After being blessed by his father Isaac a second time, Jacob heads to his uncle Laban’s to find a wife among his own people (Isaac made him promise not to marry among the Caananites like Esau had). It’s a long journey and part way he rests.
“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth… All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land…’ When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place…’ He called that place Bethel… Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking… then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.’ “
Jacob erects a stone that he calls “God’s house” (“Bethel”) and vows to give God one tenth of his provision from God. This tenth would mainly be comprised of food and livestock, since those were the trade goods (money) he would have. We find out later in ch35 that he keeps his vow and returns to Bethel (God keeping His end of the promise is a given if we fulfill our part of the agreement).
This account is actually very powerful – it describes the founding of a temple to God. These “portals” or “stairways” to heaven were symbolic in ancient times of where a deity (in this case the one true God, in other cases false gods) would come to earth to receive worship. These “portals between heaven and earth”, once revealed, would become sites where people would build temples to those deities. Jacob erects a pillar of stone to mark the spot, probably carved something in the pillar, so all who found it would know (and so he himself could find the spot again later).
It’s extremely common in the OT for people to commemorate interactions with God by placing pillars, or building altars, or even temples – there’s something about erecting stone structures that really helps create a permanent reminder for people. Abraham built 4 altars to commemorate major encounters with God. They symbolized praise (Gen 12:1-7), prayer (Gen 12:8-13), peace (Gen 13:14-18) and provision (Gen 22:9-14). In Exodus Moses erects 12 pillars at the base of Mount Sinai after receiving the Ten Commandments. A few books later Joshua commands the placement of 12 stones: ” ‘They will be a sign among you. In the future your children will ask you, “What do these rocks mean?” Tell them the water stopped flowing in the Jordan when the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord crossed the river. These rocks will always remind the Israelites of this.’ ” (Jos 4:6-7)
Father God, thank you for this reminder of your permanence – not only are You eternal, Your promises are eternal as well. You have given us the gift of rocks as a metaphor for us to understand two core attributes of You – Your longevity (eternal) and stability (trustworthiness). More importantly, You gave us the gift of Jesus our Rock – our firm foundation on whom our faith is built. Praise be to Yahweh Tsuri, God our Rock.
~ Conqueror in Training