and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.
Open map →He names it again, and this time after the God and not the houseGenesis 35:7 · 1 place plottedJacob has come back to the exact spot where God first met him. The altar he raises there carries a name he had never used before. The verse ties three things together: a place, an altar, and a memory of God appearing to a man on the run.
Back to the starting point
Mackintosh reads the altar's name as the close of all Jacob's wandering.
C. H. Mackintosh"El-beth-el." A precious title, which had God as its beginning and its end! This was true restoration. Jacob was brought back, after all his wanderings, to the very point from which he had started. Nothing less than this could ever satisfy God concerning His servant. He could wait patiently on him, bear with him, minister to him, care for him. But He could never rest satisfied with anything short of this — "Arise, go up to Bethel."
What had to go first
Going up to Bethel changed what Jacob was willing to carry with him.
C. H. MackintoshJacob felt that he could not bring false gods and defiled garments to Bethel: such things might pass at Shechem, but they would never do for Bethel.
The meaning of the name
"Bethel" means house of God, so "El-bethel" means the God of the house of God. Fereday sets the name beside the altar Jacob had built earlier near Shechem.
W. W. FeredayNotice again how Jacob connected the presence of God with the place. In calling it "El-Bethel," which means "the God of the house of God," he took much higher ground. Earlier he had built an altar near Shechem and called it "El-eloheh Israel," that is, "God the God of Israel" (Gen. 33:20). The earlier name put self at the centre of his thoughts. It expressed his trust that God would look after him. At Bethel he rose to the thought of having to do with God in His own house. So everything connected with himself had to be suitable to the holy One who dwelt there.
Kelly points to what the earlier name left out.
William KellyIt is not now an altar called by a name that limits God to himself, like El-Elohe-Israel. His faith is now clearer and fuller. He is the God of God's house, which is richer, better, and higher up towards the source of blessing.
Why the verse recalls the flight
The verse looks back: God appeared here when Jacob was running from Esau. God's command and Jacob's altar both reach past all that came in between.
The Christian's FriendAfter this we find God saying to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau." Here He begins, if we may say so, to volunteer. He passes over what we have been considering, as if nothing had happened. "You had to flee from Esau," He says. "I promised you blessing. Get back to this place, and raise an altar there."
The house of God and us
Grant draws out the town's older name, and where the altar put Jacob's focus.
L. M. GrantThey arrive at Bethel. The passage reminds us that it was called Luz before, which means "separation." We must realise that the house of God has a place separated from the world and from all that suggests man's work. Here Jacob builds an altar, calling it "El-Bethel" (v. 7)… We never have any proper focus in our lives until we reach this point and realise that God's house and its interests are to claim the first place. Today of course we know that the house of God is "the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15).
Summary
- Back. God will not settle for a halfway Shechem. He calls His servant back to the point he started from. That return is what restoration means.
- Barred. What Shechem tolerated, Bethel would not. False gods and defiled garments could not be carried up to the house of God.
- Beyond self. The first altar named God as the God of Israel — Jacob's own God. The second names Him God of His own house. Jacob's faith is clearer, fuller, nearer the source of blessing.
- Because. The name looks back to God appearing to a man on the run. God repeats that reason as if nothing had gone wrong since.
- Belonging. Bethel was once Luz, which means "separation." God's house stands apart, and its interests claim first place. Today that house is the church.