Standing Stones Talk

Genesis 28:18-19, Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel.

Jacob had just deceived his father under his mother’s tutorship and received the blessing typically given to the eldest son.  Esau, the older, was furious, causing Jacob to flee to family far in the north.  The first night he lodged at a place just north of Jerusalem where he had a God encounter.

12-13, Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.  And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father

…16-17, Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

…22, “And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

Jacob was introduced to a God who was involved with men (the angels) and who spoke of His will to men (of his fathers and of future plans).  The mind “opening” moved Jacob to fear and to confess God’s greatness, to declare the place as God’s house (a church building) and thus a means to God (door).  Furthermore, Jacob made a promise of tithing to God.

In a sense this is the “opening” experienced by all those who come to true salvation and adoption by God.  Men are born blinded to the true God and full of self, deception/lies, and fear.  At some point, God invades their blindness, ignorance, and darkness.  This most often results in a man becoming “religious” – confessing, attending church, and making promises to God.  Like Jacob here.

However, I propose that Jacob was not yet saved.  That would come twenty years later.

Jacob traveled on to Uncle Laban’s where he was deceived and wound up with four wives and a troop of children through retaliation and envy.  He manipulated in his business and found his wages changed ten times.  Life was a mess!

He finally packed up and headed for the land of his youth with one of his wives stealing some of the family idols.  His father-in-law caught up to him and threatened him with death if any harm would come to his girls.  To mark the agreement, they erected a stone.

Genesis 31:45, So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 Then Jacob said to his  brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap… 48 And Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed, also Mizpah

This brush-up was followed by a very personal and powerful encounter with God (an all-night wrestle with God), then an event that caused him huge fear but proved otherwise (the meeting of Esau).  Then his daughter was raped and his sons retaliated by murdering all the young men of the town causing every nearby town to be angry.  His life was a huge mess – troubled everywhere.  So what did he do?  He went back to the location of the God encounter 20 years earlier.

Genesis 35:6-7, So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel… 14 So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it.

The difference from the first time there?  He now called it El Bethel – the “God of the house of God.”  It was not church, the place of God’s Word, nor the place where he experienced a contact with the divine.  No, now it was God Himself!  I propose that Jacob was now truly saved.  This third standing stone was a public statement of faith in God and it marked his confession of faith.