Years before Jacob set up this pillar at Gilead, he had set up a pillar at Bethel (28:18, 22). However, Jacob set up that pillar immediately after having a dream. Once again we see that Jacob's biography is also our biography. Not long after we were saved, we heard something about the house of God and we responded to what we heard. But everything we heard and did was like a dream. We did not actually experience the house of God. In Genesis 28 Jacob had a dream. After that dream, he had a real experience, not of the house of God, but of the care of God. At the end of this stage of his experience he set up a pillar at Gilead as a landmark to testify of God's care. As we shall see, in our Christian life we need three pillars, three landmarks, the first of which is the pillar testifying of God's care for us.
After Jacob had left Padan-aram and had returned to the good land, he did not go directly to Bethel. God had to intervene and call him to Bethel, saying, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother" (35:1). This indicates that Jacob had no intention of fulfilling the vow he had made to God at Bethel twenty years earlier. He had probably forgotten it. Instead of journeying directly to Bethel to fulfill his vow, Jacob journeyed to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and made booths for his cattle (33:17). Later he traveled to Shechem, where he bought a parcel of land and spread his tent (33:18-19). After the serious trouble following the defilement of Jacob's daughter, Dinah, God came in and told Jacob to arise and to go up to Bethel. When Jacob came to Bethel the second time, he did not have a dream. He had been ordered by God to go there, to dwell there, and to build an altar there to the God who had appeared to him when he was fleeing from Esau. At Bethel Jacob consecrated himself to God so that He might fulfill His purpose of having Bethel, the house of God. Here at Bethel Jacob set up the second pillar, the second landmark in his life (35:14). As 28:22 indicates, the pillar in Bethel was called the house of God. Therefore, the first pillar was a testimony of God's care, and the second was a testimony of God's house.
Because Jacob's history is also our experience, we all must worship the Lord. Many of us have set up pillars both at Gilead and at Bethel. We can testify, not only of God's care, but also of God's house. Jacob's first pillar was a testimony of God's care for his existence. When Jacob, a poor supplanter, arrived at Laban's house, he had nothing. But when he returned to the good land, he had acquired great riches. He had armies of people and armies of flocks and herds. In his vow made in 28:20 and 21, Jacob said, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God." In other words, Jacob was actually saying, "If the Lord will not give me food and clothing, and if He will not bring me back to my father's house in peace, then I will not take Him as my God. Rather, I will forget about Him." What a deal Jacob had made with God! Nevertheless, God met all the conditions of Jacob's vow, supplying him with food and clothing, giving him peace, and even increasing him with armies of people and flocks. But here in chapter thirty-five God seemed to be saying, "Jacob, now you must go to Bethel. You should no longer be concerned for your food, your clothing, and your peace. You must take care of Me and My house. Jacob, I have been taking care of you for years. Beginning now, you must take care of Me."
Many of us can testify that years ago we set up a pillar at Gilead. At that time our testimony concerned God's care for us. We testified that our God was faithful, kind, gracious, and rich. But today our testimony is not that of the first pillar, the testimony of God's care; it is the second pillar, the testimony of God's house. However, not many Christians today take care of God's house. Most are primarily concerned about their own needs, and the pillar they set up is only a testimony of God's care. Very few experientially set up a pillar to testify of God's house. To have the pillar of God's care without the pillar of God's house is not normal. As today's Jacobs, we must set up the second pillar for God's building. Praise the Lord that many of us have done so. In our Christian life we have not only the first section, the section of God's care, but also the second section, the section of God's house. Nevertheless, we must journey on and set up the third pillar.