2. Jacob Meets God (Genesis 27:41-28:22)
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
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James J. Tissot, "Jacob's Dream" (c.
1896-1902), gouache on board, Jewish Museum, New York. |
Every action we take, for good or for bad, has a
reaction. The reaction to Jacob's deceit is enmity with his brother Esau. It
doesn't matter that Jacob's sin led to a fulfillment of the will of God,
there is still a reaction.
"Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of
the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, ‘The days of
mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.'"
(27:41)
Fortunately for Jacob, Isaac lives another 44
years or so. But Esau's sin of murder in his heart is yet another occasion
to move Jacob into the center of God's will for him, to find him wives in
Haran who will bear the 12 sons, whose descendants will constitute the 12
tribes of Israel. Strange, how God can work out his will through sin, in
spite of sin! This is a mystery to us.
Yet, here it is. Esau bears a grudge and because of
this grudge begins to speak about his intentions to others. Note: first he
says it to himself (27:41), but soon he is saying it to others (27:42). Out
of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
"42 When Rebekah was told what her
older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him,
‘Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you.
43 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother
Laban in Haran. 44 Stay with him for a while until your brother's
fury subsides. 45 When your brother is no longer angry with you
and forgets what you did to him, I'll send word for you to come back from
there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?'" (27:42-45)
Rebekah overhears what Esau is plotting against her
favorite son, and summons Jacob. "Flee at once," is her command. Is running
from our enemies ever an answer? Sometimes. On a number of occasions when
Jesus' enemies sought to arrest him or stone him, he just slipped away in
the crowd (Luke 4:30; John 8:59; 10:39). Jesus had a mission to complete,
and showdowns with his enemies did not suit this mission. Too often, our ego
is so involved that we refuse to avoid conflicts which would distract us
from our primary task. Jacob's primary task -- from God's perspective
-- is to
become a man of God and to raise a big family. He can do that better in
Haran than he could with the Canaanite women in Palestine at the time. So
Esau's threat becomes the impetus for change.
Esau had married two wives from among the local heathen
tribes populating Palestine at that time, the Hittites.
"When Esau was forty years old, he married
Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the
Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah."
(26:34-35).
We aren't told the source of the conflict, but it is,
no doubt, partly cultural. Rebekah has been raised in a nomadic tribe
hundreds of miles away in Haran (Paddan Aram), north of the Euphrates River.
The Hittites lived in houses and cities, and had different values. Probably
Esau had brought his wives to live in the family encampment near Beersheba
(26:23, 33). "We hate living in tents," they may have complained. "Things
used to be better in our home cities." Complain, complain, complain. Major
in-law conflicts result from this cross-cultural marriage.
Not that Rebekah's family have been faithful followers
of Yahweh, the God of Abraham. They possess household idols and are probably
moon worshippers (31:19; Joshua 24:2, 15; see the Introduction). Apparently
God preferred converting people from this distortion of true worship, than
from the distortions practiced by the Canaanites. If the Israelites'
religion were too close to that of the tribes of Canaan, the Israelites
would be more tempted than ever to assimilate heathen practices into their
worship.
Esau has two wives. Eventually, Jacob acquires two
wives and two concubines. Today Muslims allow up to four wives, if the
husband is wealthy enough to support them. In the ancient Near East, having
a number of wives was considered a mark of wealth and power. David had six
wives, plus a number of concubines. Solomon had more than 1,000 wives and
concubines (and he was considered wise!). But these multiple-wife households
were full of problems of jealousy and favoritism, as we will see as our
story unfolds. The Bible doesn't seek to justify polygamy, only report it.
What are we as Christians to think about polygamy? "In
the beginning it was not so," said Jesus (Matthew 19:8b). He taught:
"At the beginning the Creator ‘made them male
and female,' and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and
mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.'
So they are no longer two, but one." (Matthew 19:4-6, quoting Genesis
2:24)
Monogamy is God's ideal, the righteous standard. But
perhaps due to the hardness of men's hearts (Matthew 19:8), God allowed
polygamy for a time. Certainly by the mid-first century AD, the Christian
standard was "the husband of but one wife" (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6). This
is still an issue in Africa, where, in many cultures, polygamy has been
practiced for many generations. Typically, by the second generation of
Christians in a believing family, polygamy is no longer practiced.
Rebekah is the master manipulator. She knows how to get
her way -- with Isaac, with Esau, and with Jacob. She says to Isaac:
"I'm disgusted with living because of these
Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from
Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living." (27:46)
Isaac, too, has suffered from having Esau's wives
around (26:35). He takes action:
"So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and
commanded him: ‘Do not marry a Canaanite woman. Go at once to Paddan Aram,
to the house of your mother's father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself
there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother." (28:1-2)
Now, Jacob can flee Esau with an excuse and with his
father's blessing. Esau, too, hears of his father's wishes regarding a
non-Hittite wife for Jacob, so Esau finds a descendent of Abraham -- Mahalath, Ishmael's daughter
-- and marries her as a third wife, in order to
try to please his father (28:6-9).
In spite of Jacob openly deceiving his father, Isaac
still loves him and blesses him generously as he departs. Perhaps Isaac is
finally beginning to see that Jacob is indeed the son through whom God's
promise to Abraham will be fulfilled. And so he speaks over Jacob the
ancient blessing of Abraham:
"3 May God Almighty bless you and
make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of
peoples. 4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing
given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now
live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham." (28:3-4)
Look carefully at the blessing, for it is a central
theme of both the Old Testament and the New. This is the same blessing that
God gave Abraham more than a century before Jacob's departure for Haran. In
the chart below you can see the various forms of this blessing. There are at
least three elements woven again and again through these blessings:
- Fruitfulness -- numerous descendants,
- Land -- the land of Canaan, and
- World -- the nations of the world will be blessed.
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Descendants |
Land |
Blessing
of nations |
|
God to Abraham in Haran (12:2-3) |
x |
|
x |
|
God to Abraham at Hebron (15:1-21) |
x |
x |
|
|
God to Abraham at Hebron (17:1-21) |
x |
x |
|
|
God to Abraham at Hebron (18:17) |
x |
|
x |
|
God to Abraham at Mt. Moriah (22:15-18) |
x |
|
x |
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God to Isaac at Gerar (26:2-5) |
x |
x |
x |
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God to Isaac at Beersheba (26:24) |
x |
|
x |
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Isaac to Jacob at Beersheba (27:27-29) |
|
|
x |
|
Isaac to Jacob at Beersheba
(28:3-4) |
x |
x |
|
|
God to Jacob at Bethel (28:13-15) |
x |
x |
x |
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God to Jacob at Bethel (35:11-12) |
x |
x |
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This series of blessings introduces concepts that
anchor themselves in Genesis and carry on throughout the Bible: covenant
-- blessings and cursings, oaths and promises. We'll examine these more fully
in Lesson 7.
The blessing of Abraham is mentioned in the New
Testament also:
"[Christ] redeemed us in order that the
blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus,
so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." (Galatians
3:14)
"If you belong to Christ, then you are
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:29)
Paul's argument is that Jesus is the Seed of Abraham,
and if we belong to Jesus, then we, too, are descendants and heirs of
Abraham. So what of Abraham's promise is left for us to inherit?
- Land. Christ will reign on earth from Jerusalem, we are told.
- Descendants. For us, probably spiritual descendents are most
prominent.
- World. Abraham's spiritual descendents are the salt of the
earth who bring the message of Abraham's Seed -- the Messiah
-- to the world. We are to be a blessing to the world. Through us,
Christ's blessings are to flow out to others.
"Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went
to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah,
who was the mother of Jacob and Esau." (28:5)
"Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.
When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun
had set.... He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called
Luz." (28:10-11, 19)
Jacob leaves Isaac's tent in Beersheba, a desert town
in the extreme south of Palestine, and heads north to his uncle's home,
hundreds of miles away around the Fertile Crescent. He stops, perhaps the
second or third night, at a town called Luz (28:19).
"11 When he reached a certain
place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the
stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top
reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on
it." (28:11-12)
As he sleeps, he sees a vision of "Jacob's Ladder,"
angels ascending and descending a ladder or stairway1
to heaven itself, with the base of it resting near him -- the "gateway" of
heaven.
Then, in the dream, God himself appears to Jacob and
speaks.
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William Blake (1757-1827), "Jacob's Ladder"
(1800), watercolor, 37 x 29 cm, British Museum. |
"13b
I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.
I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth,
and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the
south.
All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I
will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done
what I have promised you." (28:13-15)
First, God identifies himself: "I am the LORD,
the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac" (28:13b).
Second, he renews the promise of inheritance of the
land of Canaan:
"I will give you and your descendants the land
on which you are lying." (28:13c)
Third, he promises a multitude of descendants:
"Your descendants will be like the dust of
the earth, and you will spread out2
to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south." (28:14a)
Fourth, he promises that Jacob and his offspring will
be a source of blessing to the entire world:
"All peoples on earth will be blessed through you
and your offspring." (28:14b)
As we've seen, these promises form the core of the
promises made to Abraham, renewed to Isaac, and then passed on to Jacob.
But he goes on to make personal promises to Jacob:
"I am with you and will watch over3
you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not
leave you until I have done what I have promised you." (28:15)
This doesn't mean that God will eventually leave him;
it means that God will be with him to fulfill the promise.
Jacob has received blessings from Isaac by deceit
(27:27-29) and then by Isaac's own will (28:1-4). But now he receives a
blessing directly from God which confirms to him, the third generation,
God's promises to Abraham. Jacob will never be the same.
Up until this time, we see little spiritual life in
Jacob, but when he awakes from his dream, he is profoundly moved. Something
in his life has fundamentally changed. His father's and grandfather's God
has just now become his own. Whereas, once he took what he wanted for
himself, now God becomes the One he lives for. This is Jacob's conversion.
"16 When Jacob awoke from his
sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the LORD
is in this place,4
and I was not aware of it.'" (28:16)
How many times in our lives we could say the same
thing. We are intent upon our own plans and we are surprised by God. He
makes himself known. We had no idea he was there.
Jacob probably doesn't understand God's omnipresence,
that God is everywhere. He lives in a society of local, tribal gods. He
probably believes that God is in sacred places, such as where his father or
grandfather have set up altars. And he has just begun to grasp the greatness
and awesomeness of the Creator God who made the heavens and earth. But for
now, his faith has just taken a big leap to see the Lord of Glory in this
humble place.
"He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this
place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of
heaven.'" (28:17)
He is frightened (yārēʾ).5
The word "awesome" (NIV, NRSV), "dreadful" (KJV) is also the verb
yārēʾ,
"to fear," but this time, in the Niphal stem. In this form the word is
"frequently used to describe things as ‘terrible,' ‘awesome,' or
‘terrifying.'"6
The phrase "house of God" in Hebrew is "Beth-el," the
name which he gives the city in verse 19. Beth-el is from bayit,
"house" + ʾel,
"God" ("El" is a shortened form of "Elohim.")
But Jacob sees more than just a "house" or dwelling in
his sudden new vision of God. This place, with angels ascending and
descending, is the "gate of heaven," the entrance7
to the majestic City of God. Jacob has had a mind-expanding glimpse of God's
infinite greatness.
The dream suddenly awakens Jacob. I doubt that he
sleeps much more that night. At first light, he takes action.
"18 Early the next morning Jacob
took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and
poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, though
the city used to be called Luz." (28:18-19)
He takes the stone at his head and sets it up as a
pillar (maṣṣēbâ), a stone standing upright, a commemorative stele,
from nāṣab, "to stand upright."
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Jacob sets up a stone to the Lord, unknown
illustrator. |
Hundreds of years later, after the tabernacle had been
built and the people settled in Canaan, such pillars were not allowed
(Deuteronomy 16:21). They were too easily confused with the heathen Baal
worship which occurred on the high places, in contrast to the true worship
of Yahweh.
But in Jacob's time, the setting up of such a
commemorative stele or pillar seemed an entirely appropriate way to honor
and remember God's revelation of himself in this place.8
Prior to this time, his father Isaac had led the family in worship of
Yahweh. But for the first time Jacob sets upright a stone of faith and
remembrance before the Lord. It is his way of placing himself, his life,
before the Lord. His father's God has become his own God now.
After Jacob sets up the stone, he pours on top of it
some of the precious oil he had taken with him for his journey. The practice
of anointing seemed to be involved with cleansing and consecrating to God.
Centuries later, kings, priests, and prophets were anointed for their
offices. Objects in the tabernacle were anointed with specially-formulated
anointing oil: altars, the tent of meeting, the ark, the laver and its
stand, and all objects relating to the altar.9
When Samuel anoints David as king over Israel, the scripture records, "from
that day on the Spirit of the LORD
came upon David in power" (1 Samuel 16:13). The words "Messiah" (Hebrew
māshîaḥ) and Christ (Greek christos) both mean "Anointed One."
Peter describes "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and
power...." (Acts 10:38).
So Jacob sets up the stone as an act of dedication of
himself in worship, a way of remembering God's presence in this place. He
anoints it as an act of cleansing and consecration, setting it -- and himself
-- apart for God.
But Jacob's act of commitment to Yahweh is not over
yet. It includes a vow.
"20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying,
‘If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking
and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I
return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God 22
and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and
of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.'" (28:20-22)
Here are the provisions of the vow. Notice the giant
"if" clauses:
- If God will be with me...
- If God will watch over (protect) me...
- If God will give me food and clothing...
- If God brings me safely again to my father's house ...
If God will do what he has promised, then Jacob
solemnly vows:
- Then Yahweh will be my God...
- Then this pillar will be God's house...
- Then I will give God a tenth of all God gives me
This may look like bargaining with God, but such was
the format of a formal vow in Jacob's time. Each party would state his rights and
obligations and formally make a vow to uphold the covenant. God
has made promises to him in the dream; now Jacob formally responds. Yahweh
has been his father's God, but now he vows that Yahweh (and Yahweh alone)
will be his own God. What was family tradition now becomes personal.
"Vow" is nēder, "the act of verbally
consecrating to (devoting to the service of) God, that is, vowing to
perform.... To bind one's self with what proceeds from one's mouth.10
Notice one consistent element of both God's promise and
Jacob's vow: return.11
"I will bring you back to this land."
(28:15b)
"... so that I return safely to my
father's house...." (28:21a)
God's purpose for Jacob is focused in Canaan, the land
that God had promised to Abraham and his descendents forever. However, the
present journey is not just a sidebar to Jacob's life. Sometimes we feel
like God may put us on a shelf, or that we're off on a siding, rather than
on the main track. We must be patient as God works out his purposes in our
lives. We can't always see God's purposes from our vantage point. We must
trust him. He will "bring us back" safely to that place he has for us.
"... Of all that you give me I will give you a
tenth." (28:22)
Why does Jacob promise to tithe, that is, give one
tenth of all that God gives him? His grandfather Abraham had tithed to
Melchizedek, king of (Jeru)salem and priest of the Most High God (14:18-20),
so there is some family tradition. But what does tithing mean in this
context?
Tithing was known outside of Israel in the Near East.
For example, we hear of tithing among the Egyptians, Syrians, Lydians,
Babylonians, Assyrians, and in Ugarit and Carthage. But these tithes were
not all religious; some were taxation by the king.12
We see an interesting passage in 1 Samuel 8, where the
Israelites demand that the aging prophet Samuel give them "a king to lead
us, such as all the other nations have"
(1 Samuel 8:5). The Lord tells Samuel, "It is not you they have rejected,
but they have rejected me as their king" (1 Samuel 8:7). So Samuel warns
them about what a king will require of them:
"... He will take a tenth of your grain and of
your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants...." (1 Samuel
8:15)
I believe that Jacob offering to tithe is his way
of accepting the Lord's kingship over him, an act of submission and fealty.
This would accord well with Israel's tithe after the
tabernacle was built, as well. If you study it, you'll see that the
tabernacle in the wilderness was built as a richly appointed portable palace
for Israel's invisible king. The Holy of Holies was the throne room, where
the Mercy Seat was over the Ark of the Covenant, the throne. The next room
was the Holy Place where the Levitical Priests attended the King, burning
incense on the golden Altar of Incense, keeping the Seven-Branched Lampstand
lit, and bringing fresh loaves for the Table of Showbread. The courtyard
which surrounded the Tabernacle formed a boundary of sacred ground in the
very midst of Israel's camp.
Tithes were collected from the people in order to
support the Levites who served the God in the tabernacle or temple.
"I give to the Levites all the tithes in
Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at
the Tent of Meeting." (Numbers 18:21)
Through the Prophet Malachi, God says that to
withhold the tithe is to rob God (Malachi 3:8). The tithe was not just an
offering to God, but his due.
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,
that there may be food in my house." (Malachi 3:10a)
So Jacob says:
"... Of all that you give me I will
give you a tenth." (28:22)
Jacob's faith is both that God will supply -- and
that the resources are ultimately God's. His tithe is a recognition of that.
My point is that Jacob's vow to tithe all that God
gives him is both a statement of faith that God will meet his needs, and a
vow of loyalty and submission to the Lord as his King and God. (When you ask
who Jacob ended up tithing to, however, I run out of answers.)
I believe that tithing for the Christian represents
something similar. We see ourselves as stewards of what actually belongs to
God. And the tithe of our income is a way of demonstrating our allegiance,
our love, and that we serve God rather than Money (Matthew 6:24).
Ultimately, tithing isn't about money but about
discipleship. Tithing is a powerful indicator to us that we trust God and
have committed our lives to him. And so it was for Jacob.
Q4. (Genesis 28:22) What does Jacob's
promise to tithe indicate about his commitment? Presumably, Jacob
has been a believer in Yahweh all his life. In what sense is this
incident at Bethel a conversion experience for him? What is the
relationship of tithing to conversion?
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At the beginning of our passage we see Jacob the
manipulator fleeing from his brother. But before he gets very far, he meets
God and his life is radically changed. He has heard about his father's God;
now he meets him. He had heard of the blessings of Abraham; now he has them
renewed to him by God himself. He has had a nebulous faith in his father's
God; now he commits himself in allegiance and submission to God as his King
and Lord. Jacob the Supplanter is converted.
Prayer
Lord God, thank you for your patient love that finds us
and calls us to yourself. I pray that my conversion to serve you might be
deep and lasting. I place myself before you as Jacob set up a stone in your
sight. I offer my tithe to you as a way of saying that I place myself under
you and give you my full allegiance and trust. I love you. In Jesus' name, I
pray. Amen.
Discipleship Lessons from the
Life of Jacob the Patriarch (Genesis 25-49)
Copyright © 1985-2012, Ralph F. Wilson. <pastor
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Christmas Incarnation
