Notes on Genesis
28Gen 28:1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and
said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
Gen 28:2 Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father;
and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.
Isaac got his wife from this place so it seemed good to him for Jacob to go and
get a wife also. I do notice that if there was any reprimanding done by Isaac to
Jacob for what he had done, the bible does not record it. Perhaps in defense of
himself or herself in the case of Rebecca, thy might have reminded Isaac of
God's promise to Rebecca when she was carrying the twins in her womb. Isaac had
power with God for after he gave the blessing, he could not even take it back.
Perhaps it was then that he realized the will of God and did not correct his son
in the matter.
Gen 28:3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply
thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
Gen 28:4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with
thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God
gave unto Abraham.
Surely we see from this verse that it is possible that Isaac did come to
recognize the blessing of God was to be Jacob as opposed to Esau. It seems as if
his favoritism to Esau might have hindered him from seeing God's will before,
plus the fact that inheritances usually went to the firstborn. It is possible
for the most spiritual among us to be blinded to God's will when our own desires
block our view.
Gen 28:5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son
of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
Gen 28:6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to
Padan-aram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave
him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;
Gen 28:7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to
Padan-aram;
Gen 28:8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his
father;
Gen 28:9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had
Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be
his wife.
Well, two wrongs do not make a right. It seems as if Esau is trying please his
parents in taking another wife. I wonder how the first wife felt about that. Our
thinking today is so different. Women have more of a voice in matters today. I
give credit to Jesus Christ for that.
Gen 28:10 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
Gen 28:11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night,
because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them
for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
Gen 28:12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top
of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending
on it.
Gen 28:13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of
Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee
will I give it, and to thy seed;
Gen 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread
abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in
thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Gen 28:15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither
thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee,
until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
Wow. God comes just at the right time. Jacob was probably lonely and feeling
kind of blue at having to leave home. He was probably feeling guilty for the way
he tricked his father. God reinforced the words he spoke to Abraham, then to
Isaac and now to Jacob. There is nothing in heaven and earth that will change
this. The gifts and calling of God is without repentance. Sure Israel was judged
many times for their sins and lost the land promised to them but the promise
that a remnant will be saved in the end is still true. The promise that the
whole earth will be blessed from Israel is true and was fulfilled only in part
by the first coming of the Messiah to die for the sins of all. It will be
fulfilled in full at the second coming of Jesus.
Gen 28:16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is
in this place; and I knew it not.
Gen 28:17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none
other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
I know it seems strange to refer to the presence of God as dreadful. This is
similar to what Abraham felt:
Gen 15:12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and,
lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.
Gen 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a
stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall
afflict them four hundred years;
Gen 15:14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and
afterward shall they come out with great substance.
Gen 15:15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a
good old age.
Gen 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the
iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Gen 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark,
behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
Gen 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy
seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the
river Euphrates:
The presence of God can either bring joy or a sense of foreboding. There is
comfort but also warnings that come from the Lord. Sometimes we may feel a
burden to pray for someone who needs prayer. We need to be careful not to think
we have to go around and be happy all the time. God was warning Abraham that his
children would be slaves in Egypt. Perhaps Jacob was called to repentance.
A person who had sin in his life would not enjoy the presence of the Lord. He
would feel dread.
I'm only speculating here about this feeling of dread by Jacob, but yet we see
God's promise to Abraham still stands and is standing today.
Gen 28:18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he
had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top
of it.
Gen 28:19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city
was called Luz at the first.
Gen 28:20 And 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 raiment to put on,
Gen 28:21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the
LORD be my God:
Now we see more clearly that Jacob must have felt a little homesick and scared.
He promises a tenth to the Lord and desired to return to his father's house in
peace. He did not enjoy the rift between him and Esau. He must have
really felt bad here. Notice that God visits when he was at his lowest
point.
Gen 28:22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's
house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto
thee.
It is not stated how he was to give this tenth. There was no Levitical
preisthood yet. Perhaps he gave to the poor. There must have been some way to
give this tenth.
It wasn't the spoils of war that Abraham gave to Melchesidek. The church did not
exist so it couldn't have been to any church or synagogue. There were religions
of idolatry and idol temples in that day but I'm sure he wouldn't have given to
them. Notice God did not command these tithes. The law was not yet given to
Moses.
It seems to me though that Jacob was offering to give to God if God would bless
him first. Of course we really can't give until we have something to give.
I sort of think that he was going to give to the poor who did not have anything.
Then too, perhaps this tithe was an offering similar to the one Abel gave when
he gave a sacrifice to God from the best of his flock. Whatever it was, God did
not ask for it.
Perhaps this is the type of offering God desires from us. It was freewill, God
did not require it and it was from the heart, not by the commandments of man.
I know we can't really appreciate God until we are changed by His spirit and get
to know who He is. The Holy Spirit is the one that draws us to repentance and
faith in Jesus. We have the power to accept or reject Jesus. After we receive
Jesus and believe His word fully, we can then learn to serve God because we love
Him and not because we are afraid of a curse if we don't . We can then give to
the work of God or to the poor because we love Him and not because we are afraid
of any curse or because people may think badly of us if we don't give. It
is actually fun to give when we give because we love the work of God.
While it may be true that if we see people starving around us while we ourselves
are full, or we see our pastor lacking sufficient means of support while we fair
well, there is definitely something lacking in us. At the same time to see rich
ministers of God who fleece the flock while those in their congregations are
barely able to survive is also equally wrong. The rich have more of a
responsibility but I do believe that all giving should be done by the heart. We
are blessed of God when we give. True blessing of God though is spiritual, not
material. Material blessings are not a sure sign of God's favor. There are
rich people who do not even believe in God. The real blessings are spiritual and
living close to our savior and doing His will brings the blessings that count
now and for eternity. People think of God's blessings in terms of money
and success in business. When I was growing up in the Church of God,
spiritual blessings was not thought of as material things. The
blessings we were taught to seek were the spiritual. Most of Church of God
families were poor from West Virginia and North Carolina. Seeking riches
was unheard of by those who sought out a deeper walk with God. We miss out
on so much by focusing on the things of this life. Jesus told us to seek
the real riches. The stuff we think is riches are going to pass away
quickly.
Genesis 29