Genesis 28:1-5
Things seemed to change fast. Suddenly we see Isaac giving a blessing to Jacob and sending him to the house of Bethuel to take a wife. It's seems that Isaac now understands that Jacob is the chosen one to receive the promise of God. Jacob is the line to bring the coming messiah. Remember, Esau took wives from the Canaanite women (Gen 27). It was important that Jacob not do the same, so he was sent to Rebekah's brother, Laban's house, to find a wife.
The necessity of this pious house becomes the source of new blessings: 1. The feeble Isaac becomes a hero; 2. the plain and quiet Jacob becomes a courageous pilgrim and soldier; 3. the strong-minded Rebekah becomes a person that sacrifices her most dearly loved.—How late the full self-development of both Jacob's and Esau's character appears. (Lange)
This is a patriarchal blessing, the blessing of the father on the son. This blessing is indicative of Isaac's understanding that Jacob would be the one to carry on the promise. Jacob had already received the blessing from his father that was his inheritance. God promised the descendants of Abraham the land, a nation and a blessing. That promise was now Jacob's.
This is the last time Isaac or Rebekah see their son Jacob.
Genesis 28:6-9
Esau realized how displeased his parents were at marrying Canaanite women. He also saw that Jacob, his rival, was gone. He was trying to find a way to rise to the good graces of his parents. He thought by marrying a non-Canaanite woman he might reverse his situation. This woman was family, she was Ishmael's daughter. Interestingly enough, her name means 'sickness'. Remember Isaac was the son of promise and Ishmael was of the flesh. Esau taking the daughter of the son of flesh was also an act of the flesh and not of faith. Esau was still shortsighted and just didn't get it. This chasing after the flesh instead of walking in faith is Esau's sinful nature, his sickness. We are no different.
Genesis 28:10-15
Jacob had been somewhere between 40 and 57 years old when life had just taken a drastic change. Imagine all that Jacob was feeling as he left on his journey to Haran. He had left his family, probably for the first time, in less than the best circumstances. His brother wanted to kill him. His father was angry. Although he didn't know it, he would never see his mother again.
He had received the blessing and promise that God had given his father and grandfather. It wasn't by his wit, wisdom or deceit that he came by this blessing, it was by the promise of God. The sin was due to the lack of faith that God could bring the promise about. The damage to the family came from the sin. The blessing and promises could have meant so much more had they been received in faith. As Jacob embarked on his journey, he had to wonder what was next in life. Where would his future take him? Would Esau catch up to him? Would he ever be able to come back to this land? There was probably some feeling of loneliness, but also there had to be some expectancy, especially as he was headed to a strange place to take a wife from his mother's family. What a strange mix of emotions; the shame of the day after sin and the hope of a wife and family.
The path Jacob traveled was the same that his Abraham's servant had taken to bring his mother to his father. It is the same path Abraham had used to come to the Promised Land. After what was probably the 2nd day of travel, he found a place to stop for the night. Jacob took a stone; the text doesn't really say he put the stone under his head, however that's what the interpreters assumed. Jacob may have chosen the stone some other purpose. Many in the culture at that time viewed some stones as magical or powerful. It's quite possible he ascribed some religious significance toward it since there is no indication that he is a committed follower in Yahweh alone.
Jacob laid down, slept and dreamed of:
- A stairway between heaven & earth.
- NIV says Stairway; NKJV says ladder; We've heard the term 'Jacob's ladder' so often we just envision that.
- There is more belief this should be seen as stairs.
- Only use of this word.
- The language is reminiscent of the ziggurat reaching the heavens.
- Angels ascending and descending
- Divine beings, messengers of God about their work.
- Normal & regular visits to earth to work God's will.
- The Lord stood above it
- The sovereign oversight of the Lord up on the affairs of man.
- This is the display of the providence of God over the affairs of man.
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Jesus referred to this same scene in John 1:51 when Nathanael was amazed at His perception. Jesus said that's nothing. Read John 1:43-51
Phillip had an encounter with Jesus, not a chance encounter, Jesus found Philip, initiating a divine appointment. Philip's first work upon learning of Jesus was to tell his friends. Philip is saying, "Nathanael, we found Him. We found the One that Moses and the prophets wrote about. His name is Jesus, He's from Nazareth." This almost presupposes some previous conversation between Nathanael and Phillip regarding the messiah.
To us this may sound snarky. Can anything good come out of a place like this? It was an honest concern from a man who knew His scriptures. The truth was that Nazareth was never mentioned as a prophetic place at all. It was a place of no reputation or no significance. It was seen as a backwater place, the other side of the tracks and not on the map as the top places to visit if you went to Galilee. At Nathanael's question, Phillip doesn't hesitate to invite him to check Jesus out for himself. That's just what Nathanael intended. Could this really be the One? Was this Jesus the Messiah?
Jesus saw Nathanael approach and called him a 'true Israelite' with no deceit found in him. The true Israelite was not just a Jew but the son of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jesus said he came to know Nathanael while he was still under the fig tree. The phrase "under the fig tree" was used in rabbinical literature to describe meditation on the law. The Talmud makes reference to Rabbis who pursued the study of the law in the shade of the fig tree. It seems Jesus came to know Nathanael as Nathanael had drawn near to Him in the word. Did Jesus see him specifically studying the law under the fig tree? Do you suppose Nathanael was reading about Jacob's stairway? If so, then when Jesus said he was a true Israelite in which no deceit was found, he was saying, 'Nathanael, I saw you as you studied the law. Your different than Jacob, there is no deceit in you.'
Nathanael was impressed that Jesus told him this. He knew God and having met Jesus, knew he was the Messiah King. He turned from scoffer to believer rather quickly. He decided something good did come out of Nazareth. This certainly isn't the typical Jewish response to Christ.
Jesus assured Nathanael that if he was impressed with that he would really be impressed later because, "you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." Nathanael is told he will see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." When Jesus spoke of the angels ascending and descending, he didn't speak of a ladder like Jacob saw and Nathanael read about. He put Himself in the place of the ladder. Jesus was, and still is, the ladder that connects man to God.
This dreamscape of Jacob's is a picture of the incarnation of Jesus.
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Jacob knew nothing of Jesus. He was the one in who deceit was found. Yet, God met him in his dreams anyway. In this we can see the sovereign, merciful hand of God directing the affairs of man and working His will in spite of man's sin and rebellious ways.
Mankind dabbled in many gods, always has and always will. All the false gods require a person to do this or that. There has always been only one way to the presence of God, to fellowship and peace with Him. Man cannot build this staircase, he's tried many way (think tower of babel). Mankind has created many gods in our image, personal gods that look just like us. But they are false, empty and always fail. They are powerless as they ignore sin, justice and righteousness.
There is but one way. It is by faith. Abraham knew this, saved by faith, believing God for his promises even when they made no sense. This was a faith that moved Abraham, defined his life. This exclusive link from heaven to earth is none other than Jesus, the way (John 14:6). Although Jacob didn't know the name Jesus at that time, he likely had head knowledge of the promise of One that would come. With this vision of Sovereign God in the heavens and the connection and interaction between God and the earth, he would come to know as his father and grandfather did, that it came by faith and not by deceit or any of man's workings.
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, (1 Tim 2:5-6a)
"The God of Bethel is a God who does concern himself with the things of earth, not a God who shuts himself up in heaven, but God who hath a ladder fixed between heaven and earth." (Spurgeon)
The sovereign God, above all things, reigning and ruling in the lives of men, delivered the Abrahamic Covenant to Jacob. This is the Lord calling His people, the beginning of a nation. He setting the line in place by which Jesus would be born. It's not a new plan but the continuing plan of the ages being worked out. Jacob, the deceiver, running from a murderous brother received promises he clearly didn't deserve. This is God's grace displayed.
He introduced Himself to Jacob as the God of His grandfather and father, Abraham and Isaac. Jacob had not yet taken Him as his God. The covenant affirmed that the land would be given to him and descendants; they would become a great nation; all the families of the earth would be blessed through them. Then God comforted Jacob as he continued on his journey. He was leaving that land, but God said He would bring him back. The sovereign God stood at the top of the ladder and saw His angels doing His bidding. His will would be done. It was promised and His promises were true.
God would watch over Jacob and be with him. He was going on a journey that would end up lasting 20 years, in which he would learn lessons, mature in his faith and suffer from the deception directed at him. He would then return to this place. He would then come back in the land and be ready for God to use him to build a nation. Jacob would learn to understand and appreciate God's grace. It was by God's grace this sinful man could get a glimpse of God. It was by grace he received promises. It was by the grace of a grace-filled Almighty God that His care and protection would come upon Jacob's life. God didn't promise this journey would be easy and care free. Through the travel, the trouble and time, God would transform this man into the patriarch of a nation.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
John Newton, 1779
It was grace that had brought Jacob safe thus far, and grace would lead him home.
Genesis 28:16-22
When Jacob woke up, impressed by his dream, he became convinced he stumbled upon a place where God lived. You can see the limits of his belief, as if God had geographical boundaries, even after the promise to be with him on his journey and promises across time and all the earth. What he didn't understand is that God wasn't just amazing and awesome in 'this' place but He is so amazing and awesome because He is that way in every place. Jacob was overwhelmed in his surroundings, though seemingly normal, just a place to stop for the night. He was reverent, fearful and respectful to God though not fully understanding Him or committing to Him.
With sleep still in his eyes, Jacob declared the place where he spent the night the 'house of God'. This is the founding of Bethel, meaning 'house of God'. It was a renaming of the city of Luz which meant 'separation'. We can know that without the connection between heaven and earth, without Christ, there is separation from God. He is the only connection. It is Christ that transforms you from a Luz to a Bethel, from separated to a house of God.
Jacob was so close to a divine truth we know. He declared the 'gate of heaven'; the entry place to the abode of God and place of divine administration. But the entry wasn't Bethel, it was the figurative stairway, the ladder and the rock where he found rest. This is what Jesus taught Nathanael, that He was this connection, this way. It was "on the Son of Man" that the messengers of God were seen ascending and descending. This wasn't a ladder to be climbed from one place to another. It was pointing toward the single connection between the earth and heaven.
Jacob took this stone and made an altar. This word 'pillar' was often connected to idol worship. It is rare and specific when used for an altar to God. It was also used for treaties, an altar set by two in agreement as a reminder it was done in the eyes of God. He took the rock and set in place this altar, anointed it with oil. This anointing seems to point toward a setting apart, a holiness that can only come from Yahweh.
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Jacob made a vow. God had already made a covenant with Jacob. It seems as though he should have just kept his vow to himself and spent more time praising and worshiping God. The promises he received were incredible and vision was a gift from above. Why didn't he just thank God and submit to Him. Would it have been appropriate to say, "Your will be done, God."
Instead Jacob sets up his conditions of faith as if bargaining with God. If God does his part:
- God was to be with him and keep him
- Gives him bread and clothing
- Allow him to return safely (as in, don't let Esau catch up with him)
Then,
- The Lord would (or could) be his God.
- Jacob would declare the stone God's house
- And give him a tenth.
Did he think he was offering God a sweet deal? Did He think God needed him to fulfill the promises? I'm thinking God probably wasn't overly excited with his offer.
Note: Jacob says 'me' three times and 'I' two times. He seems to be looking the wrong direction. He was thinking about what God can do for him.
God knew there was much to do and would work the 'wheeling and dealing' attitude out of Jacob in the coming days. God owns all blessings as well as us. He is creator. If He needs blessings, He can make more. We have nothing to offer but our love. We bring nothing to this dance with God, but a response of obedience to the call of a Sovereign, Holy, Just, Righteous, Grace-filled, Merciful, Loving and Kind God.
Jacob, the conniving man caught up with the lusts of the world; who was outcast and alone due to his own sin; Jacob who merited nothing from God, was met by God. We all are Jacobs. It was grace that brought Jacob safe so far, and grace would lead him home. A.W. Pink said, "Right down to where the fugitive lay, the ladder came, and right up to God Himself the 'ladder' reached!" This is the way God reaches down to you at this moment. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, direct commerce between heaven and earth for His own. No matter where you journey, the ladder is there, the rock is present and the Sovereign God who oversees the world is watching, leading, guarding and guiding. You can never go beyond His keeping.
If you acknowledge your own likeness to that same nature found in Jacob, then maybe we can make a move to be more like Nathanael. Maybe its time for you to spend the afternoon with Jesus, to seek Him, enjoy Him. To be healed, find rest, guidance and comfort.
Jesus knows you just like he knew Nathanael. As Nathanael found Jesus, the Lord called to him asking, "What do you seek?" What do you seek today?
©2019 Doug Ford
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