When Jacob had his famous dream, of a staircase leading to heaven, he named the place "Bethel," which is Hebrew for "the house of God."

That literal meaning is reflected in the spiritual meaning: The Writings tell us that "Bethel" represents the knowledge and understanding we can have about the Lord's divine love, the perfect love which He has for all of us, the perfect love which is His essence. When we know about the Lord's love and have some understanding of it, that gives it a "house" inside us, a way for it to grow inside us and affect our own loves.

In Genesis 28:17, Bethel signifies the Lord's kingdom in the lowermost order. (Arcana Coelestia 3720)

In Amos 3:14, Bethel signifies the divine good. (Arcana Coelestia 2832[10])

"Bethel" has the opposite sense later in the Old Testament, after Jeroboam set up golden calves there and made it a center of idol-worship. Then it represented worship springing from evil loves.

3697. Verses 12-15 And he dreamed, and behold, a stairway set up on the earth, and its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God going up and coming down on it. And behold, Jehovah was standing above it, and He said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your seed. And your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will break forth towards the sea, and towards the east, and towards the north, and towards the south; and in you will all the families of the ground be blessed - and in your seed. And behold, I am with you, and will guard you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this ground; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken about to you.

'He dreamed' means foresight. 'And behold, a stairway set up on the earth' means a communication of lowest truth and of good derived from this truth. 'And its top reaching to heaven' means with the Divine. 'And behold, the angels of God going up and coming down on it' means an infinite and eternal communication and the consequent joining together - a going up, so to speak, from what is lowest, and after that, when order has been inverted, a coming down to it. 'And behold, Jehovah was standing above it' means the Lord at the highest point. 'And He said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham your father' means the Lord in whom that good originated. 'And the God of Isaac' means the Lord's Divine Human. 'The land on which you are lying I will give to you' means that the good on which the Natural rested was His own in origin. 'And to your seed' means truth also. 'And your seed will be as the dust of the earth' means that Divine natural Truth would be as natural good. 'And you will break forth towards the sea, and towards the east' means infinite extension of good, while 'and towards the north, and towards the south' means infinite extension of truth - thus every state of good and truth. 'And in you will all the families of the ground be blessed' means that all truths taught by doctrine which look to good will be joined to good. 'And in your seed' means and to truth. 'And behold, I am with you' means the Divine. 'And will guard you wherever you go' means Divine Providence. 'And will bring you back to this ground' means conjunction with doctrine that is Divine. 'For I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken about to you' means that nothing would be missing to prevent its actually happening.