Genesis 28

        Verses 1-5: Chapter 28 opens right where chapter 27 left off. After Rebekah asks Isaac to send Jacob away to Haran to find a wife from her brother’s family, Isaac calls Jacob unto him and does exactly that. Verses 3 and 4 are a continuation of the blessing which Isaac bestowed upon Jacob in the previous chapter. Isaac confirms to his son that the covenant God made with Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham, will now be fulfilled through Jacob’s seed; that Jacob would inherit this land that God promised to Abraham.
          The proper name, “God Almighty” in verse 3 is the same name that God uses for Himself in Genesis 17:1. In the original Hebrew, this name is rendered as “El Shaday” or “El Shaddai” which is the more popular spelling that we see in our present time. “El” denotes “God” or “God-like”, according to Strong’s Concordance, while “Shaddai” means “power” or “overpower”. Thus, when put together as a proper name here in the OT for God, the name means literally “overpowering one”. God was seen as the source of power, strength, and protection for His chosen ones, such as Abraham, especially when the Lord made a promise that seemed to Abraham utterly impossible. The One named El Shaddai would supernaturally deliver and provide when all other human efforts failed.
 
         Verses 6-9: When Esau learns that his father blessed Jacob even further, and that Jacob willingly obeyed his parents’ wish that he return to Rebekah’s homeland to seek a wife, and that his own polygamous marriage to the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac, Esau makes another rash and foolish choice. He goes to Ishmael, the half-brother of Isaac, and takes unto himself a third wife, Mahalath, Ishmael’s daughter. Verse 9 notes that Mahalath is the sister of Nebajoth, one of the twelve sons of Ishmael named in Genesis 25:13-15 and 1 Chronicles 1:29-31. Esau, like Cain, seems determined to continue in his stubborn pride and rebellion rather than admit his sin and repent.
 
         Verses 10-15: Haran is a journey of several days from Beer-sheba, and Jacob has an unusual dream one night when he stops to rest. Verse 12 describes it as a ladder reaching down from heaven, touching the earth, with the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. Above the ladder is the Lord, and He speaks to Jacob in the dream. God reaffirms to Jacob the same promise He made to Abraham: that Jacob’s seed “…shall be as the dust of the earth…” (v.14), and they shall occupy this land in all directions where Jacob is now resting. All the families of the earth would be blessed through Jacob’s progeny. Furthermore, God assures Jacob that “…I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest…”. God’s final promise is that He will not leave Jacob until He has fulfilled all that He has promised him.
         The ladder was not as we would picture a ladder today, as something vertical with rungs for climbing up and down. Instead, the picture here is more of a ramp or a slope, according to the notes in my study Bible. The commentator gives a reference of 2 Samuel 20:15. This was the picture that Moses most likely had in mind as he was writing this passage in Genesis. God was using a visual reference for Jacob’s benefit here, an example of Him reaching down to His fallen creation, bridging the gulf between heaven and earth caused by the Fall of Adam and Eve. The reason we know this is because Jesus Himself spoke of this in John 1:51. He compared Himself to the ladder, illustrating how He had come in the flesh to be that bridge between God and man. It was His sacrifice on the cross, the shedding of His blood, that allowed the way of salvation for all of us. This is what God meant when he said to Jacob in verse 14, “…in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” Christ the messiah would be born of the lineage of David, of the tribe of Judah, which would descend from one of Jacob’s twelve sons.
 
         Verses 16-22: The dream and the message from God is so vivid that it awakens Jacob in the middle of the night. He marvels at it, wondering aloud, “Surley the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.” Jacob becomes more fearful, both in awe and reverence of God’s power and holiness, but also afraid for himself because of God’s wrath and justice. Jacob’s words in verse 17 indicate a personal revelation. Jacob realizes, perhaps for the first time in his life, the truth of God and who He really is, and how he, Jacob, stands in relation to Almighty God, the El Shaddai of his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham.
         In the morning, Jacob rises early and pours oil upon the stone he had used for a pillow. In the OT, a pillar and oil are typically symbols of a memorial and consecration. (Genesis 12:8, Leviticus 8:10-11, Deuteronomy 27:2-4, Isaiah 19:19) He made a vow to both himself and God, saying that if God would do all that He had promised, as well as provide for all of Jacob’s needs, then Jacob would surrender himself wholly to God and follow Him. He also promised to give a tenth of all he had unto God. (v.22)
        That last part is interesting because this was long before God had made it a command to His chosen people. This was purely voluntary on the part of Jacob, just as it was for Abraham to Melchizedek. (Genesis 14:20)
 
          Until now, Jacob did not know God in the same way that his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham knew God. God used Rebekah’s sin of deception as well as Jacob’s own selfish, conniving nature to get Jacob out in the wilderness alone where God could finally meet with him one on one. Until now, Jacob had had an easy life with plenty of wealth, food, and family and he had no reason to get to know the God of his father and grandfather. We can’t say for certain, but it’s reasonable to conclude that, despite Isaac and Rebekah’s efforts, Jacob didn’t care to know God on a personal level. Esau, for certain, didn’t either. But we can deduce from the last verses of this passage that Jacob had finally come to a point where he recognized his need for God.
         Jacob had been forced to flee his home and all that he knew because of his foolish choices. He was now alone in the wilderness, headed for a land and a family that he had never seen, his future bleak and uncertain. God allowed the consequences of Jacob’s sin to get him to a point where God could finally speak to Jacob and be heard loud and clear. And Jacob was finally ready to listen.
       This is how it is for most of us today. It isn’t the same for everyone, but many of us can share a testimony – myself included – of a time in our lives when we were at the end of our ropes. We were suffering the consequences of a life of sin and wickedness and foolish choices, and we had finally hit rock bottom with nowhere else to go. And that’s when we finally cried out to God, and He, being the loving, patient, merciful Father that He is, reached down and saved us. This, in fact, is the whole point of Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15.
        Jacob resumes his journey to Haran that morning a changed man. He still has much to learn, and God will use Jacob’s experiences with his uncle Laban to teach Jacob some valuable – and difficult – life lessons, but the important first step is now complete. From this man will come twelve sons whose seed will form twelve tribes of a chosen people through whom God will manifest His love – and a plan of salvation – for all mankind.