16. Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Truly the Lord is present in this place; And I didn't know!

Expressing his deep impression of the miraculous vision, James expresses that until then he had not thought that God would manifest His presence not only in places sanctified by sacrifices, but also in places inhabited by pagans. It is possible, however, to see here an expression of an imperfect faith in the omnipresence of God (as St. Cyril of Alexandria understands James's exclamation).

17. And he was afraid, and said, "How terrible is this place! it is none other than the house of God, it is the gates of heaven.

This idea, however, is needlessly exaggerated when it is asserted (Gunkel) that the sanctity of a place is understood here exclusively objectively, i.e. it is confined exclusively to the place itself. It is known that God also sometimes pointed to the special holiness of this or that place (Exodus 3:5; 846] Joshua. 5:15[847]), but in all cases holiness was recognized by people who were worthy to receive revelation from above, namely, it was reflected in the hearts of people by a feeling of mortal fear and deep reverence (e.g., Hagar, Gen. 16:13; Moses, Exodus 3:6, etc.). "The house of God" (beth Elohim = beth El, v. 19) and "the gates of heaven" (schaar hasehamaim) – terms that later became common names for the temple – are borrowed by the patriarch from the content of the vision and adopted by him in the place of the vision of kah by prophetic foresight of the future sanctuary of God (since the division of the Jewish kingdom, Bethel was one of the two temples of the ten-tribe kingdom, 1 Kings 12:29[848]).

18-22. Jacob's vow.

18. And Jacob got up early in the morning and took the stone that he had laid for his head, and set it up as a monument, and poured oil on the top of it.

Under the impression of the vision, Jacob, first, places the stone that served as his head, a monument (mazzebah) and pours oil on it. The custom of erecting pillars and similar structures as memorials of certain events is very common in the ancient and modern East. In the Bible, except for the story of James (28:18;[ 849] 31:45; [850] 35:14[851]), the setting of stones with this purpose is mentioned in the story of Joshua (Joshua 4:9;[ 852] 24:26[853]), the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 7:12[854]), etc. In the same way, the custom of dedicating stones to the deity was known in the East, for example, among the Phoenicians, and in the classical world. Oil, as an indispensable accessory of travel in hot countries, as a means of nourishment and nourishment, was naturally at hand with the traveler James: "it is probable that he carried only one oil with him while on the way" (John Chrysostom, p. 585). Thus, "what he had with him, he also rewarded the Lord, who was very gifted" (Blessed Theod., answer to question 85).

19. And (Jacob) called the name of that place Bethel,[856] and the former name of that city was Luz.

Jacob's second act: according to the impression he mentioned, he calls the place of the vision by the name: Beth-el, or Bethel ("house of God"), while the former name of the neighboring place was: Luz. For the second time and finally, Jacob affirms the name Bethel on his return from Mesopotamia (35:15[857]).

Reading of the LXX and Slavs. Ούλαμλούζ (variants Ούλαμμάους, Συλλαμμάους, etc. – in Holmes). Ulam-luz is clearly an erroneous combination of the Hebrew words ulam (same, formerly) and Luz. From subsequent history it is clear that the Canaanite name Luz coexisted with the Hebrew Bethel: the former is used by Jacob himself (48:3[858]), and in Book II. Joshua, Luz and Bethel seem to be names of different localities (16:2; 859] cf. 18:13[860]). The name Bethel, however, was known before Jacob – in the time of Abraham (12:8; 861] 13: 3[862]).

An echo of this name has been preserved in the name known to the Phoenicians and Greeks Βαιτυλία, Baitilia, which was the name given to sacred stones, mainly from meteorites and aerolites, anointed by the deities. Thus, it can be assumed that this "custom originated from Jacob" (Philaret, Zep. on Gen. 2:52).

20. And Jacob made a vow, saying, "If (the Lord) God be with me and keep me in this way on which I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothes to put on,

21. and I will return in peace to my father's house, and the Lord will be my God,

22. then this stone which I have set up as a monument shall be (with me) the house of God; and of all that You, O God, give me, I will give You a tenth.