"WE HAVE AN ALTAR" (3)
“WE HAVE AN ALTAR” (3)
Genesis 26: 23 - 25; Genesis 35: 1 - 15
JT The thought of the altar in Hebrews 13 embraces the whole subject before us. It is what christians have. In principle it embraces all that preceded. God anticipated the assembly in all that preceded. What was written was written for us. The prophets had some thought about it, as it says, “searching what, or what manner, of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them pointed out, testifying before of the sufferings which belonged to Christ”, 1 Peter 1: 11. It was revealed to them that the things they ministered, they ministered to us and not to themselves. So that all is embraced in what we (true christians) have. If it be the altar, these references all enter into it. They are just features of it.
ANW We reach finality in what we have.
JT Just so. This is a very important matter for christians to see. We have had Noah’s altar denoting unselfishness, and the offerings on it which became the basis of God’s creational relations. The relation in which He stands to creation now is not merely creational but on the basis of Noah’s altar and the offerings thereon. That is, He smelled a sweet savour. That savour, as anticipating Christ’s sacrifice, has never ceased. It is carried through, one might say, on these altars. In Abraham it became identified with a family, an important part of Genesis. We have spoken of Genesis as the work of God by itself. In general, He makes no demands and gives no instructions as to the altars. They are the evidence of His work. But in the altars that follow on Noah, we have the idea of worship seen in a family. That is what is before us at this meeting. It is the continuance of Abraham, so that Jehovah, in speaking to Isaac here, links on what is developed with Abraham. He says to Isaac: “And I will multiply thy seed as the [p. 368] stars of heaven, and unto thy seed will I give all these countries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves — because that Abraham hearkened to my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (verses 4, 5). So that the instruction is continuous. In Abraham we have God in relation to a particular family. So that, in that sense, we are now on more exclusive and higher ground. Abraham looked out toward heaven and earth — the stars of heaven and the sands of the seashore. But with Isaac it is the heavenly side, so that we are gradually becoming narrowed. This chapter is the heavenly side, and the altar is in that relation. Then in Jacob we come down to earth again, and see not the heavenly side but the earthly.
WN Will you distinguish between what you mean as to the earthly side and the heavenly side of the altar?
JT Abraham looked in both directions, the stars of the heaven and the sands of the seashore. In chapter 22, which we dwelt on yesterday, he is on the high level, the mountain, as shown by Jehovah, which in a way is the highest level we can speak of. He was to take Isaac and offer him up. Isaac is offered up, in figure, and does not return according to the chapter. That is, it is the heavenly side that comes into view first and is carried through here in chapter 26. The scripture does not say he returned with his father, at least that is how the matter stands in the chapter. It says, “And Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba”, chapter 22: 19. Isaac is not said to be there.
ANW But Rebecca comes into view.
JT That is the thought, appears immediately, in the next paragraph. It is the heavenly side. Isaac is to be regarded as the heavenly man and his wife comes into view.
[p. 369] Rem That side is seen in Hebrews 3: 1: “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling”.
JT Yes. Hebrews has that in mind. It is to lift the saints in christianity out of judaism. The heavenly calling is brought in in Hebrews. It is pursued in Genesis in Isaac who is distinctively the heavenly man in this book. So that the word is: “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven” (verse 4). It is the heavenly side. It is the heavenly man in this chapter pursuant on chapter 22. In chapter 24 Rebecca is to be brought to him. He is not to go out of the land. So that the altar in this chapter is worship in that relation.
FI The altar that Isaac builds is built spontaneously, which is in contrast to Jacob. It says of Isaac that “he built an altar there, and called upon the name of Jehovah” (verse 25), whereas Jacob is told to build it (chapter 35: 1).
JT Yes. It says: “And he went up thence to Beer-sheba. And Jehovah appeared to him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake. And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of Jehovah”. I think the altar here implies that he is in a position now that answers to the mind of God.
FI You mean he is intelligent as to that?
JT Yes. Beer-sheba is the place of the oath. Abraham dwelt there according to chapter 22, and now Isaac comes to that point. The faithfulness of God enters into it (compare chapter 46: 1 - 3). He appeared to him the same night.
FI Do you infer from that, that we must be intelligent as to the oath and the covenant before we are prepared to build this altar?
JT I think so. It is a movement of intelligence. Hitherto in the chapter he is guided by God as to dwelling in the land, first in the land that He would show him. It is a protective chapter, to keep him from [p. 370] going to Egypt. He was in danger of going there and God intervenes to prevent this. It says, “dwell in the land that I shall tell thee of”, and then, “Sojourn in this land”. Then the promise of the seed, the denial of his wife, and the conflict with the Philistines as regards the wells, until he reaches the point where he has room — Rehoboth. Sometimes we are kept limited because of the danger of external circumstances in which we would be liable to breakdown, even going so far as denying our relation with the assembly. Then we come into conflict and we succeed in the conflict and we name the experience, such as ‘quarrel’, ‘opposition’, etc. We are able to name the experiences we have gone through. Then God gives us plenty of room. What will you do now? The next movement here is to Beersheba. He is not branching out for himself like some sons; Isaac pursues the line of his father. That is, he is respecting the covenant that God made with his father. He is not independent. Even if we are adding to what preceded us in the testimony of God, it is very important to link on to it.
Rem In Proverbs it says: “Remove not the ancient land-mark which thy fathers have set”, Proverbs 22: 28.
Ques Is that on the same principle as “Remember your leaders”?
JT A good deal. Not branching out to do exploits that nobody else did before you. Not that this may not happen, because you get new phases with all these men of faith, but God connects Isaac with Abraham here. He says, “I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father”.
GMcP Would that be to arrive in our minds at what God had in His mind relative to the death of Christ?
JT Well, He started with Abraham. God is keeping Isaac on that line because, after all, the testimony is one, especially when it comes into a family.
[p. 371] Ques Does he go a little further than Abraham? We read of four altars in Abraham’s case, but we do not find him building an altar at Beer-sheba.
JT Certainly, there is something distinctive about each man of faith, and each christian, but the main thing is to keep in the line. There is a disposition in the young to branch out and do exploits. This chapter keeps you in the line. There will be plenty of opportunity for each to manifest the qualities distinctive to him according to God, but we must keep in the divine line.
APT The apostle says to Timothy: “Be not negligent of the gift that is in thee”, 1 Timothy 4: 14. But he was to keep in line.
JT He had the gift according to the laying on of Paul’s hands and also of the presbytery. You must pursue these lines. Paul’s hands are distinctive. The presbytery are those of weight amongst us. There is that which is distinctive always, and then there is the presbytery.
APT “My true child in faith”, 1 Timothy 1: 2. He followed the line.
JT That shows what we are speaking of, the character of the man. He followed in the line of the apostle, although no doubt later he had to contend with things that even Paul did not have to contend with. You get into circumstances that others may not have been in and you have to find your own feet in them. Thus you come to know God in your own way. Each one has something peculiar to himself. Timothy is the only one called a man of God in the New Testament, so that he stands out.
ANW Personal distinctiveness is beautifully seen in Luke; he puts Paul forward strikingly in Acts: “Paul and his company”, Acts 13: 13.
JT He is very like the writer of the Chronicles, who makes haste, we may say, to get to David. He takes him out of his setting genealogically. Luke makes [p. 372] haste to get to Paul. It is one of the greatest encouragements to see young men and young women coming forward, disregarding natural joys, comforts, and pleasures to be where the people of God are. But they are to learn from those longer in the path, “Remember your leaders”, and “Obey your leaders” (Hebrews 13: 7, 17), those that have gone and those that are present, and that is what God keeps in mind for Isaac here.
Ques. What are exploits?
JT The desire to do them is generally present in a young man who has ability. He wants to do something distinctive. Not that he should not do it in the true sense, of course, but to want to do it is great danger.
GMcP Why is Isaac blessed “for my servant Abraham’s sake”?
JT That is what I am speaking of. He is spoken of in relation to Abraham as Joshua was regarded in relation to Moses (comp. Joshua 1).
Rem Titus in visiting the Corinthian saints does not isolate himself from the apostle Paul.
RWS Paul tells Timothy, “And the things thou hast heard of me in the presence of many witnesses”, 2 Timothy 2: 2. I was thinking that Timothy stands in relation to Paul, as Isaac to Abraham.
AHP Would Elisha be another example in the way in which he served with Elijah?
JT Yes. He clung to him. The word later was that he “poured water on the hands of Elijah”, 2 Kings 3: 11. He did not wish Elijah out of the way. He wanted to accelerate his ability to serve. Although he was anointed to succeed Elijah, there is not the slightest evidence that he wanted his removal. He says, “My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof”, 2 Kings 2: 12. That would be the power. Without the chariot of Israel and the horsemen, he could not do without Elijah, but with the chariot and the horsemen, Elisha can serve without Elijah. His [p. 373] prowess would be by the chariot of Israel and the horsemen.
Rem He wanted to keep as near as possible to Elijah while he was still here.
JT That is the idea: “if thou see me when I am taken from thee”, 2 Kings 2: 10. Elisha’s ministry is definitely linked with Elijah.
ANW It was borne testimony to later that “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha” (chapter 2: 15).
Ques What has the reference to Beer-sheba to do with what you are saying?
JT It is the place of the oath, suggestive of what God had engaged Himself to. God is pleased with his movement — as coming to this place.
ANW Why do you suppose it is a night scene here in connection with Isaac?
JT The day is not really complete without the night. “And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day”, Genesis 1: 5. I apprehend that Isaac has full light as to what he is doing. The exercise is finished.
ANW It had not been mentioned before. I thought there was a night to Isaac’s experience there, and God’s appearance would illuminate it.
JT Just so. God is immediately honouring him in his intelligent movement here. God is showing that He appreciates this movement. It is a question of God and His oath. It is a very great matter for young men and women, in their work, to see what God can do and what He has engaged Himself to do; for, after all, there is nothing done without Him. Unless we work with Him we labour in vain, “Unless Jehovah build the house, in vain do its builders labour in it; unless Jehovah keep the city, the keeper watcheth in vain”, Psalm 127: 1.
Rem So it says that he went up. It is his own movement.
JT Yes. Verse 23 has to be read in the light of [p. 374] the previous part of the chapter. What a chapter it is, typically! There is conflict, failure, and evidence that God did not trust him altogether. He was afraid he would go down into Egypt. We have to watch the young brothers — what are they going to do? But here there is victory, for Isaac is where God would have him; He appears to him and Isaac builds an altar and calls upon the name of Jehovah.
Ques Does it suggest that, as to his inability to do anything, he has arrived in his own soul that all rests with God?
JT I think so. He has to do with these Philistines. They mean the big men in christendom. They are the men that would blot out everything of God that had preceded — what had been done through Abraham; and Isaac contends with them and finds God’s help. What comes out is that he is a well-digger. That is the man — he will succeed. He unstopped the wells that had been stopped up, and he does not give them names of his own. He does not say, This is what I discovered myself. A brother in ministering may say, ‘I got that just as I went into the room’. Well, if you look it up perhaps you may find that, although he may have forgotten it, he read it somewhere. If Isaac were to quote Abraham, he would say, ‘I learned that from my father’. He called the wells by the same names Abraham gave them.
JWD Would it not be difficult to say something purely original?
JT No doubt. The things difficult to get are the most valuable. Gold is hard to get.
JWD Things may seem to one at the time that they came direct, but as you were saying, they may be from the ministry of others, only they were living in one’s soul at that time.
JT Just so. If you “roast” it yourself and make it your own, it is quite right to use what you thus have. Here Isaac unstopped the wells that Abraham [p. 375] had dug, but owns them to be Abraham’s wells. He called them by the same names. But Isaac dug other wells, which must be regarded as his own: Esek, Sitnah, and Rehoboth.
JWD ‘Original’, as we say.
ANW Anybody drinking of the unstopped wells would say, We owe this to Isaac.
JT Primarily to Abraham! In the same sense, what the saints have today has been recovered. Still there are distinctive features. Isaac’s wells would correspond. Note that the first one is said to be springing (or living) water (verse 19). A true revival is marked as having a living character.
Rem A great deal of ministry lies in books like wells of water. Mr. Darby’s collected writings and many others.
JT There is something in that — such wells should be unstopped. But properly, wells are more than books. You never see water flowing out of your bookcase. It is out of you. The Holy Spirit is not in the bookcase, but in believers. He will employ earlier ministry, but without the Holy Spirit there can be no idea of a well. We get no living impressions apart from the Spirit, even though we may know all the Collected Writings.
Rem I was thinking of Samson, as to what bearing he would have on this.
JT You are now in the book of Judges — not the family book. The book of Judges implies that God will take up a man anywhere. We must not assume that Samson was not with God. He judged Israel twenty years. He dwelt on the top of the rock Etam. He was bound there and delivered to the Philistines, and with a new jaw-bone of an ass he slew a thousand of them. God was with him. No doubt he was with God on the rock. And where did Jephthah get his thoughts? See the message he sends to the king of Ammon, whereas earlier his life was very questionable. If God takes up [p. 376] a man He makes him all that is needed; he will be marked by originality and freshness. Thus Isaac not only unstops wells, but digs new ones, “And Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. But the shepherds of Gerar strove with Isaac’s shepherds, saying, The water is ours. And he called the name of the well Esek, because they had quarrelled with him”. This digging involved conflict, “And they dug another well, and they strove for that also; and he called the name of it Sitnah. And he removed thence and dug another well; and they did not strive for that. And he called the name of it Rehoboth, and said, For now Jehovah has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land”. Is he going to rest there, or is he going to link on with the oath, with what God is doing, involved in the promise to Abraham? He did the latter — he went to Beer-sheba. And God makes no delay, He appears to him the same night, as if to show him how pleased He is with him. In this way one who is prospering in his work shows that he is working with God. That is what is meant, I think, that Isaac comes to Beer-sheba. God appears to him that night and says, “I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake. And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of Jehovah. And he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well”. So that there is now to be freshness, and plenty of it. “And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well that they had dug, and said to him, We have found water. And he called it Shebah; therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day”. Now we have definite advance, because Abraham called it a place, whereas it is called a city by the Spirit of God here. This means that an ordered condition of things had come in; it is now a place of administration. All that is most instructive for us as in the Lord’s service.
EGMcA [p. 377] Referring to the two wells that were contended for, it says that Isaac pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, but there is no mention of an altar, but after he digs the third well and comes to Beer-sheba, he first builds an altar and then pitches his tent.
JT That is good. His altar indicates a man’s stature — he is marked off as a worshipper of God. You mentioned yesterday that in the days of the return from the captivity “they set the altar on its base”, Ezra 3: 3.
EGMcA Then in the following part of this chapter we see that Isaac not only has peace but his enemies say, Do not do us any hurt. They recognise his greatness.
JT They recognise that he is progressing, that God was with him. As we have often noted, Abimelech now brings his friend with him as well as his captain. That is, a young man is doing well; he owns God in his service and he is honoured of Him. Can he be overcome by the social part of the world? “Abimelech, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phichol the captain of his host” came to Isaac. Earlier he had gone to Abraham with only his captain, but now he brings one representing the social side with him. But Isaac overcomes. Then there is water, and the city is named.
APT It says: “We saw certainly that Jehovah is with thee”. That should mark us.
JT Quite so. What was said last night ought to be borne in mind, that God is seeking worshippers. A man’s altar denotes that he is a worshipper of God.
JC Verse 13 should be noted specially: “And the man became great, and he became continually greater, until he was very great”.
Ques Does he reach the height of his greatness when he builds the altar?
JT I think so. He is now a worshipper.
Now, perhaps we may go on to Jacob. The house of God is now before us. Jacob does not build an altar until he is told to, except the one he built at Succoth.
[p. 378] That is, he fails in this great matter at the outset. Although a man of faith, in building his first altar he is thinking about himself, as indicated in the name he gives it. He is not like Noah, he is not unselfish. Assuming to be worshippers of God is a very searching matter — whether we are just connecting the idea with ourselves and our own aggrandisement, for at times there is temporal advantage in being a professed worshipper of God.
ANW The woman in John 4 says: “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain” (verse 20). The Lord emphasises who should be worshipped.
SMcC The instructions to Jacob are to make an altar at Bethel “unto the God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother”. Does God bring him back to the point whence he started?
JT He is helping him now by linking on Bethel with his earlier experience. In building an altar at Succoth he was not linking on with the beginning of his relations with God. He ignored Bethel, and called his altar at Succoth El-Elohe-Israel. Hence the disaster that follows, and God says, in effect, Bethel ought to have been in your mind. You are overlooking or ignoring the earlier days of your relations with Me; go back to the beginning — a very important matter for young christians.
Rem It says. “And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house, and for his cattle he made booths” (chapter 33. 17), whereas with Isaac it was noted that he built the altar first and then pitched his tent. With Jacob his own affairs were first.
JT Yes. He built himself a house, whereas the point is God’s house. If he is not in accord with that, he is below his calling, and failing in testimony to God. That applies to every christian. My life as a believer is to be characterised by God’s relations with me as He took me [p. 379] up.
WN Does going back to the beginning involve going back to first love?
JT What was the occasion? It was when Jacob fled from the face of his brother. To be fleeing from your brother is not very complimentary. That does not indicate very much love at the outset. God knows what is in Jacob’s heart, but it is buried very deep. He says in effect, You have been down in Succoth and you have made a house for yourself, you are making a show, you are self-centred. You are not a worldly man exactly, but you are settling down on the earth, overlooking your great calling including My house, and you are connecting Me with you in all this.
Rem Matters are unsettled with him.
JT Seemingly, the matter with Esau had been settled. Jacob might say, Why are you bringing up Esau again? We just met and kissed each other. God says, You were fleeing from your brother when I met you. God is going behind the settlement with Esau. That was succeeded by Jacob building the house at Succoth and that shows that Jacob did not learn very much in his own soul from the experience. There may be settlements and God may have to bring the whole thing up again; the roots, or some of them, were not judged. The whole course has to be gone over again. When we fail like Jacob here we have to go back to the beginning.
Rem The settlement with Esau was very much on the surface.
JT I think there are a great many settlements among us that do not hold. That is, we have not gained through the exercise. They are often what you might call agreements to get out of difficulties. That is what this was in Jacob’s case, so that God brings it up here. He says: “make there an altar unto the God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother” (verse 1), and then in verse 7 it says, “And he built there an altar, and called the place [p. 380] El-beth-el; because there God had appeared to him when, he fled from the face of his brother”. Now Jacob is getting help. The matter is being settled now.
APT Chapter 34 is a very serious one; it shows that he was not right with God. He still had himself in view.
JT Showing that he had not fully learned the lessons of chapters 32 and 33. Bethel was the great objective, and when he turns aside from the path. God says, as it were, We must go over the whole ground again.
EGMcA When God brought that up with him, it produced a general house-cleaning, and then they journeyed.
JT Matters had been bottomed, “Cleanse yourselves, and change your garments”. Now what you come to is moral power in the man: “we will arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar to the God that answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way that I went. And they gave to Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hand, and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth that is by Shechem. And they journeyed; and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them”. God is acting; the terror of God is in favour of the believer as he prepares his way before Him.
JWD I was wondering if the idea of the terror of God was connected with God’s hand of government now being openly in his favour.
JT That is right. His governmental hand was against him at Succoth, but now the government of God is in his favour and against his enemies, his face being in the right direction. Jacob is now judging the root of things.
GMcP If the truth of the altar is recognised amongst us, God comes in and helps.
JT Yes. It is the house-cleaning that is necessary.
[p. 381] There is no settlement without a house-cleaning. Rachel had brought idols with her and lied about it. A terrible state of things in the household! These things were not settled, but God has now come in, and Jacob is subject and obedient to His word. He has power in his house now, so the household is cleansed. They give up the strange gods, etc., and Jacob hid them under the oak. He is in Bethel now, so that he builds his altar and calls the name of the place El-Beth-el, not the altar but the place. Bethel is furnished with an altar. Abraham did not build one there. Jacob had set up a pillar earlier, but a pillar is not an altar.
FI During his first visit he had not come into the full thought of the house. Here he says, “God of the house of God”. That is, he first comes into the knowledge of God before he can come into the full thought of the house. God had made promises to him and now these are confirmed in the house.
JT Quite so. He knows God now, as the God of Bethel. After this experience the Spirit of God gives us a paragraph to epitomise the result. The whole matter is so pleasing to God that it is epitomised in verses 9 to 15 inclusive. It reverts back to chapter 32. It is to show the great result in the worshipper. How God is pleased with Jacob now! He is not now in the heavens and Jacob on the earth. God comes down and talks with Jacob in the house. Jacob sets up a pillar: “And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had talked with him, a pillar of stone, and poured on it a drink-offering, and poured oil on it. And Jacob called the name of the place where God had talked with him. Beth-el”.
Ques What is the difference between the altar and the pillar?
JT A pillar is something to be seen. It goes back to chapter 28. He was a pillar-erector before he was an altar-builder. He set up a stone for a pillar — an ordinary stone that he had lain upon. But now it is not that exactly. It is “a pillar of stone”. Not merely a convenient thing set up as a pillar, but something permanent, and he adds to it the drink-offering which he could not add in the first visitation. He adds the drink-offering which indicates that he is now conscious of being pleasing to God in the house. He has had to do with God, the altar is the result of this. He is a known worshipper now in the house. The house stands connected with Jacob.
JWD What is the idea of the house?
JT It is the abstract thought here. There is no building yet. We get the structure with Moses and Solomon. But it comes in with Jacob as a great divine testimony. David has it in mind in speaking in Psalm 132 of “the mighty God of Jacob”.
Ques What would answer to the naming of the place of the altar today?
JT When you come to the assembly and apprehend that it is God’s assembly, you are impressed as Jacob was. He names it Bethel. Abraham was in the precincts, near Bethel. He did not build his altar in Bethel. Jacob’s is in Bethel. You would expect that there would be names as soon as you come to the house. The house is a place of distinction. The subject of names comes up at once. “The crowd of names” at Pentecost denotes this. Each believer has a name. Elijah first formally calls Elisha by name in Bethel. You are known there. Jacob is Israel there. We “are being built up a spiritual house”.
WM Is it not significant that the apostle calls the house of God the “pillar and base of the truth”, 1 Timothy 3: 15?
JT It is the support of the truth, and it is to be seen.
EGMcA Is there the thought in the drink-offering on the pillar, that God is now getting something satisfactory from Jacob?
JT That is the meaning of it. God is pleased [p. 383] with him now, as already said. He is in the house according to God’s mind. So this paragraph from verses 9 to 15 is the Spirit’s account of the whole position.
Ques. What is the oil?
JT The oil is dignity. I am to be in the house in a dignified way; as a spiritual man. But the drink-offering is what I am God-ward — what God finds in me.
APT That verse in Timothy which was referred to would connect with the oil: “that thou mayest know how one ought to conduct oneself in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth”, 1 Timothy 3: 15.
JT That, I am sure, would appear at Corinth when Timothy was sent there by Paul that they might be put in mind “of my ways as they are in Christ”, 1 Corinthians 4: 17. We may be sure that he would move among the brethren in a sober, dignified way.
SMcC Is it not remarkable that it says: “And God went up from him in the place where he had talked with him”. Not to him, but with him.
JT Now Jacob is honoured in accord with his grandfather (compare chapter 17: 22 and 19: 27). Abraham went back to it: he “went to the place where he had stood before Jehovah”. It is a beautiful thought — the place where God talks with you. You never forget that. In that spot Jacob set up the pillar.
Rem In chapter 28 he says: “How dreadful is this place” (verse 17); but here he talks with God.
JT As knowing God, he is now in His house in liberty. Perfect love casts out fear.