Genesis 28:16 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not— Jacob knew very well that the Lord was in every place; nor can his words be fairly understood to contradict this fundamental knowledge. But though the Lord is in every place, yet, he was pleased, of old times, to vouchsafe his presence to manifest his glory, in some places peculiarly; to this Jacob refers: "This is a place consecrated to, and in which the Lord manifests himself; and I knew not that it was a place of such a nature: I did not know that it was any other than a common spot; I understood not that Jehovah peculiarly manifested his presence here." In the primitive ages, when God vouchsafed to exhibit symbols and tokens of his presence in particular places, it was natural and just to affix a notion of relative sanctity to these places. In this view, all objections concerning the patriarch's imperfect notions of the Deity vanish: and the next words follow with great propriety, This is none other but a house of God, (which I conceived to be an ordinary place,) and this is the gate of heaven! the door of entrance into those celestial regions, which this Divine vision hath represented to me. Some think that these words allude to the custom of those times, of kings and judges keeping their courts in the gates of cities, attended with their guards and officers; as if Jacob had said, "Here God keeps his court, attended by his angels."