Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples, and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham.”
Parallel Translations
-
Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples,
and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham.”
-
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.
Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother.
And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
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.
Show all 3 translations
-
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.
Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.
And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a congregation of peoples;
and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land of thy sojournings, which God gave unto Abraham.'
Cross-references (59)
- Genesis 48:3 (v3) Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
- Genesis 35:11 (v3) God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out…
- Galatians 3:14 (v4) that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
- Genesis 22:17-18 (vv3–4) that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the…
- Genesis 1:28 (v3) God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the…
Show all 58 cross-references
- Genesis 12:7 (v4) Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.
- Genesis 17:1-6 (v3) When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. I will…
- Genesis 24:3 (v1) I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of…
- Genesis 25:20 (v2) Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be…
- Genesis 28:3-4 (v1) May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples, and give you the blessing of…
- Genesis 9:1 (v3) God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth.
- Genesis 13:16 (v3) I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be…
- Genesis 17:6-8 (v4) I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you. I will establish my covenant between me…
- Genesis 27:46 (v1) Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as…
- Genesis 41:52 (v3) The name of the second, he called Ephraim: “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
- Genesis 43:14 (v3) May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my…
- Ephesians 1:3 (v4) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
- Genesis 6:2 (v1) God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.
- Genesis 12:1-3 (v4) Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will…
- Genesis 13:14-17 (v4) Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and…
- Genesis 15:5-7 (v4) Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So…
- Genesis 15:18-21 (v4) In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great…
- Genesis 24:37 (v1) My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,
- Genesis 24:60 (v3) They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the…
- Genesis 26:34-35 (v1) When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.…
- Psalms 72:17 (v4) His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
- Hosea 12:12 (v2) Jacob fled into the country of Aram, and Israel served to get a wife, and for a wife he tended flocks and herds.
- 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 (v1) Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what fellowship does light have with…
- Galatians 3:8 (v4) The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all…
- Genesis 22:20-23 (v2) After these things, Abraham was told, “Behold, Milcah, she also has borne children to your brother Nahor: Uz his firstborn, Buz his…
- Genesis 24:15-24 (v2) Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother,…
- Genesis 24:29 (v2) Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man, to the spring.
- Genesis 24:50 (v2) Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can’t speak to you bad or good.
- Genesis 27:27-33 (v1) He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, “Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell…
- Genesis 28:5 (v2) Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
- Genesis 32:10 (v2) I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my…
- Genesis 35:9 (v2) God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him.
- Genesis 46:15 (v2) These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters…
- Genesis 49:28 (v1) All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them, and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to…
- Exodus 6:3 (v3) I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them.
- Exodus 34:15-16 (v1) “Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and…
- Deuteronomy 33:1 (v1) This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
- Joshua 22:7 (v1) Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan; but Joshua gave to the other half among their brothers beyond…
- Psalms 39:12 (v4) “Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers…
- Psalms 105:6-12 (v4) you offspring of Abraham, his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is Yahweh, our God. His judgments are in all the earth.…
- Psalms 127:3–128:6 (v3) Behold, children are a heritage of Yahweh. The fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children…
- Romans 4:7-8 (v4) “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin.”
- 2 Corinthians 6:18 (v3) I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
- Hebrews 11:9-13 (v4) By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him…
- Revelation 21:22 (v3) I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple.
- Genesis 24:10 (v2) The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master’s with him. He arose, and went to…
- Genesis 27:4 (v1) Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die.”
- Genesis 29:1 (v2) Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east.
- Genesis 31:18 (v2) and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan…
- Genesis 34:9 (v1) Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
- Genesis 34:16 (v1) then will we give our daughters to you; and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.
- Genesis 48:15 (v1) He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
- Psalms 127:1 (v3) Unless Yahweh builds the house, they who build it labor in vain. Unless Yahweh watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain.
58 distinct cross-references across this passage (59 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (26 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him. It…
1. And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him. It may be asked, whether the reason why Isaac repeats anew the benediction which he had before pronounced, was that the former one had been of no force; whereas, if he was a prophet and interpreter of the will of God, what had once proceeded from his mouth ought to have been firm and perpetual. I answer, although the benedictions was in itself efficacious, yet the faith of Jacob required support of this kind: just as the Lord, in reiterating, frequently the same promises, derogates nothing either from himself or from his word, but rather confirms the certainty of that word to his servants, lest, at any time, their confidence should be shaken through the infirmity of the flesh. What I have said must also be kept in mind, that Isaac prayed, not as a private person, but as one furnished with a special command of God, to transmit the covenant deposited with himself to his son Jacob. It was also of the greatest importance that now, at length, Jacob should be blessed by his father, knowingly and willingly; lest at a future time a doubt, arising from the recollection of his father’s mistake and of his own fraud, might steal over his mind. Therefore Isaac, now purposely directing his words to his son Jacob, pronounces the blessing to be due to him by right, lest it should be thought that, having been before deceived, he had uttered words in vain, under a false character.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4 This second blessing was to confirm Jacob’s faith, lest…
This second blessing was to confirm Jacob’s faith, lest he should think that his father had given it without God’s motion.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Gen 28:1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him,…
Gen 28:1 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.
Ver. 1. Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him.] He doth not rate him, or rail at him. Anger must have an end. The prodigal’s father met him and kissed him, when one would have thought he should rather have kicked him and killed him. Pro peccato magno, paululum supplicii satis est patri .{ a}
Read full note →
{a} Terent.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Blessed him, confirmed his former blessing, being now thoroughly…
Blessed him, confirmed his former blessing, being now thoroughly sensible both of God's purpose, and of his own duty, wishing him also a prosperous and successful journey, as the word is used, Jos 22:7.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Jacob had no sooner obtained the blessing than immediately…
Jacob had no sooner obtained the blessing than immediately he was forced to flee from his country; and, as it if were not enough that he was a stranger and sojourner there, he must go to be more so, and no better than an exile, in another country. Now Jacob fled into Syria, Hos 12:12. He was blessed with plenty of corn and wine, and yet he went away poor, was blessed with government, and yet went out to service, a hard service. This was, 1. Perhaps to correct him for his dealing fraudulently with his father. The blessing shall be confirmed to him, and yet he shall smart for the indirect course he took to obtain it. While there is such an alloy as there is of sin in our duties, we must expect an alloy of trouble in our comforts. However, 2. It was to teach us that those who inherit the blessing must expect persecution; those who have peace in Christ shall have tribulation in the world, Joh 16:33. Being told of his before, we must not think it strange, and, being assured of a recompence hereafter, we must not think it hard. We may observe, likewise, that God's providences often seem to contradict his promises, and to go cross to them; and yet, when the mystery of God shall be finished, we shall see that all was for the best, and that cross providences did but render the promises and the accomplishment of them the more illustrious. Now Jacob is here dismissed by his father,
I. With a solemn charge: He blessed him, and charged him, Gen 28:1, Gen 28:2. Note, Those that have the blessing must keep the charge annexed to it, and not think to separate what God has joined. The charge is like that in Co2 6:14, Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; and all that inherit the promises of the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, must keep this charge, which follows those promises, Save yourselves from this untoward generation, Act 2:38-40. Those that are entitled to peculiar favours must be a peculiar people. If Jacob be an heir of promise, he must not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; those that profess religion should not marry those that are irreligious.
Read full note →
II. With a solemn blessing, Gen 28:3, Gen 28:4. He had before blessed him unwittingly; now he does it designedly, for the greater encouragement of Jacob in that melancholy condition to which he was now removing. This blessing is more express and full than the former; it is an entail of the blessing of Abraham, that blessing which was poured on the head of Abraham like the anointing oil, thence to run down to his chosen seed, as the skirts of his garments. It is a gospel blessing, the blessing of church-privileges, that is the blessing of Abraham, which upon the Gentiles through faith, Gal 3:14. It is a blessing from God Almighty, by which name God appeared to the patriarchs, Exo 6:3. Those are blessed indeed whom God Almighty blesses; for he commands and effects the blessing. Two great promises Abraham was blessed with, and Isaac here entails them both upon Jacob.
1. The promise of heirs: God make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, Gen 28:3. (1.) Through his loins should descend from Abraham that people who should be numerous as the stars of heaven, and the sand of the sea, and who should increase more than the rest of the nations, so as to be an assembly of people, as the margin reads it. And never was such a multitude of people so often gathered into one assembly as the tribes of Israel were in the wilderness, and afterwards. (2.) Through his loins should descend from Abraham that person in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed, and to whom the gathering of the people should be. Jacob had in him a multitude of people indeed, for all things in heaven and earth are united in Christ (Eph 1:10), all centre in him, that corn of wheat, which falling to the ground, produced much fruit, Joh 12:24.
2. The promise of an inheritance for those heirs: That thou mayest inherit the land of thy sojournings, Gen 28:4. Canaan was hereby entailed upon the seed of Jacob, exclusive of the seed of Esau. Isaac was now sending Jacob away into a distant country, to settle there for some time; and, lest this should look like disinheriting him, he here confirms the settlement of it upon him, that he might be assured that the discontinuance of his possession should be no defeasance of his right. Observe, He is here told that he should inherit the land wherein he sojourned. Those that are sojourners now shall be heirs for ever: and, even now, those do most inherit the earth (though they do not inherit most of it) that are most like strangers in it. Those have the best enjoyment of present things that sit most loose to them. This promise looks as high as heaven, of which Canaan was a type. This was the better country, which Jacob, with the other patriarchs, had in his eye, when he confessed himself a stranger and pilgrim upon the earth, Heb 11:13.
Jacob, having taken leave of his father, was hastened away with all speed, lest his brother should find an opportunity to do him a mischief, and away he went to Padan-aram, Gen 28:5. How unlike was his taking a wife thence to his father's! Isaac had servants and camels sent to fetch his; Jacob must go himself, go alone, and go afoot, to fetch his: he must go too in a fright from his father's house, not knowing when he might return. Note, If God, in his providence, disable us, we must be content, though we cannot keep up the state and grandeur of our ancestors. We should be more in care to maintain their piety than to maintain their dignity, and to be as good as they were than to be as great. Rebekah is here called Jacob's and Esau's mother. Jacob is named first, not only because he had always been his mother's darling, but because he was now make his father's heir, and Esau was, in this sense, set aside. Note, The time will come when piety will have precedency, whatever it has now.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–4 And Isaac called Jacob,.... Or therefore (d), because of…
And Isaac called Jacob,.... Or therefore (d), because of what Rebekah had said to him, related in the latter part of the preceding chapter, he sent for Jacob to come to him from his tent or apartment where he was, or from the field where he was keeping the flocks; thus paying a great regard to what his wife Rebekah had suggested to him, and which appeared to him very right and reasonable:
and blessed him; he did not send for him to chide and reprove him for his fraudulent dealings with him to get the blessing from his brother, much less to revoke it, but to confirm it; which was necessary to prevent doubts that might arise in the mind of Jacob about it, and to strengthen him against the temptations of Satan; since he was about to be sent away from his father's house solitary and destitute, to go into another country, where he was to be for awhile in a state of servitude; all which might seem to contradict the blessing and promises he had received, and would be a trial of his faith in them, as well as a chastisement on him for the fraudulent manner in which he obtained them:
Read full note →
and charged him, and said unto him, thou shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; it was time that he was married; for he was now, as the Jewish writers (e) say, seventy seven, years of age, which exactly agrees with what Polyhistor (f), an Heathen writer, relates from Demetrius, that Jacob was seventy seven years of age when he came to Haran, and also his father Isaac was then one hundred and thirty seven years old; and so it is calculated by the best chronologers, and as he must be, since he was born when his father was sixty years of age; see Gill on Gen 27:1; and being now declared the heir of the promised land, it was proper he should marry, but not with any of the Canaanites, who were to be dispossessed of the land of Canaan, and therefore their seed, and Abraham's, to whom it was given, must not be mixed. Isaac takes the same care, and gives the same charge concerning the marriage of his son Jacob, on whom the entail of the land was settled, as his father Abraham did concerning his, Gen 24:3.
(d) "itaque", V. L. Schmidt, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "igitur", Drusius. (e) Pirke Eliezer, c. 35. Vid. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 2. p. 4. (f) Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 21. p. 422.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 We have here,
We have here,
I. Jacob's parting with his parents to go to Padan-aram: the charge his father gave him, ver. 1, 2. the blessing he sent him away with, ver. 3, 4. his obedience to the orders given him, ver. 5-10. and the influence this had upon Esau, ver. 6.
Read full note →
II. Jacob's meeting with God, and his communion with him by the way. And there, (1.) His vision of the ladder, ver. 11, 12. (2.) The gracious promise God made him, ver. 13, 14, 15. (3.) The impression this made upon him, ver. 16-19. (4.) The vow he made to God upon this occasion, ver. 20, 21, 22.
Isaac blessed him, and charged him - Those that have the blessing must keep the charge annexed to it, and not think to separate what God has joined.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Isaac directs Jacob to take a wife from the…
CHAPTER XXVIII
Isaac directs Jacob to take a wife from the family of Laban, 1, 2;
Read full note →
blesses and sends him away, 3, 4.
Jacob begins his journey, 5.
Esau, perceiving that the daughters of Canaan were not pleasing
to his parents, and that Jacob obeyed them in going to get a
wife of his own kindred, 6-8,
went and took to wife Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael his
father's brother, 9.
Jacob, in his journey towards Haran, came to a certain place,
(Luz, ver. 19,) where he lodged all night, 10, 11.
He sees in a dream a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, on
which he beholds the angels of God ascending and descending, 12.
God appears above this ladder, and renews those promises which
he had made to Abraham and to Isaac, 13, 14;
promises Jacob personal protection and a safe return to his own
country, 15.
Jacob awakes, and makes reflections upon his dream, 16, 17.
Sets up one of the stones he had for his pillow, and pours oil
on it, and calls the place Beth-el, 18, 19.
Makes a vow that if God will preserve him in his journey, and
bring him back in safety, the stone should be God's house, and
that he would give him the tenths of all that he should have, 20-22.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXVIII
Verse 1. And Isaac called Jacob] See Clarke on Ge 27:46.
And blessed him] Now voluntarily and cheerfully confirmed to him the blessing, which he had before obtained through subtlety. It was necessary that he should have this confirmation previously to his departure; else, considering the way in which he had obtained both the birthright and the blessing, he might be doubtful, according to his own words, whether he might not have got a curse instead of a blessing. As the blessing now pronounced on Jacob was obtained without any deception on his part, it is likely that it produced a salutary effect upon his mind, might have led him to confession of his sin, and prepared his heart for those discoveries of God's goodness with which he was favoured at Luz.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v1 Gen 28:1. Isaac blessed him — That is, purposely…
Gen 28:1. Isaac blessed him — That is, purposely and designedly, and in faith now confirmed that blessing to him, which before he had given him unknowingly. And hereby God confirmed Jacob’s faith against doubts and fears, and comforted him against future troubles that might befall him. And charged him — Those that have the blessing must keep the charge annexed to it, and not think to separate what God has joined.
Gen 28:3-4. God Almighty bless thee — Two great promises Abraham was blessed with, and Isaac here entails them both upon Jacob. 1st, The promise of heirs; God make thee fruitful and multiply thee. Through his loins that people should descend from Abraham which should be numerous as the stars of heaven; and through his loins should descend from Abraham that person in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed. 2d, The promise of an inheritance for those heirs, Gen 28:4. That thou mayest inherit the land of thy sojournings — (So the Hebrew.) Canaan was hereby entailed upon the seed of Jacob, exclusive of the seed of Esau. Isaac was now sending Jacob away into a distant country to settle there for some time; and lest this should look like disinheriting him, he here confirms the settlement of it upon him. This promise looks as high as heaven, of which Canaan was a type. That was the better country which Jacob, with the other patriarchs, had in his eye when he “confessed himself a stranger and pilgrim on the earth,” Heb 11:16.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v1 - Jacob’s Journey to Haran
- Jacob’s Journey to Haran
3. קהל qâhāl, “congregation.”
Read full note →
9. מחלת māchălat, Machalath, “sickness, or a harp.”
19. לוּז lûz, Luz, “almond.”
The blessing of his sons was the last passage in the active life of Isaac, after which he retires from the scene. Jacob now becomes the leading figure in the sacred history. His spiritual character has yet come out to view. But even now we can discern the general distinction in the lives of the three patriarchs. Abraham’s is a life of authority and decision; Isaac’s, of submission and acquiescence; and Jacob’s, of trial and struggle.
Gen 28:1-5
Isaac has now become alive to the real destiny of Jacob. He therefore calls for him to bless him, and give him a command. The command is to take a wife, not from Kenaan, but from the kindred of his parents. The blessing comes from “God Almighty” (Gen 17:1). It is that belonging to the chosen seed, “the blessing of Abraham.” It embraces a numerous offspring, the land of promise, and all else that is included in the blessing of Abraham. “A congregation of peoples.” This is the word “congregation” (קהל qâhāl) which is afterward applied to the assembled people of God, and to which the Greek ἐκκλησία ekklēsia, “ecclesia,” corresponds. Jacob complies with his mother’s advice and his father’s command, and, at the same time, reaps the bitter fruit of his fraud against his brother in the hardship and treachery of an exile of twenty years. The aged Isaac is not without his share in the unpleasant consequences of endeavoring to go against the will of God.
Gen 28:6-9
Esau is induced, by the charge of his parents to Jacob, the compliance of the latter with their wishes, and by their obvious dislike to the daughters of Kenaan, to take Mahalath, a daughter of Ishmael, in addition to his former wives. “Went unto Ishmael;” that is, to the family or tribe of Ishmael, as Ishmael himself was now thirteen years dead. Esau’s hunting and roving career had brought him into contact with this family, and we shall presently find him settled in a neighboring territory.
Gen 28:10-22
Jacob’s dream and vow. Setting out on the way to Haran, he was overtaken by night, and slept in the field. He was far from any dwelling, or he did not wish to enter the house of a stranger. He dreams. A ladder or stair is seen reaching from earth to heaven, on which angels ascend and descend. This is a medium of communication between heaven and earth, by which messengers pass to and fro on errands of mercy. Heaven and earth have been separated by sin. But this ladder has re-established the contact. It is therefore a beautiful emblem of what mediates and reconciles Joh 1:51. It here serves to bring Jacob into communication with God, and teaches him the emphatic lesson that he is accepted through a mediator. “The Lord stood above it,” and Jacob, the object of his mercy, beneath. First. He reveals himself to the sleeper as “the Lord” Gen 2:4, “the God of Abraham thy father, and of Isaac.” It is remarkable that Abraham is styled his father, that is, his actual grandfather, and covenant father. Second. He renews the promise of the land, of the seed, and of the blessing in that seed for the whole race of man. Westward, eastward, northward, and southward are they to break forth. This expression points to the world-wide universality of the kingdom of the seed of Abraham, when it shall become the fifth monarchy, that shall subdue all that went before, and endure forever. This transcends the destiny of the natural seed of Abraham. Third. He then promises to Jacob personally to be with him, protect him, and bring him back in safety. This is the third announcement of the seed that blesses to the third in the line of descent Gen 12:2-3; Gen 22:18; Gen 26:4.
Gen 28:16-19
Jacob awakes, and exclaims, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.” He knew his omnipresence; but he did not expect a special manifestation of the Lord in this place, far from the sanctuaries of his father. He is filled with solemn awe, when he finds himself in the house of God and at the gate of heaven. The pillar is the monument of the event. The pouring of oil upon it is an act of consecration to God who has there appeared to him Num 7:1. He calls the name of the place Bethel, “the house of God.” This is not the first time it received the name. Abraham also worshipped God here, and met with the name already existing (see on Gen 12:8; Gen 13:3; Gen 25:30.)
Gen 28:20-22
Jacob’s vow. A vow is a solemn engagement to perform a certain duty, the obligation of which is felt at the time to be especially binding. It partakes, therefore, of the nature of a promise or a covenant. It involves in its obligation, however, only one party, and is the spontaneous act of that party. Here, then, Jacob appears to take a step in advance of his predecessors. Hitherto, God had taken the initiative in every promise, and the everlasting covenant rests solely on his eternal purpose. Abraham had responded to the call of God, believed in the Lord, walked before him, entered into communion with him, made intercession with him, and given up his only son to him at his demand. In all this there is an acceptance on the part of the creature of the supremacy of the merciful Creator. But now the spirit of adoption prompts Jacob to a spontaneous movement toward God. This is no ordinary vow, referring to some special or occasional resolve.
It is the grand and solemn expression of the soul’s free, full, and perpetual acceptance of the Lord to be its own God. This is the most frank and open utterance of newborn spiritual liberty from the heart of man that has yet appeared in the divine record. “If God will be with me.” This is not the condition on which Jacob will accept God in a mercenary spirit. It is merely the echo and the thankful acknowledgment of the divine assurance, “I am with thee,” which was given immediately before. It is the response of the son to the assurance of the father: “Wilt thou indeed be with me? Thou shalt be my God.” “This stone shall be God’s house,” a monument of the presence of God among his people, and a symbol of the indwelling of his Spirit in their hearts. As it comes in here it signalizes the grateful and loving welcome and entertainment which God receives from his saints. “A tenth will I surely give unto thee.” The honored guest is treated as one of the family. Ten is the whole: a tenth is a share of the whole. The Lord of all receives one share as an acknowledgment of his sovereign right to all. Here it is represented as the full share given to the king who condescends to dwell with his subjects. Thus, Jacob opens his heart, his home, and his treasure to God. These are the simple elements of a theocracy, a national establishment of the true religion. The spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind, has begun to reign in Jacob. As the Father is prominently manifested in regenerate Abraham, and the Son in Isaac, so also the Spirit in Jacob.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 4 Take. Septuagint, "flee;" as if Isaac began at last…
Take. Septuagint, "flee;" as if Isaac began at last to be apprized of Esau’s designs. Wisdom (x. 10) conducted the just when he fled from his brother’s wrath, &c. --- Thy uncle. He points out the house, but leaves the woman to his choice.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. Called… blessed… charged — Isaac fully acquiesces in…
1. Called… blessed… charged — Isaac fully acquiesces in what he now knows to be the divine will. He follows the example of Abraham, his father, in seeking his son a wife from among his own kindred. Comp. Gen_24:3-4.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–4 1. and blessed him] This mention of Isaac’s blessing…
1. and blessed him] This mention of Isaac’s blessing of Jacob, without reference to the deception in chap. 27, is a clear indication of the distinctness of origin of this passage from that which precedes it.
Thou shalt not … Canaan] Cf. Gen_24:3. “The daughters of Canaan” cannot be distinguished from “the daughters of Heth” (Gen_27:46).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 (1) Isaac called Jacob. . . . —Though Rebekah’s…
XXVIII.
(1) Isaac called Jacob. . . . —Though Rebekah’s primary motive was her concern for Jacob’s safety, yet we must not imagine that his marriage was a mere pretext. On the contrary, now that he was acknowledged as the firstborn, both he and she would have been abandoning his high position had they not arranged for the fulfilment of his duty in this respect. What is remarkable is the frankness of Isaac’s conduct. There is no attempt to substitute Esau for Jacob, nor to lessen the privileges of the latter, but with hearty cheerfulness he blesses the younger son, and confirms him in the possession of the whole Abrahamic blessing.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Genesis 27 - 35
Genesis 27 - 35
These chapters present to us the history of Jacob-at least, the principal scenes in that history. The Spirit of God here sets before us the deepest instruction, first, as to God’s purpose of infinite grace; and, secondly, as to the utter worthlessness and depravity of human nature.
Read full note →
There is a passage in Gen. 25 which I purposely passed over, in order to take if up here, so that we might have the truth in reference to Jacob fully before us "And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her: and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." This is referred to in Malachi, where we read, "I have loved you, saith the Lord: yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I have loved Jacob, and hated Esau." This is again referred to in Rom. 9: "For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
Thus we have very distinctly before us, God’s eternal purpose, according to the election of grace. There is much involved in this expression. It banishes all human pretension from the scene, and asserts God’s right to act as He will. This is of the very last importance. The creature can enjoy no real blessedness until he is brought to bow his head to sovereign grace. It becomes him so to do, inasmuch as he is a sinner, and, as such, utterly without claim to act or dictate. The great value of finding oneself on this ground is, that it is then no longer a question of what we deserve to get, but simply of what God is pleased to give. The prodigal might talk of being a servant, but he really did not deserve the place of a servant, if it were to be made a question of desert; and, therefore, he had only to take what the father was pleased to give - and that was the very highest place, even the place of fellowship with himself. Thus it must ever be. "Grace all the work shall crown, through everlasting days." Happy for us that it is so. As we go on, day by day, making fresh discoveries of ourselves, we need to have beneath our feet the solid foundation of God’s grace: nothing else could possibly sustain us in our growing self-knowledge. The ruin is hopeless, and therefore the grace must be infinite: and infinite it is, having its source in God Himself, its channel in Christ, and the power of application and enjoyment in the Holy Ghost. The Trinity is brought out in connection with the grace that saves a poor sinner. "Grace reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." It is only in redemption that this reign of grace could be seen. we may see in creation the reign of wisdom and power; we may see in providence the reign of goodness and long-suffering; but only in redemption do we see the reign of grace, and that, too, on the principle of righteousness.
Now, we have, in the person of Jacob, a most striking exhibition of the power of divine grace; and for this reason, that we have in him a striking exhibition of the power of human nature. In him we see nature in all its obliquity, and therefore we see grace in all its moral beauty and power. From the facts of his remarkable history, it would seem that, before his birth, at his birth, and after his birth, the extraordinary energy of nature was seen. Before his birth, we read, "the children struggled together within her." At his birth, we read, "his hand took hold on Esau’s heel." And, after his birth - yea to the turning point of his history, in Gen. 32, without any exception - his course exhibits nothing but the most unamiable traits of nature; but all this only serves, like a drab background, to throw into relief the grace of Him who condescends to call Himself by the peculiarly touching name, "the God of Jacob" - a name most sweetly expressive of free grace.
Let us now examine the chapters consecutively. Gen. 27 exhibits a most humbling picture of sensuality, deceit, and cunning; and when one thinks of such things in connection with the people of God, it is sad and painful to the very last degree. Yet how true and faithful is the Holy Ghost! He must tell all out. He cannot give us a partial picture. If he gives us a history of man, he must describe man as he is, and not as he is not. So, if He unfolds to us the character and ways of God, He gives us God as He is. And this, we need hardly remark, is exactly what we need. We need the revelation of one perfect in holiness, yet perfect in grace and mercy, who could come down into all the depth of man’s need, his misery and his degradation, and deal with Him there, and raise him up out of it into full, unhindered fellowship with Himself in all the reality of what He is. This is what scripture gives us. God knew what we needed, and He has given it to us, blessed be His name!
And, be it remembered, that in setting before us, in faithful love, all the traits of man’s character, it is simply with a view to magnify the riches of divine grace, and to admonish our souls. It is not, by any means, in order to perpetuate the memory of sins, for ever blotted out from His sight. The blots, the failures, and the errors of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have been perfectly washed away, and they have taken their place amid "the spirits of just men made perfect;" but their history remains, on the page of inspiration, for the display of God’s grace, and for the warning of God’s people in all ages; And, moreover, that we my distinctly see that the blessed God has not been dealing With perfect men and women, but with those of "like passions as we are" that He has been walking and bearing with the same failures, the same infirmities, the same errors, as those over which we mourn every day. This is peculiarly comforting to the heart; and it may well stand in striking contrast with the way in which the great majority of human biographies are written, in "which, for the most part, we find, not the history of men, but of beings devoid of error and infirmity. histories have rather the effect of discouraging than of edifying those who read them. They are rather histories of what men ought to be, than of what they really are, and they are, therefore, useless to us, yea, not only useless, but mischievous.
Nothing can edify save the presentation of God dealing with man as he really is; and this is what the word gives us. The chapter before us illustrates this very fully. Here we find the aged patriarch Isaac, standing, as it were, at the very portal of eternity, the earth and nature fast fading away from his view, yet occupied about "savoury meat," and about to act in direct opposition to the divine counsel, by blessing the elder instead of the younger. Truly this was nature, and nature with its "eyes dim." If Esau had sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, Isaac was about to give away the blessing for a mess of venison, How very humiliating!
But God’s purpose must stand, and He will do all His pleasure. Faith knows this; and, in the power of that knowledge, can wait for God’s time. This nature never can do, but must set about gaining its own ends, by its own inventions. These are the two grand points brought out in Jacob’s history - God’s purpose of grace, on the one hand; and on the other, nature plotting and scheming to reach what that purpose would have infallibly brought about, without any plot or scheme at all. This simplifies Jacob’s history amazingly, and not only simplifies it, but heightens the soul’s interest in it also. There is nothing, perhaps, in which we are so lamentably deficient, as in the grace of patient, self-renouncing dependence upon God. Nature will be working in some shape or form, and thus, so far as in it lies, hindering the outshining of divine grace and power. God did not need the aid of such elements as Rebekah’s cunning and Jacob’s gross deceit, in order to accomplish His purpose. He had said, "the elder shall serve the younger." This was enough - enough for faith, but not enough for nature, which must ever adopt its own ways, and know nothing of what it is to wait on God.
Now, nothing can be more truly blessed than the position of hanging in child-like dependence upon God, and being entirely content to wait for His time. True, it will involve trial; but the renewed mind learns some of its deepest lessons, and enjoys some of its sweetest experiences, while waiting on the Lord; and the more pressing the temptation to take ourselves out of His hands, the richer will be the blessing of leaving ourselves there. It is so exceedingly sweet to find ourselves wholly dependent upon one who finds infinite joy in blessing us. It is only those who have tasted, in any little measure, the reality of this wondrous position that can at all appreciate it. The only one who ever occupied it perfectly and uninterruptedly was the Lord Jesus Himself. He was ever dependent upon God, and utterly rejected every proposal of the enemy to be anything else. His language was, "In thee do I put my trust;" and again, "I was cast upon thee from the womb." Hence, when tempted by the devil to make an effort to Satisfy His hunger, His reply was, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." When tempted to cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple, His reply was, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." When tempted to take the kingdoms of the world from the hand of another than God, and by doing homage to another than Him, His reply was, "It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." In a word, nothing could allure the perfect man from the place of absolute dependence upon God. True, it was God’s purpose to sustain His Son; it was His purpose that He should suddenly come to His temple; it was His purpose to give Him the kingdoms of this world; but this was the very reason why the Lord Jesus would simply and uninterruptedly wait on God for the accomplishment of His purpose, in His own time, and in His own way. He did not set about accomplishing His own ends. He left Himself thoroughly at God’s disposal. He would only eat when God gave Him bread; He would only enter the temple when sent of God; He will ascend the throne when God appoints the time. "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool." (Ps. 110)
This profound subjection of the Son to the Father is admirable beyond expression. Though entirely equal with God, He took, as man, the place of dependence, rejoicing always in the will of the Father; giving thanks even when things seemed to be against Him; doing always the things which pleased the Father; making: it His grand and uvarying object to glorify the Father; and finally, when all was accomplished, when He had perfectly finished the work which the Father had given, He breathed His spirit into the Father’s hand, and His flesh rested in hope of the promised glory and exaltation. Well, therefore, may the inspired apostle say, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"
How little Jacob knew, in the opening of his history, of this blessed mind! How little was he prepared to wait for God’s time and God’s way! He much preferred Jacob’s time and Jacob’s way. He thought it much better to arrive at the blessing and the inheritance by all sorts of cunning and deception, than by simple dependence upon and subjection to God, whose electing grace had promised, and whose almighty power and wisdom would assuredly accomplish all for him.
But, oh! how well one knows the opposition of the human heart to all this! Any attitude for it save that of patient waiting upon God. It is almost enough to drive nature to distraction to find itself bereft of all resource but God. This tells us, in language not to be misunderstood, the true character of human nature. In order to know what nature is, I need not travel into those scenes of vice and crime which justly shock all refined moral sense. No; all that is needful is just to try it for a moment in the place of dependence, and see how it will carry itself there. It really knows nothing of God, and therefore cannot trust Him; and herein was the secret of all its misery and moral degradation. It is totally ignorant of the true God, and can therefore be nought else but a ruined and worthless thing. The knowledge of God is the source of life - yea, is itself life; and until a man has life, what is he? or, what can he be?
Now, in Rebekah and Jacob, we see nature taking advantage of nature in Isaac and Esau. It was really this. There was no waiting upon God whatever. Isaac’s eyes were dim, he could therefore be imposed upon, and they set about doing so, instead of looking off to God, who would have entirely frustrated Isaac’s purpose to bless the one whom God would not bless - a purpose? founded in nature, and most unlovely nature, for "Isaac loved Esau," not because he was the first-born, but "because he did eat of his venison." How humiliating!
But we are sure to bring unmixed sorrow upon ourselves, when we take ourselves, our circumstances, or our destinies, out of the hands of God.* Thus it was with Jacob, as we shall see in the sequel. It has been observed by another, that whoever observes Jacob’s life, after he had surreptitiously obtained his father’s blessing, will perceive that he enjoyed very little worldly felicity. His brother purposed to murder him, to avoid which he was forced to flee from his father’s house; his uncle Laban deceived him, as he had deceived his father, and treated him with great rigor; after a servitude of twenty-one years, he was obliged to leave him in a clandestine manner, and not without danger of being brought back or murdered by his enraged brother; no sooner were these fears over, than he experienced the baseness of his son Reuben, in defiling his bed; he had next to bewail the treachery and cruelty of Simeon and Levi towards the Shechemites; then he had to feel the loss of his beloved wife; he was next imposed upon by his own sons, and had to lament the supposed untimely end of Joseph; and, to complete all, he was forced by famine to go into Egypt, and there died in a strange land. So just, wonderful, and instructive are all the ways of providence."
{*We should ever remember, in a place of trial, that what we want is not a change of circumstances, but victory over self.}
This is a true picture, so far as Jacob was concerned; but it only gives us one side, and that the gloomy side. Blessed be God, there is a bright side, likewise, for God had to do with Jacob; and, in every scene of his life, when Jacob was called to reap the fruits of his own plotting and crookedness, the God of Jacob brought good out of evil, and caused His grace to abound over all the sin and folly of His poor servant. This we shall see as we proceed with his history.
I shall just offer a remark here upon Isaac, Rebekah, and Esau. It is very interesting to observe how, notwithstanding the exhibition of nature’s excessive weakness, in the opening of Genesis 27, Isaac maintains, by faith, the dignity which God had conferred upon him. He blesses with all the consciousness of being endowed with power to bless! He says, "I have blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed.. Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him; and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?" He speaks as one who, by faith, had at his disposal all the treasures of earth. There is no false humility, no taking a low ground by reason of the manifestation of nature. True, he was on the eve of making a grievous mistake - even of moving right athwart the counsel of God; still, he knew God, and took his place accordingly, dispensing blessings in all the dignity and power of faith. "I have blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed." "With corn and wine have I sustained him." It is the proper province of faith to rise above all one’s own failure and the consequences thereof, into the place where God’s grace has set us.
As to Rebekah, she was called to feel all the sad results of her cunning actings. She, no doubt, imagined she was managing matters most skillfully; but, alas! she never saw Jacob again: so much for management! How different it would have been had she left the matter entirely in the hands of God. This is the way in which faith manages, and it is ever a gainer. "Which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit?" We gain nothing by our anxiety and planning; we only shut out God, and that is no gain. It is a just judgement from the hand of God to be left to reap the fruits, of our own devices; and I know of few things more sad than to see a child of God so entirely forgetting his proper place and privilege, as to take the management of his affairs into his own hands. The birds of the air, and the lilies of the field, may well be our teachers when we so far forget our position of unqualified dependence upon God.
Then, again, as to Esau, the apostle calls him "a profane person, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright," and "afterwards, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place of change of mind, though he sought it carefully with tears." Thus we learn what a profane person is, viz. one who would like to hold both worlds; one who would like to enjoy the present, without forfeiting his title to the future. This is, by no means, an uncommon case. It expresses to us the mere worldly professor, whose conscience has never felt the action of divine truth, and whose heart has never felt the influence of divine grace.
We are now called to trace Jacob in his movement from under his fathers roof, to view him as a homeless and lonely wanderer on the earth. It is here that God’s special dealings with him commence. Jacob now begins to realise, in some measure, the bitter fruit of his conduct, in reference to Esau; while, at the same time, God is seen rising above all the weakness and folly of His servant, and displaying His own sovereign grace and profound wisdom in His dealings with him. God will accomplish His own purpose, no matter by what instrumentality; But if His child, in impenitence of spirit, and unbelief of heart, will take himself out of His hands, he must expect much sorrowful exercise and painful discipline. Thus it was with Jacob: he might not have had to flee to Haran, had he allowed God to act for him. God would, assuredly, have dealt with Esau, and caused him to find his destined place and portion; and Jacob might have enjoyed that sweet peace which nothing can yield save entire subjection in all things to the hand and counsel of God.
But here is where the excessive feebleness of our hearts is constantly disclosed. We do not lie passive in God’s hand; we will be acting; and, by our acting, we hinder the display of God’s grace and power on our behalf. "Be still and know that I am God," is a precept which nought, save the power of divine grace, can enable one to obey. "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. (eggus) Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." What will be the result of this activity? "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall garrison (phrouresei) your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4: 5-7)
However, God graciously overrules our folly and weakness, and while we are called upon to reap the fruits of our unbelieving and impatient ways, He takes occasion from them to teach our hearts still deeper lessons of His own tender grace and perfect wisdom. This, while it, assuredly, affords no warrant whatever for unbelief and impatience, does most wonderfully exhibit the goodness of our God, and comfort the heart even while we may be passing through the painful circumstances consequent upon our failure. God is above all; and, moreover, it is His special prerogative to bring good out of evil; to make the eater yield meat, and the strong yield sweetness; and hence, while it is quite true that Jacob was compelled to be an exile from his father’s roof in consequence of his own restless and deceitful acting, it is equally true that he never could have learnt the meaning of "Bethel" had he been quietly at home. Thus the two sides of the picture are strongly marked in every scene of Jacob’s history. It was when he was driven, by his own folly, from Isaac’s house, that he was led to taste, in some measure, the blessedness and solemnity of "God’s house."
"And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. 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." Here we find the homeless wanderer just in the very position in which God could meet him, and in which He could unfold His purposes of grace and glory. Nothing could possibly be more expressive of helplessness and nothingness than Jacob’s condition as here set before us. Beneath the open canopy of heaven, with a pillow of stone, in the helpless condition of sleep. Thus it was that the God of Bethel unfolded to Jacob His purposes respecting him and his seed. "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. 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. 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. 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."
Here we have, indeed, "grace and glory." The ladder "set on the earth" naturally leads the heart to meditate on the display of God’s grace, in the Person and work of His Son. On the earth it was that the wondrous work was accomplished which forms the basis, the strong and everlasting basis, of all the divine counsels in reference to Israel, the Church, and the world at large. On the earth it was that Jesus lived laboured. and died; that, through His death, He might remove out of the way every obstacle to the accomplishment of the divine purpose of blessing to man.
But "the top of the ladder reached to heaven." It formed the medium of communication between heaven and earth; and "behold the angels of God ascending and descending upon it" - striking and beautiful picture of Him by whom God has come down into all the depth of man’s need, and by whom also He has brought man up and set him in His own presence for ever, in the power of divine righteousness! God has made provision for the accomplishment of all His plans, despite of man’s folly and sin; and it is for the everlasting joy of any soul to find itself, by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, within the limits of God’s gracious purpose.
The prophet Hosea leads us on to the time when that which was foreshadowed by Jacob’s ladder shall have its full accomplishment. "And in that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow, and the sword, and the battle, out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgement, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies; I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." (Hosea 2: 18-23) There is also an expression in the first chapter of John, bearing upon Jacob’s remarkable vision; it is Christ’s word to Nathanael, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." (Ver. 51)
Now this vision of Jacob’s is a very blessed disclosure of divine grace to Israel. We have been led to see something of Jacob’s real character, something, too, of his real condition; both were evidently such as to show that it should either be divine grace for him, or nothing. By birth he had no claim; nor yet by character. Esau might put forward some claim on both these grounds; i.e., provided God’s prerogative were set aside; but Jacob had no claim whatsoever; and hence, while Esau could only stand upon the exclusion of God’s prerogative, Jacob could only stand upon the introduction and establishment thereof. Jacob was such a sinner, and so utterly divested of all claim, both by birth and by practice, that he had nothing whatever to rest upon save God’s purpose of pure, free, and sovereign grace. Hence, in the revelation which the Lord makes to His chosen servant, in the passage just quoted, it is a simple record or prediction of what He Himself would yet do. "I am.... I will give.... I will keep .... I will bring..... I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" It was all Himself. There is no condition whatever. No if or but; for when grace acts there can be no such thing. Where there is an if, it cannot possibly be grace. Not that God cannot put man into a position of responsibility, in which He must needs address him with an ’if.’ We know He can; but Jacob asleep on a pillow of stone was not in a position of responsibility, but of the deepest helplessness and need; and therefore he was in a position to receive a revelation of the fullest, richest, and most unconditional grace.
Now, we cannot but own the blessedness of being in such a condition, that we have nothing to rest upon save God Himself; and, moreover, that it is in the most perfect establishment of God’s own character and prerogative that we obtain all our true joy and blessing. According to this principle, it would be an irreparable loss to us to have any ground of our own to stand upon, for in that case, God should address us on the ground of responsibility, and failure would then be inevitable. Jacob was so bad, that none but God Himself could do for him.
And, be it remarked, that it was his failure in the habitual recognition of this that led him into so much sorrow and pressure. God’s revelation of Himself is one thing, and our resting in that revelation is quite another. God shows Himself to Jacob, in infinite grace; but no sooner does Jacob awake out of sleep, than we find him developing his true character, and proving how little he knew, practically, of the blessed One who had just been revealing Himself so marvellously to him. "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." His heart was not at home in the presence of God; nor can any heart be so until it has been thoroughly emptied and broken. God is at home, blessed be His name, with a broken heart, and a broken heart at home with Him. But Jacob’s heart was not yet in this condition; nor had he yet learnt to repose, like a little child, in the perfect love of one who could say, "Jacob have I loved." "Perfect love casteth out fear;" but where such love is not known and fully realised, there will always be a measure of uneasiness and perturbation. God’s house and God’s presence are not dreadful to a soul who knows the love of God as expressed in the perfect sacrifice of Christ. such a soul is rather led to say," Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth." (Ps. 26: 8) And, again, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple." (Ps. 27: 4) and again, "How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord." (Ps. 84) When the heart is established in the knowledge of God, it will assuredly love His house, whatever the Character of that house may be, whether it be Bethel, or the temple at Jerusalem, or the Church now composed of all true believers, "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." However, Jacob’s knowledge, both of God and His house, was very shallow, at that point in his history on which we are now dwelling.
We shall have occasion, again, to refer to some principles connected with Bethel; and shall, now, close our meditations upon this chapter, with a brief notice of Jacob’s bargain with God, so truly characteristic of him, and so demonstrative of the truth of the statement with respect to the shallowness of his knowledge of the divine character. "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this may that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my Father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God; 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." Observe, "if God will be with me." Now, the Lord had just said, emphatically, "I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land," &c. And yet poor Jacob’s heart cannot get beyond an "if" nor, in its thoughts of God’s goodness, can it rise higher than "bread to eat, and raiment put on." Such were the thoughts of one who had just seen the magnificent vision of the ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with the Lord standing above, and promising an innumerable seed, and an everlasting possession. Jacob was evidently unable to enter into the reality and fullness of God’s thoughts. He measured God by Himself, and thus utterly failed to apprehend Him. In short, Jacob had not yet verily got to the end of himself; and hence he had not really begun with God.
"Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east." As we have just seen, in Gen. 28 Jacob utterly fails in the apprehension of God’s real character, and meets all the rich grace of Bethel with an "if" and a miserable bargain about food and raiment. We now follow him into a scene of thorough bargain-making. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." There is no possibility of escaping from this. Jacob had not yet found his true level in the presence of God; and, therefore, God uses circumstances to chasten and break him down.
This is the real secret of much, very much, of our sorrow and trial in the world. Our hearts have never been really broken before the Lord; we have never been self-judged and self-emptied; and hence, again and again, we, as it were, knock our heads against the wall. No one can really enjoy God until he has got to the bottom of self, and for this plain reason, that God has begun the display of Himself at the very point at which the end of flesh is seen. If, therefore, I have not reached the end of my flesh, in the deep and positive experience of my soul, it is morally impossible that I can have anything like a just apprehension of God’s character. But I must, in some way or other, be conducted to the true measure of nature. To accomplish this end, the Lord makes use of various agencies which, no matter what they are, are only effectual when used by Him for the purpose of disclosing, in our view, the true character of all that is in our hearts. How often do we find as in Jacob’s case, that even although the Lord may come near to us, and speak in our ears, yet we do not understand His voice, or take our true place in His presence. "The Lord is in this place, and I knew it not ..... How dreadful is this place!" Jacob learnt nothing by all this, and it, therefore, needed twenty years of terrible schooling, and that, too, in a school marvellously adapted to his flesh; and even that, as we shall see, was not sufficient to break him down.
However, it is remarkable to see how he gets back into an atmosphere so entirely suited to his moral constitution. The bargain-making Jacob, meets with the bargain-making Laban, and they are both seen, as it were, straining every nerve to outwit each other. Nor can we wonder at Laban, for he had never been at Bethel: he had seen no open heaven, with a ladder reaching from thence to earth; he had heard no magnificent promises from the lips of Jehovah, securing to him all the land of Canaan, with a countless seed: no marvel, therefore, that he should exhibit a grasping grovelling spirit; he had no other resource. It is useless to expect from worldly men ought but a worldly spirit, and worldly principles and ways; they have gotten nought superior; and you cannot bring a clean thing out of an unclean. But to find Jacob, after all he had seen and heard at Bethel, struggling with a man of the world, and endeavouring, by such means, to accumulate property, is peculiarly humbling.
And yet, alas! it is no uncommon thing to find the children of God thus forgetting their high destinies and heavenly inheritance, and descending into the arena with the children of this world, to struggle there for the riches and honours of a perishing, sin-stricken earth. Indeed, to such an extent is this true, in many instances, that it is often hard to trace a single evidence of that principle which St. John tells us "overcometh the world." Looking at Jacob and Laban, and judging of them upon natural principles, it would be hard to trace any difference. One should get behind the scenes, and enter into God’s thoughts about both, in order to see how widely they differed. But it was God that had made them to differ, not Jacob; and so it is now. Difficult as it may be to trace any difference between the children of light and the children of darkness, there is, nevertheless, a very wide difference indeed - a difference founded on the solemn fact that the former are "the vessels of mercy, which God has before prepared unto glory," while the latter are "the vessels of wrath, fitted (not by God, but by sin) to destruction." Rom 9: 22, 23)* This makes a very serious difference. The Jacobs and the Labans differ materially, and have differed, and will differ for ever, though the former may so sadly fail in the realization and practical exhibition of their true character and dignity.
{*It is deeply interesting to the spiritual mind to mark how sedulously the Spirit of God, in Rom. 9 and indeed throughout all scripture, guards against the horrid inference which the human mind draws from the doctrine of God’s election - when He speaks of "vessels of wrath," He simply says, "fitted to destruction." He does not say that God "fitted" them.
Whereas, on the other hand, when He refers to "the vessels of mercy" he says, "whom he had afore prepared unto glory." This is most marked.
If my reader will turn for a moment to Matt 25: 34-41, he will find another striking and beautiful instance of the same thing.
When the king addresses those on His right hand, he says, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (Verse 34) But when He addresses those on His left, He says, "Depart from me ye cursed." He does not say, "cursed of My Father." And, further, He says, "into everlasting fire, prepared," not for you, but "for the devil and his angels." (Verse 41)
In a word, then, it is plain that God has "prepared’ a kingdom of glory, and "vessels of mercy’ to inherit that kingdom; but He has not prepared" everlasting fire" for men, but for the "devil and his angels" nor has He fitted the "vessels of wrath," but they have fitted themselves.
The word of God as clearly establishes "election" as it sedulously guards against "reprobation." Everyone who finds himself in heaven will have to thank God for it; and everyone that finds himself in hell will have to thank himself.}
Now, in Jacob’s case, as set forth in the three chapters now before us, all his toiling and working, like his wretched bargain before, is the result of his ignorance of God’s grace, and his inability to put implicit confidence in God’s promise. The man that could say, after a most unqualified promise from God to give him the whole land of Canaan, "IF God will give me food to eat and raiment to put on," could have had but a very faint apprehension of who God was, or what His promise was either; and because of this, we see him seeking to do the best he can for himself. This is always the way when grace is not understood: the principles of grace may be professed, but the real measure of our experience of the power of grace is quite another thing. One would have imagined that Jacob’s vision had told him a tale of grace; but God’s revelation at Bethel, and Jacob’s actings at Haran, are two very different things; yet the latter tell out what was Jacob’s sense of the former. Character and conduct prove the real measure of the soul’s experience and conviction, whatever the profession may be. But Jacob had never yet been brought to measure himself in God’s presence, and therefore he was ignorant of grace, and he proved his ignorance by measuring himself with Laban, and adopting his maxims and ways.
One cannot help remarking the fact that inasmuch as Jacob failed to learn and judge the inherent character of his flesh before God, therefore he was, in the providence of God, led into the very sphere in which that character was fully exhibited in its broadest lines. He was conducted to Haran, the country of Laban and Rebekah, the very school from whence those principles, in which he was such a remarkable adept, had emanated, and where they were taught, exhibited, and maintained. If one wanted to learn what God was, he should go to Bethel; if to learn what man was, he should go to Haran. But Jacob had failed to take in God’s revelation of Himself at Bethel, and he therefore went to Haran, and there showed what he was - and oh, what scrambling and scraping! what shuffling and shifting! There is no holy and elevated confidence in God, no simply looking to and waiting on Him. True, God was with Jacob - for nothing can hinder the outshining of divine grace. Moreover, Jacob in a measure owns God’s presence and faithfulness. Still nothing can be done without a scheme and a plan. Jacob cannot allow God to settle the question as to his wives and his wages, but seeks to settle all by his own cunning and management. In short, it is "the supplanter" throughout. Let the reader turn, for example, to Gen. 30: 37-42, and say where he can find a more masterly piece of cunning. It is verily a perfect picture of Jacob. In place of allowing God to multiply "the ringstraked, speckled, and spotted cattle," as be most assuredly could have done, had He been trusted, he sets about securing their multiplication by a piece of policy which could only have found its origin in the mind of a Jacob. So in all his actings, during his twenty years’ sojourn with Laban; and finally, he, most characteristically, "steals away," thus maintaining, in everything, his consistency with himself.
Now, it is in tracing out Jacob’s real character, from stage to stage of his extraordinary history, that one gets a wondrous view of divine grace. None but God could have borne with such an one, as none but God would have taken such an one up. Grace begins at the very lowest point. It takes up man as he is, and deals with him in the full intelligence of what he is. It is of the very last importance to understand this feature of grace at one’s first starting; it enables us to bear, with steadiness of heart, the after discoveries of personal vileness, which so frequently shake the confidence and disturb, the peace of the children of God.
Many there are who, at first, fail in the full apprehension of the utter ruin of nature, as looked at in God’s presence, though their hearts have been attracted by the grace of God, and their consciences tranquillised, in some degree, by the application of the blood of Christ. Hence, as they get on in their course, they begin to make deeper discoveries of the evil within, and, being deficient in their apprehensions of God’s grace, and the extent and efficiency of the sacrifice of Christ, they immediately raise a question as to their being children of God at all. Thus they are taken off Christ, and thrown on themselves, and then they either betake themselves to ordinances, in order to keep up their tone of devotion, or else fall back into thorough worldliness and carnality. These are disastrous consequences, and all the result of not having "the heart established in grace."
It is this that renders the study of Jacob’s history so profoundly interesting and eminently useful. No one can read the three chapters now before us, and not be struck at the amazing grace that could take up such an one as Jacob, and not only take him up, but say, after the full discovery of all that was in him, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel." (Num. 23: 21) He does not say that iniquity and perverseness were not in him. This would never give the heart confidence - the very thing, above all others, which God desires to give. It could never assure a poor sinner’s heart, to be told that there was no sin in him; for, alas! he knows too well there is; but to be told there is no sin on him, and that, moreover, in God’s sight, on the simple ground of Christ’s perfect sacrifice, must infallibly set his heart and conscience at rest. Had God taken up Esau, we should not have had, by any means, such a blessed display of grace; for this reason, that he does not appear before us in the unamiable light in which we see Jacob. The more man sinks, the more God’s grace rises. As my debt rises, in my estimation, from the fifty pence up to the five hundred, so my sense of grace rises also, my experience of that love which, when we "had nothing to pay, could "frankly forgive" us all. (Luke 7: 42) Well might the apostle say, "it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace: not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." (Heb. 13: 9)
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–4 And Isaac (recognizing the wisdom and propriety of Rebekah"s…
And Isaac (recognizing the wisdom and propriety of Rebekah"s suggestion that a bride should now be sought for him whom God had so unmistakably declared to be the heir of the theocratic promise) called Jacob (to his bed-side), and blessed him, in enlarged form, renewing the benediction previously given (Gen_27:27) and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan (cf. Gen_14:3) Intermarriage with the women of the land was expressly forbidden to the theocratic heir, while his attention was directed to his mother"s kindred.
Vers. 1-9.
Read full note →
Jacob and Esau, or diverging paths.
I JACOB"S JOURNEY TO PADAN-ARAM.
1. The path of duty. Entered on in obedience to his mother s wish and his father"s commandment, it was an e vide nce of filial piety. It is the token of a good son that he "hears the instruction of his father, and forsakes not the taw of his mother". (Pro_1:8) Sons come to mature age should respect and, where not inconsistent with allegiance to God, yield submission to parental authority (Pro_6:20; Mal_1:6; Eph_6:1-3)
2. The path of blessing. The benediction already bestowed upon Jacob was repeated with greater amplitude and tenderness before he left the patriarchal tent. Happy the youth who enters upon life"s journey carrying on his head and in his heart a father"s blessing I much more who goes forth beneath the canopy of Heaven"s benediction! and this is ever the experience of him who travels by the way of filial obedience. Pious children seldom fail to come to honor, and never want the favor of the Lord (Psa_37:26; Pro_4:20-22 Pro_8:32)
1. The path of promise. In addition to his father"s blessing and the Almighty"s benediction, Jacob carried with him as he left Beersheba the promise of a seed and an inheritance to be in due time acquired; and in like manner now has the saint exceeding great and precious promises to cheer him in his heavenward pilgrimage, promises the full realization of which is attainable only in the future (Joh_14:2; 1Pe_1:4)
2. The path of hope. Sad and sorrowful as Jacob"s heart must have been as he kissed his mother and bade farewell to Isaac, it was at least sustained by pleasant expectation. Gilding the horizon of his future was the prospect of a wife to love as Isaac had loved Rebekah, and to be the mother of the seed of promise. So the pathway of the children of promise, though often painful, arduous, and protracted, is always lighted by the star of hope, and always points to a bright and beautiful beyond.
II ESAU"S MARRIAGE WITH MAHALATH.
1. The way of sin. His former wives being neither dead nor divorced, the conduct of Esau in adding to them a third was wrong.
2. The way of shame. In the selection of Ishmael"s daughter he hoped to please his father, but was apparently indifferent about the judgment of either Rebekah or Jehovah. Daring transgressors, like Esau, rather glory in their shame than feel abashed at their wickedness.
3. The way of sorrow. If not to himself, at least to his pious parents, this fresh matrimonial alliance could not fail to be a grief. The daughter of Ishmael was certainly better than a daughter of the Hittites, being almost as near a relative on Isaac"s side as Rachel and Leah were on Rebekah"s; but, unlike Rachel and Leah, who belonged to the old family stock (the Terachites) in Mesopotamia, Mahalath descended from a branch which had been removed from the Abrahamic tree.
Learn
1. The care which pious parents should take to see their sons well married.
2. The piety which children should delight to show to their parents.
3. The connection which subsists between true religion and prosperity.
4. The inevitable tendency of sin to produce shame and sorrow.
5. The wickedness of violating God"s law of marriage.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD Vers. 1-9.
Life with, and life without, God.
The divergence of the two representative men is seen in this short statement of their marriage relations.
1. Domestic life under the blessing of God and apart from that blessing.
2. The true blessing is the blessing of Abraham, the blessing which God has already provided, promised, and secured.
3. The heir of the blessing must be sent away and learn by experience how to use it.
4. The disinherited man, who has scorned his opportunity, cannot recover it by his own devices. Esau is still Esau. Polygamy was suffered, but never had the blessing of God upon it. R.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to…
Gen_28:1-5
And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram.
Read full note →
The beginning of Jacobs pilgrimage
I. THE CAUSES WHICH LED HIM. TO UNDERTAKE HIS PILGRIMAGE.
1. His brothers anger.
2. His mothers counsel.
II. THE DIVINE PROVISIONS FOR HIS PILGRIMAGE.
1. The peculiar blessing of the chosen seed.
2. The ministry of man in conveying this blessing. (T. H. Leale.)
Lessons
1. Good fathers disdain not the wise and gracious advice of mothers for their childrens good.
2. Good men may change their minds upon Gods convictions for disposal of blessing.
3. Blessing and command go together from God, by His instruments unto His covenant ones.
4. Matches of the true seed with the idolaters are expressly forbidden by God (Gen_28:1).
5. Fathers have their due power to dispose of children in marriage.
6. It is good for fathers herein to follow the dictates and guidance of God, to dispose children, where the knowledge of God is (Gen_28:2.) (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Gods blessing needs to be repeated and confirmed unto souls, to answer temptations, and to prevent unbelief.
2. Obedience yielded to the charge of God foregoing, the blessing shall follow after.
3. God Almighty and All-sufficient is the only fountain of blessing.
4. The issues of good from God Almighty, upon poor creatures, they are blessings indeed.
5. Gods All-sufficiency gives fruitfulness for the increase of His Church (Gen_28:3).
6. Abrahams blessing from the Almighty is that which passeth from generation to generation upon the Church.
7. The rest typical as well as spiritual and eternal, is made the inheritance of Gods Israel from His Almightiness.
8. Gods gift to Abraham is the just title of all the seed of promise to that inheritance eternal, typed out in Canaan (Gen_28:4). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Providence makes parents willing to part with dearest children in order to accomplish His will.
2. Providence ordereth childrens hearts in readiness to obey the fathers charge to execute Gods purpose.
3. Providence sometimes sends out creatures naked and helpless the more to glorify Himself (Gen_28:5). He keeps them while they believe on His promises. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Genenesis 27:41 - Genesis 28
JACOBS FLIGHT AND DREAM
Genenesis 27:41 - Genesis 28
Read full note →
"So foolish was I and ignorant: I was as a beast before Thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee."- Psa_73:22
IT is so commonly observed as to be scarcely worth again remarking, that persons who employ a great deal of craft in the management of their affairs are invariably entrapped in their own net. Life is so complicated, and every matter of conduct has so many issues, that no human brain can possibly foresee every contingency. Rebekah was a clever woman, and quite competent to outwit men like Isaac and Esau, but she had in her scheming neglected to take account of Laban, a man true brother to herself in cunning. She had calculated on Esaus resentment, and knew it would last only a few days, and this brief period she was prepared to utilise by sending Jacob out of Esaus reach to her own kith and kin, from among whom he might get a suitable wife. But she did not reckon on Labans making her son serve fourteen years for his wife, nor upon Jacobs falling so deeply in love with Rachel as to make him apparently forget his mother.
In the first part of her scheme she feels herself at home. She is a woman who knows exactly how much of her mind to disclose, so as effectually to lead her husband to adopt her view and plan. She did not bluntly advise Isaac to send Jacob to Padan-aram, but she sowed in his apprehensive mind fears which she knew would make him send Jacob there; she suggested the possibility of Jacobs taking a wife of the daughters of Heth. She felt sure that Isaac did not need to be told where to send his son to find a suitable wife. So Isaac called Jacob, and said, Go to Padan-aram, to the house of thy mothers father, and take thee a wife thence. And he gave him the family blessing-God Almighty give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee-so constituting him his heir, the representative of Abraham.
The effect this had on Esau is very noticeable. He sees, as the narrative tells us, a great many things, and his dull mind tries to make some meaning out of all that is passing before him: The historian seems intentionally to satirise Esaus attempt at reasoning, and the foolish simplicity of the device he fell upon. He had an idea that Jacobs obedience in going to seek a wife of another stock than he had connected himself with would be pleasing to his parents; and perhaps he had an idea that it would be possible to steal a march upon Jacob in his absence, and by a more speedily affected obedience to his parents desire, win their preference, and perhaps move Isaac to alter his will and reverse the blessing. Though living in the chosen family, he seems to have had not the slightest idea that there was any higher will than his fathers being fulfilled in their doings. He does not yet see why he himself should not be as blessed as Jacob; he cannot grasp at all the distinction that grace makes; cannot take in the idea that God has chosen a people to Himself, and that no natural advantage or force or endowment can set a man among that people, but only Gods choice. Accordingly, he does not see any difference between Ishmaels family and the chosen family; they are both sprung from Abraham, both are naturally the same, and the fact that God expressly gave His inheritance past Ishmael is nothing to Esau-an act of God has no meaning to him. He merely sees that he has not pleased his parents as well as he might by his marriage, and his easy and yielding disposition prompts him to remedy this.
This is a fine specimen of the hazy views men have of what will bring them to a level with Gods chosen. Through their crass insensibility to the high righteousness of God, there still does penetrate a perception that if they are to please Him there are certain means to be used for doing so. There are, they see, certain occupations and ways pursued by Christians, and if by themselves adopting these they can please God, they are quite willing to humour Him in this. Like Esau, they do not see their way to drop their old connections, but if by making some little additions to their habits, or forming some new connection, they can quiet this controversy that has somehow grown up between God and His children, -though, so far as they see, it is a very unmeaning controversy, -they will very gladly enter into any little arrangement for the purpose. We will not, of course, divorce the world, will not dismiss from our homes and hearts what God hates and means to destroy, will not accept Gods will as our sole and absolute law, but we will so far meet Gods wishes as to add to what we have adopted something that is almost as good as what God enjoins: we will make any little alterations which will not quite upset our present ways. Much commoner than hypocrisy is this dim-sighted, blundering stupidity of the really profane worldly man, who thinks he can take rank with men whose natures God has changed, by the mere imitation of some of their ways; who thinks, that as be cannot without great labour, and without too seriously endangering his hold on the world, do precisely what God requires, God may be expected to be satisfied with a something like it. Are we not aware of endeavouring at times to cloak a sin with some easy virtue, to adopt some new and apparently good habit, instead of destroying the sin we know God hates; or to offer to God, and palm upon our own conscience, a mere imitation of what God is pleased with? Do you attend Church, do you come and decorously submit to a service? That is not at all what God enjoins, though it is like it. What He means is, that you worship Him, which is a quite different employment. Do you render to God some outward respect, have you adopted some habits in deference to Him, do you even attempt some private devotion and discipline of the spirit? Still what He requires is something that goes much deeper than all that; namely, that you love Him. To conform to one or two habits of godly people is not what is required of us; but to be at heart godly.
As Jacob journeyed northwards, he came, on the second or third evening of his flight, to the hills of Bethel. As the sun was sinking he found himself toiling up the rough path which Abraham may have described to him as looking like a great staircase of rock and crag reaching from earth, to sky. Slabs of rock, piled one upon another, form the whole hillside, and to Jacobs eye, accustomed to the rolling pastures of Beersheba, they would appear almost like a structure built for superhuman uses, well founded in the valley below, and intended to reach to unknown heights. Overtaken by darkness on this rugged path, he readily finds as soft a bed and as good shelter as his shepherd-habits require, and with his head on a stone and a corner of his dress thrown over his face to preserve him from the moon, he is soon fast asleep. But in his dreams the massive staircase is still before his eyes, and it is no longer himself that is toiling up it as it leads to an unexplored hill-top above him, but the angels of God are ascending and descending upon it, and at its top is Jehovah Himself.
Thus simply does God meet the thoughts of Jacob, and lead him to the encouragement he needed. What was probably Jacobs state of mind when he lay down on that hill-side? In the first place, and as he would have said to any man he chanced to meet, he wondered what he would see when he got to the top of this hill; and still more, as he may have said to Rebekah, he wondered what reception he would meet with from Laban, and whether he would ever again see his fathers tents. This vision shows him that his path leads to God, that it is He who occupies the future; and, in his dream, a voice comes to him: "I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land." He had, no doubt, wondered much whether the blessing, of his father was, after all, so valuable a possession, whether it might not have been wiser to take a share with Esau than to be driven out homeless thus. God has never spoken to him; he has heard his father speak of assurances coming to him from God, but as for him, through all the long years of his life he has never heard what he could speak of as a voice of God. But this night these doubts were silenced-there came to his soul an assurance that never departed from it. He could have affirmed he heard God saying to him: "I am the Lord God of thy father Abraham. and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it." And lastly, all these thoughts probably centred in one deep feeling, that he was an outcast, a fugitive from justice. He was glad he was in so solitary a place, he was glad he was so far from Esau and from every human eye; and yet-what desolation of spirit accompanied this feeling: there was no one he could bid good-night to, no one he could spend the evening hour with in quiet talk; he was a banished man, whatever fine gloss Rebekah might put upon it, and deep down in his conscience there was that which told him he was not banished without cause. Might not God also forsake him-might not God banish him, and might he not find a curse pursuing him, preventing man or woman from ever again looking in his face with pleasure? Such fears are met by the vision. This desolate spot, unvisited by sheep or bird, has become busy with life, angels thronging the ample staircase. Here, where he thought himself lonely and outcast, he finds he has come to the very gate of heaven. His fond mother might at that hour, have been visiting his silent tent and shedding ineffectual tears on his abandoned bed, but he finds himself in the very house of God. cared for by angels. As the darkness had revealed to him the stars shining overhead, so, when the deceptive glare of waking life was dulled by sleep, he saw the actual realities which before were hidden.
No wonder that a vision which so graphically showed the open communication between earth and heaven should have deeply impressed itself on Jacobs descendants. What more effectual consolation could any poor outcast, who felt he had spoiled his life, require than the memory of this staircase reaching from the pillow of the lonely fugitive from justice up into the very heart of heaven? How could any most desolate soul feel quite abandoned so long as the memory retained the vision of the angels thronging up and down with swift service to the needy? How could it be even in the darkest hour believed that all hope was gone, and that men might but curse God and die, when the mind turned to this bridging of the interval between earth and heaven?
In the New Testament we meet with an instance of the familiarity with this vision which true Israelites enjoyed. Our Lord, in addressing Nathanael, makes use of it in a way that proves this familiarity. Under his fig-tree, whose broad leaves were used in every Jewish garden as a screen from observation, and whose branches were trained down so as to form an open-air oratory, where secret prayer might be indulged in undisturbed, Nathanael had been declaring to the Father his ways, his weaknesses, his hopes. And scarcely more astonished was Jacob when he found himself the object of this angelic ministry on the lonely hill-side, than was Nathanael when he found how one eye penetrated the leafy screen, and had read his thoughts and wishes. Apparently he had been encouraging himself with this vision, for our Lord, reading his thoughts, says: "Because I said unto thee, When thou wast under the fig-tree I saw thee, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these-thou shalt see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."
This, then, is a vision for us even more than for Jacob. It has its fulfilment in the times after the Incarnation more manifestly than in previous times. The true staircase by which heavenly messengers ascend and descend is the Son of man. It is He who really bridges the interval between heaven and earth, God and man. In His person these two are united. You cannot tell whether Christ is more Divine or human, more God or man-solidly based on earth, as this massive staircase, by His real humanity, by His thirty-three years engagement in all human functions and all experiences of this life, He is yet familiar with eternity, His name is "He that came down from heaven," and if your eye follows step by step to the heights of His person, it rests at last on what you recognise as Divine. His love it is that is wide enough to embrace God on the one hand, and the lowest sinner on the other. Truly He is the way, the stair, leading from the lowest depth of earth to the highest height of heaven. In Him you find a love that embraces you as you are, in whatever condition, however cast down and defeated, however embittered and polluted-a love that stoops tenderly to you and hopefully, and gives you once more a hold upon holiness and life, and in that very love unfolds to you the highest glory of heaven and of God.
When this comes home to a man in the hour of his need, it becomes the most arousing revelation. He springs from the troubled slumber we call life, and all earth wears a new glory and awe to him. He exclaims with Jacob, "How dreadful is this place. Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." The world, that had been so bleak and empty to him, is filled with a majestic vital presence. Jacob is no longer a mere fugitive from the results of his own sin, a shepherd in search of employment, a man setting out in the world to try his fortune; he is the partner with God in the fulfilment of a Divine purpose. And such is the change that passes on every man who believes in the Incarnation, who feels himself to be connected with God by Jesus Christ; he recognises the Divine intention to uplift his life and to fill it with new hopes and purposes. He feels that humanity is consecrated by the entrance of the Son of God into it: he feels that all human life is holy ground since the Lord Himself has passed through it. Having once had this vision of God and man united in Christ, life cannot any more be to him the poor, dreary, commonplace, wretched round of secular duties and short-lived joys and terribly punished sins it was before: but it truly becomes the very gate of heaven; from each part of it he knows there is a staircase rising to the presence of God, and that out of the region of pure holiness and justice there flow to him heavenly aids, tender guidance, and encouragement.
Do you think the idea of the Incarnation too aerial and speculative to carry with you for help in rough, practical matters? The Incarnation is not a mere idea, but a fact as substantial and solidly rooted in life as anything you have to do with. Even the shadow of it Jacob saw carried in it so much of what was real that when he was broad awake he trusted it and acted on it. It was not scattered by the chill of the morning air, nor by that fixed staring reality which external nature assumes in the gray dawn as one object after another shows itself in the same spot and form in which night had fallen upon it. There were no angels visible when he opened his eyes: the staircase was there, but it was of no heavenly substance, and if it had any secret to tell, It coldly and darkly kept it. There was no retreat for the runaway from the poor common facts of yesterday. The sky seemed as far from earth as it did yesterday, his track over the hill as lonely, his brothers wrath as real; -but other things also had become real; and as he looked back from the top of the hill on the stone he had set up, he felt the words, "I am with thee in all places whither thou goest," graven on his heart, . and giving him new courage; and he knew that every footfall of his was making a Bethel, and that as he went he was carrying God through the world. The bleakest rains that swept across the hills of Bethel could never wash out of his mind the vision of bright-winged angels, as little as they could wash off the oil or wear down the stone he had set up. The brightest glare of this worlds heyday of real life could not outshine and cause them to disappear; and the vision on which we hope is not one that vanishes at cockcrow, nor is He who connects us with God shy of human handling, but substantial as ourselves. He offered Himself to every kind of test, so that those who knew Him for years could say, with the most absolute confidence, "That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life…declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."
Jacob obeyed a good instinct when he set up as a monumental stone that which had served as his pillow while he dreamt and saw this inspiring vision. He felt that, vivid as the impression on his mind then was, it would tend to fade, and he erected this stone that in after days he might have a witness that would testify to his present assurance. One great secret in the growth of character is the art of prolonging the quickening power of right ideas, of perpetuating just and inspiring impressions. And he who despises the aid of all external helps for the accomplishment of this object is not likely to succeed. Religion, some men say, is an inward thing: it does not consist of public worship, ordinances, and so forth, but it is a state of spirit. Very true; but he knows little of human nature who fancies a state of spirit can be maintained without the aid of external reminders, presentations to eye and ear of central religious truths and facts. We, have all of us had such views of truth, and such? corresponding desires and purposes, as would transform us were they only permanent. But what a night has settled on our past, how little have we found skill to prolong the benefit arising from particular events or occasions. Some parts of our life, indeed, require no monument, there is nothing there we would ever again think of, if possible; but, alas! these, for the most part, have erected monuments of their own, to which, as with a sad fascination, our eyes are ever turning-persons we have injured, or who, somehow, so remind us of sin, that we shrink from meeting them-places to which sins of ours have attached a reproachful meaning. And these natural monuments must be imitated in the life of grace. By fixed hours of worship, by rules and habits of devotion, by public worship, and especially by the monumental ordinance of the Lords Supper, must we cherish the memory of known truth, and deepen former impressions.
To the monument Jacob attached a vow, so that when he returned to that spot the stone might remind him of the dependence on God he now felt, of the precarious situation he was in when this vision appeared, and of all the help God had afterwards given him. He seems to have taken up the meaning of that endless chain of angels ceaselessly coning down full of blessing, and going up empty of all but desires, requests, aspirations. And if we are to live with clean conscience and with heart open to God, we must so live that the messengers who bring Gods blessings to us shall not have an evil report to take back of the manner in which we have received and spent His bounty.
This whole incident makes a special appeal to those who are starting in life. Jacob was no longer a young man, but he was unmarried, and he was going to seek employment with nothing to begin the world with but his shepherds staff, the symbol of his knowledge of a profession. Many must see in him a very exact reproduction of their own position. They have left home, and it may be they have left it not altogether with pleasant memories, and they are now launched on the world for themselves, with nothing but their staff, their knowledge of some business. The spot they have reached may seem as desolate as the rock where Jacob lay, their prospects as doubtful as his. For such a one there is absolutely no security but that which is given in the vision of Jacob-in the belief that God will be with you in all places, and that even now on that life which you are perhaps already wishing to seclude from all holy influences, the angels of God are descending to bless and restrain you from sin. Happy the man who, at the outset, can heartily welcome such a connection of his life with God; unhappy he who welcomes whatever blots out the thought of heaven, and who separates himself from all that reminds him of the good influences that throng his path. The desire of the young heart to see life and know the world is natural and innocent, but how many fancy that in seeing the lowest and poorest perversions of life they see life-how many forget that unless they keep their hearts pure they can never enter into the best and richest and most enduring of the uses and joys of human life. Even from a selfish motive and the mere desire to succeed in the world, every one starting in life would do well to consider whether he really has Jacobs blessing and is making his vow. And certainly every one who has any honour, who is governed by any of those sentiments that lead men to noble and worthy actions, will frankly meet Gods offers and joyfully accept a heavenly guidance and a permanent connection with God.
Before we dismiss this vision, it may be well to look at one instance of its fulfilment, that we may understand the manner in which God fulfils His promises. Jacobs experience in Haran was not so brilliant and unexceptionable as he might perhaps expect. He did, indeed, at once find a woman he could love, but he had to purchase her with seven years toil, which ultimately became fourteen years. He did not grudge this; because it was customary, because his affections were strong, and because he was too independent to send to his father for money to buy a wife. But the bitterest disappointment awaited him. With the burning humiliation of one who has been cheated in so cruel a way, he finds himself married to Leah. He protests, but he cannot insist on his protest, nor divorce Leah; for, in point of fact, he is conscious that he is only being paid in his own coin, foiled with his own weapons. In this veiled bride brought in to him on false pretences he sees the just retribution of his own disguise when, with the hands of Esau he went in and received his fathers blessing. His mouth is shut by the remembrance of his own past. But submitting to this chastisement, and recognising in it not only the craft of his uncle, but the stroke of God, that which he at first thought of as a cruel curse became a blessing. It was Leah much more than Rachel that built up the house of Israel. To this despised wife six of the tribes traced their origin, and among these was the tribe of Judah. Thus he learned the fruitfulness of Gods retribution-that to be humbled by God is really to be built up, and to be punished by Him the richest blessing. Through such an experience are many persons led: when we would embrace the fruit of years of toil God thrusts into our arms something quite different from our expectation-something that not only disappoints, but that at first repels us, reminding us of acts of our own we had striven to forget. Is it with resentment you still look back on some such experience, when the reward of years of toil evaded your grasp, and you found yourself bound to what you would not have worked a day to obtain?-do you find yourself disheartened and discouraged by the way in which you seem regularly to miss the fruit of your labour? If so, no doubt it were useless to assure you that the disappointment may be more fruitful than the hope fulfilled, but it can scarcely be useless to ask you to consider whether it is not the fact that in Jacobs case what was thrust upon him was more fruitful than what he strove to win.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Gen_28:3. A multitude of people.] Heb. “To a congregation…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Gen_28:3. A multitude of people.] Heb. “To a congregation of peoples.” This is the same word which was afterwards applied to the assembled people of God. It corresponds to the ἐκκλησία.—
Read full note →
Gen_28:5. Bethuel, the Syrian.] Not because he was of the race of Aram, the son of Shem, but because he was a dweller in that land.—
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_28:1-5
THE BEGINNING OF JACOB’S PILGRIMAGE
Up to this time Jacob dwelt at home with his father. He had been the plain, domestic man, dwelling in tents. Now he is obliged to become a wanderer, and to face unknown fortunes.
I. The causes which led him to undertake his pilgrimage.
1. His brother’s anger. He must flee away from the rage of Esau. The wrong he had done is now visited upon him. He loses peace of mind, sense of security, and his brother’s love. Thus he is made to reap the bitter fruits of unrighteousness.
2. His mother’s counsel. Rebekah invents an ingenious excuse for Jacob’s sudden departure from his house. She professes to be concerned lest he should form an alliance in marriage with the children of Heth, as his brother Esau had done. (Gen_27:46.) She probably intended, at first, only to arrange for a brief absence, believing that Esau’s temper would soon cool. This showed a deep knowledge of human nature; for the fiercer the rage, the sooner it spends itself. Rebekah was also prompted by a religious motive. She would save Jacob from the sin into which Esau had fallen; and as she knew that the purpose of God was on the side of her ambition she had faith in that great future which was in store for Isaac. Thus it was adversity that set Jacob on this journey. God by this means was wakening him up to a sense of his own evil and weakness, so that he might learn to find the true refuge and home of his soul. Thus affliction conducts us by new ways in our pilgrimage, so that our extremity may be God’s opportunity to help and deliver us.
II. The Divine provisions for his pilgrimage.
1. The peculiar blessing of the chosen seed. That blessing of Abraham which came from God Almighty is now reversed and secured to Jacob. God had the right to choose the family from whom salvation was to come, and had the power to accomplish the purposes of His will. Jacob was chosen as the covenant son. The original blessing of the father of the faithful was conveyed to him,—a numerous offspring, which was to be God’s family,—the church which is the home of God’s people. Thus Jacob was virtually provided with the hope of salvation.
2. The ministry of man in conveying this blessing. Isaac became at last alive to the real destiny of Jacob. He submits to the will of God after he had so long resisted it. In order that the provisions of the blessings might be carried out, he gives Jacob advice regarding his marriage. Thus furnished, Jacob set out on his pilgrimage. And so we, too, need for our pilgrimage an interest in God’s covenant blessings in Christ, and the ministry of man as the means of bringing us into acquaintance with it.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_28:1. Isaac, though he survived this event forty-three years, has now passed from the scene, and Jacob henceforth takes his place in the patriarchal history. Abraham is the man of active faith, Isaac is the man of passive submission, and Jacob is the man of struggling trial.—(Jacobus.)
The account here given of his “calling, blessing, and charging” him, is very much to his honour. The first of these terms implies his reconciliation to him; the second, his satisfaction in what had been done before without design; and the last, his concern that he should act in a manner worthy of the blessing which he had received. How differently do things issue in different minds. Esau, as well as Isaac, was “exceedingly” affected by what had lately occurred: but the bitter cry “of the one issued in a settled hatred,” while the “trembling” of the other brought him to a right mind. He had been thinking matters over since, and the more he thought of them, the more satisfied he was that it was the will of God; and that all his private partialities should give place to it.—(Fuller.)
Isaac, at length, yields himself to God. He had become satisfied that Jacob was the real object of the blessing.
Gen_28:2. Jacob was no sooner blest, than he was banished. So our Saviour was no sooner out of the water of baptism, and had heard, “This is my beloved Son,” etc., but He was presently in the fire of temptation, and heard, “If thou be the Son of God,” etc. (Matthew 3, 4) When Hezekiah had set all in good order (2 Chronicles 31), then up came Sennacherib with an army (Gen_32:1.) God puts His people to it; and often, after sweetest feelings.—(Trapp.)
Gen_28:3. The blessing of Jacob is the blessing of the Church of God, which is composed of all people of every kingdom, nation, and tongue.
Many a time have the Jews been carried away captive. Hundreds of thousands perished in the war of Titus, and in the middle ages multitudes were destroyed by persecution. Yet the Jew is to be found in all lands, and amongst every people. Such is the God-given energy, and the inextinguishable life of this marvellous Hebrew race. “Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?” (Num_23:10.)
The Church is a community of nations, typified already by the theocracy.—(Lange.)
Gen_28:4. The second item in the covenant blessing is here the inheritance of the promised land—never overlooked—very important in God’s view, as showing His hand in secular and national history. “The blessing of Abraham,” with all its privileges was the patriarchal covenant blessing, comprising rich spiritual benedictions and benefits.—(Jacobus.)
Here he is made “heir of the blessing,” as are also all true Christians (1Pe_3:9). Cæsar, when he was sad, said to himself, Cogita te esse Cæsarem—“think that thou art Cæsar;” so, think thou art an heir of heaven, and be sad if thou canst.—(Trapp).
Gen_28:5. The quiet, sedate, home-loving Jacob, becomes a courageous pilgrim. It was adversity that woke up his energies, and put him in the way of God’s blessing.
Persecution is overruled by God for good. It leads to a more decided separation of the Church from the surrounding idolatrous world. Thus the little flock to whom it is the Father’s good pleasure to give the kingdom, are often the better for the very rage of the wolves seeking to devour them. They are hereby brought nearer to the Good Shepherd and to one another, while they are more thoroughly sifted, tried, and purified, so as to be separated from the evil that is in the world, and consecrated as a peculiar people to the Lord.—(Candlish.)
lsaac sent away Jacob with his staff only (Gen_32:10), and to “serve for a wife (Hos_12:12). It was otherwise, when a wife was provided for Isaac. But Jacob went as privately as he could; “he fled into Syria,” probably that his brother Esau might not know of his journey, and wait him a shrewd turn by the way.—(Trapp.)
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Gen 28:10-13
Gen 28:10-13
In his dream Jacob saw three things:
Read full note →
I. A way set up between earth and heaven, making a visible connection between the ground on which he slept and the sky.
II. The free circulation along that way of great powers and ministering influences.
III. He saw God, the supreme directing and inspiring force, eminent over all. From these we learn: (1) that every man’s ladder should stand upon the ground: no man can be a Christian by separating himself from his kind; (2) along every man’s ladder should be seen God’s angels; (3) high above all a man’s plans, high above all his heroic moral resolves, there is to be a living trust in God.
H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 1870, p. 643.
Gen 28:10-15
I. Consider the circumstances under which the vision here described was granted to Jacob. He had left his home and was suffering trial and hardship; he was a friendless and unprotected man.
II. Look at the nature of his vision. From this glimpse into the secrets of the unseen world, it appears: (1) that the angels are interested in the well-being of God’s people; (2) that heaven is a place of activity; (3) that there is a way of communication open between heaven and earth. This way represents the mediation of Christ.
III. Look at the promises which on this occasion were made to Jacob: (1) God promised to be with Jacob; (2) God promised His protection and guidance to Jacob; (3) God promised him final deliverance from all trouble.
A. D. Davidson, Lectures and Sermons, p. 108.
I. God is near men when they little think it. He is near (1) when we are not aware of it; (2) when sin is fresh upon us; (3) when we are in urgent need of Him.
II. God is near men to engage in their religious training (1) God assured Jacob of His abiding presence with him. (2) Jacob was taught to recognise God in all things. (3) He was taught to feel his entire dependence upon God throughout the journey of life.
III. God is always near men to effect their complete salvation. Intercourse has been established between earth and heaven; the whole process of man’s salvation is under the superintendence of God.
D. Rhys Jenkins, The Eternal Life, p. 347
Reference: Gen 28:10-16.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 98.
Gen 28:10-17
Jacob makes his brother’s hunger an occasion for bargaining with him for his birthright. Esau says, "What profit shall this birthright do to me?" Neither one nor the other knew what good it would do. The vision of something to be realised now or hereafter dawned upon Jacob—a vision probably mixed with many sensual and selfish expectations, still of a good not tangible, a good which must come to him as a gift from God. The absence of all want, all discontent with the present and the visible, is the feeling which exhibits itself in the acts and utterances of Esau.
I. The vision at Bethel was the first step in Jacob’s Divine education—the assurance which raised him to the feelings and dignity of a man. He knew that though he was to be chief of no hunting tribe, there might yet come forth from him a blessing to the whole earth.
II. Jacob’s vision came to him in a dream. But that which had been revealed was a permanent reality, a fact to accompany him through all his after-existence. The great question we have to ask ourselves is, Was this a fact for Jacob the Mesopotamian shepherd, and is it a phantasm for all ages to come? or was it a truth which Jacob was to learn that it might be declared to his seed after him, and that they might be acquainted with it as he was, but in a fuller and deeper sense? If we take the Bible for our guide we must accept the latter conclusion and not the former. The Son of Man is the ladder between earth and heaven, between the Father above and His children upon earth—which explains and reconciles all previous visions, and shows how angels and men can meet and hold converse with each other.
F. D. Maurice, The Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament, p. 100.
References: Gen 28:10-18.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 25. Gen 28:10-22.—S. A. Brooke, Sermons, 2nd series, pp. 231, 249; E. Irving, Collected Works, vol. iii., p. 500; Parker, vol. i., p. 274; Sermons for Boys and Girls (1880), p. 116; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 537; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 181.
Gen 28:11-13
I. The ladder whose top reached to heaven while its base rested on the earth is the Son of Man who was also the Son of God. If we attempt to approach God otherwise than through the humanity of Christ, utter failure and disappointment shall be the end of our efforts. But the access which we could not ourselves obtain, God has provided in Christ. He is the ladder set up on the earth.
II. The ascending and descending angels represent the communications which, through His mediation, are constantly passing to and fro between God and man.
III. Our churches are our Bethels, where the eye of the mind is opened spiritually to discern the true Ladder and the innumerable company of angels who throng its shining stair.
E. M. Goulburn, Occasional Sermons, p. 83.
Gen 28:11-16
Sleeping to see. One may be too wide-awake to see. There are things which are hidden from us until we lie down to sleep. Only then do the heavens open and the angels of God disclose themselves.
I. It does not follow that God is not because we cannot discern Him, because we are not aware of Him. Little do we dream of the veiled wonders and splendours amidst which we move. To Jacob’s mental fret and confusion, the wilderness where God brooded was a wilderness and nothing more. But in sleep he grew tranquil and still; he lost himself—the flurried, heated, uneasy self that he had brought with him from Beersheba, and while he slept the hitherto unperceived Eternal came out softly, largely, above and around him. We learn from this the secret of the Lord’s nearness.
II. No man is ever completely awake; something in him always sleeps. There is a sense in which it may be said with truth that were we less wakeful, more of God and spiritual realities might be unveiled to us. We are always doing—too much so for finest being; are always striving—too much so for highest attaining. Our religion consists too much in solicitude to get; it is continually "The Lord, the Father of mercies," rather than "The Lord, the Father of glory." We require to sleep from ourselves before the heavens can open upon us freely and richly flow around us.
S. A. Tipple, Echoes of Spoken Words, p. 201.
Reference: Gen 28:11-22.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 529.
Gen 28:12.
I. Jesus, the Ladder, connects earth with heaven.
II. This ladder comes to sinners.
III. God is at the top, speaking kind words down the ladder.
IV. Advice to climbers: (1) Be sure to get the right ladder; there are plenty of shams. (2) Take firm hold; you will want both hands. (3) Don’t look down or you will be giddy. (4) Don’t come down to fetch any one else up. If your friends will not follow you, leave them behind.
T. Champness, New Coins from Old Gold, p. 91.
I. The ancient heathens told in their fables how the gods had all left the earth one by one; how one lingered in pity, loath to desert the once happy world; how even that one at last departed. Jacob’s dream showed something better, truer than this; it showed him God above him, God’s angels all about him.
II. The intercourse between God and man has been enlarged and made perpetual in Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son.
III. When Jacob awoke he consecrated a pillar, and vowed to build a sanctuary there and give tithes. We cannot altogether commend the spirit in which he made his vow. He tried to make a good bargain with the Almighty; yet God accepted him. The place was holy to him, because he knew that God was there.
R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 31.
References: Gen 28:12.—M. Nicholson, Communion with Heaven, p. 77; J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 66; W. Meller, Village Homilies, p. 86; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 3rd series, p. 53; Bishop Woodford, Occasional Sermons, p. 242. Gen 28:12-22.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 272; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. vi., p. 99. Gen 28:13.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 129.
Gen 28:15
Jacob’s life began in moral confusion. There was no great moral flaw, such as we find in the life of David; but there was a want of perfect openness, frankness, generosity, in carrying out his aims. And yet, to such a soul, God in His goodness came—and came quietly—and comforted him with the assurance of His presence and of His love—nay, of His companionship and of His abundant blessing.
I. In what does the treasure of God’s companionship consist? It consists: (1) in the consciousness of God’s personality; (2) in the precious possessions He gives us—love, reason, conscience, will. To our conscience new light is given; to our love new spheres are open; our will receives new strength from the new example of His love and grace.
II. While these faculties are taken up the companionship of God becomes a reality of our daily life and our "exceeding great reward." And then, besides, and with all this, we have the consciousness of communion with the Incarnate Word—"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever"; we know what to do and where to find Him. In this life we are to walk by faith. Our capacities are not intended to be satisfied here, but they shall be satisfied hereafter.
Bishop King, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 193.
There are two very observable facts which may be gathered from the joint study of the Bible and our own hearts. The first is, that we are prone to distrust the promises of God though we know Him to be unchangeable; the second is, that God so condescends to our weakness that He reduplicates His pledges, in order, as it were, to compel us into confidence.
I. God speaks to His people of sin blotted out; He speaks of the thorough reconciliation which Christ has effected between Himself and the sinner; He speaks of His presence as accompanying the pilgrim through the wilderness; of His grace as sufficient for every trial which may or can be encountered. The things of which God speaks to His people spread themselves through the whole of the unmeasured hereafter, and it must follow that the pledge of our not being left until the things spoken of are done is tantamount to an assurance that we shall never be left and never forsaken.
II. The text is thus a kind of mighty guarantee, giving such a force to every declaration of God, that nothing but an unbelief the most obstinate can find ground for doubt or perplexity. It does not stand by itself, but comes in as an auxiliary in declaring God’s glorious intention. It is a provision against human faithlessness, words which may well be urged when a man is tempted with the thought that, after all, a thing spoken of is not a thing done, and which bid him throw from him the thought that God is not bound to perform whatever He has promised.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1921.
These words teach us: (1) that God has a plan or scheme of life for every one of us, and that His purposes embrace every part of that plan; (2) that no words of God about our life will be left unfulfilled; (3) that there is no unfinished life. The promise is a promise of presence, intercourse, and fellowship.
S. Martin, Comfort in Trouble, p. 181.
Reference: Gen 28:15.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1630.
Gen 28:16
At Bethel Jacob gained the knowledge for himself of the real presence of a personal God. He felt that he a person, he a true living being, he a reasonable soul, stood indeed before an infinite but still a true personal being—before the Lord Almighty. Then it was that the patriarch entered into the greatness of his calling, and felt for himself the true blessedness of his inheritance.
I. This living sense of God’s presence with us is a leading feature of the character of all His saints under every dispensation. This is the purpose of all God’s dealings with every child of Adam—to reveal Himself to them and in them. He kindles desires after Himself; He helps and strengthens the wayward will; He broods with a loving energy over the soul; He will save us if we will be saved. All God’s saints learn how near He is to them, and they rejoice to learn it. They learn to delight themselves in the Lord—He gives them their hearts’ desire.
II. Notice, secondly, how this blessing is bestowed on us. For around us, as around David, only far more abundantly, are appointed outward means, whereby God intends to reveal Himself to the soul. This is the true character of every ordinance of the Church: all are living means of His appointment, whereby He reveals Himself to those who thirst after Him. We use these means aright when through them we seek after God. Their abuse consists either in carelessly neglecting these outward things or in prizing them for themselves and so resting in them, by which abuse they are turned into especial curses.
S. Wilberforce, Sermons, p. 66.
References: Gen 28:16.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii., No. 401; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 548. Gen 28:16, Gen 28:17.—J. B. Mozley, Parochial and Occasional Sermons, p. 28; W. F. Hook, Sermons on Various Subjects, p. 152; Archbishop Thomson, Life in the Light of God’s Word, p. 143. Gen 28:16-22.—R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. ii., p. 10.
Gen 28:17
I. It must have been the freshness of Jacob’s sense of recent sin that made a spot so peaceful and so blessed seem to him a "dreadful" place. Everything takes its character from the conscience. Even a Bethel was awful, and the ladder of angels terrible, to a man who had just been deceiving his father and robbing his brother. The gates of our heaven are the places of our dread.
II. Strange and paradoxical as is this union of the sense of beauty, holiness, and fear, there are seasons in every man’s life when it is the sign of a right state of mind. There is a shudder at sanctity which is a true mark of life. The danger of the want of reverence is far greater than the peril of its excess. Very few, in these light and levelling days, are too reverent The characteristic of the age is its absence.
III. Our churches stand among us to teach reverence. There are degrees of God’s presence. He fills all space, but in certain spots He gives Himself or reveals Himself, and therefore we say He is there more than in other places. A church is such a place. To those who use it rightly it may be a "gate of heaven."
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 9th series, p. 81.
References: Gen 28:18.—Expositor, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 169, and vol. vii., p. 66, Gen 28:19.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 108.
Gen 28:20-22
Jacob and Esau are very like men that we meet every day—commonplace, ordinary men, neither of them distinguished in character or ability. They were children of a weak father and of a crafty mother. Neither of them has any special religiousness. In the case of Esau the sensuous half of the man is all that could be desired, the spiritual half is altogether wanting. The natural half of Jacob’s character is far less noble than that of Esau, but there were also in him certain religious susceptibilities—a religious imagination and sentiment and personal purity—which constituted the possibility of religious development. The difference between them is the difference between the good things in a bad man and the bad things in a good man, with their contrasted issues. Both of these youths began with the somewhat feeble religiousness of Isaac’s tent. It took no hold upon Esau the profane, and he became Edom. It did take some hold upon Jacob the crafty, and he became Israel.
I. The night at Bethel was clearly a crisis in Jacob’s religious character. He lay down a desolate, smitten, remorseful lad; the swift retribution of his sin had overtaken him. His vision was a revelation of the spiritual world and a teaching of the vital connection of God’s providence with our human life. A wanderer of whom no human eye took cognisance, he was still under the eye of God; an exile for whom no one cared, God’s angels ministered to him. Like Peter, his fall had been the means of his rising to a new spiritual life.
II. And then Jacob vowed his vow. It sounds somewhat carnal and bargain-making, but I do not think it was. Jacob simply takes up the words which God had spoken to him. They were the ideas of his day: he would be devout and benevolent, serve God and man according to his opportunity. He would offer to God all that he could offer. His history is a great parabolic lesson for young men—not in its details of wrong-doing and remorse, but in its departure from home, in the loneliness of a new life, and in its new sense of God and consecration to Him.
H. ALLON, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 60.
Reference: Gen 28:20-22.—W. Bull, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxii., p. 100.
Genesis 28
I. If there be little poetic or romantic charm in the history of Isaac, what a wealth of it there is in that of Jacob! A double deceit, followed by banishment from his country; this expulsion relieved and brightened, first by a glorious vision and then by unexampled prosperity in the strange land whither he had gone; long toils, travails, disappointments, and quarrels; and, at last, light at eventime in Egypt, and the spirit of prophecy resting upon his soul. Jacob’s love for Rachel is the most pleasing trait in his character, as the prophecy from his deathbed is the most sublime.
II. The story of Joseph has often and truly been called a romantic one, as marvellous as anything in the "Arabian Nights," and yet alive all over with truth and nature. It combines the charms of the most finished fiction and of the simplest truth. It is at once the strangest and the most likely of stories. The character of Joseph, so mild, yet so determined, so wise and so affectionate, yet so astute and pious, develops before you as naturally as a bud into a flower or a slip into a tree. The subordinate characters in this drama of life are all drawn by brief but most powerful strokes, from the wife of Potiphar with her mock cry, to the chief butler with his tardy admission, "I do remember my faults this day"; from the kindness of Reuben to the cruelty of Simeon; from the tenderness of Benjamin to the pleading eloquence of the repentant Judah.
III. From the history of Jacob and Joseph we may gather these additional thoughts. (1) Let us learn to admire even the eddies of life, and to respect even the weaker members of the Church of God (Isaac). (2) Sometimes, though seldom, policy and piety are found in the same character (Jacob). (3) Let us rejoice that, even in this world of dull injustice and leaden law, there are again and again opened up to aspiring spirits sudden opportunities of rising, like Jacob’s ladder stretched along the sky. (4) Let us remember that we, too, in our turn, must be gathered, like the patriarchs, to our fathers.
G. Gilfillan, Alpha and Omega, vol. ii., p. 21.
References: Gen 28.—F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 101; M. Dods, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph; Old Testament Outlines, pp. 13, 16, 18; Wells, Bible Children, p. 43. Gen 29.—Expositor, 2nd series, vol. vi., p. 267; F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 110; R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. ii., pp. 17, 28, 36. Gen 29:20.—W. Meller, Village Homilies, p. 142. Gen 29:26.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 321. Gen 29-31.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 539; Parker, vol. i., p. 280.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Jacob Departs for Padan-aram. His Dream at Bethel
Jacob Departs for Padan-aram. His Dream at Bethel
1-4. Isaac bids Jacob seek one of the daughters of his uncle Laban in marriage, and assures him that the blessings and promises bestowed on Abraham should fall to him as heir.
Read full note →
6-9. Esau's marriage, though well meant, was only a union with the seed of the Egyptian bondservant, and therefore not one of the pure Hebrew race.
10. After journeying for some days, Jacob reaches the district in the mountains of Ephraim, where Abraham had rested, when entering Canaan, and built an altar (Gen_12:8). The strata of limestone rock, of which the hills around are composed, take the form of steps rising above each other, and we can well believe that as Jacob lay down to rest, their form lent shape to the vision which followed. In his dream he sees a ladder, or, rather, a 'staircase,' uniting earth and heaven, and on it angelie messengers ascending and descending. Doubtless this was to assure him that, although he was in distress and fleeing for his life, he was yet the object of God's love and care. He was to learn that all that should happen to him in the future was a part of the working out of the divine providence. Our Lord alludes to this passage in Joh_1:51.
16. Jacob perceives that, though he has left his father's home at Beer-sheba, his father's God is still watching over him. In these early days the idea of Jehovah as the God of the universe, and not of the nation only, was not realised: cp. Jdg_11:23, Jdg_11:24.
18. The stone] Jacob set up the stone as marking the spot hallowed by God's presence, and consecrated it by pouring oil upon it. On his return to Palestine (Genesis 35) he set up an altar by it in fulfilment of his vow in this chapter The belief that a stone or pillar was the abode of deity was common among primitive peoples. The stone which Jacob set up was the symbol of the presence of the divine spirit, which he probably believed to be in some way connected with it, seeing that he called the stone 'God's house.' Jacob shared the beliefs of his age, and his idea of God, like his character, was only gradually purified. In consequence of the abuse of these sacred stones in the worship of the Canaanites, their erection was forbidden by the Law; cp. Lev_26:1, where 'standing image' should be rendered 'pillar' or 'obelisk,' also Deu_12:3. There is a well-known tradition that Jacob's stone was brought in after ages to Scotland, and finally placed under the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. But the fact that 'all the rock at Bethel is limestone, whereas the stone in the Abbey is common granite' (Harper), removes any foundation for the legend.
19. Bethel] 'the house of God.' In the period of the Judges, Bethel became the chief religious centre of the northern tribes. The ark was stationed there (Jdg_20:18); it was frequented as a place for sacrifice, and for consuiting the divine oracle (Jdg_20:18, Jdg_20:26 RV). Under Jeroboam I it became the religious capital of the Northern Kingdom. Here and at Dan the golden calves were set up (1 Kings 12). Under Jeroboam II the sanctuary reached the summit of its renown, but the worship was corrupt, and was denounced by Amos and Hosea: see Amo_3:14; Amo_4:4; Hos_10:15 RV.
19. Luz] an old Canaanite city, afterwards called Bethel because of its proximity to that sanctuary.
20-22. The first vow mentioned in Scripture. Jacob vows that in return for God's protecting care, if he is spared to return, he will regard this stone as a holy spot, and set apart a tithe of all he gains to religious purposes. In Amo_4:4 it is said that it was customary to pay tithes at Bethel, a practice based perhaps on this occurrence.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v1 life Gen 26:34; Gen 26:35.
life Gen 26:34; Gen 26:35.
Heth was ancestor of the Hittites.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTER 28 Jacob’s Departure to Padan-Aram and His Vision
CHAPTER 28 Jacob’s Departure to Padan-Aram and His Vision
1. Isaac sends Jacob away and gives his blessing (Gen 28:1-5)
Read full note →
2. Esau’s action (Gen 28:6-9)
3. Jacob’s vision and vow (Gen 28:10-22)
We enter with this upon the interesting wanderings of the third patriarch, Jacob. God was pleased to reveal Himself to the three illustrious men, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as He did not before. In Exo 3:4-15 Jehovah reveals Himself to Moses and Jehovah calls Himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. This is My name forever.” In Abraham, as we have seen, we have the type of the Father; in Isaac the type of the Son and now in Jacob we shall find the type of the work of the Holy Spirit. Jacob in his history foreshadows the history of Jacob’s sons.
Jacob’s departure stands for Israel’s expulsion from their own land to begin their wanderings and suffering, till they are brought back again to the land sworn to the heads of the nation. In the chastening which passed over him we see God’s governmental dealings with Israel.
The vision at Bethel is mentioned by our Lord in Joh 1:51. The Jehovah who stood above the ladder Jacob saw is the same who spoke to Nathaniel, “Hereafter ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” It is the vision of the future. Jehovah in that vision gave the promise of the land to Jacob and told him that his seed shall be as the dust of the earth. Notice while to Isaac the promise is of a heavenly seed to Jacob a seed as the stars of heaven is not mentioned. Still more was promised to Jacob. Read Gen 28:15. “I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee about.” Here again is Sovereign Mercy. What did Jacob do to merit all this? Why should God meet him thus? Did he think of the Lord and call on Him for mercy before he slept on the stone? Nothing whatever. And Jehovah kept His promise and did all He had promised. “I will not leave thee” is a repeated promise. See Deu 31:6; Jos 1:5; 1Ch 28:20; Heb 13:5-6. “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God” (Psa 146:5). And He is our God and our Lord and in His grace keeps and leads us and does all He has promised. Thus God met Jacob at Bethel (the house of God), assured him of His watching care over him and of a return home in peace. Though Israel is now nationally set aside and they are dispersed, yet God watches over them, keeps them and will lead them back in his own time.
The ridiculous claim that “the coronation stone” in London is the stone upon which Jacob slept needs no refutation. Leading geologists declare unanimously that this stone did not come from Palestine.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 Jacob Dismissed in Peace
Jacob Dismissed in Peace
v. 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. What Rebekah had planned came to pass; Isaac saw the point of her objection and took the hint given in her words. Isaac formally called Jacob, welcomed him with all kindness, and then gave him the definite command not to marry a Canaanitish woman.
Read full note →
v. 2. Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban, thy mother’s brother. There was evidently some, at least occasional, communication between the two families of relatives, since Isaac knew of the daughters of Laban.
v. 3. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
v. 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. The words of Isaac unmistakably point to the fact that he now openly recognized Jacob as the chosen heir. The consciousness of his patriarchal calling was awakened in him, and he had the strength to give the blessing of Abraham, which included the Messianic promise, to the son whom he would have rejected, but whom God had chosen.
v. 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. Bethuel had by this time either died or was no longer actively engaged in business, therefore Laban, Jacob’s uncle, is spoken of as the head of the household.
v. 6. When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, thus openly acknowledging him as the bearer of the patriarchal blessing, 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 daughters of Canaan;
v. 7. and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;
v. 8. and Esau, seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac, his father, literally, were evil in his eyes;
v. 9. then went Esau unto Ishmael, that is, to the house of Ishmael, the father himself having been dead more than twelve years, and took unto, in addition to, the wives which he had Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife. This woman, Gen 36:2, is called Bashemath, and she was called the sister of Nebajoth, because he was her oldest brother. Esau probably intended to regain the full regard of his father by this act, since this third wife was a descendant of Abraham, but merely betrayed his utter lack of understanding, so far as the relation of the patriarchs to the prophecies of the Lord with regard to the possession of this land was concerned, for Ishmael and his children were not to be heirs with the son of Sarah.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 You must not take
You must not take
"Do not take"
Read full note →
Arise, go
"Go right away"
Paddan Aram
This was another name for the region of Mesopotamia, which about the same location as modern Iraq. See how this was translated in Genesis 25:20. (See: How to Translate Names)
house of
This refers to a person's descendants or other relatives. AT: "family" (See: Metonymy)
Bethuel
Bethuel was Rebekah's father. See how you translated this name in Genesis 22:22. (See: How to Translate Names)
your mother's father
"your grandfather"
one of the daughters
"from the daughters"
your mother's brother
"your uncle"
translationWords
Isaac
Jacob
bless
command
Canaan
Paddan Aram
house
Bethuel
Laban
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 28:1-2 Isaac remained in the land, but Jacob had…
28:1-2 Isaac remained in the land, but Jacob had to leave it. God would deal with Jacob under the hand of Laban, his uncle (see study note on 29:1–31:55). • Believers in any age must remain spiritually pure by marrying other believers (2 Cor 6:14-18). The Canaanite people incorporated dozens of groups and clans into their society and religion by wars, treaties, and marriages (see Gen 34:20-23). Abraham’s family was to resist such mixing (cp. 24:3; ch 34); they were to marry within their clan to maintain the purity of the line and of the faith that identified them as the chosen seed. The surest way to lose their distinctiveness was to intermarry with people of other tribal backgrounds and beliefs (see Ezra 9–10; Neh 13:23-29).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.