God and touch the Unseen, and hear the sweet Voice of Love saying, I will go with thee wheresoever thou goest? Yes, it was a happy moment in the life of Jacob when he and God could talk thus together. It is the beginning of his better life; it is the time when, very feebly and weakly, but very really, he is putting out his hand and catching hold of the Almighty Hand of God the Father; it is the time when he sees, as in a glass darkly, something of the plan of salvation, and how God desires to link our world with His by the Ladder, Who is Jesus Christ Himself.
II. Let us look at Jacobs beautiful prayer to God, in which he vows a vow of obedience. This is the use of all Bethelsthat as God speaks to us we may make our vows back to Him. Church and church-going will do us no good unless we hear God speaking to us in the reading of His Word, and in the preaching, and in the prayers, and in the music, and unless, having heard Gods Voice, we do our part and answer back and make our vows that God shall be our God. Will you do this, will you rejoice before God with this blessed vow of Jacobs, The Lord shall be my God? It will help you so all through your life. This is the house of God; we desire that it should be the gate of Heaven. You see sometimes little children pointing upwards, but the Book says that Heaven is where God is, and if God is here then Heaven has begun upon earth. If God is here, then His love is with us, and we shall grow more loving here and now. Why is it that so many homes are said to be hells, and so many business houses are full of gambling, and impurity, and horrible words? Is it not because God is excluded? Cannot some of us take God into these places and create an atmosphere, and bring about a wonderful sense of nearness to God? Let us see to it that, if our lives are spared, we may practise our preaching, that we may translate it into our daily lives, and that this Bethel of ours that has brought us into touch with God and made us feel how Jesus loves us, shall go with us, and that this God shall be our God for ever and ever.
Illustration
The Pagan had a poor thought of God, but his gods were very present ones. Our God is greater than his, but not less present to his worshippers. The connection between earth and Heaven is nearer than we are apt to imagine. If, as Southey suggests, our sympathies could be sufficiently quickened we might stand on the mountain at sunrise and hear the soft voices of the wild flowers singing their song of praise to God, while the deeper notes of the oaks and pines make up the harmony.
Better than all angelic ministries was the knowledge that God Himself was by his side, the companion of his wanderings. Never more could Jacob be lonely with such a consciousness. Mountains and streams, clouds and tempests, are but His ministers, fulfilling His word. All these attend upon the steps of a good man who acknowledges his sinfulness and humbly waits on God.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Gen 28:19. It had been called Luz, an almond-tree, but he will have it henceforward called Beth-el, the house of God. This gracious appearance of God to him made it more remarkable than all the almond-trees that flourished there.