1 JACOB S DREAM AT BETHEL GENESIS 28:1-22
2 Text: Genesis 28:1-22, JACOB S DREAM AT BETHEL 1. So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, You must not marry a Canaanite woman! 2. Leave immediately for Paddan Aram! Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother s father, and find yourself a wife there, among the daughters of Laban, your mother s brother. 3. May the sovereign God bless you! May he make you fruitful and give you a multitude of descendants! Then you will become a large nation. 4. May he give you and your descendants the blessing he gave to Abraham so that you may possess the land God gave to Abraham, the land where you have been living as a temporary resident. 5. So Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. 6. Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him off to Paddan Aram to find a wife there. As he blessed him, Isaac commanded him, You must not marry a Canaanite woman. 7. Jacob obeyed his father and mother and left for Paddan Aram. 8. Then Esau realized that the Canaanite women were displeasing to his father Isaac. 9. So Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abraham s son Ishmael, along with the wives he already had. 10. Meanwhile Jacob left Beer Sheba and set out for Haran. 11. He reached a certain place where he decided to camp because the sun
3 had gone down. He took one of the stones and placed it near his head. Then he fell asleep in that place 12. and had a dream. He saw a stairway erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it 13. and the Lord stood at its top. He said, I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the ground you are lying on. 14. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using your name and that of your descendants. 15. I am with you! I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you! 16. Then Jacob woke up and thought, Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not realize it! 17. He was afraid and said, What an awesome place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven! 18. Early in the morning Jacob took the stone he had placed near his head and set it up as a sacred stone. Then he poured oil on top of it. 19. He called that place Bethel, although the former name of the town was Luz. 20. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear, 21. and I return safely to my father s home, then the Lord will become my God. 22. Then this stone that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely give you back a tenth of everything you give me. (NET)
4 Commentary: The early life of a person is God s way of shaping His children even before they have entered into a relationship with Him. In Genesis 28 we see that Isaac called Jacob and gave him a blessing. He encouraged him not to marry any of the Canaanite women. He though he was sending him to Bethuel to find a wife. Jacob actually went to escape the wrath of his brother, Esau. Isaac prayed that the All-Powerful God would bless Jacob with many descendants and build a great nation from him. He also passed on the land promise that God had made to Abraham. He wanted them to take over the land in which they had lived as strangers. When Esau saw that his brother s actions pleased his parents he married Ishmael s daughter Mahalath. Esau married his father's niece; Jacob married his mother's niece. It was in an effort to please his parents that Esau took this additional wife. Jacob left quickly on his way to Haran. As he slept on a rock he dreamed and saw a ladder that reached from earth to heaven. God s angels were going up and down the ladder and the Lord was standing at the top of the ladder. Here for the first time God passed on to Jacob the promises that had been given to Abraham and to Isaac. He 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. (Genesis 28:13-15) When Jacob awoke he felt fearful. He said, The Lord is in this place, and I did not even know it. This is a fearsome place! It must be the house of God and the ladder to heaven. When Jacob arose he worshipped God and renamed the place Bethel. Before that it had been named Luz. During the worship Jacob promised to give God a tenth
5 of everything He gave to him. Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him away -- Genesis 28:1-5: Jacob needed to know that he was a part of the redemptive plan of God. So it was important for Isaac to bless him and teach him more. He needed to understand what God wanted him to do and not to do. Life would not always be easy for Jacob; he would need God s blessings to keep moving forward. One of the things that Jacob was told was that he should not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Abraham sent a servant to find a wife for Isaac, but Jacob was sent to find his own wife. Isaac said that Jacob should marry one of the daughters of Laban, his mother s brother. Isaac sent Jacob to marry his cousin. Isaac prayed that God Almighty would bless Jacob with many descendants and He would bless him to become a great nation. Jacob had 12 sons and his descendants did become a great nation. The promises that God had made to Abraham and Isaac were fulfilled through Jacob s descendants. After completing the blessing Isaac sent Jacob to stay with Rebekah s brother Laban. When Jacob left for Padanaram this was likely the last time Rebekah saw her favorite son! Esau married the daughter of Ishmael -- Genesis 28:6-9: Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padanaram. Isaac had sent him there to find a wife, and as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Esau had no understanding of God s plan. He tried to please his parents by marrying another wife; this time Esau went unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife. Now there were two problems with Esau s marriage, (1) He still had the Canaanite wives, and (2) God had not chosen Ishmael so to marry one of his descendants would not be a part of God s plan. Jacob s dream at Bethel -- Genesis 28:10-15: When Jacob left Beersheba and started out for Haran he had very few earthly goods, but he had something
6 far better; he had received the blessing of God. He was alone from an earthly standpoint. He had no friends and no family with him. At sunset he stopped for the night and went to sleep. He slept outside and used a stone as his pillow. In a dream he saw a ladder that reached from earth to heaven, and God s angels were going up and down on it. This was God s way of showing Jacob that he was near him. With this ladder to heaven God showed to Jacob that He was really blessing him. Even though Jacob used the wrong method to try to get it he really wanted God s blessing. Here God restated His promises to Jacob and his descendants. 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. (Genesis 28:13-14) God promised to watch over Jacob and to bring him back to this land. Later the idea of heaven being open and angels going up and down was used to identify Jesus as our way from earth to heaven. And he saith unto him, 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. (John 1:51) The Lord is in this place -- Genesis 28:16-22: When Jacob awoke out of his sleep he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. In fear and awe Jacob said, This is a fearsome place! It must be the house of God and the ladder to heaven. Jacob stood in awe because in his dream he had seen God who promised great things to him. Jacob realized how small man is when compared with the greatness of our Almighty God. The next morning Jacob took the rock that he had used for a pillow and set it up and poured olive oil on the rock to dedicate it to God. This way he could be reminded of, (1) How great God is, and (2) Of the exact place where this event took place. Jacob called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. Bethel means the house of God. Jacob promised that he would
7 faithfully serve God as God blessed him. At that time Jacob had nothing to give! But he believed that God would bless him. He promised God, of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Jacob promised to give with gladness to God. God has also given so much to us. In like manner He expects us to give with gladness. God has given us direct and certain instruction concerning acceptable giving. He taught concerning both the manner and the amount to be given. God is a giver and He expects His children to give. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) The cheerful giver opens his life to many blessings from God. "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." (Luke 6:38) Let us learn to give with gladness! Giving is a very vital part of the life of any person who would serve God. Let us, like Jacob, resolve that we will give at least a tenth of everything we are blessed with to God. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:8-10) To become a Christian hear the word (Romans 10:17), believe in Jesus (John 8:24), repent of sins (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9-10) and be baptized into Christ. (Galatians 3:26-27) Resolve to be righteous and live for and with the Savior so you will be prepared to die. By Charles Box, Walnut Street Church of Christ, 306 Walnut Street.
8 Greenville, Alabama, 36037 USA
9 Questions on Genesis 28 1. Did Isaac agree with Rebekah that Jacob must not marry a Canaanite woman? 2. Isaac instructed Jacob to find a wife among the daughters of 3. How was this journey different from the time Rebekah was chosen for Isaac? 4. Isaac blessed Jacob before he left. What other blessing did this blessing resemble?
10 5. Did this blessing come to fruition? 6. What did Esau overhear that made him decide to take another wife? Why did Esau decide to marry his cousin? Whom did Esau marry?
11 7. Did Esau s marriage to his cousin change or alter God s plan for him? 8. Describe the revelation Jacob received as he slept. 9. What did the ladder and angels in this revelation represent? 10. Jacob awoke in amazement and fear. He gave the location a new name to memorialize the dream. What was the name and its meaning?
12 11. Jacob made a vow to God to give him one tenth of his wealth. This is reminiscent of what previous event recorded in Genesis?