Бытие 28:18

In the morning Jacob set up the stone at his head, as a monument (מצּבה) to commemorate the revelation he had received from God; and poured oil upon the top, to consecrate it as a memorial of the mercy that had been shown him there (visionis insigne μνημόσυνον, Calvin), not as an idol or an object or divine worship (vid., Exo 30:26.). - He then gave the place the name of Bethel, i.e., House of God, whereas (ואוּלם) the town had been called Luz before. This antithesis shows that Jacob gave the name, not to the place where the pillar was set up, but to the town, in the neighbourhood of which he had received the divine revelation. He renewed it on his return from Mesopotamia (Gen 35:15). This is confirmed by Gen 48:3, where Jacob, like the historian in Gen 35:6-7, 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 there distinguished from Luz (see my Commentary on Jos 16:2). (Note: The fact mentioned here has often been cited as the origin of the anointed stones (βαίτυλοι) of the heathen, and this heathen custom has been regarded as a degeneration of the patriarchal. But apart from this essential difference, that the Baetulian worship was chiefly connected with meteoric stones (cf. F. von Dalberg, @fcb. d. Meteor-cultus d. Alten), which were supposed to have come down from some god, and were looked upon as deified, this opinion is at variance with the circumstance, that Jacob himself, in consecrating the stone by pouring oil upon it, only followed a custom already established, and still more with the fact, that the name βαίτυλοι, Βαιτόλια, notwithstanding its sounding like Bethel, can hardly have arisen from the name Beth-El, Gr. Βαιθήλ, sin…

We have here, I. Jacob parting with his parents, to go to Padanaram; the charge his father gave him (Gen 28:1, Gen 28:2), the blessing he sent him away with (Gen 28:3, Gen 28:4), his obedience to the orders given him (Gen 28:5, Gen 28:10), and the influence this had upon Esau (Gen 28:6-9). II. Jacob meeting with God, and his communion with him by the way. And there, 1. his vision of the ladder (Gen 28:11, Gen 28:12). 2. The gracious promises God made him (Gen 28:13-15). 3. The impression this made upon him (Gen 28:16-19). 4. The vow he made to God, upon this occasion (Gen 28:20, etc.).

28:18 Anointing with oil became a way of setting something apart for divine use in Israel’s worship (Exod 29:1-7; 40:9; Lev 2:1; 1 Sam 10:1).