Genesis 28:16

16 Ya'akov awoke from his sleep and said, "Truly, ADONAI is in this place - and I didn't know it!"

Genesis 28:16 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 28:16

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep
Which had been sweet unto him, and out of his dream, it being now over; and it having left such a weight upon his mind, and such an awe upon his spirits, it might tend the sooner to awaken him; what time it was is not said, perhaps it was in the middle of the night or towards morning, since after this it is said that he rose early in the morning: and he said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew [it] not;
God is everywhere, in a general way, upholding all things by his power, as he is immense and omnipresent; but here he was in a special sense, by some signal token of his presence; by a stream of light and glory darting from the heavens, hence Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it,

``the glory of the Lord, and the glory of the majesty of the Lord;''

and by the appearance of angels, and by the communications of his mind and will, and grace to Jacob, and that communion he had with him in his dream, of which he was very sensible: for, when he says, "I knew it not", the meaning is, he did not think or expect to meet with God in such a place; he did not know that God ever appeared anywhere but in the houses of his people, such as his father's house; and in the congregation of the faithful, or where the saints met for public worship, or where an altar was erected for God: though sometimes God is present with his people, and they are not sensible of it; as the church in ( Isaiah 41:10 ) ; and as Mary, when Christ was at her elbow, and she knew him not, ( John 20:13 ) .

Genesis 28:16 In-Context

14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the grains of dust on the earth. You will expand to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. By you and your descendants all the families of the earth will be blessed.

15 Look, I am with you. I will guard you wherever you go, and I will bring you back into this land, because I won't leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

16 Ya'akov awoke from his sleep and said, "Truly, ADONAI is in this place - and I didn't know it!"

17 Then he became afraid and said, "This place is fearsome! This has to be the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!"

18 Ya'akov got up early in the morning, took the stone he had put under his head, set it up as a standing-stone, poured olive oil on its top