Verse 8
8. Removed from thence Abram moved southward from Shechem and pitched his tent on the little round mount now seen strewn with stones, as if for the building of an altar, south-east of Bethel now called Beitin by the Arabs a little spot covered with foundation stones and half-standing walls, while east of this mount, and at about the same distance, may be seen a hill covered with the gray ruins of Ai, the modern Et-Tel. See Joshua 7:2, note . The name Beth-el (house of God) is said to have been given to this spot by Jacob on two different occasions, (Genesis 28:19; Genesis 35:15,) so that here the historian may mean that Abram pitched his tent at the place afterwards called Beth-el; or it may have borne this name already in Abram’s day, an interesting relic of ancient piety, such as we meet with in the name Melchizedek, and the name may have again been applied to it in a new sense by Jacob after his wondrous vision there.
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