SSL 2 - Gen. 28:10-22
Last Week: In Gen. 27:18-29 we heard a story of deception that included every member of a dysfunctional family who not only didn't trust each other but who all showed a complete lack of faith in God. As the story unfolded, it illustrated several fundamental Biblical truths: (1) Human effort can never defeat God's plans and purposes; (2) Godly purposes do not justify the use of evil means to achieve them; and (3) People who refuse to wait on God and take matters into their own hands-do it "my way"-are very likely to suffer unwanted consequences. As we learned from that lesson, because all of them tried to take matters into their own hands, none of them ended-up getting what they wanted. In today's lesson, we will continue the story of Jacob as he is forced to leave his family behind and flee from the consequences of his deception.
Context: In order to better understand today's lesson in Gen. 28:10-22, known as "Jacob's Dream," we need to develop some background. In Gen. 27:30-46 (skipped), we see Esau arrive home from his hunting trip and discover, to the utter shock of both him and his father, Issac, that he's been cheated of his blessing, after which he swears that he's going to kill Jacob. When Rebekah hears of this, she grabs Jacob and tells him to go seek safety in Haran, with her brother Laban. In Gen. 28:1-9 (also skipped), we see Isaac likewise command Jacob to flee to Haran, give him a second blessing that confirms God's blessing to Abraham, and tells him he must not take a wife from the "daughters of Canaan." When Esau learns that Jacob has been sent away and given another blessing, he's so angry that he leaves home to go join the family of Ishmael, and to spite his father, takes another pagan wife. I think we can safely say that this family has disintegrated at this point. Yes? This is what can happen when you refuse to wait on God and take matters into your own hands.
Read Gen. 28:10-11 - JACOB CAME TO A CERTAIN PLACE AND DREAMED
10 Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place. 12 He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
v. 10: "Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran" - Beersheba, which literally translates to well of seven, is located in the southern extremity of what will become the Promised Land. It's a Biblically historic place where Abraham and Abimelech swore an oath to each other (Gen. 21:25-31) and where God later encountered Isaac and renewed the promises made to Abraham (Gen. 26:23-25). Haran, located about 400 miles northeast of Beersheba in Mespotamia, is the place where Terah, Abraham's father, took him and his family to live (Gen. 11:31) and later, where Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac, who, in turn, found Rebekah at the well (Gen. 24:1-21).
v. 11: "He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place" - The use of the term "certain , the, or that place" occurs three times is this verse, and the use of a definite article indicates that this will be a special place, although at the time, It's just a random stop where Jacob happens to be at sunset and decides to make his camp. People In those days were accustomed to sleeping on the hard ground, and using something like a hard stone for a pillow was normal.
v. 12: "He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it" - This is the famous "Jacob's Ladder," though it's sometime translated as a stairway. In either case, it pictures a connection between heaven and earth, and more importantly, for purposes here, signifies access to God.
Scholars have noted the parallel of this ladder/stairway to the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1-9); namely, that the Tower of Babel represented human initiative and pride, whereas the ladder/stairway is entirely God's initiative. The phrase, "angels of God ascending and descending" is interesting. Usually, as we see throughout Scripture, when angels appear to humans, it's to deliver a message or to see that God's commands are accomplished. But here, they do nothing but ascend and descend the ladder. One interpretation is that they are conveying the message that heaven and earth are connected, and that the connection permits movement between these realms, and God is simply allowing Jacob to receive a glimpse of it. In any event, I think it got his attention, don't you?
TRUTH 1: With Jacob's ladder/stairway God communicated a message that heaven and earth are connected. The connection tells us that there is movement between these realms, and here, God is simply allowing Jacob to get a glimpse of it. In any event, I think it got his attention, don't you?
Read Gen. 28:13-15 - BEHOLD I AM WITH YOU
13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. 14 Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth 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 promised you."
v. 13: "And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants" - Scholars have debated about where God is actually standing, but it isn't material. This is the first appearance in Genesis of the phrase, "the God of Abraham," but will hereafter be repeated many time in both the OT and NT, and the phrase will add Jacob when God speaks to Moses in Ex. 3:6. The promises about "the land on which you lie" and "you and your descendants" repeat the earlier promises made to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3) and to Isaac (Gen. 26:3-4). So we see here that God has chosen Jacob to be the conduit through whom the lineage will be transmitted and the blessing bestowed. This is the highest honor, and it seems remarkable that God would give such honor to a shifty person like Jacob, but God calls whomever He chooses to call, doesn't he?
v. 14: "Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed" - If you connect this with v. 13, God gives Jacob four different promises. Let's look at each one: (1) He will give Jacob and his offspring the Promised Land (as outlined to Abraham in Gen. 15:18-21); (2) Jacob's offspring will grow to be huge in number "like the dust on the earth" [note: God makes this promise while Jacob is still a bachelor!]; (3) Jacob's offspring "spread out to west, east," etc., which means they will disperse in all directions to populate the entire world; and (4) God will bless all the families of the earth through Jacob's offspring. As Christians, we know that Jesus, his descendant, did this when He came to save the world from sin.
v. 15a: "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land" - The promise "I am with you" repeats a promise God made earlier to Isaac and will later make to Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Jeroboam, Haggai and Jeremiah. It is also a promise that Jesus will make to his disciples (Mt. 28:20, Acts 1:8-10). Next, even though Jacob is in the process of leaving his homeland to go to Haran, God assures him that the promises given here are good wherever Jacob's travels may take him.
v. 15b: "for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you" - This one is very open-ended. Since the promises will not be wholly fulfilled until many generations after Jacob's death, it means that God will be with Jacob until the end of his life. As we read-on into future chapters about Jacob and his family, this will become clearer.
TRUTH 2: God chose Jacob to be the conduit through whom the bloodline of Abraham would would be transmitted to futures generations and gave him four different blessings: (1) He will give Jacob and his offspring the Promised Land (as outlined to Abraham in Gen. 15:18-21); (2) Jacob's offspring will grow to be huge in number "like the dust on the earth" [note: God makes this promise while Jacob is still a bachelor!]; (3) Jacob's offspring "spread out to west, east," etc., which means they will disperse in all directions to populate the entire world; and (4) God will bless all the families of the earth through Jacob's offspring. As Christians, we know that Jesus, his descendant, did this when He came to save the world from sin.
Read Gen. 28:16-17 - SURELY THE LORD IS IN THIS PLACE
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." 17 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."
v.16: "Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it" - As noted in v. 11, Jacob didn't choose this place for any special reason and had no idea that is was a holy place. In fact, it didn't become a holy place until God made His appearance-the presence of God can make any place holy.
v. 17: "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" - Fear is the most common response to the presence of God all through Scripture. Do you remember that Peter, James, and John "fell on their faces and were terrified" when God spoke from the cloud during the Transfiguration in Mt. 17:1-13? The expression "awesome" in this context means fear with reverence and extreme deference. Jacob declares this is the "house of God (Elohim = a plural form for creator, sustainer, and supreme judge) since he had encountered God at this place and calls it "the gate of heaven" because of his dream of a ladder connecting heaven and earth.
TRUTH 3: The presence of God serves to make any place holy. Jacob's campsite became a holy place because God appeared to him there. But it can happen in our church, in our homes, in our cars, or anyplace else, so that anyplace wee seek God can be sacred. This is a great truth of the omnipresent God we serve and is the complete opposite of world religions that confine their supposed deities to temples and shrines.
Read Gen. 28:18-19 - JACOB CALLED THAT PLACE BETHEL
18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.19 He called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz.
v.18: "So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top" - Jacob set up the stone as a memorial to his encounter with God at this place and poured oil, a valuable substance, on to dedicate and consecrate it to God. In later OT books anointing of sacred objects as well as priests and king will become a common practice.
v. 19: "He called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz" - Jacob names the place "Bethel," which literally translates house of God. Later the site becomes a town about 15 miles north of Jerusalem. Luz, the former name, is replaced to signify the change in the religious status of the place.
Read Gen. 28:20-22 - JACOB'S VOW
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, 21 and I return to my father's house in safety, then the LORD will be my God. 22 This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God's house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You."
vv. 20-22: Notice in these three verses that, far from repenting and humbling himself, Jacob is trying to bargain with God, i.e., "If God will be with me...etc...etc....then the LORD will be my God. And he even went so far as to promise money (10% back of whatever God gave to him) as part of the bargain. Jacob spoke as if he could set the terms of the covenant with God. In his crafty way of thinking, he offered God a deal instead of humbly accepting what God promised in vv. 13-15. Yes, Jacob made a vow, but there was a huge contrast between God's promise and Jacob's vow: one that was totally God-centered versus one from Jacob, which was completely man-centered. Here, we can clearly see that Jacob had yet to fully submit himself to God, but in his next phase of his life, God would teach him submission through adversity. Yes, as we will find out, Jacob still has a lot to learn.
TRUTH 4: Unlike God's promise to him, Jacob's vow to God was completely man-centered. From vv. 20-23, we couldn't help but notice that Jacob has not repented and fully submitted himself to God. We saw no confession, no humility in his attitude, but Instead, saw how he tried to bargain with God, saying in effect, that if You will give me everything I ask for, then You will be my LORD and my God. Jacob is what we might term an "immature" believer at this juncture of his life. Even though Jacob's response was immature, God took it, and as we will see, will begin to shape Jacob into the kind of man he needed to be.
