Verses 1-4 And God said to Jacob, Rise up, go up to Bethel and settle there, and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from before Esau your brother. And Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, Remove the gods of the foreigner which am in the midst of you, and be purified, and change your garments. And let us rise up and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to the God who answered me on the day of my distress, and was with me in the way that I went.^a And they gave to Jacob all the gods of the foreigner which were in their hand, and the jewels which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

'God said to Jacob' means the perception which the kind of natural good that 'Jacob' now represents received from the Divine. 'Rise up, go up to Bethel' means concerning the Divine Natural. 'And settle there' means life. 'And make there an altar to the God who appeared to you' means that which is holy there 'When you fled from before Esau your brother' means when truth was placed above good. 'And Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him' means the arrangement within the kind of natural good that existed at that point. 'Remove the gods of the foreigner which are in the midst of you' means that falsities were to be cast aside. 'And be purified, and change your garments' means the holiness that was to be put on. 'And let us rise up and go up to Bethel' means the Divine Natural. 'And I will make there an altar to the God' means the holiness by which interior things are enveloped. 'Who answered me on the day of my distress' means within the state in which truth is placed above good. 'And was with me in the way that I went' means His Divine Providence. 'And they gave to Jacob all the gods of the foreigner which were in their hand' means that [natural good] did, as far as possible, cast aside all falsities. 'And the jewels which were in their ears' means realized in actions. 'And Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem' means an eternal casting away, 'the oak of Shechem' meaning the deceptive natural.

Notes