Genesis 28:18

18. Took the stone… a pillar He turns the pillow into a pillar . Well might he take that stone, and consecrate it as a memorial of the mercies of that night, and a witness of his vow . Comp . Genesis 31:45. He also poured oil upon the top of it, as if to make it holy unto the Lord . Comp . Exodus 30:22-33. “It has been thought by many that this act of Jacob, in setting up a stone to mark a sacred spot, was the origin of cromlechs and all sacred stones. Certainly we find in later ages the custom of having stones, and those, too, anointed with oil, as objects of idolatrous worship. Clement of Alexandria ( Strom. vii) speaks of ‘worshipping every oily stone,’ and Arnobius, ( Ad. Genres, 1: 39,) in like manner, refers to the worshipping of ‘a stone smeared with oil, as though there were in it a present power.’ It has been conjectured, further, that the name Boetulia, given to stones called animated stones by the Phoenicians, ( Euseb. Praep. Evang., 1: 10,) was derived from this name of Bethel. These Boetulia, however, were meteoric stones, and derived their sanctity from the belief that they had fallen from heaven; and the name has probably but a fancied likeness to the name Bethel. Still the connexion of the subsequent worship of stones with the primitive and pious use of them to mark places of worship is most probably a real connexion. The erection of all such stones for worship was strictly forbidden in later times. Leviticus 26:1; Deuteronomy 16:22. ” Speaker’s Commentary .