Genesis 33:20

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Gen 33:20 . . He set up an altar there, and called it El-elohe-yisrael.

El-elohe-yisrael is actually 'Eel-'Eloheey-Yisraa'eel which is a compound of three separate words.

'Eel is from 'el (ale) and means strength; as an adjective; viz: mighty.

'Eloheey is from 'elohiym (el-o-heem') and means god(s) in a nondescript sense; viz: the one true god and all manner of imitation gods.

Yisraa'eel is from Yisra'el (yis-raw-ale') and means: he will rule as God, which, according to Gen 32:29, was Jacob's new name.


NOTE: Jacob himself was never personally seated on God's throne and ruling as God; but one of his biological descendants does. (Num 24:17, Col 3:1, Phil 2:8-11)

So, if we put it all together, Jacob's altar was dedicated to The Almighty God of he who will rule as God; or just simply The God Of Israel (cf. Micah 5:2). It was the very, very, first altar to ever be named after the god of the people of Israel. A true milestone in the nation's history, and Jacob's too.

Just exactly how much time elapsed between Jacob's temporary camp at Succoth and the events coming up in chapter 34 are unknown.

In the interval, Jacob very likely visited his dad and also traveled down to Seir to visit his brother Esau too; like he promised in verse 14. Just because the Bible doesn't say so; doesn't mean he didn't. One of the aspects of the Bible that some people find very annoying is that it doesn't record every little detail.

For example at Matt 2:22-23 it's reported that the prophets said Jesus would be called a Nazarene. But you won't find that quote in the Old Testament, so there's no use in looking for it; and that's because not every word spoken by the prophets was recorded: same as not every word spoken by Jesus was recorded in the gospels; and not every detail of the patriarchs' lives are recorded in Genesis.

Scripture's omissions can often lead people into error via a kind of logic called an Argument From Silence; which is a kind of reasoning that assumes that if something isn't clearly stated, then it's inferred from the silence that there was nothing to state.
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