August 10, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Daniel 1-6

Weekly Memory Verse: Romans 8:1

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

I am seriously considering going through the 40 days of purpose in this study at the same time that my church is going through the study.  I am considering going through the 40 days, then weekly I will set up a time where we can meet face to face at Starbucks or some other local coffee shop where we can discuss the studies.  This will start September 25th.  If you wish to follow along, you will need to purchase the book "The 40 days of purpose" by Rick Warren, or you can visit my church on the kick-off day and you will receive a complementary copy free.

Genesis 28:1-9 (NASB95)
¹ So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. ² “Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. ³ “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴ “May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.” ⁵ Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. ⁶ Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” ⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸ So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac; ⁹ and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.

Genesis 27:27-29 (NASB95)
²⁷ So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed; ²⁸ Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine; ²⁹ May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you.”^[1]

Notice the blessing in verse three and four, the blessing in the last chapter that was deceitfully received pales in comparison to this one.  The stolen blessing covered prosperity and power, this blessing covers the blessings of God Almighty, along with prosperity, the promise of becoming a great nation, and a continuance of Abraham's blessing.  All the games of the last chapter have proven to be useless in light of this chapter. 

God used the deceitfulness and the results of the deception in the last chapter to move Jacob into the land where he needed to go.  Although God does not allow sin or cause people to sin, He will use the result of sin to direct a persons life.  Could it be that Isaac jumped on the band wagon with Rebekah in order to be rid of Jacob?  After the deception in the previous chapter Jacob could not have been in good standing with his father.

Esau  found out that the Canaanites were not considered to be ok for Jacob to marry, he made it a point to marry another wife.  This wife was not of the Canaanites, but rather was of the line of Ishmael, Hagar's child who was ran off by Sarah.  By attempting to come into compliance with his fathers wishes, he married another woman.  It's like he was trying to bring himself into compliance with the family standards.  The problem was that his life did not have the divine guidance that Jacob's did, therefore all the effort that he put forth was from fleshly motives.

Genesis 28:10-22 (NASB95)
¹⁰ Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ 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. ¹² 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. ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ “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. ¹⁵ “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.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ 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.” ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz. ²⁰ 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, ²¹ and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God. ²² “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.”^[2]

Jacob was on his journey toward Haran where he was supposed to take a daughter from Laban's family.  He was walking in the will of God at this time, he was moving in the direction that God had called him. 

It may be significant that Jacob was not called until he left home and was moving on a faith journey that he was directed to follow by his father.  Jacob did not wait, contemplate the journey, and then move on a later date, he left immediately going to another land to find a wife among a small group of people.  Notice that God did not meet with him until he had fully left for the journey, God waited until he had traveled quite a distance, then God revealed His will.

It would be twenty years before Jacob returned home, and God gave him a dream to hang onto.  Jacob was on a journey, and God had made it clear that wherever that he went, the ladder from heaven would reach him.  God let it be known that wherever he went, God would be with him and protect him.  One of the ancient ideas is that angels were dispatched to protect certain nations.  It is possible that the ladder represented angels who were finished with their protection of him who were being replaced by fresh angels. 

One other note on the rock, the reference to the rock under his head may be better translated that he stacked rocks around his head, possibly to protect himself from wild animals.  If that were the case, it would mean that Jacob was traveling alone, without any support or anyone to aid him in his journey.  This is quite a contrast to the way that Abraham and Isaac traveled.  They traveled with huge companies of slaves, Jacob seems to be traveling alone.  This could indicate that even though Isaac sent him away with blessings, he certainly did not want Jacob to reach his destination. 

Notice also that the promise of Abraham is mentioned again, his offspring was promised to be like the dust of the earth.  And through his descendants, the entire earth would be blessed.  This could be taken literal when you consider the position that the Jews will take in the latter days.  I believe that this phrase is also Messianic, looking forward to the coming of the Messiah.  When Jesus died and rose from the dead, he made it possible for everyone to get to heaven.  In essence, He blessed every family on earth.

In verse 13, "the Lord stood above it" could also be translated "beside him", giving the idea that the Lord was standing beside him just as He did with Abraham.  I don't think that God changed his method with Jacob, I can see God standing next to him explaining the meaning of the vision. We serve a personal God, He does not stand aloof and give orders to us, he comes next to us and walks with us through life.

Jacob also continued the tradition of building altars to God by setting up a pillar to mark the spot where God had spoken with him.  This is something that we forget to do today.  How often do we set a marker when God speaks to us?  I have heard it said that at the time we accept Jesus as Lord, we should write it down in order to drive a stake in the ground.  In this way we set up a pillar so that when the devil comes against us, we can stand firm on our ground and point to the pillar which represents the time that God saved us.  Also imagine the power that would be in setting up a pillar when God gives us a goal to accomplish, it has the same effect, we have something which we can point to when we get discouraged.

Last remark, Jacob vowed to give one tenth to the Lord of everything that the Lord gave him.  This took place way before the law was given, so tithing is not being under the law.  Tithing is being under the divine guidance of God in our finances.  True worship involves not only acknowledging God and His power in our lives, it includes demonstrating our love and faith in Him by giving back some of the blessings that He has given us.

Questions for thought:

1. What do we learn from Esau's actions in this chapter?

2. Jacob walked out in faith, when did God honor his step of faith?

Father, as we study about Jacob's vision and his reaction to his meeting with You, give us the same passion to keep Your word alive in our hearts.

In Him,

Joe Turner.