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.
2 Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughers of Laban thy mother's brother.
3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
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.
5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, 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 daughers of Canaan;
7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;
8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;
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.
10 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
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.
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.
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;
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.
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.
16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
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.
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.
19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
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,
21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God:
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.
1. Isaac blesses Jacob a second time.
2. Esau takes another wife (from the daughters of Ishmael).
3. Jacob travels to Haran and on the way he has a dream in which God blesses him.
4. Jacob makes a vow to the Lord.
Verses 1–9. This chapter presents a different Isaac altogether. It is as if he awakened from a stupor with a great deal more enthusiasm for God’s covenantal purposes. He was now fully on board, and ready to embrace his wife’s better judgement and God’s plan for his family. Now affirming the covenant promises God gave to his father, Abraham, he fully accepted and approved Jacob as God’s appointed heir to the covenant. Hebrews 11:20 plainly testifies to this—“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.” Although the demonstration of that faith may have been imperfect in the beginning, Isaac’s willingness to fully accept God’s will was evident in the end. Faithless men might have steadfastly opposed God’s will in stubborn pride, but this was not the case with Isaac. His humility and repentance were manifest.
Esau, however, did not take this view of the covenant. On the surface, it might appear as if his desire for the blessing signaled a return to covenantal faithfulness and a relationship with the God of his fathers. In truth, this was far from the case. Further on in God’s Word, we find the Book of Hebrews comparing him to fornicators and profane persons. “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears” (Heb. 2:15-17).
Esau’s repentance was not genuine. In most Western countries today, including the United States, apostasy from the covenant is practically the norm among Christian families. Children quickly lose interest in the church and don’t prioritize the kingdom of God. Following suit with the first apostate, Esau, they synthesize with the world by taking on its ideas and by marrying unbelievers who have no interest in raising mighty warriors for the kingdom of Christ. When it comes down to making the choice, they prefer a bowl of porridge over God’s eternal blessings and precious promises.
Esau did take a third wife from a descendant of Abraham, but this comes across as a half-hearted attempt to regain his father’s blessing. Besides perpetuating the problem of polygamy, he married into Ishmael’s line that had already demonstrated similar separation from the covenant. Esau must have been incapable of discerning the priorities of the covenant.
Verses 10–15. As Jacob left his home for Haran, it is important for us to recall that this man was the root from which all Israel would come. He was the source of the church of God on earth. Alone and exiled from home, he represented the seed of God’s people. In a world populated with millions of people, this solitary figure was the one man on earth with whom Yahweh God chose to perpetuate a covenant relationship. Jacob sleeping alone under the stars on a rock in a strange country is a picture of a vulnerable church protected by the hand of a sovereign God.
It is at this dramatic stage in the development of the church that God revealed Himself to Jacob in a marvelous way. Jacob dreamt of angels ascending and descending to the earth on a ladder, a representation of God’s careful provision for His people. As we see throughout Scripture, angels serve as ministering spirits attending to the needs of the people of God. The ladder merely represented a connection between God and His people, transcending the distance put there by the sin of man. Today, we recognize that great mediation to be the Son of God Himself, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Creator of heaven and earth revealed His great promises directly to this lone man, lying in the dark wilderness somewhere on the east side of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a repetition of the Abrahamic promise already reiterated a number of times to both Abraham and Isaac. But there was something added here, which became a central element of the covenant promises given through Moses and our Lord Jesus Christ (Deut. 31:6–8; Matt. 28:19–20; Heb. 13:5). “Behold, I am with you, and I will keep you in all places whither you go.” This was closely related to the early form of the Abrahamic promise, “I will be your God, and you will be My people.” This promise to Jacob added the comfort of knowing that God would be in covenant with him wherever he went. This world is a dangerous place, and believers are almost always severely outnumbered. They rob the strong man’s house when they preach the Gospel of Christ and extend the borders of His kingdom. Though the man of God be alone, outnumbered, or overwhelmed by the foe, he can count on one thing—God is with him. And that is enough! On the cusp of taking the promised land, Joshua received this same promise, as did the apostles of Christ as they prepared to take the entire globe for their Lord. When embarking on a project of eternal value and cosmic proportions, it is essential that we know and believe that our Savior is always with us.
Verses 16–22. When Jacob woke up, he was simultaneously overwhelmed with great joy and great fear. A genuine relationship with Almighty God must truly involve a complex web of emotions—fear, love, peace, and joy. Certainly, any who have caught a vision of Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, who connects with man by way of a heavenly ladder, or more strikingly, by the visitation and sacrifice of His only begotten Son, would respond in both holy awe and humble joy. Such a person would be afraid to take God’s name in vain or to disobey His righteous orders.
It isn’t every day that a man has such a close and meaningful encounter with the Lord of the heavens. It is appropriate to identify such times and places with a memorial. This is not for the purpose of turning the memorial into an idol, but it is so that God’s people might remember the interest that He has taken in them and the special connection He made with them. Jacob memorialized the place with a stone and called it “Bethel,” meaning “House of God.”
Finally, Jacob made a vow in this place, hinging his faith on God’s provision for him. If God could bring him back to the land of his fathers, then he would, in faith, accept God as his own. He further committed to giving one tenth of his income to the Lord in what is known as “the tithe.” Jacob was equipped to live the Christian life of faith and obedience.
1. Let us not follow the path of Esau, who did not walk in thorough-going repentance. When a man repents only in order to receive an earthly blessing, he is failing to meet the real problem head-on. He betrays his basic heart commitments. There is no sin in delighting in earthly blessings, but when we are willing to trade heavenly blessings for earthly (if presented the opportunity), it is plain that our hearts do not yearn after God. In such a case, we do not believe God’s promises, and we cannot believe that God has greater blessings awaiting us at the consummation of His heavenly kingdom. May God help us to seek a heavenly country, while we traverse this earthly pilgrimage.
2. God is with us. What an encouragement this is to those who are traveling difficult roads, fighting dangerous wars, and striving to acquire new territories for the kingdom of Christ. Those who are unfamiliar with the Christian life will find no comfort in these words. But for those of us in the heat of the battle, these words constitute a lifeline in our darkest hours. We must be strong and of good courage if we are to make any progress in this war. But even more importantly, we must never forget Jesus’ promise, “I am with you, even until the end of the age.”
1. What are the themes of Chapters 1 through 28?
2. How did Isaac’s second blessing for Jacob differ from the first?
3. How did Esau’s repentance come across as insincere?
4. Where else does God’s promise, “I will be with you,” appear in the Bible?
5. What does the word “Bethel” mean?
6. How much did Jacob commit to give to the Lord as a tithe?
1. What is thorough-going repentance? What does it look like? What would it have looked like in Esau?
2. How has God blessed our family? How have we realized that blessing? How might we memorialize these things?
3. We have received the same covenant promises that Jacob received, but ours come through Christ. What is our response to these promises? Will we commit to loving the Lord, worshiping only Him, and tithing ten percent of our increase? How much do we give the Lord in our tithe