Jacob at Bethel
Genesis 28:1-221
July 16, 2006


Today’s message is from Genesis chapter 28, the entire chapter. We’ll read the whole passage today before I give the message. Remember, as always, that we are reading the word of God. It’s God speaking to you—and he’s telling you about himself—what you need to know about him in order to live and not die! (I try to say this a little differently each week so that it doesn’t just sound like the introduction formula and you tune it out, so listen!) Also, as always, I exhort you to read your Bibles every day. May the word of God be written on your hearts (and my heart too) by God’s Holy Spirit.

[Prayer]

Today’s passage is about Jacob’s departure from Canaan to go to Haran to find a wife from among the relatives of his grandfather Abraham and his mother Rebekah—from among his own relatives. Let me review what happened up to this point.

In chapter 27 (last week), Jacob’s mother Rebekah arranged for Jacob to ‘steal’ the blessing that Jacob’s father Isaac had intended to give to his brother Esau. Rebekah had overheard Isaac telling Esau to hunt some game for him and to prepare a delicious food for him so that he could eat it and bless him. Isaac’s eyesight was failing, so Rebekah dressed Jacob up so that he would appear to be Esau and sent him to Isaac with some delicious food. She told him—ordered him, in fact—to go to Isaac and tell him that he was Esau and receive the blessing that Isaac had intended to give to Esau for himself. That’s just what Jacob did. And when Jacob brought the delicious food to Isaac, Isaac knew he was being deceived, but his stomach won out over his mind and he ate the food and blessed Jacob instead of Esau. Jacob received the blessing and not Esau.

God had actually intended the blessing to go to Jacob, not to Esau. It was through Jacob that all the promises he had made to grandfather Abraham would be fulfilled. Rebekah knew that and yet thought she had to use deceit to obtain the blessing for Jacob. She sent Jacob to steal what was already his!

You know, this whole family, God’s chosen family through which he was going to provide salvation for all mankind, this family through which he was going to send his one and only Son Jesus into the world to receive the punishment that we deserved, didn’t look too good at this point. Rebekah sent Jacob to steal the blessing; Isaac obeyed his stomach rather than his mind; and at the end of the chapter, Esau was planning on killing his brother Jacob.

And when Rebekah found out that Esau was planning on killing Jacob, she determined that Jacob would have to be sent away until Esau cooled off. But even when she went to tell Isaac to send Jacob away, she still was not on the up and up. She hid from Isaac the fact that Esau was planning on killing Jacob. She wanted Jacob to flee to her brother Laban, but instead told Isaac something different—that she was sick of the local Hittite women (Esau had married two Hittite women) and her life would be worthless if Jacob married a Hittite woman too. So we’ll see what happened after that in today’s passage. (But I’ve already said that today’s passage is about Jacob’s departure to go to Haran to find a wife from among his own relatives.)

Now let’s read today’s passage—Genesis 28:1-22:

Jacob’s Departure
1Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him: “Don’t take a wife from the Canaanite women. 2Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples. 4May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham.” 5So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman. 7And Jacob listened to his father and mother and went to Paddan-aram. 8Esau realized that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women, 9so Esau went to Ishmael and married, in addition to his other wives, Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. She was the sister of Nebaioth.

Jacob at Bethel
10Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. 12And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it. 13The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on. 14Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”
18Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it 19and named the place Bethel, though previously the city was named Luz. 20Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, if He provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear, 21and if I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God. 22This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to You a tenth of all that You give me.” (Genesis 28:1-22)

Well, let’s go back to the beginning of the passage. You remember Rebekah wanted Jacob to flee to her brother Laban until Esau had cooled off, so she had told Isaac that life would not be worth living if Jacob married one of the local Hittite women. Let’s look at verses 1 and 2:

1Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him: “Don’t take a wife from the Canaanite women. 2Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. (Genesis 28:1,2)

What Rebekah wanted happened! Isaac sent Jacob to uncle Laban to get a wife. (And I might point out that that’s what God wanted, too. The reason Rebekah was Isaac’s wife, you remember, was that Abraham had sent his servant to the same relatives to bring back Rebekah to marry Isaac. God did not want Isaac to marry a Canaanite woman, and neither did he want Jacob to marry a Canaanite woman.)

Now let’s look at verses 3 through 5. Here’s what they say:

3May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples. 4May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham.” 5So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. (Genesis 28:3-5)

Isaac is sending his son Jacob off with the blessing that the Lord had given to Abraham and then to Isaac himself, that his offspring would be multiplied and that he would possess the land where he was now living as an alien. (And, again, I can point out that the blessing would only mean anything if Jacob happened to be still alive in the distant future. Eternal life was implicit in this blessing. Abraham was “looking forward to the city with foundations whose builder and architect was God”, according to Hebrews 11:10, and Jacob would be too.)

Now I want you to notice something. Isaac had intended to give the blessing to Esau, but was deceived into giving it to Jacob. That was not his intention, but that’s what happened. But now he has fully recognized that it was Jacob through whom God’s promise would be fulfilled. That’s clear from the way he blessed Jacob when he sent him off. (And I think he really knew that right along.)

I didn’t mention this last week, but one of the commentaries, Matthew Henry’s, in fact, pointed out that Rebekah, if she would have just trusted God, could have humbly gone to Jacob and reminded him of the situation and of the Lord’s prophecy, the older would serve the younger, and Isaac would have almost certainly agreed and given the blessing to Jacob without any need for deceit. I’ll repeat what I said last week. Sin comes from not trusting God. When you don’t trust God, you think you have to take matters into your own hands to make things go the way you think they should go. You try to “save your own life”, to use Jesus’s words. Do you trust the Lord to bless you and make you great? Or do you think you have to do it yourself? Jesus says that anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for Jesus and for the gospel will keep it for eternal life! Seek God’s will in everything you do and pray about everything. Don’t try to save your own life and wind up losing it. Life is the same as soul here, by the way. If you try to save your life, you will certainly lose your soul. Jesus says so!

Now let’s look at verses 6 through 9. I’ll read them:

6Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman. 7And Jacob listened to his father and mother and went to Paddan-aram. 8Esau realized that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women, 9so Esau went to Ishmael and married, in addition to his other wives, Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. She was the sister of Nebaioth. (Genesis 28:6-9)

This shows Esau’s lack of spiritual understanding of the situation. First of all, he already had one wife too many. He had married Judith and Basemath, both Canaanite women. (Genesis 26:35) And beyond that, although he now realized that Isaac didn’t approve of the Canaanite women, he didn’t even have a clue as to why. He wanted to have Isaac’s approval (as opposed to God’s approval), so he married Mahalath who was a granddaughter of Abraham, but the daughter and granddaughter of Egyptian women, and now he had three wives instead of two.

Now let’s look at verses 10 through 15. I’ll read them:

10Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. 12And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it. 13The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on. 14Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28:10-15)

Jacob had traveled over 40 miles in a single day. He had good incentive. His brother was planning on killing him. In any case, he must have been exhausted. (Most of us are not in remotely near being in good enough shape to travel that far on foot in a single day.)  Jacob lay down on the ground and slept. His pillow was a stone. And he had a dream. His dream was a vision from God.

In the vision there was a stairway from the ground up to heaven. The angels were going up and down on it and the Lord was there. The stairway was Jacob’s ladder. Have you ever heard of Jacob’s ladder? I think there’s a song: We are climbing Jacob’s ladder.

We are climbing Jacob's ladder,
We are climbing Jacob's ladder,
We are climbing Jacob's ladder,
Soldiers of the cross.

Ev'ry rung goes higher, higher,
Ev'ry rung goes higher, higher,
Ev'ry rung goes higher, higher,
Soldiers of the cross.

This is it. It’s Jacob’s ladder. Do you know what Jacob’s ladder represents? The hymn Nearer My God to Thee (which we’ll certainly sing when I’m finished) calls it a stairway to heaven. It certainly shows that there’s an open way between heaven and earth, between God and men, and that there are angels going between heaven and earth. Do you believe there are angels here right now? The word of God says, “Aren’t all angels ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are going to inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14) God sends his angels to each of us who believe in Jesus to protect us and to keep us. But I’m going to say more about Jacob’s ladder in a few minutes. First let’s look at what the Lord told Jacob.

The Lord told Jacob, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” There were lots of false pagan gods that the people in that land worshiped in ignorance. But the Lord was the God who was real, the creator of the heavens and the earth, who revealed himself to Abraham and Isaac. I’m sure Jacob had heard the stories. I don’t know how much of an impact those stories might have made on him, but now the God of his grandfather Abraham and of his father Isaac was speaking to him! He was telling him, “I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on.”

Then the Lord went on and made the same promise to Jacob that he had made to Abraham and Isaac: “Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.” When Isaac had sent Jacob off, he said, “May God Almighty make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples.” I think it was a weakened version of what the Lord had said to Abraham and Isaac—only an assembly of peoples. But now the Lord himself was giving the full promise to Jacob—offspring like the dust of the earth that will spread out in every direction. And let me say this.  Those offspring aren’t just those who are biologically descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but all of those who trust in Jesus. We are included in those offspring also.

And there’s more. The Lord told Jacob that all peoples on earth would be blessed through Jacob and his offspring. We know (we know because the apostle Paul has told us) that Jacob’s offspring through whom all peoples on earth are blessed is one offspring, Jesus!

And there’s still more. The Lord told Jacob, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.  I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”  I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. We have that promise too, God’s promise to be with us and watch over us wherever we go. Listen to what Jesus said in John 10:27-29:

27My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. 29My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29)

We are Jesus’s sheep. No one can snatch us out of God’s hand! (By the way, if you are not Jesus’s sheep, you belong to the devil. There is no third choice. So if you haven’t done so, ask Jesus to save you. He will never turn away anyone who comes to him. He says so: “Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out.” (John 6:37) Do you believe Jesus? He died for you to save you!)

The Lord is with us wherever we go. But I want to point something out. What is really important is our eternal salvation, not what may or may not happen to us in this present life (although, I have to add, what we do with our present lives is certainly important). Abraham was prosperous, but he was not looking forward to inheriting the land during his physical lifetime in this present age, but rather to the city with foundations whose builder and architect is God. The nation of Israel, who are Jacob’s physical descendants, the Lord rebuked and put out of the land. He did it more than once. They are back in the land now, but most do not trust Jesus. Still the Lord has promised that all of Israel will be saved, and he will keep his promise. And he will keep his promise to us, also!

This is what I want to point out. The Lord may discipline us and train us. We’ll see that he certainly did that with Jacob, just as he has done with the whole nation of Israel. He does it with us too, so don’t think you should be protected from all trouble in this life. But he will never leave us! We may even be killed, but we will not perish! Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever!” Do you believe that? Jesus gave his life to confirm it!

Now let’s look at the rest of today’s passage. Let me read it:

16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”
18Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it 19and named the place Bethel, though previously the city was named Luz. 20Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, if He provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear, 21and if I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God. 22This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to You a tenth of all that You give me.” (Genesis 28:16-22)

Well, Jacob was afraid when he woke up: “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” He was a sinner and he knew it, but, nevertheless, the Lord had promised to watch over him wherever he went.

Jacob poured oil on the stone that was near his head and named the place Bethel. (Bethel means house of God.) I think he was pretty shaken by the whole experience and he didn’t know exactly what to do. (He made a stone God’s house and anointed it with oil!)

Jacob also made a vow—a kind of conditional vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, if He provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God.” (But the Lord would be his God in any case. His promises were not conditional!) Jacob also promised to give back to God a tenth of whatever God gave him. (Do you remember that when Melchizedek, priest of God Most High, came to Abraham with the bread and wine, Abraham gave him a tenth of all the plunder?)

Well, it’s apparent that Jacob had some things to learn yet. (We do too.) But we’ll see that the Lord was faithful to teach and train him (and it wasn’t too easy for Jacob). The Lord is faithful to teach and train us too.

Now, you remember Jacob’s ladder—the stairway to heaven? I wanted to say a little more about it. Do you know what it represents? [Does anyone know?] Here’s what Jesus says. I’m going to read from John chapter 1, verses 47 through 51. Here’s what they say:

47Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him and said about him, “Here is a true Israelite; no deceit is in him.”
48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered.
49 “Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
50Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe only because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” 51Then He said, “I assure you: You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:47-51)

Jesus is Jacob’s ladder. There is no other ladder! Jesus is the way to heaven! There is no other way to heaven! He is the way and the truth and the life!  “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Jesus says, “You will see heaven opened.” It’s Jesus who opened the way to heaven for us. He opened it for us by dying on the cross for our sin! Every blessing from God that we have or ever can have is through Jesus and because of him! Praise the Lord! Praise Jesus! And amen!

[Sing Nearer My God to Thee]

[Prayer]



END NOTES
1 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Holman CSB ® and HCSB ® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.