Genesis 33:20

erected Lit. "set up." A verb used elsewhere, not of an altar, but of a "pillar" or upright stone. Cf. Genesis 35:14; Genesis 35:20 and Joshua 24:26. Hence many prefer here to read "pillar" (maṣṣêbah) instead of "altar" (mizbêaḥ).

El-elohe-Israel R.V. marg. That is, God, the God of Israel. The altar, or stone, is denoted by the name of Êl, the God of Israel. The origin of some sacred stone, well known to the Israelites, was thus accounted for. The stone and the Divine Being associated with it are identified: see Genesis 28:22; Genesis 35:7. "Israel's God is El" is a profession of faith in the one true God made at the moment when Jacob comes to dwell among the heathen Canaanites.