Jacob's Máchséva

In ancient Semitic ritual, to pour oil on an object or a person is to change its status. I think what Jacob is doing here is he's changing the status of this object ritually. He's bringing the presence of God into it. In other words, over in Mesopotamia there were these very elaborate ceremonies to bring the presence of the God into the Tzalmu. Among people further to the west who spoke Canaanite languages was pouring oil by being Mosheach or wine on an object. This is the ritual through which Jacob is bringing God into this rock. Now the rock is actually a house of God. At some level God is present in that standing stone