What is the spiritual meaning of stacking rocks?

Answer 1

The Jewish Encyclopedia tells us that the worship of sacred stones constituted one of the most general and ancient forms of religion, but among no other people was this worship so important as among the Semites.

Sacred stones are mentioned with great frequency in the Old Testament. In Genesis 12:8, Abraham had pitched his tent to the east of Bethel and built an altar of rocks. Later, his grandson Jacob slept in a certain place and dreamed of a ladder going up to heaven then he named that place Bethel. Jacob used a rock for a pillow and after waking stacked it on a stone pillar and poured oil on it.

It has long been known that there was a West Semitic deity named Bethel, associated with the veneration of sacred stones. The Catholic scholar Bruce Vawter says that Genesis 31:13 should be read as "I am the god Bethel" ('El Bet'el). although it is commonly translated (incorrectly) as "'I am the god ofBethel". So, stacking rocks has a spiritual meaning associated with the Semitic worship of sacred stones and, in many cases, with the god Bethel.