GENESIS

Notes on Genesis 28

• Genesis 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.
• 2 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.

Isaac got his wife from this place so it seemed good to him for Jacob to go and get a wife also. I do notice that if there was any reprimanding done by Isaac to Jacob for what he had done, the bible does not record it. Perhaps Rebecca might have told Isaac of God's promise to her when she was carrying the twins in her womb.

Isaac had power with God for after he gave the blessing, he could not even take it back. Perhaps it was then that he realized the will of God and did not correct his son in the matter.

We are all still learning and so am I as I share the word online. Sometimes we may miss something the first time around and grasp it correctly on down the road as we learn.

• Genesis 28:3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
• 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.

Surely we see from this verse that it is possible that Isaac did come to recognize the blessing of God was to be for Jacob as opposed to Esau. It seems as if his favoritism to Esau might have hindered him from seeing God's will before, plus the fact that inheritances usually went to the firstborn. It is possible for the most spiritual among us to be blinded to God's will when our own desires or religious tradition block our view.

• Genesis 28:5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
• 6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-aram, 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;
• 7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padan-aram;
• 8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;
• 9 Then went Esau 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.

Well, two wrongs do not make a right. It seems as if Esau is trying please his parents in taking another wife. I wonder how the first wife felt about that. Our thinking today is so different. Women have more of a voice in matters today. I give credit to Jesus Christ for that.

• Genesis 28:10 And Jacob went out from Beer-Sheba, and went toward Haran.
• 11 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.
• 12 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.
• 13 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;
• 14 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.
• 15 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.

Wow. God comes just at the right time. Jacob was probably lonely and feeling kind of blue at having to leave home. He was probably feeling guilty for the way he tricked his father. God reinforced the words he spoke to Abraham, then to Isaac and now to Jacob. There is nothing in heaven and earth that will change this. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Sure Israel was judged many times for their sins and lost the land promised to them but the promise that a remnant will be saved in the end is still true. The promise that the whole earth will be blessed from Israel is true and was fulfilled only in part by the first coming of the Messiah to die for the sins of all. It will be fulfilled in full at the second coming of Jesus.

• Genesis 28:16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.
• 17 And 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. I know it seems strange to refer to the presence of God as dreadful. This is similar to what Abraham felt:

This is similar to how God had spoken to his grandfather Abraham here:

• Genesis 15:12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.
• 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
• 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
• 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
• 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
• 17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
• 18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

The presence of God can either bring joy or a sense of foreboding. There is comfort but also warnings that come from the Lord. Sometimes we may feel a burden to pray for someone who needs prayer. We need to be careful not to think we have to go around and be happy all the time. God was warning Abraham that his children would be slaves in Egypt. Perhaps Jacob was called to repentance. The presence of the Lord can bring joy but also fear. I'm only speculating here about this feeling of dread by Jacob, but yet we see God's promise to Abraham still stands and is standing today. God does bring us hope but also warning. For sure though God loves us more than we can imagine.

• Genesis 28:18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
• 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
• 20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
• 21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:

Now we see more clearly that Jacob must have felt a little homesick and scared. He promises a tenth to the Lord and desired to return to his father's house in peace. He did not enjoy the rift between him and Esau. He must have really felt bad here. Notice that God visits when he was at his lowest point.

• Genesis 28:22 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.

It is not stated how he was planning to give this tenth. There was no Leviticus priesthood yet. Perhaps he gave to the poor. There must have been some way to give this tenth. Notice also that this was a freewill vow to the Lord. There was no commandment given to Jacob to do this. The church did not exist so it couldn't have been to any church or synagogue. There were religions of idolatry and idol temples in that day but I'm sure he wouldn't have given to them.

God did not command these tithes that Jacob promised. The law was not yet given to Moses. It seems to me though that Jacob was offering to give to God if God would bless him first. Of course we really can't give until we have something to give. I sort of think that he was going to give to the poor who did not have anything. Then too, perhaps this tithe was an offering similar to the one Abel gave when he gave a sacrifice to God from the best of his flock. Whatever it was, God did not ask for it but it came from Jacob's thoughts and a desire to start worshipping God. Perhaps this is the type of offering God desires from us. It was freewill, God did not require it and it was from the heart, not by the commandments of man.

I know we can't really appreciate God until we are changed by His spirit and get to know who He is. The Holy Spirit is the one that draws us to repentance and faith in Jesus. We have the power to accept or reject Jesus. After we receive Jesus and believe His word fully, we can then learn to serve God because we love Him and not because we are afraid of a curse if we don't . We can then give to the work of God or to the poor because we love Him and not because we are afraid of any curse or because people may think badly of us if we don't give. It is actually fun to give when we give because we love the work of God.

While it may be true that if we see people starving around us while we ourselves are full, or we see our pastor lacking sufficient means of support while we fair well, there is definitely something lacking in us; at the same time to see rich ministers of God who fleece the flock while those in their congregations are barely able to survive is also equally wrong. The rich have more of a responsibility but I do believe that all giving should be done by the heart.

We are blessed of God when we give. True blessing of God though is spiritual, not always material. Material blessings are not a sure sign of God's favor. There are rich people who do not even believe in God. The real blessings are spiritual and living close to our savior and doing His will brings the blessings that count now and for eternity. People think of God's blessings in terms of money and success in business.

When I was growing up in the Church of God, being blessed by God was not thought of as material things. The blessings we were taught to seek were the spiritual. Most of Church of God families were poor from West Virginia and North Carolina. Seeking riches was unheard of by those who sought out a deeper walk with God. We miss out on so much by focusing on the things of this life. Jesus told us to seek the real riches. The stuff we think or as riches are going to pass away quickly. DC

Genesis 29