Genesis 28
28
1#A glimpse of Rebekah’s shrewdness is provided by 27:42–28:2. She is aware of Esau’s murderous plot against Jacob (27:42–45) but realizes the episode of the stolen blessing is still painful to Isaac; she therefore uses another motive to persuade Isaac to send Jacob away—he must marry within the family (endogamy), unlike Esau. Esau, unreflective as usual, realizes too late he also should marry within the family but, significantly, marries from Abraham’s rejected line. At this point in the story, Jacob (and his mother) have taken the blessing for themselves. Their actions have put Jacob in a precarious position: he must flee the land because of his brother’s murderous intent and find a wife in a far country. One might ask how God’s blessing can be given to such an unworthy schemer. There is a biblical pattern of preferring the younger brother or sister over the older—Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Rachel over Leah, Joseph over his older brothers, Ephraim over Manasseh (Gn 48:14), David over his older brothers. Isaac therefore summoned Jacob and blessed him, charging him: “You shall not marry a Canaanite woman!#Gn 24:3–4; 26:35. 2Go now to Paddan-aram, to the home of your mother’s father Bethuel, and there choose a wife for yourself from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.#Gn 22:22. 3May God Almighty bless you and make you fertile, multiply you that you may become an assembly of peoples. 4May God extend to you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham, so that you may gain possession of the land where you are residing, which he assigned to Abraham.”#Ex 32:13. 5Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way; he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.#Jdt 8:26.
6Esau noted that Isaac had blessed Jacob when he sent him to Paddan-aram to get himself a wife there, and that, as he gave him his blessing, he charged him, “You shall not marry a Canaanite woman,” 7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8Esau realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac, 9so Esau went to Ishmael, and in addition to the wives he had, married Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.#Gn 36:2–3.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel.#As Jacob is leaving the land on his way to an uncertain future in Paddan-aram, God appears to him at a sacred place that Jacob had visited only to take a night’s rest. Jacob’s unawareness of the holiness of the place underscores the graciousness of the gift. On his return to Canaan, he will again encounter a divine visitor in the form of the mysterious attacker (32:23–33) and, after his return and reconciliation with Esau, he will again go to Bethel (35:1–15). 10Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and proceeded toward Haran. 11When he came upon a certain place,#Place: the Hebrew word is often used specifically of a sacred site. The ambiguous word “place” is used here, for the text emphasizes that Jacob has no idea the place he has come upon is sacred; only when he wakes up does he realize it is sacred. The place was Bethel (v. 19), a sacred site as early as the time of Abraham (12:8). he stopped there for the night, since the sun had already set. Taking one of the stones at the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12Then he had a dream: a stairway#Stairway: in Hebrew, sullam, traditionally but inaccurately translated as “ladder.” The corresponding verb, salal, means “to heap up” something, such as dirt for a highway or a ramp. The imagery in Jacob’s dream may be derived from the Babylonian ziggurat or temple tower, “with its top in the sky” (11:4), and with brick steps leading up to a small temple at the top. rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s angels were going up and down on it.#Jn 1:51. 13And there was the Lord standing beside him and saying: I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants.#Dt 1:8; Mi 7:20. 14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and through them you will spread to the west and the east, to the north and the south. In you and your descendants all the families of the earth will find blessing.#Gn 12:3; 13:14–15; 15:5–6; 18:18; 22:17–18; 26:4; Dt 19:8; Sir 44:21. 15I am with you and will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you.#Gn 31:3.
16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Truly, the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!” 17He was afraid and said: “How awesome this place is! This is nothing else but the house of God, the gateway to heaven!” 18Early the next morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a sacred pillar,#Sacred pillar: in Hebrew, masseba, a stone which might vary in shape and size, set upright and usually intended for some religious purpose. The custom of erecting such sacred pillars in Palestine went back to its pre-Israelite period; but since their polytheistic associations were often retained, later Israelite religion forbade their erection (Lv 26:1; Dt 16:22) and ordered the destruction of those that were associated with other religions (Ex 34:13; Dt 12:3). and poured oil on top of it.#Gn 31:13; 35:14–15. 19He named that place Bethel,#Bethel: i.e., “house of God”; the reference is to the house of God in v. 17. whereas the former name of the town had been Luz.#Gn 35:6; 48:3; Jos 18:13; Jgs 1:23; Hos 12:5.
20Jacob then made this vow:#This vow: knowing well that Esau’s murderous wrath stands between him and the possession of the land promised him, Jacob makes his vow very precise. He vows to make the God who appeared to him his own if the God guides him safely to Paddan-aram and back to this land. “If God will be with me and protect me on this journey I am making and give me food to eat and clothes to wear, 21and I come back safely to my father’s house, the Lord will be my God. 22This stone that I have set up as a sacred pillar will be the house of God. Of everything you give me, I will return a tenth part to you without fail.”
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Genesis 28: NABRE
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Genesis 28
28
Jacob Flees to Laban
1Before Jacob left, Isaac called for him, blessed him, and gave him these instructions: “I forbid you to marry any Canaanite woman. 2Leave at once for the land of your grandfather Bethuel in Paddan-Aram and find one of the young women there to marry, one of your uncle Laban’s daughters. # 28:2 Marriage with a cousin was acceptable in that day and continues to be common among people in the Near East today. 3May the God who is always more than enough # 28:3 Or “El Shaddai.” See second footnote on Gen. 17:1. bless you abundantly. May he make you fruitful and multiply your descendants until you become many tribes! 4May he impart to you and your seed the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you now live as a foreigner—the land God gave to Abraham.”
5Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way # 28:5 Jacob was in his seventies when he fled from his brother Esau, and the journey was about five hundred miles. to Paddan-Aram, the land of his grandfather Bethuel the Aramean, to the home of Laban, Bethuel’s son and the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Esau Takes Another Wife
6Esau had learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him away to Paddan-Aram to find a wife there, and that while blessing him, Isaac had instructed him, “Don’t marry a Canaanite woman.” 7Furthermore, Esau found out that Jacob had obeyed his parents and fled to Paddan-Aram. 8Esau, knowing that his father Isaac disapproved of Canaanite women, 9went to Ishmael’s clan and chose a woman named Mahalath to be one of his wives. She was the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, and sister of Nebaioth. # 28:9 Nebaioth was the firstborn of Ishmael (see Gen. 25:13) and is identified with Nabaiti, the possible ancestor of the later Nabateans.
The Stairway of Eternity
10Jacob left Beersheba and journeyed toward Haran. 11He encountered a certain place # 28:11 In the twilight, Jacob set up camp at Bethel. The Hebrew implies that it is “the Place,” a special place, or holy place. Indeed, it was, for God had also manifested himself there to Abraham (see Gen. 12:7–8). In Jacob’s helpless, lonely condition, a new revelation would be given to him. at sunset and camped there for the night. He took a stone # 28:11 Perhaps this was one of the stones of the altar erected by Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham. Jesus is the anointed Stone on whom we lay our heads. To lay your head (thoughts and dreams) on him is to discover the beauty of God (see Isa. 33:17–22). When the anointing of Jesus fills our heads (minds), we will see heaven opened with fresh revelation and perceive the visions of God. Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone, the Stone that killed Goliath, and the Stone of Daniel that conquers kingdoms (see Dan. 2:34, 45). from there, made it his pillow, and lay down to sleep. 12He had a dream # 28:12 Dreams are a valid form of divine communication in the Bible. God frequently spoke to people through dreams. See Gen. 41:1–7; Judg. 7:13–15; 1 Kings 3:5–14; Dan. 2:28; Matt. 2:12–13; 27:19. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter quoted the promise of Joel that those who received the Spirit would “experience dreams” (Acts 2:17; see Joel 2:28). of a stairway securely fixed on the earth and reaching into heaven. And there were messengers of God ascending and descending on the stairway. # 28:12 The steps of this stairway go up into the heavenly realm where our true riches are found. Each step is a progressive revelation of God’s purpose for our lives found in Jesus Christ. The stairway goes both ways, touching heaven and touching earth. Jesus Christ can be thought of as the Stairway that reaches from earth (his human nature) to heaven (his heavenly nature). Jesus spoke to Nathanael using the same terminology (see John 1:51). Jesus is the only valid entry into the spirit-realm, the true way into the heavenly realm. By him, we ascend and leave our lower life. This Jesus-Stairway was filled with messengers ascending and descending. Who are these messengers? Note the order: they ascended first. It does not say they were descending and ascending, which would be true if they were the angels in heaven. If they ascended first, they were leaving earth to go to heaven. These messengers might have been people or divine beings. If people, they were intercessors and promise-claimers. The Hebrew word translated “angel” is malak, which can also be translated “ambassador,” “deputy,” “messenger,” or “prophet.” The Greek word used in the New Testament for “angel” is angelos or “messenger.” It can refer either to a person or to a heavenly being. Paul wrote to the Galatians that they had welcomed him in their midst as if he were an “angel [messenger]” from God (Gal. 4:14). In Rev. 2–3, John was instructed to write to the seven churches and to the seven angelos of those churches. The angels were the human overseers of those churches. In Gen. 18:2, three angels came to Abraham and are described as “three men” (cf. Gen. 19:1). We are like angel-ambassadors who ascend and descend upon the Jesus-Stairway. See Isa. 35:8–9; 57:14–15; 62:10; Eph. 2:6; Heb. 12:22–24. 13And Yahweh stood beside him # 28:13 Or “above it [the stairway].” and said to him, “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. You are lying on the very ground that I will give to you and your descendants. 14They will become as numerous as the specks of dust on the earth, and they will extend their territory in all directions. Through you and your descendants, I will bless the whole world. # 28:14 See Gen. 12:3; Matt. 8:11; 28:19–20; Acts 15:17–18. 15Never forget—I am always with you and will protect you wherever you go. And one day I will bring you back to this land, for I will neither leave you nor fail to fulfill every word I have promised you.” # 28:15 What did God tell Jacob? Did he scold him for being a crafty deceiver? Did he rebuke him for his lack of faith? Not at all. He revealed himself to Jacob as the One who would never leave or forsake him. This revelation of grace was a steady stream of assurances that washed over wayward Jacob! The Lord gave these promises to Jacob while he still was unbroken, unreliable, and a deceiver. Our God is a confident, capable God who can subdue and conquer the most difficult of men. Our future blessing and usefulness depend on God’s strength, not ours. When God brought Jacob back to Bethel twenty years later, he was changed. God will change you. Your transformation may take more than a year, even more than ten or twenty, but your God will finish the work of changing you into the image of his Son (see Phil. 1:6). You will be his look-alike. You will carry the blessings of God to the next generation!
16When Jacob awoke from his dream, he was overcome with awe and said, “Yahweh is here! He is in this place and I didn’t realize it!” # 28:16 How many times have we been led to an uncomfortable place in life, only to encounter the Lord? Have you said, looking back over your life, “Truly, the Lord really was in all I went through, and I didn’t even know it!” We often discover that he is where we did not think he would be. You may have a divine visitation anywhere! Ordinary places can become holy places. 17Terrified and overwhelmed, he said, “How awesome is this place! I have stumbled right into the House of God! This place is a portal, the very gate of heaven!”
18Early in the morning, Jacob took the stone he had under his head, set it up as a pillar and anointed it by pouring oil over the top of it. # 28:18 Jacob built a pillar from his pillow. The church is described by Paul as the “pillar and firm foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). By pouring oil on the stone, Jacob consecrated the pillar as a memorial to God. See Lev. 8:10–11. 19He named that place Bethel; # 28:19 Bethel means “House of God.” Jacob could see in a heap of stones the House of God that would arise. This is the first mention of God’s house in the Scriptures. The House of God was filled with his presence, a gateway to heaven, a stairway with angels, and revelation. One day, the House of God would be born among us, born of a virgin. Jesus came to be an example of the House of God, the dwelling place of God and men under one roof, living in one body. Jesus is the God-Man, the House of God. As the House, he invites us to dwell as one with the Father. But Jesus was the initial fulfillment of the House of God, not the ultimate fulfillment, which would include others incorporated into Jesus. Today, the House of God, the gate to heaven, is also a description of the church. We are God’s house (see 1 Cor. 3:16), for the Lord dwells among us as his people. And we become a gateway for others to come to God through our message of new life in Christ. though the city was once called Luz. # 28:19 Luz means “separation” or “departure.” God calls us to separate ourselves to himself, and when we do, we become the House of God.
20Then Jacob committed himself to God, saying, “If you will always be with me and protect me on this long journey, and if you give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21and if I return safely to my father’s house, then Yahweh, you will be my God! 22See! I have set up this sacred stone pillar and it will be your house, God. I promise to set aside a tenth of all that you give me as my gift to you.”
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