Genesis 28:22 - Exposition

And (or then, the apodosis now commencing) this stone which I have set for a pillar ( vide on Genesis 28:18 ) shall be God's house —Bethel, meaning that he would afterwards erect there an altar for the celebration of Divine worship—a resolution which was subsequently carried out ( vide Genesis 35:1 , Genesis 35:15 ). "The pillar or cairn or cromlech of Bethel must have been looked upon by the Israelites, and may be still looked upon in thought by us, as the precursor of every "house of God" that has since arisen in the Jewish and Christian world—the temple, the cathedral, the church, the chapel; nay, more, of those secret places of worship that are marked by no natural beauty and seen by no human eye—the closet, the catacomb, the thoroughfare of the true worshipper. And of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Literally, giving I will give the tenth (cf. Genesis 14:20 ). The case of Jacob affords another proof that the practice of voluntary tithing was known and observed antecedent to the tune of Moses

HOMILETICS