Genesis 28 · a question people ask
The law later forbids setting up sacred pillars. Was Jacob wrong?
Genesis records Jacob setting up pillars at Bethel (28:18, 22; 35:14), and God himself says to him, "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me" (31:13). The law given later through Moses commands Israel to "demolish their pillars", the pillars of the nations in the land (Exodus 23:23-24), and says, "Neither shall you set yourself up a sacred stone which the LORD your God hates" (Deuteronomy 16:22; "sacred stone" is the same Hebrew word, matsevah). Moses himself set up "twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel" beside the altar at Sinai (Exodus 24:4). Genesis tells of Jacob long before that law was given, and it doesn't comment on his pillar.
The verses
“Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top.”
“I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.’””
“Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it.”
“For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off. You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars.”