Genesis 28:18

“And Jacob rose up early in the morning, etc.] In order to proceed on his journey, being comfortably refreshed both in body and mind: but first he took the stone that he had put [for] his pillows, and set it up [for] a pillar; not for a statue or an idol to be worshipped, but for a memorial of the mercy and goodness of God unto him, (see <060403>Joshua 4:3-9); indeed, among the Heathens, stones, even rude and unpolished ones, were worshipped as gods; and this was the ancient custom among the Greeks, and which, as Pausanias f1450 says, universally obtained among them: and poured oil upon the top of it; which he had brought with him for necessary uses in his journey, or fetched from the…”

“Jacob set up a stone, etc.--The mere setting up of the stone might have been as a future memorial to mark the spot; and this practice is still common in the East, in memory of a religious vow or engagement. But the pouring oil upon it was a consecration. Accordingly he gave it a new name, Beth-el, "the house of God" (Hos 12:4); and it will not appear a thing forced or unnatural to call a stone a house, when one considers the common practice in warm countries of sitting in the open air by or on a stone, as are those of this place, "broad sheets of bare rock, some of them standing like the cromlechs of Druidical monuments" [STANLEY].”

“28:18 Anointing with oil became a way of setting something apart for divine use in Israel’s worship (Exod 29:1-7; 40:9; Lev 2:1; 1 Sam 10:1).”