This week, we are looking at a section of the very first
letter in the Bible, called the book of Genesis, where we see the seeds of
Isaac and Rebekah’s dysfunctional favoritism and deception in their
relationships with their sons bear fruit in the relationship between Jacob and
Esau. Yesterday, we looked on as Esau’s jealousy of Jacob and favored status
with his father drove him to attempt to please his father by marrying someone
he thought his father would approve of.
However, Esau had already demonstrated, by his disregard
of his birthright and blessings, that he was rebellious against God and God’s
direction. And Jacob, who had favored status with his mother Rebekah, was now
fleeing for his life from the land that God had promised him to a land and to
relatives that he had never met. Today, as Jacob flees for his life in fear
into the unknown, we see what happens next in Genesis 28:10:
Then Jacob departed
from Beersheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and spent the
night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the
place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place. He had a dream,
and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and
behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the
LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of your father
Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you
and to your descendants. "Your descendants will also be like the dust of
the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north
and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of
the earth be blessed. "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever
you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I
have done what I have promised you."
Late one evening, after a long day of travel, Jacob
settled down for a fearful night of sleep. Now the phrase “he took one of the
stones and put it under his head”, does not mean that he used a stone for a
pillow. This phrase is used elsewhere in the Bible to describe the arranging of
stones for protection. So Jacob, in the middle of the desert, afraid and alone,
placed a circle of stones around his head for protection.
However, while Jacob felt alone, he was not alone. And to
make sure that Jacob knew that he was not alone, the Lord appears to Jacob in a
dream. In the dream, the Lord reveals the reality that He is not distant and
disinterested up in Heaven. Instead the Lord is ever present and ever engaging
the world. The Lord wanted Jacob to clearly understand that while he had left
to travel far away from the land that God had promised Abraham, God had not
left him.
In addition, we see the Lord reinforce the promises that
He had made to Abraham. The Lord promises Jacob that the land in which he was
sleeping would become his very own possession and that in what God was going to
do through Jacob and Jacob’s descendants, all humanity would have the
opportunity to find blessing as Jacob would have the opportunity to find
blessing.
God promises Jacob His presence and protection as he
traveled, along with the provision of the land that he was leaving. God, as the
promise maker and the promise keeper, would bring Jacob back to the land that
He had promised him. We see Jacob’s response to this dream in verse 16:
Then Jacob
awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I
did not know it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place!
This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under
his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. He called the
name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been
Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep
me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to
wear, and I return to my father's house in safety, then the LORD will be my
God. "This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God's house,
and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You."
Jacob built an altar and poured oil on it as a way to
dedicate it as sacred and set apart to God. Jacob gave the name of the place
where he stayed Bethel, which means house of God. You see, Jacob responded to
his encounter with the Lord by worshipping the Lord. Jacob recognized that he
was at the end of himself. Jacob recognized that, for the first time in his
life, he was isolated, alone, and in desperate need of help. And for the first
time in Jacob’s life, God had revealed Himself to Jacob in a personal and powerful
way.
Jacob responded to his desperate fear and to God choosing
to reveal Himself and reinforce His promises to him by running to God and
worshipping God. As part of his worship, Jacob makes a vow to the Lord that if
the Lord’s presence, protection, and provision would be with him, then he would
follow the Lord. In addition, as part of the vow, Jacob promises that he would
respond to God’s presence, protection, and provision by worshipping the Lord at
Bethel and by giving back ten percent of all that he received from the Lord.
Here we see Jacob practicing what followers of Jesus
practice today when we worship the Lord through giving. Just as Jacob responded
to God’s provision, presence and activity in his life by giving back the first
portion of what God had provided him, as followers of Jesus, we are to respond
to God’s provision, presence and activity in our lives by giving back the first
portion of what God had provided us. Moses then records for us how Jacob’s
encounter with the Lord impacted his journey to find his uncle Laban in Genesis
29:1:
Then Jacob
went on his journey, and came to the land of the sons of the east. He looked,
and saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there
beside it, for from that well they watered the flocks. Now the stone on the
mouth of the well was large. When all the flocks were gathered there, they
would then roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and
put the stone back in its place on the mouth of the well. Jacob said to them,
"My brothers, where are you from?" And they said, "We are from
Haran." He said to them, "Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?"
And they said, "We know him."
And he said to them, "Is it well with him?" And they said, "It
is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep." He said,
"Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be
gathered. Water the sheep, and go, pasture them." But they said, "We
cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the
mouth of the well; then we water the sheep." While he was still speaking
with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. When
Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of
Laban his mother's brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth
of the well and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. Then Jacob
kissed Rachel, and lifted his voice and wept. Jacob told Rachel that he was a
relative of her father and that he was Rebekah's son, and she ran and told her
father.
Moses tells us that as Jacob journeyed to the land of his
uncle Laban, he encountered a group of shepherds waiting to water their sheep.
While it was not yet time to water the sheep, these shepherds had come early to
be first in line. As Jacob questioned the shepherds, he discovered that not
only did then know his uncle Laban; they also knew one of his daughters named
Rachel, who just happened to be coming to water the sheep that she was
watching.
Jacob, wanting to be able to approach Rachel in private,
attempts to get the other shepherds to leave and come back later. When that
approach is unsuccessful, Jacob, not wanting to waste his time waiting in line,
gathers the strength to roll a stone that normally took several men to move
away from the well. Jacob takes the
initiative to basically cut in line and water Rachel’s flock of sheep. Only
after he waters her sheep does Jacob introduce himself to Rachel and then provides
her a culturally appropriate kiss of greeting.
After greeting Rachel, Moses tells us that Jacob lifted
up his voice and wept. Well that seems weird doesn’t it? Hi, I’m your cousin
Jacob. bahhhhhhh! I have been sent here by your aunt Rebekah, who is my mom to
find a wife.” I mean, why is Jacob weeping here?
Jacob is weeping here because Jacob has recognized God’s
activity in his life. Jacob recognizes that this encounter was not coincidence.
Instead, this encounter was the result of God’s providence. Rachel then leaves
Jacob to inform her father Laban of the news.
Friday, we will meet Laban and see his response to Jacob
that reveals for us a timeless truth about God…
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