6 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel ), which is in the land of Canaan , he and all the people who were with him. 7 He built an altar there , and called the place El-bethel , because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother . 8 Now Deborah , Rebekah's nurse , died , and she was buried below e Bethel under the oak ; it was named e Allon-bacuth . 9 Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram , and He blessed him. 10 God said to him, "Your name is Jacob ; You shall no longer be called Jacob , But Israel shall be your name ." Thus He called him Israel . 11 God also said to him, "I am God Almighty ; Be fruitful and multiply ; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. 12 " The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac , I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you." 13 Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him. 14 Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone , and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob named e the place where e God had spoken with him, Bethel .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 35:6-15
Commentary on Genesis 35:6-15
(Read Genesis 35:6-15)
The comfort the saints have in holy ordinances, is not so much from Beth-el, the house of God, as from El-beth-el, the God of the house. The ordinances are empty things, if we do not meet with God in them. There Jacob buried Deborah, Rebekah's nurse. She died much lamented. Old servants in a family, that have in their time been faithful and useful, ought to be respected. God appeared to Jacob. He renewed the covenant with him. I am God Almighty, God all-sufficient, able to make good the promise in due time, and to support thee and provide for thee in the mean time. Two things are promised; that he should be the father of a great nation, and that he should be the master of a good land. These two promises had a spiritual signification, which Jacob had some notion of, though not so clear and distinct as we now have. Christ is the promised Seed, and heaven is the promised land; the former is the foundation, and the latter the top-stone, of all God's favours.