Gen. 28:10-22 NOTES
I. Biblical Commentary - Genesis 28:10-19
GENESIS 25-35. THE CONTEXT
The context for this story began with the conflict between Jacob and Esau in the womb (25:19-26), God's prophecy to Rebekah (and the Lord said to her,"Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be separated from within you. One people will be stronger than the other,and the older will serve the younger." Gen. 25:23), the very different men that they grew up to be (25:27), and the favoritism shown by Isaac (who loved Esau) and Rebekah (who loved Jacob) (25:28).
The context continued with the story of Jacob persuading Esau to sell his birthright (25:29-34) and cheating Esau out of his blessing by tricking their father, Isaac (27:1-40). That trickery triggered Esau's fury and his determination to kill Jacob-which led to Jacob's fleeing to Haran to escape Esau (27:41 - 28:5).
The context will continue after Jacob encounters God at Bethel (28:10-19). He will meet and fall in love with Rachel (29:1-14), but Laban (Rachel's father) will trick the trickster into marrying Leah first (29:15-26). Only after seven additional years of service will Jacob marry his beloved Rachel (29:27-30). Jacob will continue his trickery, prospering at Laban's expense (30:25-43). This will cause tension between Jacob and Laban, so that the Lord tells Jacob to return to Canaan (31:1-42; especially 31:3)-a flight fraught with tension but ending in a covenant between Jacob and Laban (31:43-55). Jacob will also send presents to appease Esau (32:3-21)-will wrestle with God at Peniel (32:22-32), and will finally make peace with Esau (33:1-16). Jacob will then return to Bethel, the place where he saw the ladder connecting earth and heaven, to settle there at God's command (35:1-15).
GENESIS 28:10-12. JACOB CAME TO A CERTAIN PLACE
10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!
"Jacob went out from Beersheba" (v. 10a). Beersheba is located in the far south of what will later be known as the Promised Land or Israel. "From Dan to Beersheba" will be a way of saying, "throughout Israel" (Dan is a city at the far north edge of Israel).
Abraham and Abimelech earlier swore an oath at Beer-sheba (21:25-31), after which Abraham planted a tamarisk tree and called on the name of the Lord (21:33) and settled there (21:34)-insofar as a nomadic person like Abraham could settle anywhere.
God encountered Isaac at Beer-sheba and renewed the promises that he had once made to Abram (12:3) so that they would apply to Isaac (26:23-25). Isaac's servants dug a well there (26:31) so they named it Beer-sheba (Beer in Hebrew means well) (26:32).
So Jacob's family has had a long association with Beer-sheba.
"and went toward Haran" (v. 10b). Jacob's family has also had a long association with Haran. Terah, Abram's father, took Abram and the rest of his family to Haran and settled there (11:31).
When Abram was seventy-five years old, God blessed him, saying, "Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you" (12:1-3)-a blessing that God will repeat (worded slightly differently) in our Jacob pericope (v. 13-14). So Abram did as God commanded and left Haran to go to Canaan (12:4-5).
Later, Abraham sent his servant to Haran to search for a wife for Isaac (24:1-10). The servant found Rebekah at the well (24:11-21) and arranged for her to return with him to become Isaac's bride (24:34-61). Rebekah is the sister of Laban, who will also figure into the Jacob story as the father of Rachel and Leah, whom Jacob will marry.
Now Rebekah is sending Jacob to Haran to escape Esau's wrath (27:42-45). She also complains to Abraham about the local Hittite women (27:46), so Abraham tells Jacob to go to Paddan-aram, Rebekah's hometown, and find a wife there (28:1-2).
Paddan-aram and Haran are located near each other in Mesopotamia, about 400 miles (650 km) northeast of Beer-sheba.
"He came to a certain place ham-maqom-the place) and stayed there all night, because the sun had set" (v. 11a). The phrase "the place" occurs three times in this passage (see also vv. 16-17). The definite article, used in each of these three verses, suggests that this will be a special place. There is no reason to believe that Jacob understands that when he decides to make camp here. This is just where he happens to find himself when the sun begins to set.
"He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep" (v. 11b). The original Hebrew of this text makes it unclear whether Jacob put a stone under his head as a pillow or put stones around his head for protection. However, that is a minor detail, of little importance to the substance of this story.
"He dreamed. Behold, a stairway (sullam) set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven" (v. 12a). Scholars debate whether this sullam is a ladder or a stairway. While there is no way to determine that definitively (hence the debate), that is a minor issue of little importance to the overall story. This sullam-whether a ladder or a staircase-connects heaven and earth. That connection signifies access to God, and that is what is important here.
Scholars have also noted the similarity between this ladder/stairway and the tower of Babel (11:1-9), but they also note that the tower of Babel represented human initiative and pride, while the ladder/stairway is God's initiative.
"Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it" (v. 12b). When angels come into contact with humans, it is usually to deliver a message or to see that the Lord's bidding is accomplished (Genesis 19:1-29; 32:1-2; Joshua 5:13-15; Psalm 78:49; 103:21) or to give God praise (Psalm 148:2). However, these angels do nothing but to ascend and descend on the ladder. Perhaps their ascending and descending conveys the message that God wants conveyed-that earth and heaven are connected and the connection permits movement between earth and heaven. Perhaps it is God's way of giving Jacob a glimpse into the heavenly realm.
GENESIS 28:13-15. BEHOLD, I AM WITH YOU
13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring 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."
"Behold, Yahweh stood above it" (v. 13a). Scholars debate whether Yahweh stands beside Jacob or at the top of the ladder/stairway-the original Hebrew permits either translation. Again, the difference does not significantly affect the meaning of this story.
"I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac"(v. 13b). This is the first occurrence in Genesis of the phrase, "the God of Abraham," but that phrase will be repeated in various formulations many times in both Old and New Testaments (31:42, 53; Exodus 3:6, 15-16; 4:5; 1 Kings 18:36; etc.). At Exodus 3:6 (God speaking to Moses), the phrase will begin to include Jacob-"the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob"-and at 1 Kings 18:36 it will become "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel" (Israel being the new name that God will give Jacob).
"The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed. Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed" (vv. 13b-14). These promises to Jacob repeat the promises that God made earlier to Abraham, Jacob's grandfather (12:1-3; 17:4-8; 22:16-18) and Isaac, Jacob's father (26:3-4). Here God reveals that he has chosen Jacob to be the conduit through whom the lineage will be transmitted-through whom the blessings will be bestowed. It is a high honor-the highest of honors. It seems astonishing that God would heap such honor on slippery Jacob, but God calls whomever God chooses to call. Who are we to question God's choice?
God makes Jacob three great promises here:
As noted in the previous paragraph, these are not new promises. What is new is God's assurance that Jacob has been chosen to be the channel of blessing.
"In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed" (v. 14b). This repeats God's promise to Abraham in 12:3. The blessings are not just for Abraham's descendants, but for everyone.
"Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land"(v. 15a). Jacob is in the process of leaving his homeland to go to Haran, Abraham's old homeland, but God assures him that the promises given here are good regardless of where Jacob's travels might take him.
"For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you" (v. 15b). As it happens, Jacob is leaving his homeland and his parents and will not return for twenty years. Esau, not Jacob, will gain the use of Isaac's wealth. But Jacob leaves his homeland with God's promises ringing in his ears. He will persevere in Haran, surely in part due to the assurances that God has given him.
"until I have done that which I have spoken of to you" is quite open-ended. The promises will not be wholly fulfilled until many generations after Jacob's death. This, then, is a promise that God will be with Jacob for the rest of his life.
"I am with you" (v. 15a) is a promise made earlier to Isaac (26:24), and is a promise that God will make to Moses (Exodus 3:12) and Joshua (Joshua 1:5) and Gideon (Judges 6:16) and Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:38) and Israel (Isaiah 41:10; Haggai 1:13) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:8). It is also a promise that Jesus will make to his disciples (Matthew 28:20; Acts 18:10).
GENESIS 28:16-17. SURELY YAHWEH IS IN THIS PLACE
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." 17 And 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."
"Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, 'Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn't know it'"(v. 16). As noted above, when Jacob chose this place to camp, it simply because night was falling and this is where he happened to be. He had no idea that it was a holy place-and, in fact, it was not a holy place until God made his appearance. It is God's presence that makes this place holy.
"He was afraid" (v. 17a). Fear is a common response to the presence of God (3:10; 18:15; 42:18; etc.).
"How dreadful (nora-from yare) is this place"(v. 17b). Yare suggests awe or dread or reverence or fear. Again, the place itself doesn't possess those qualities. It is the presence of God that creates this sense of awe.
"This is none other than God's (elohim) house, and this is the gate of heaven" (v. 17c). Jacob declares this "the house of God" because he has encountered God in this place. He declares it "the gate of heaven" because of his dream of the ladder connecting earth and heaven.
GENESIS 28:18-19. JACOB CALLED THAT PLACE BETHEL
18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. "
Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar" (v. 18a). As noted above, the Hebrew is not clear regarding the stone. It could be a stone that Jacob used for a pillow or stones that he arranged around his head for protection. If it is a single stone it cannot be large, because Jacob has no way to set up a large stone. But the size of the stone isn't important. Jacob's purpose is to erect a stone to memorialize his encounter with God in this place.
At this point in time, there is no reason why Jacob shouldn't raise a stone pillar to memorialize his encounter with God. Later, the people of Israel will encounter people who raise pillars to pagan gods, and God will forbid them to set up pillars and will require them to demolish pillars set up by others (Exodus 23:24; 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5; 12:3; 16:22).
"and poured oil on its top" (v. 18b). By pouring oil on the stone, Jacob dedicates it to God. As time passes, anointing of religious objects as well as priests and kings (and other God-appointed leaders, such as Aaron) will become common practice (Exodus 30:26-30; 40:13-15; Leviticus 8:12; 1 Kings 19:16; 1 Chronicles 16:22; Psalm 105:15).
"He called the name of that place Bethel" (v. 19a). El is a generic word for God, and the word Bethel means "house of God." Bethel is a town about 15 miles (24 km) north of Jerusalem. Jacob started in the far south of Canaan, in Beer-sheba, and is traveling north and east toward Haran. He has traveled only about 50 miles (80 km) so far.
"but the name of the city was Luz at the first" (v. 19b). But we have heard the city called Bethel on at least two occasions earlier when Abraham visited here (12:8; 13:3).
In both Old and New Testaments names change to indicate a change in religious status. Abram became Abraham when God chose him to be the ancestor of many (17:5). Jacob will become Israel when he strives with God (32:28). Luz becomes Bethel (the house of God) when Jacob encounters God in this place.
GENESIS 28:20-22 . JACOB'S VOW.
20 Then Jacob made 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 clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you."
Cole-Bible.org - Gen. 28:1-22
1. God begins at my point of need, and I should respond to Him (28:19).
In problem solving, the first step is to recognize and define the problem. Often our problem is that we don't clearly see the problem. We aren't aware of our great need, so we aren't open for God to move into our lives to begin working on the problems. Many times it takes a crisis, where we are brought to the end of our own abilities and schemes, for us to be able to see our need and be open to God's breaking into our lives. This is a helpful principle when you're dealing with others, whether you're trying to share the gospel or give counsel of some sort. Before a person will be receptive to the solution, he's got to be deeply aware of his problem. If he's not aware of his great need, he's going to resist any intrusion into his life. So you have to build your relationship with the person and wait for the time when God yanks the rug out from under him and he recognizes his need. Then he'll be ready for God's solution.
You don't have to read too much between the lines to see that Jacob has just had the rug yanked out from under him. Put yourself in his sandals: You've just lied to your blind, old father to cheat your brother out of his family blessing ("inheritance"). Your brother is so mad that he's threatening to kill you. Even though you're "early middle age" (Jacob was 77, but lived to 147), you've never been out of sight of mama's tent. Your idea of adventure is trying out a new recipe.
But now you're being sent off alone on a 500-mile journey through dangerous, foreign territory to a pagan city to try to find your mother's relatives. You don't know whether you'll even make it there safely. Your brother would be much more suited for this kind of adventure. He's spent many a night in the wild, stalking game. But you've never even camped out in your own back yard. But now you're alone, on the road, with no motel. The sun has gone down, so you find a rock for a pillow and lay down under the canopy of the stars.
As you lay there listening to all the strange sounds of the night, you think about your past. You're confused. You finally had finagled your way to get what you'd always wanted-your brother's birthright and blessing. You thought that once you got that, you'd have it made, but here you are on the run, with nothing but meager supplies (32:10) and a very uncertain future. So you're confused.
You also feel guilty. You cheated your brother. You lied to your blind, old father, used the name of his God, and even kissed him in your deception. And then, in spite of all that, he has sent you off with the true spiritual blessing of your grandfather, Abraham (28:3-4). At this point, God is the God of Abraham and He is the God of your father, Isaac (27:20). But He is not yet your God (28:21). And yet the burden of the blessing of the God of Abraham is on your shoulders. As one of the "Peanuts" cartoon characters says, "There's no greater burden than having a great potential." You're loaded with guilt and anxiety about the future.
Do you see how Jacob must have felt? Until now, he has always schemed his way out of tight spots. But now he's fresh out of schemes. He's on his own for the first time, wrestling with a guilty, confusing past, and facing an anxious, uncertain future. It's significant that God begins working with Jacob at this point in his life. It's the first time the Lord got Jacob's attention. Jacob saw his great need.
One way or another, God has to bring each of us to that point before He breaks through in our lives. Often, as was the case with Jacob, it's when we first leave the shelter of home. I remember that even though I trusted Christ as a young child, God didn't begin to work in my life in a significant way until I was in college. I was still living at home, but being in the environment of a secular university, where the Christian faith was under attack, made me realize that either I had to make my parents' faith my own or I needed to discard it. It was only at that point that my relationship with Christ began to develop.
If you're in high school or college, you're at a critical point in life. If you realize your great need before God and turn to Him, your life will go in the right direction. But if you ignore your need for God and choose the human wisdom that is offered to you at school or in the world, you will start down the path that leads ultimately to destruction. If you've been raised in a Christian home, it's vitally important for you to recognize your own great need for God and to begin to make your parents' faith your own.
Esau never did that. He's a pathetic figure in many ways. His mother favored his brother. His father loved him because he liked the game he hunted (25:28). Now he's been tricked out of his father's blessing. When he hears Isaac send Jacob off to find a wife from his mother's relatives, he realizes for the first time (after 37 years of marriage) that his two pagan wives were not pleasing to his father.
Isaac was the classic passive father. Why hadn't he instructed his sons concerning the proper marriage partners when they were young? Why hadn't he talked openly to Esau years before, when he was considering taking these women as wives? And now, when Esau discovers that his marriages weren't pleasing to his dad, he goes to Ishmael's descendants and takes a wife, thinking that he might earn his father's approval by marrying within the descendants of Abraham. How sad! Esau had a need, but he went about meeting that need in a worldly way, instead of seeking the Lord. And God never broke through in Esau's life.
How about you? Are you at a place where you see your great need for God? Are you, like Jacob, out of schemes? Are you, like Esau should have been, but wasn't, out of worldly solutions? Are you at a place where you're confused and guilty about your past, anxious and uncertain about your future? Then maybe you're at a place where God can break through into your life. He won't give you magical, instant solutions, but He will begin to work when you come to the end of yourself and admit, "Lord, I have a need I can't deal with by myself. I need You!" That's the place where grace-God's unmerited favor-can take effect. You're at Bethel, the house of God, where God comes down to earth and earth's problems are carried up to heaven.
2. God begins with His grace (28:10-15).
At Jacob's point of need, God gave him a strange dream. God often has used dreams to communicate with people, but we need to be careful not to put too much stock in our dreams, because they are open to so many subjective interpretations (as you'll discover if you read a few commentaries on Jacob's dream!). In the dream, a ladder, or stairway, went from earth to heaven, with angels going up and down on it. How should we understand this? I'm using two guidelines: (1) How would Jacob have understood it, especially in light of what God said here? (2) How is it interpreted elsewhere in the Bible?
Jacob understood this dream as God breaking into his life: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it" (28:16). Jacob had not personally encountered God until this point. But now this ladder into heaven, with the angels going back and forth between Jacob and God, showed him that the God of Abraham and Isaac could be his God, too. God was concerned about him in his place of desperate need, and there was a bridge of access to God to seek His help and from God to receive His help. God specifically applied His promises to Abraham and Isaac to Jacob. That's how Jacob must have understood the symbolism of this dream.
We can gain further insight into the meaning of this ladder because of an incident recorded in John 1:45-51. Philip reported to his friend Nathaniel, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathaniel sardonically replies, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip wisely replies, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathaniel coming and said, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" Also, Jesus revealed that He had seen Nathaniel under the fig tree before Philip called him. This supernatural knowledge was enough to convince Nathaniel that Jesus was the Son of God, the King of Israel.
Jesus went on to say, "You shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man" (John 1:51). Jesus knew supernaturally that Nathaniel had been meditating on the meaning of Jacob's ladder as he sat under that fig tree. Jesus is saying, "I am that ladder, the promised Seed of Abraham!" Jesus is the bridge between God and man. He is the one who opens the way for man, in his desperate need, to have access to God in heaven. As He would later say, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me" (John 14:6).
So we can understand something Jacob may not have been able to grasp: That Jesus, the Seed of Abraham, is the Mediator between God and man. Christ is the bridge between us in our desperate need because of our sin, and God with His abundant mercy. The angels, who bring God's help and protection to those who are needy, come to us through Christ.
In Jacob's dream, the Lord stood above the ladder and applied the promises given to Abraham and Isaac to Jacob (read 28:13- 15). What fantastic words! Can you imagine how those words must have hit Jacob? If you had done what Jacob had done, what would you have expected God to say to you? If He had said anything, I would have expected God to have said, "Steve, I had planned to use you in My purpose of blessing all nations through the seed of Abraham. But because you're such a deceiving crook, I'm going to have to change My plan. I can't use you." At the least I would have expected a severe rebuke. But God doesn't say a word about Jacob's failure. Instead, He assures Jacob about his future and promises him that He won't leave him until He's done everything He's promised. Jacob thought he had to use manipulation and scheming to gain God's blessing, but here God freely gives him everything while he's asleep. That's grace-God's unmerited favor!
Jacob didn't understand grace at this point. His response was fear (28:17). This was more than proper reverence; Jacob realized that he was dealing now with a God he couldn't connive against or cheat, a God who had his number, a God who had taken him thoroughly by surprise. I wonder if John Newton had this text in mind when he wrote, "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved."
God always deals with us in grace. This means that the primary reason you came to God was not because you decided to follow Jesus. Before you did anything, and knowing that you would only do evil if left to yourself, so that God alone could be glorified for your salvation, He chose you (Rom. 9:11). He is always the initiator. When He breaks into your life, it's His doing, not yours. If God operated on the merit system, He would have picked Esau, who was a much nicer guy than Jacob. But God, based totally on His grace and not at all on anything we do, breaks through in our lives at a point of our great need and says, "I'm going to bless you!" God always begins at my point of need with His grace. It's a totally humbling experience!
What am I supposed to do when God begins at my point of need with His grace?
3. When God begins, I should respond to Him (28:16-22).
Frankly, I don't think Jacob knew what to do. He babbles on about this place being awesome, the house of God, the gate of heaven. Like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jacob felt the need to fill the dreadful silence with some kind of noise. But beyond that, Jacob responded to the Lord as best he knew how.
He got up in the morning and set up a pillar with his stone pillow and poured oil on it, as an act of consecrating it to the Lord. Then he made a vow to the Lord (28:20-22). Commentators are divided regarding Jacob's vow. Some say that it was a wonderful response of faith. They interpret the "if" of verse 20 to mean, "since." Others say that this is another instance of this self-seeking schemer trying to bargain for his own best interests. My understanding is that while Jacob's response was immature at best, at least it was a response, and God met him there.
A number of factors reveal that Jacob's response was immature (I am indebted to James Boice, Genesis [Zondervan], 2:296-299, who develops these in more detail). Jacob does not express any awareness or confession of his many sins. His focus was not on God and His purpose to bless the nations, but on himself and what he could get out of the deal. The translation "since" rather than "if" (28:20) doesn't fit Jacob's focus on himself here. God has just promised to do all these things for Jacob and he turns around and says, "If You'll do what You just said, then You can be my God." Jacob's vow sounds like the same old pattern he used when he bargained with Esau to get the birthright. He wasn't concerned about the other party; he was out for the best deal for himself. God isn't too impressed with such deals!
Jacob should have responded, "You alone are God! While I deserve Your condemnation for my many sins, You have shown me Your grace! I surrender myself and everything I have totally to You!" But instead, he tells God that if He will come through as He has promised, Jacob will make Him his God, set up a house for Him at Bethel, and give Him ten percent. Big deal!
Jacob's response shows that he doesn't understand God's grace. God's promises to Jacob are all unconditional; Jacob's promises to God are all conditional. Thank God that He deals with us on His unconditional terms, not on our conditional terms! But all this reflects where Jacob is coming from. He was used to working out deals, so he's responding to God by trying to work out a deal. It was immature, at best, but at least it was a response.
The significant thing is, God didn't rebuke Jacob: "You've got to be kidding! If you can't accept My word, the deal is off." Instead, God let it go and graciously kept working with Jacob. It would take 20 hard years with Laban, a night of wrestling with the angel of God, and a traumatic encounter with Esau, to knock a lot of rough edges off Jacob, but God kept at it. Though it was an inadequate response, God took it and began to shape Jacob into the kind of man he needed to be.
Conclusion
That's how God begins with you and me. He begins at my point of need with His grace, and I should respond to Him. As I think back over my experience with God, I recognize how gracious He has been to take me where I was at and work with me, in spite of my inadequate faith and my self-centered response to Him. The main thing that caused me to yield my life to the Lord was that I saw a young Christian couple who had a great marriage. I said, "Lord, if You can give me that kind of marriage, I'll give my life to You." I realized that the best deal for me all the way around would be for me to let God control my life, since He knows what is best and He loves me.
