Genesis 28:1-22--Jacob’s Departure

​Daily Readings
Day 1: Genesis 28:1-22
Day 2: Genesis 29:1–30:24
Day 3: Genesis 30:25–31:55
Day 4: Genesis 32:1–33:20
Day 5: Genesis 34:1–36:43
Day 6: Psalm 25

Genesis 28
World English Bible
28 Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3 May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples, 4 and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham.”

5 Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;” 7 and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan Aram. 8 Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn’t please Isaac, his father. 9 So Esau went to Ishmael, and took, in addition to the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.

10 Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 He dreamed and saw a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give the land you lie on to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your offspring, all the families of the earth will be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.”

16 Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn’t know it.” 17 He was afraid, and said, “How awesome this place is! This is none other than God’s house, and this is the gate of heaven.”

18 Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20 Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Yahweh will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God’s house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”

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Isaac sends Jacob away thinking he is just leaving to find a wife and will soon return.  Isaac does not let the LORD make the choice as Abraham did for him, he sends his son and tells him exactly who he has chosen--Jacob is instructed where to go, who to talk to, and given limited choices on who he can marry.  Then Isaac blesses Jacob on his journey that he fully realize the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant.

Esau saw and heard all this and finally realized that his marriage of Canaanite women displeased his father (and his mother, but he mostly cared about what his father thought of him), and he was rationalized in his own mind that this was the reason that Isaac blessed Jacob.  So, he compounds his bad decision making by taking another wife for himself--this time a daughter of one of Ishmael.

It was at this time that the LORD gave Jacob that vision that we call Jacob's Ladder.  This vision stands in contrast with the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 where the people of earth rebelled against the command of the LORD and tried to build a tower for themselves all the way to heaven so that they could ascend and take the throne of God for themselves.  Here, we see the servants of heaven ascending and descending on this stairway to heaven that was not built by human hands.  It came down from heaven because there was no way that man could build a staircase or tower to heaven.  More on this vision later in the Bible as we will realize the Jesus is this one and only way to heaven that came down from heaven.  However, this is another important time in Jacob's life when he feels like he's messed up so badly that perhaps the LORD would break covenant with him.  Instead, the LORD renews the promises and says that he will be with Jacob and his descendants wherever they go.  They will live away from the Promised Land for a while, but the LORD promises that He will bring them back again.  Jacob probably thinks the LORD is simply speaking of him going away into Paddan Aram to take a wife, but the LORD already has the time of the people's slavery in Egypt and even their Exile to Babylon and the Great Dispersion after the invasion of the Roman Empire in sight.  The LORD promises that He will always be with His people until He brings them back to the Land and gives them everything that He has promised to them and that nothing can separate them from His covenantal love.

Jacob is still thinking like a pagan and thinks that the LORD lives in that particular place--that this place was mystical and had magical powers, and that was why he could see the vision and hear the LORD there.  He did not understand what the LORD was saying--that He is everywhere in all places at all times.  Wherever Jacob goes, the LORD will be in front of him preparing the way, behind him to protect him, and along side him to take the journey with him.  Yet, Jacob is convinced that he will need to continue to come back to this place to commune with the LORD again.  He calls this place Bethel for "House of God" and many of his descendants will build on this incorrect pagan belief and build temples and idols in this places thinking that they too can cannot with the LORD and other gods in this place.  This place would not be "the gate to heaven" as Jacob thought--that would take place on a hillside called Calvary on Mount Zion--the very place where Isaac had been offered up as a sacrifice only to have a ram take his place.  Of that place the LORD said, "On the mountain of the LORD, it will be provided."  Isaac seems to have forgotten this lesson and seems to have not taught it to his son Jacob.

Jacob makes a vow to the LORD that the LORD does not need, but it will be important that the people of Israel will understand and fulfill this vow when they come out of Egypt.  Jacob vows if the LORD will do all the things that He promised (as if there was any doubt that He would), that Jacob would build a house for Him on that very spot.  Well, that's not exactly how things worked out.  The LORD lived in a tabernacle (a tent) much like His people Israel did when they came out of Egypt and they set up that Tabernacle at Bethel for a time in light of this promise.  However, this is not the place that the LORD chose for His permanent dwelling.  The LORD had already chosen Jerusalem for Himself--the City of the Great King, a place and a people that would bear His holy name.  A holy city full of a holy people so that it is correct for us today to say that we are of Jerusalem (and we see that the New Jerusalem will be the eternal place that is prepared for all of God's people).  Jacob had it wrong in thinking that Bethel was the place where the LORD would reside with His people, but he did get it right that the LORD did want to reside with His people and that He would make the way from that to happen, and that Way is Jesus.