Elbethel

And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. – Genesis 35.7

When Jacob first established a place of worship here he called it Bethel – the house of God. When he went back he called the place Elbethel – the God of the house of God.

Both of these titles are important ones. One of them focuses on the place. We all need our Bethel. We need those times and places and events where we have met with God.

However, as we look to these places they can develop merely as places and memories and events. I think this is where what we call religion comes from. It focuses on buildings or practices or the big dates or great memories.

At that is fine – as far as it goes.

But what we really need is not just to remember the place or the moment. What we need is to remember the God of that place and time.

I think is what happens images and icons and temples and buildings and such. I think it happens even today when some churches spend millions on their church facilities and talk about how important it is to come the the ‘house of God’ and as time goes by what is important is that building or that place.

That’s good in some ways. But what is really important is that we remember the God who is the reason for the house of God.


From what I can see here Bethel was more important to Jacob and his clan than the God of Bethel.

Lets remember the Bethel times of our lives – but lets remember they are only possible because of Elbethel