Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

Synopsis: We have here, I. Jacob parting with his parents, to go to

Padan-aram; the charge his father gave him (Ge 28:1-2), the blessing

he sent him away with (Ge 28:3-4), his obedience to the orders given

him (Ge 28:5,10), and the influence this had upon Esau, Ge 28:6-9.

II. Jacob meeting with God, and his communion with him by the way.

And there, 1. His vision of the ladder, Ge 28:11-12. 2. The gracious

promises God made him, Ge 28:13-15. 3. The impression this made

upon him, Ge 28:16-19. 4. The vow he made to God, up on this

occasion, Ge 28:20-22, &c. Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Genesis 28:1-5 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. Arise, go to Padanaram, 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. And God Almighty bless thee, and

make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude

of people; 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. And Isaac sent away Jacob:

and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the

brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

By now Jacob has come to the understanding that God had intended

the birthright and blessing to go to Jacob. Jacob is God’s choice—

His elect.

Isaac had been the child of promise God had given to Abraham.

Abraham hadn’t given the inheritance to Isaac, God did, and He

would give it to Jacob.

Exodus 33:19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass

before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before

thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will

shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

Romans 9:15 ……… I will have mercy on whom I will have

mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have

compassion.

Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

Now Isaac is stirred up by the Holy Ghost to bless Jacob specifically,

and, at the urging of Rebekah, he charges him not to take a wife of

the daughters of Canaan. Rebekah didn’t mention to Isaac

anything about the threat of Esau against Jacob. She used the

excuse of Esau’s wives which they both detested.

She knew Isaac had had enough of the Hittite wives of Esau.

Accordingly, it had become increasingly clear to Isaac—though he

should have known it all along--that God does not want the Godly to

marry with the Godless of this land or any other land. This is not a

racial issue. It is a family issue. The people of God are not to marry

anyone outside the household of faith—the family of God.

2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with

unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with

unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with

darkness?

He sends Jacob to his and Rebekah’s kinsmen in Padanaram

(Padanaram: The plains of Aram or Syria; Aram: High). One of the

meanings of Aram is deceiving. When Jacob gets there, he’ll find out

one reason that meaning fits. Isaac sends him to Rebekah’s near

kinsmen saying, take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of

Laban thy mother's brother.

Isaac sends Jacob out, unlike Abraham did to him. He sent his

servant back to his people in Syria, Genesis 24:6 And Abraham

said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither

again.

The question has come up, “Was Abraham an Israelite?” The answer

is no. Jacob’s name will be changed by God to Israel, and only those

of his posterity will be called Israelites. Abraham is a Hebrew and a

Syrian.

Genesis 14:13 ………… Abram the Hebrew………

Deuteronomy 26:5 And thou shalt speak and say before the

LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father……….

Genesis 28:6-9 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and

sent him away to Padanaram, 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; And that Jacob obeyed his father

Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram; And Esau seeing that

the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; 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.

Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his

father goes and takes a wife of Uncle Ismael’s daughters. He thinks

this will please his father more than the Hittite wives he already had,

thus proving he has a gross lack of spiritual understanding. He still

doesn’t get it, because to get it, you have to have it, and he doesn’t.

Matthew 25:29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and

he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be

taken away even that which he hath.

when Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, &c.--Desirous to

humor his parents and, if possible, get the last will revoked, he

became wise when too late (see Mt 25:10), and hoped by gratifying

his parents in one thing to atone for all his former delinquencies. But

he only made bad worse, and though he did not marry a "wife of the

daughters of Canaan," he married into a family which God had

rejected. It showed a partial reformation, but no repentance, for he

gave no proofs of abating his vindictive purposes against his brother,

nor cherishing that pious spirit that would have gratified his father--he

was like Micah (see Jg 17:13). Jameison-Fausset-Brown Commentary

Genesis 28:10-15 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went

toward Haran. 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. 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. 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; 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

Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

be blessed. 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.

When Jacob leaves Beersheba, he lights a shuck.

He must have traveled about forty miles to get to the place where he

decided to spend the night. That’s quite a distance in one day. The

probable cause for his haste was to get as far away from Esau as he

could get as quickly as possible.

Hosea 12:12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria……..

Dr. J Vernon McGee (Through the Bible Radio) says, he must have been

very lonely and homesick that first night because it was the first time

he had been untied from Rebekah’s apron strings. He had come to a

bleak moorland that lies about 1200 ft. above sea level. It is a

forbidding place as far as the topography is concerned, rugged, and

rocky, and desolate, but, as Jacob will soon learn, it is a spiritual

place of high importance. This place is not far from the place where

God first appeared to Abraham when he came into the land of

Canaan. He was going one way and Jacob was headed out the

other. The scripture says, at sundown, he took of the stones of

that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that

place to sleep. 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.

This ladder that Jacob saw in his dream, here seems very

mysterious. There are many such things as this in the Old Testament

that are explained clearly in the New Testament. Jesus, when He

had called Nathaniel to be his disciple said this: John 1:51 …….

verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and

the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of

man.

Jesus Christ is this ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it

reached to heaven. The way to Heaven is opened by Him, and

through Him, and Him only, is access gained. God, the Father,

stands above the ladder and testifies of Christ, Matthew 3:17

……This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The only

Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

access we have to God is through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Angels

of God are sent forth from Him to minister to the needs of the Saints,

in this case, to Jacob.

Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to

minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

He thought he was alone in this place. He had Romans 10:2 …….a

zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Perhaps, he

thought he had left the God of Abraham and Isaac back with Isaac,

his father. But, here in this desolate place, he discovered a whole

host of Angels and the Lord God Himself speaking to him of above

the ladder in his night vision. Now it would not be his father’s

blessing, but, first hand, the blessing of Almighty God that was given

to him. It is the same blessing given to Abraham and to Isaac, and it

includes the Messianic blessing that only God can give: in thee and

in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. God

wants Jacob to know that He is not only the God of Abraham and

Isaac, but, also, the God of Jacob. According to the immutable word

of God, the blessing will never be retracted from Jacob or his

posterity Genesis 49:10 ......until Shiloh come……….

The old song says, “we are climbing Jacob’s ladder”, but it is the word

of God that descends and ascends there, for the ladder is Christ.

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that

came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in

heaven. Only by Him and through Him shall any of us ascend there

on, and only with the help of the ministering spirits, and more

particularly by the Holy Spirit, shall any of us proceed to that superior

degree.

In conclusion, God tells Jacob: 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. This is a promise that

comes straight from God, and is, therefore, invariable and

unalterable. But Jacob, who had only a limit view of God before, still

hasn’t gotten a handle on this yet. He has a lot to learn, as we all do.

Like Jacob here, we must all go through the procedure of learning

before we come to rely on God and his Word, and not on our own

strength or understanding.

Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not

unto thine own understanding.

Genesis 28:16-19 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said,

Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. 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. 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. And he called the

name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at

the first.

When he left his father‘s house, Jacob was running away from his

brother, but he must have thought he had left God back there as well.

It is a startling discovery for him to find that God is in this remote and

desolate place. You can see that he has not yet acquired even a

rudimentary knowledge of the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent

God. But the Lord is an excellent schoolmaster, and Jacob will learn,

albeit, the hard way.

Psalms 94:7-11 Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither

shall the God of Jacob regard it. Understand, ye brutish among

the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted

the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not

see? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he

that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? The LORD

knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place,

beholding the evil and the good.

John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all

taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath

learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

When the dream and visions were ended, Jacob arose from his sleep

and was terribly afraid, and he exclaims to himself: How dreadful is

this place! The fear of God is the first step toward wisdom and

knowledge.

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom:

and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

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.

Like his grandfather, Abraham, Jacob became an altar builder. He

became a true worshipper of the true and living God, because God

had revealed Himself to him. Unless the Lord reveals himself to His

people, there will be no one that can find Him. This dream had been

a revelation of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the revelation of

God.

John 14:6 …. I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man

cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten

Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

Colossians 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God……….

Psalms 94:17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had

almost dwelt in silence.

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong unto the LORD

our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us

and to our children for ever…..

After Jacob had erected this one-stone altar, he poured oil on the top

of it as an offering and consecration to God. This stone would serve

as a marker of the spot, and later he would return and build a more

suitable altar there.

He set up the stone for a pillar - To mark the place again, if he

came back, and erect a lasting monument of God's favour to him: and

because he had not time now to build an altar here, as Abraham did

in the places where God appeared to him, chap. xii, 7, he therefore

poured oil on the top of this stone, which probably was the ceremony

then used in dedicating their altars, as an earnest of his building an

altar when he should have conveniencies for it, as afterwards he did,

in gratitude to God, chap. xxxv, 7. Grants of mercy call for our returns

of duty and the sweet communion we have with God ought ever to be

remembered. John Wesley’s Notes on the Bible

And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that

city was called Luz at the first.

Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

Bethel means the house of God, and Luz means separation. His

trouble with his brother, and his separation from his mother and father

had brought him to the house of God.

Acts 14:22 …………we must through much tribulation enter into

the kingdom of God.

Bethel and surrounding area

Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

Genesis 28:20-22 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, So that I come again to my father's

house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: 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.

As proof positive that Jacob has a lot to learn about God, we see him

here try to strike a bargain with Him. God already told him what He

was going to do, but Jacob is a trader. He wants to trade service for

service. He is trying to earn his way into the favor of God by

promising to make him his God, and in exchange for the blessings of

God of food, raiment, and a safe and peaceful return to his family, he

offers a tenth back to God. He hasn’t yet learned that it is the mercy

of God, not what we bring to God, that matters.

Micah 6:6-8 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow

myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt

offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased

with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my

body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what

is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do

justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Matthew 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have

mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous,

but sinners to repentance.

There is an old saying: a newborn child quickly makes a slave of his

mother. Jacob is like that new born. He is already completely

dependent on God, yet he tries to invoke God’s favor by offering

something to Him. Like a baby’s crying begs for his mother’s milk,

and will not cease till he gets it, so Jacob pleads with God. God has

already promised him all the things he is asking for, but Jacob feels

compelled to ask for them again anyway. We often follow Jacob’s

imprudent approach. We offer to give our life to the Lord in exchange

for salvation, when it is He who has to give us a new life because the

old one is too corrupt to enter into his Kingdom. Many say they are

surrendering to Christ of their own free will, but what they are really

Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

saying is the same thing Jacob says here, if you will do this, I’ll do

that. The pattern that God uses to save us is the same as he uses

here to deliver Jacob. He first makes Himself real to us, then he

speaks to us, or calls us, then He reiterates promises to us. These

are all delivered to us by the Holy Spirit which is conveyed to us on

this ladder that reaches from the earth to Heaven. The Ladder is

Jesus Christ who is the Word of God made manifest. Salvation is by

His work alone and puny man cannot add to it or detract from it.

Romans 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that

runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

From the time of Adam’s sin to this day there has never been anyone

who ever made himself righteous by his own will. Our righteous, in its

totality, comes from God, and is delivered to us by Jesus Christ. Just

as God guards and protects Jacob, so He guards and protects all His

children who He foreknew from the beginning of His work.

Romans 11:2 God hath not cast away his people which he

foreknew.

Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall

prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in

judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the

servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the

LORD.

Jacob has proven himself to be a liar and a cheat. He is a usurper

who has supplanted his brother both out of his birthright and his

blessing. Now, he is trying to deal with God to obtain His blessing,

but God does not make deals with Jacob or with us. Besides, He has

already given Jacob what he is asking for.

Daniel 4:35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as

nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of

heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can

stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

Why would God set His affection on Jacob--or on us either. It

certainly could not be because he was good. He was not. None of

us are. He set His affection on Jacob, because He loved him even

before he was born.

Romans 9:11-15 (For the children being not yet born, neither

having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according

Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It

was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is

written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we

say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For

he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,

and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

God loves everyone He foreknew, or that He knew from the

beginning. He does not love the others because they are the true

interlopers in the cursed world that came about by the fall of Adam.

2 Peter 2:12-14 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be

taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they

understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that

count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and

blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while

they feast with you; Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot

cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have

exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

God loved Jacob because Christ was in him. That makes him a

member of the family of God. This mystery has been hidden in Christ

from the foundation of the world, but is now made manifest to us, or,

at least, to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Colossians 1:26-27 Even the mystery which hath been hid from

ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his

saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of

the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in

you, the hope of glory:

Ezekiel 12:2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a

rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they

have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

Matthew 13:9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Proverbs 20:12 The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD

hath made even both of them.

He loves all his children for one reason. They are His. But those that

are without Christ, He does not know because they are not of a

kindred spirit with Him.

Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew

you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Love is a deep mystery that none of us can fathom. Why God chose

Jacob and did not choose Esau is known only to Him, but, one thing

is certain, He did not choose him because Jacob was faultless and

followed the rituals and laws of God flawlessly. He chose him before

He created the world. If God loves you He will always love you, and

He will save you through Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord

Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in

heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in

him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy

and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us

unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,

according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the

glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the

beloved.

The difference between the children of God and the children of this

world is that the children of God are taught of God to love one

another.

1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of

God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth

God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

It should be obvious here that God’s love is not dependent on

anything that Jacob did or that we do. It is dependent only on the will

of God. God has pity on us and grants us His mercy because we are

His children.

Psalms 103:13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD

pitieth them that fear him.

2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth

sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And,

Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from

iniquity.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not

inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither

fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor

abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous,

Genesis Chapter Twenty-eight

nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the

kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are

washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of

the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.