And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.
And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. He confirmed the name he had before given it, when he went to Mesopotamia, and now upon his return renews and establishes it; or he gave this name more especially to that particular spot where God conversed with him, and on which he erected a pillar, and consecrated it to religious worship, and so made it God’s house, as he promised he would, Ge 28:22, both building an altar for sacrifice, and setting up a pillar, which was beginning an house for God.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(15) Jacob called . . . See Gen. 28:19. The name had, of course, remained unknown and unused, as what then passed had been confined to Jacobs own inward consciousness. He now teaches the name to his family, explains the reason why he first gave it, and requires them to employ it. But with so grand a beginning the town was debased to unholy uses, and from being Beth-el, the house of God, it became Bethaven, the house of iniquity (Hos. 10:5).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And Jacob called the place where God spoke to him ‘Beth-el’.’
The previous naming had been in private (Gen 28:19) and was of the spot where he had had his vision. It was an extremely personal thing and was accompanied by a personal response. Now the naming is more public and covers a wider area where the altar has been set up. We cannot doubt that the whole tribe was involved. Thus the wider site becomes more widely recognised as ‘Beth-el’, the house of God. Later the name will be transferred to the neighbouring city of Luz as well.
The confirmation before all of the name he has previously given it establishes the new name. It is seen as sacredly connected to the important ceremony that has just taken place in the sanctifying of the altar. That had been named El-Bethel (God of the house of God) because of the previous naming. Now the vivid theophany has confirmed the whole place as Beth-el, the ‘dwelling place’ of God.
Now that he and his tribe are reconsecrated he begins the final part of his journey back to the mother tribe, to Isaac, via Ephrath (later to be Bethlehem) and the Tower of Eder.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 35:15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.
Ver. 16. She had hard labour. ] Woman, of all creatures, bringeth forth with most pain and peril, as the philosopher a observeth, and experience confirmeth. Her only way is to send for Lady Faith, the best midwife; 1Ti 2:15 and thereby to repose upon him whose “voice causeth the hinds to calve,” Psa 29:9 which yet, of all brute creatures, bring forth with greatest trouble, “bowing themselves,” bruising their young, and “casting out their sorrows.” Job 39:3-4
a Arist., De Anima., lib. vii.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Bethel: Gen 28:19
Reciprocal: Gen 12:8 – of Bethel Gen 28:13 – the land Gen 28:22 – God’s