And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
All Commentaries on Genesis 28:18 Go To Genesis 28
Bede
AD 735
The stone under Jacob’s head is the Lord, upon whom we ought to support ourselves with all our concentration, the more so insofar as it is surely clear to us that without him we can do nothing. Jacob anointed the stone and set it up as a mark, because a true Israelite understands that our Redeemer was anointed by the Father with the oil of gladness above his fellows. From this ointment (that is, chrism) Christ received his name, and the mystery of his incarnation is the mark of our redemption. It is good that when the stone was anointed on the earth and raised up as a mark, the Lord was revealed in heaven, for undoubtedly he appeared in time as a man among men while he remained eternal with God the Father. When death was overcome “he ascended over the heaven of heavens to the east,” remaining with us as a mark of our salvation “for all days, up to the consummation of the world.” He who transferred the body he had assumed from earth to heaven was the One who filled earth, and heaven as well, with the presence of deity.
