Link: Genesis 28 & 29
Background: Earlier in Genesis, we saw that God made a covenant with Abraham, promising, among other things, that his descendants would be numerous, that they would inhabit a land of their own, and that through his descendants all nations on earth would be blessed. For a childless man with a barren wife and a nomadic lifestyle, these promises were indeed amazing and would require miraculous intervention. God proved his faithfulness to Abraham by giving him Isaac, the child of promise.
The chain of blessing continued into the next generation; God renewed his covenant with Isaac and provided two sons to carry on the family line. Now in this third generation, again the question is raised whether the covenant would continue, and by what means it would continue. Isaac's generation showed that that the covenant was based on a promise, not upon man's plan, design, or intention. What will the generation of Esau and Jacob show?
Esau, the firstborn son of Isaac and Rebekah, is the next logical successor of the promise. To the firstborn goes the blessing of the father, including the lion's share of his wealth and the position of head of the clan. By natural right, the covenant would pass to Esau. But problems arise when Esau despises his birthright and apparently couldn't care less about protecting the legacy of relationship with God handed down through his grandfather and father. A second problem is that the younger son, Jacob, is a schemer who, along with his mother, seems willing to stoop to any means to get what should not rightfully belong to him. He deceives Isaac and gets the blessing for himself. So Jacob has the blessing, he has the money--everything should be fine and dandy to continue the covenant with God. There's only been a small matter of switching which brother will stand at the head of the family, nothing too insurmountable; Jacob stands poised to take over where the previous generation left off. Unfortunately for Jacob, Esau isn't too keen on the new plan and threatens to kill him once Isaac is dead. This, along with a desire to not have another Canaanite daugther-in-law, motivates Rebekah to send Jacob away to her brother's clan to get an acceptable wife and also to hide out from Esau's wrath.
Chapter 28 begins with Jacob's flight away from Esau. Along the way, he has a strange experience. Lying on the cold hard ground with a stone for a pillow, he has a dream in which he sees angels ascending and descending on a stairway to heaven. At the top of the stairs is the Lord, who speaks to Jacob many of the same promises he spoke to Abraham and Isaac; God is offering to Jacob a renewal of the covenant, offering him a place in the line of blessing. Jacob, the schemer who had deceitfully finangled his way into what he thought would be the good life and then seen his opportunity to enjoy that blessing disappear due to the wrath of the brother he had wronged, now sees something bigger. God repeats the blessing, yes, and enumerates the benefits of the covenant, but he also gives Jacob a picture of something even more wonderful--a pathway to God himself, a bridge from heaven to earth and earth to heaven. The distant God, who speaks and blesses from afar, gives a glimpse of his accessability, his nearness. If I knew how to do colors, I'd put a SCARLET THREAD notation here. Jesus later said, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." (John 1:51) Christ himself is the ladder between heaven and earth, and Jacob, the guy who didn't get it, who didn't understand that God's promises were bigger than land and money and position, got to see heaven opened. Can you imagine? To see HEAVEN OPENED? I've been happy many times on a long journey just to see an open gas station with an unlocked, unoccupied bathroom, but to see heaven opened? That would be mind boggling. A way to heaven IS mind boggling. That we have been given a pathway to God is an amazing, wonderful gift. Jacob is amazed by it, too. He says, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it." God becomes real to Jacob.
But what happens next? Jacob's life takes a turn toward the mundane--finding his uncle, getting a job, falling in love, speed bumps in the course of true love, a scheming father-in-law who beats Jacob at his own game by giving him Leah as a bride in the dark of night rather than Rachel (whom Jacob loved and had worked seven long years for), bickering wives, babies born. The normal stuff of life; the things that make up everyday life for most of humanity. And yet this normal man living normal life was abnormal in one notable way--he was connected to God by God's covenant promises. He belonged to God in a unique way; through Jacob, God's heart and intention and plan for mankind would be preserved, illustrated, and passed down to future generations. God would show himself to mankind through his interactions with this one family. It's as if God says to the world, "Yes, I'm big. Yes, I'm too much for you to comprehend. Yes, you're busy with other things, going about your lives and schemes, unable to grab hold of me. But just watch. Just watch this one family; watch what I do with them, how I come to them and interact with them. Watch this family, and you'll see what kind of God I am." As Genesis unfolds, the family gets larger and has many trials and adventures and challenges. The Old Testament is full of them. And then in the New Testament, the focus turns from the now-huge family to One member of it--the ultimate fulfillment of the promise--Jesus. Like the Israelites ("Israel" was the name later given to Jacob), we've got a long road to travel before we get there, but it'll be an eventful journey! Stay tuned!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, the road from us to you is too long and hard; who can walk it? Who can ascend to your holy mountain? Like Jacob we fret and plot to arrange the details of our lives; we define blessedness for ourselves and lay down the plans and terms for how to achieve those goals. But you open a way bigger than our plans and better than our hopes or schemes. You come to us. Thank you that heaven is open to us. Thank you that all your promises are "Yes!!" in Christ Jesus. Amen
10 comments:
He saw heaven opened -- That is astounding! I hadn't made the connection with Jesus's statement in John before.
Another concept in this passage that intrigues me -- At this point, even after seeing heaven opened, Jacob knows (and God knows) that the LORD is not the God of Jacob. He calls Himself the "God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac." (28:13) Jacob knows who God is but doesn't recognize Him as his own God! He is Dad's and Grandpa's God; not mine. In verse 20-21 he made a vow saying that if God takes care of him and brings him back to his father's house safely, then "the LORD will be my God," and then he will honor Him as God.
Jacob gives God the opportunity to prove Himself to him, and God will do just that.
Yes, I see in Jacob's life a progression, too. It takes him a long time to come fully on board with God. Many commentators consider the "wrestling with God" episode as the culminating moment when Jacob fully and finally recognizes that his life is in God's hands--and is okay with that.
I sympathize with Jacob. I'm not one to jump wholeheartedly on a bandwagon, either, and like to hang back a bit to watch and see what will happen first--test out the waters before diving in. It's a human tendency of self-protection and maintaining control and having an escape plan just in case things go wrong. Fully surrendering to God feels like taking a risk, but God is so wonderfully patient to gently bring us along and allay each new fear as it comes up. He DOES prove himself faithful, and that makes trusting him so much easier for those of us who don't trust easily.
It's always bothered me that Jacob sets a condition on God being his God and Jacob honoring Him. But maybe he is saying "well, I'm headed away from that land, so I can't really see those promises coming to pass. If God works it all out, though, then certainly He'll be my God." Not an ultimatum so much as as a statement of fact.
This chapter always gets me. What kind of husband has been around a woman for seven years and finally gets to marry her, and is surprised the next morning when "behold; it's Leah!". I know they didn't have electric lights, but still.
Yeah, I could never figure out that "Leah surprise" either. Did they celebrate & drink THAT much, that Jacob didn't even know who he was with on his wedding night? And wasn't there some sort of ceremony during the first day of the wedding feast when they were at each other's side? And he didn't notice it was Leah beside him, talking with him??? Talk about a dazed groom! I don't get it.
"Like Jacob we fret and plot to arrange the details of our lives; we define blessedness for ourselves and lay down the plans and terms for how to achieve those goals. But you open a way bigger than our plans and better than our hopes or schemes."
So true! I love this part of your prayer. One of the things we talked about in our small groups this weekend was how we often out of fear, we try to manipulate the outcome of things when God is just saying "rest in ME and in my promises and trust, trust trust!" That was a big theme in our weekend: learning to trust God. Part of that learning to trust is just seeking Him and His face. Heaven is open wide to us (loved the Scarlet Thread there that I have never thought about) if we would only seek Him. We don't need to fear, really.
BTW, thanks Rachel for doing this! I really enjoyed reading your thoughts.
It's always bothered me that Jacob sets a condition on God being his God and Jacob honoring Him. But maybe he is saying "well, I'm headed away from that land, so I can't really see those promises coming to pass. If God works it all out, though, then certainly He'll be my God." Not an ultimatum so much as as a statement of fact.
This seems to be congruent with pagan beliefs about gods at that time. The gods of the people of that time and place were connected to territories; their protection extended only to the boundaries of their territories. The gods weren't traveling gods, I guess, but God contrasts himself to that by promising to go with Jacob wherever he goes AND to bring him back. Jacob's answer is sort of like you said, a way of saying that he's open to the possibility and will be glad to jump on board if he finds God's assertion to be true.
About the Leah surprise, I guess I've concluded that marriage/sexual practices of other cultures could be way, way different from what I'm familiar with, so there isn't really any way for my experiences to shed much light on what went on with Jacob and Leah. So although it seems screwy that he didn't get a clue, I don't have enough information to draw any conclusions from the bare facts we're given, which simply state he didn't find out till morning. I would love to know what their customs were, though. That'd be fascinating.
One of the things we talked about in our small groups this weekend was how we often out of fear, we try to manipulate the outcome of things when God is just saying "rest in ME and in my promises and trust, trust trust!" That was a big theme in our weekend: learning to trust God.
Carol, as I've been around college kids, I've seen a lot of that same need to see and maybe even control outcomes. Not like that's exclusive to college kids by any means, but I just find it so interesting to see what an "angsty" time Christian young people are in--they want so badly to live for Christ, but they're a little afraid of what that might entail, too, and I think also they're afraid of "missing it" and getting it wrong. That I think might be somewhat a result of the teaching that "God loves you and has a perfect will for your life" which is true but often is interpreted to mean that there's only ONE RIGHT WAY to live a life--only one possible right occupation, one possible right person to date, one possible right EVERYTHING--and that it's up to the individual to track down and pry from God's hands the guidance needed and to make his will happen instead of resting in the knowledge that God is good and will give as a gift every good thing needed for life and godliness as it's needed. I do love the intensity of college kids! Experience brings wisdom, but it also can bring a bit of ennui.
And you're very welcome. I was happy to step in while you were gone, although in the morning of the day I was supposed to post, I still had NO IDEA what I wanted to say! You're a good woman to come up with something great day after day!
I think I was the same way about not wanting to make the wrong decision when I was a college student. The book *Decision Making and the Will of God* was popular right after I graduated, and that was a big topic for us. I think the Proverbs 1 discussion just lends to the whole idea of wisdom starts with seeking God's face. It sort of puts the pressure off of us to "get it right." For me, the "getting it right" was more because of my pride, I wanted to get it right rather than I could relax in a wise God. The emphasis was on ME rather than God. I don't know if that makes sense.
We had to walk so gingerly in the story of "George and Carol" because God doesn't have to do it like He did it with us. We look for formulas and books that have formulas rather than God.
After we were done with the "mate" part of our story, we were surrounded with people pulling up chairs, and the main question was "What do you think about Christians dating?" We just don't want to get into a "Josh Harris" or "Elizabeth Harris" philosophy of anything. We want answers and to put God in a box. They asked about our kids, if we will have rules about when they could date. We just aren't big rule people with our kids. We don't limit their TV. We don't make them do chores, but there is a mutual respect and open dialogue that we have had with our kids from the time they could talk. So, if the dating issue comes up, we can pray with them and seek God's face and seek to honor Him with wise choices. That is how they have handled TV. They don't see it as a wise use of their time right now. They help around the house because they want to help their mother out and bless her rather than have "chores." The focus is on what would God want in this situation and pray to Him about it and seek wise counsel for those you have mutual respect with rather than finding a formula in a book about it. We can trust God. Our decisions will be based on reliance on and trust in God rather than a formula.
I am rambling and don't even know if anything has made sense. Pushing the button anyway.
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