Jacob Sets up a Standing Stone

Jacob has an incident—as he is fleeing to Haran, some 1000km away—that so impresses him that he sets up a stone as a memorial of the event. Indeed, in the Hebrew in Gen 28.11, it is referred to three times as "the place," emphasizing its importance.

"The place," Jacob will rename Bethel—the house of God. In order to remember where God reiterates the covenant he made with Abraham (and which he also made with Isaac), Jacob sets up a stone on it's end (in Hebrew a matseba) as a pillar of remembrance. The word means "a standing stone," and it was common to set one up as a reminder of something important. Moses will erect 12 of them around Mt. Sinai as a reminder of the 12 tribes (Ex 24.4). Jacob will set up one at Rachel's tomb (Gen 35.20). We begin to understand the importance of that place to Jacob when we see that he set up a matseba. The night will change his life.