God promised Abraham multiple descendants and a homeland
to bless the world. The fulfillment would come through Abraham’s son, Isaac.
When Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, became pregnant the babies in her womb were
jostling and the Lord revealed that there were two peoples in Rebekah’s womb
and that the older son would serve the younger (Gen. 25:23). Now when Isaac was
old and blind he wanted to bless Esau before he died. But Rebekah disguised
Jacob as Esau and Jacob claimed to be Esau, so that unknowingly blessed Jacob.
Isaac said the nations and his brothers would serve him. Also, Isaac restated
the blessing given to Abraham (Gen.12:1-3) that whoever cursed him would be
cursed and whoever blessed him would be blessed. Later Esau came in to be blessed
and Isaac trembled violently when he realized he had blessed Jacob. Isaac told
Esau that he had given the blessing to Jacob and that Jacob would be blessed!
Isaac made it clear that even though Jacob had acted deceitfully the blessing
of the Abrahamic covenant belonged to Jacob. Esau wept bitterly and comforted
himself with the thought of killing Jacob.
When Rebekah found out that Esau wanted to kill Jacob she
told to flee to her brother Laban in Haran. When Esau was no longer angry
Rebekah would send for Jacob. Then Rebekah told Isaac that her life wouldn’t be
worth living if Jacob took a Canaanite wife. So Isaac commanded Jacob not to
take a Canaanite wife but to a wife from among the daughters of Laban, his
mother’s brother. Isaac blessed Jacob and said, “May God Almighty bless you and
your descendants with blessing given to Abraham.” Then Isaac sent Jacob on his
way to Laban, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. Now this
takes us to the story of Jacob’s dream at Bethel (Genesis 28:10–22). Watch or listen to the story and read the
comments.
Jacob’s
parents, Isaac and Rebekah, sent Jacob to Haran to get a wife from Laban, Rebekah’s
brother. Yet, Jacob was also fleeing from his brother Esau, who wanted to kill
Jacob for taking Esau’s blessing. The scene quickly darkens reminding us that this
is a dark time in Jacob’s life. The setting of the sun also recalls the time when
God made His covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15). That put a stone under his
head shows us that Jacob now has nowhere to lay his head. He rests his head on
a stone, falls asleep and sees in a dream a stairway resting on the earth and reaching
up to heaven. So Jacob is being exiled from the ‘promised land’ for stealing his
brother’s birth-right and his father’s blessing.
Jacob sees
this stairway intersecting heaven and earth and the angels of God are ascending
and descending on the stairway. Above the stairway is the Lord who speaks to Jacob saying, “I am
the Lord, the God of your fathers
Abraham and Isaac.” Jacob is being ‘exiled’ but the Lord speaks to Jacob. The Lord
chooses to reveal Himself to Jacob while Jacob is running for his life. This is
the God of Jacob’s father’s Abraham and Isaac and He promises to give that the land
promised to Abraham and Isaac would be given to Jacob and Jacob’s descendants. Jacob’s
descendants will be as innumerable as the dust of the earth and they will spread
out in every direction and all people throughout the earth will be blessed
through them.
The Lord also
promises that Jacob’s journey will be a successful one. Not only will Jacob find
a wife and have children but the Lord will be with Jacob and watch over Jacob wherever
Jacob goes. The God of Jacob’s fathers is identifying Himself with Jacob and
promises Jacob innumerable descendants to bless the world. In addition to these
massive promises the Lord adds the promise of God’s own personal presence so
that the Lord will watch over him wherever Jacob goes. So the Lord of his fathers
will be with Jacob, the deceiver, and will not only watch out for Jacob
wherever Jacob goes but the Lord will bring Jacob back to this land. The land where
Jacob is laying his head will be his and the Lord will fulfill His promise for Jacob.
Jacob awoke and
thought of how he didn’t even realize that the Lord
was in that place. The reality of the presence of the Lord in that place was awe
inspiring for Jacob. Jacob must have felt like he had really messed up and so
even as Jacob was fleeing Esau God shows up and reveals Himself to Jacob. Jacob
was unaware of God’s presence and had no idea that God would show up and
confirm that Jacob would inherit the Abrahamic blessing. He was fleeing because
his brother Esau wanted to kill him but the God of Abraham and Isaac shows up
to bless Jacob. The presence of was so real, so awesome that Jacob in holy
‘fear’ Jacob said, “This is an awesome place! This is the house of God! It is
the gate of heaven!” So for Jacob that place would become for Jacob the house
of God and very gate of heaven!
So early that very
next morning when Jacob woke up he took the stone from under his head and he set
it up as a pillar. For Jacob the stone would become a kind of monument or a
reminder of the Lord’s presence. Jacob poured oil on the stone and he called
the place Bethel (God’s house). Then Jacob vowed that if God would be with
Jacob, watch over him, provide him food and clothing, and bring him safely to
his father’s house then the Lord would
be Jacob’s God and Jacob would give God a tenth of whatever he would receive from
the Lord. So Jacob vows that if God will do what God had said then God will be
Jacob’s God. Jacob adds the further condition of the provision of food and
clothing and a safe return to his father’s house. So Jacob makes this conditional
vow to that is dependent upon God fulfilling his promises to Jacob. Jacob has
done nothing to deserve God’s favor and his conditional vow shows that Jacob
has a long way to go but
No comments:
Post a Comment