As we saw God's covenant with Abraham pass to his son Isaac, the promise now extends to the next generation, to Jacob and his descendants. Isaac had wished such a thing for Jacob in verse 4, and before the end of the chapter it indeed comes to pass with Jacob experiencing an encounter with God.
On his way to Haran (back to where Abraham had come from originally, and where Isaac's wife Rebekah was found among his kin), Jacob makes camp for the night. As he sleeps on a stone pillow (doesn't sound very comfortable to me!), Jacob has an amazing dream. He sees a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with angels descending and ascending on it. Then the Lord appears to him and makes some incredible promises: Jacob will inherit the covenant initially made with Abraham, be given the promised land and a multitude of offspring, and God will always be with him.
When Jacob awakes, he is stunned. "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it!" he says. Jacob names the place "Bethel" for "House of God." The pillow he slept on he now anoints with oil and sets up as a witness to what he experienced. And he plans to come back one day and worship the Lord here, offering to the Lord a tithe of all of his blessings.
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