What does Genesis 35:3 mean?
Jacob had fled from the Promised Land of Canaan more than two decades earlier (Genesis 27:42). At that time, the Lord appeared to him in a dream to deliver the powerful covenant promises first made to Abraham and Isaac. In response, Jacob had made a conditional vow. If the Lord would remain with him and provide enough to eat until he returned, Jacob would make the Lord his God, would recognize Bethel as God's house, and would give to the Lord a tenth of all he received (Genesis 28:20–22).God has called Jacob to keep his vows. So, Jacob acknowledges to his household that they are going to Bethel to build an altar because of God's faithfulness to him. God has answered Jacob's prayers in every crisis he has faced. God has never left him in all of his travels out of the land and back again. Jacob acknowledges that it is right that he should now fulfill his vows to the Lord.