Let’s go back just a bit to stay in context:
Genesis 27:44-46 New King James Version
44 And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away,
45 until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”
46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
- Now in chapter 28 Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and sent him to Paddan Aram, a district of Mesopotamia, (Haran is the exact place) so that he would find a wife among his mother’s people rather than among the Canaanites. This inspired Esau to try to regain his father’s blessing by marrying a daughter of Ishmael. It was a case of doing evil (multiplying wives) that good might come.
- By now, Isaac had resigned himself to what he knew was the LORD’s will, all along — that the older would serve the younger, and that Jacob, not Esau, would receive the birthright (Genesis 25:23). So, he sent Jacob on with blessing and instructions (and charged him).
- You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan: It was essential Jacob not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan, as his brother Esau did. Jacob was the one to inherit the birthright and carry on the seed of our Messiah Jesus Christ.
Genesis 28:1-5 New King James Version
1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.
2 Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. The Blessing
3 “May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples;
4 And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham.”
- Jacob was by no means worthy of this blessing. Each of the four parties in the whole birthright mess acted in an unspiritual manner somewhere along the line. The amazing thing is that God brought any good out of all this. This is the triumph of God’s sovereignty.
- Isaac blessed Jacob in the name of God Almighty, that is, El Shaddai. This title for God was previously used in Genesis 17:1, where God described Himself to Abraham with this phrase. Abraham passed the knowledge of El Shaddai on to his son Isaac, who now passed it on to Jacob. He first pronounced a general blessing of prosperity upon Jacob.
GENESIS 28:5-10
5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”
7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram.
8 Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac.
9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath (may-hal-lath) the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Ne-ba-joth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had
- Now the blessing and the birthright seemed important to Esau. They were important enough to him that he determined to impress his father by marrying non-Canaanite women when he saw that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother.
- Esau avoided the Canaanite women and married women from the family of his uncle Ishmael. Thinking it would please his father and mother, to little to late.
10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran.
- Something interesting here, (at least to me). According to Isaac, he’s sending Jacob to find a wife from his family line. Do you remember when Abraham sent his servant Eliezer to the same place to find Isaac a wife. Isaac was old enough to remember all the details. Eliezer had ten camels loaded with riches along with an entourage of men for obvious protection. Jacob now has the Abrahamic blessing upon him which places him in control of all that Isaac had, wealth, the people and the animals. What does he leave with? Best I can tell, nothing.
In the biblical account, Isaac’s decision to send Jacob away without the typical wealth or “bride price” used for marriage is often interpreted through a mix of immediate necessity and spiritual purpose:
- Fleeing for Safety: The primary reason Jacob left so abruptly was that his brother Esau was plotting to kill him for stealing the blessing. Rebekah urged Isaac to send him away under the appearance finding a wife to prevent a family tragedy.
- A Test of Faith and Character: Scholars suggest Isaac may have wanted Jacob to learn independence and reliance on God. By contrast, when Isaac’s own wife was sought, a servant brought ten camels and immense wealth. What does Isaac have to offer Labon? This will force Jacob to work for his wife (Rachel he hoped) helped transform him from a “deceiver” into a man who understood the value of hard work.
- Displeasure over Deception: Some interpretations suggest Isaac remained upset over Jacob’s trickery in obtaining the blessing. While Isaac did eventually confirm the blessing before Jacob left, he did not provide him with the material inheritance that Esau continued to enjoy at home.
- Protection of the Covenant: Isaac’s chief priority was ensuring Jacob did not marry a Canaanite woman, as Esau had. Sending him back to his mother’s kin in Paddan-Aram (Haron) ensured the family’s spiritual lineage remained intact, regardless of his initial poverty.
GENESIS 28:11-12
11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.
12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. picture
- Jacob traveled eastward toward the ancestral lands of his grandfather Abraham (Genesis 11:31-32) and his mother Rebekah.
- In this desolate wilderness, Jacob had a significant dream as he used a stone for a pillow. One can only imagine the strange flood of feelings in Jacob at this moment: fear, the loneliness, the isolation, the excitement, and the anticipation. This was an important time in Jacob’s life. This is the Jesus knocking at the door moment. Jacob experienced a dream where a ladder (or stairway, the Hebrew word for “ladder” is סֻלָּם sullam soo-lahm) also meaning stairway that was set up on the earth, with its top reaching heaven, and angels ascending and descending on it. This vision, occurring at Bethel, represents God’s active presence, initiative, and the covenant promises made to Abraham and Isaac. (As this picture shows)
GENESIS 28:13-15
13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants”.
14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
- Jacob had no doubt, he had heard about the great God who appeared to Abraham and to Isaac, but now this same God met Jacob in a personal way. This was a life-changing experience for Jacob.
- These words were for comfort and hope to Jacob at this critical crossroads in his life. Essentially, God repeated to Jacob the terms of the covenant He gave to both Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) and to Isaac (Genesis 26:2-5)
- God gave to Jacob the same kind of promise found in Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. God won’t let you go until His work is complete in you.
Philippians 1:6 New King James Version
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
- Behold, I am with you: “That God should give to Jacob bread to eat and raiment to put on was much, but it is nothing compared with; ‘I am with you.’ That God should send his angel with Jacob to protect him would have been much; but it is nothing compared with, ‘I am with you.’ This includes countless blessings, but it is in itself a great deal more than all the blessings we can conceive of.” (Spurgeon)
GENESIS 28:16-19
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
- Jacob was right in sensing the presence of the LORD there. If he thought that God was in some places but not in others, he was wrong!
- King David knew that God was everywhere: Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? (Psalm 139:7)
17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”
- From his unspiritual and perhaps unfounded perspective, Jacob put too much emphasis on a particular place.
- He didn’t realize that if the presence of the LORD was not with him in every place, then God could never fulfill His promise to him.
18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.
19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.
- The city of Bethel would play an important (though not glorious) role in Israel’s history. Among the cities of Israel, it is second only to Jerusalem in the number of times mentioned in the Old Testament.
- Later, when speaking to Jacob, God refers to Himself as the God of Bethel (Genesis 31:13).
- Bethel would eventually become a high place, known as a place of sacrifice to idols (1 Kings 13:32, Hosea 10:15, Amos 4:4).
GENESIS 28:20-22
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,
21 so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.
22 And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
A tenth of all, he’s willing to give back to God. That’s nice, obviously someone had shared with him when Abraham praised Melchizedek who was the King of Salem who Abraham gave the tithe to. I don’t think what Jacob is doing here as a good example of how we are to give or tithe.
Malachi 3:8-10 New King James Version
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
- It was evident God’s mere word was not enough for him. He had to see God do it before he would believe. We should not be the same way, but we often are. God says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19); He says, “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him,”(Nahum 1:7). We should believe these things, even before we see them.
- Keep me in the way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on: Here, Jacob spoke as if he could set the terms of his covenant with God. In his thinking, he made the deal for God instead of humbly receiving what God said would be the arrangement.
- Jacob wasn’t very submitted to God. In the next phase of his life, God will teach him submission in adversity, through his Uncle Laban.
- Jacob made a vow: Unfortunately, there was a great contrast between God’s promise and Jacob’s vow. One was totally God-centered; the other was terribly man-centered.
- Let’s look a little closer:
God’s promise to Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15)
- I am the LORD God.
- I will give to you.
- I am with you.
- I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken.
Jacob’s vow to God:
- If God will be with me.
- And keep me.
- In this way that I am going.
- Give me bread and clothing.
- So that I come back to my father’s house.
It would have been much better if Jacob had prayed like this: “Because You promised to be with me and to keep me and to provide for all my needs, and to bring me back to the land which you swore to give to my fathers and to me, I will be completely Yours, God.”
- God was gracious enough not to take His covenant back when He saw such an unspiritual response from Jacob. Instead, He was willing to be called the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:6).
Genesis 29:1-12 New King James Version
1 So Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the East.
2 And he looked, and saw a well in the field; and behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks. A large stone was on the well’s mouth.
3 Now all the flocks would be gathered there; and they would roll the stone from the well’s mouth, water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the well’s mouth.
4 And Jacob said to them, “My brethren, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from Haran.”
5 Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.”
6 So he said to them, “Is he well and they said, “He is well. And look, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep.”
7 Then he said, (Jacob)“Look, it is still high day; it is not time for the cattle to be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.”
8 But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and they have rolled the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.”
9 Now while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.
- Jacob also knew he had come to marry one of the daughters of Laban (Genesis 28:2), so he was more than willing to show kindness (and perhaps his strength) to Laban’s daughter Rachel. The shepherd boys waited for someone to remove the stone, and Jacob did it in the presence of Rachel.
11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept.
12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. So she ran and told her father.
- Initially, Rachel must have been quite surprised when a man she never met before greeted her, kissed her, then cried out and wept.
- Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative: Rachel had been told about her aunt Rebekah, who married a wealthy and distant relative to the family.
- He stayed with him for a month: Laban showed this great hospitality, not only because of custom, and not only because Jacob was his nephew; Laban also knew that Jacob would inherit a significant fortune from his father Isaac.