- What is Rebekah's reason for her statement to Isaac?
- What had just occurred?
- Esau's blessing was stolen
- Esau wanted to kill Jacob
- Esau had married two Hittite women (Gen 26:34, 35) -- a source of grief to Rebekah and Isaac
- Rebekah is being deceitful as well
- At this point, this was not the best marriage (you wouldn't teach a class on marriage using Rebekah and Isaac)
- Incidentally, it had started out well. The "how we met" story is beautiful
- Prayer was an important part of each person's life at the beginning (Gen 25:21,22)
- But, it still remains for each person to work on the marriage and to employ biblical principles in an ongoing manner
- Also, they were not the best parents (played favorites)
- The children have problems, but both children will turn out well in the end
- Why? It is not the parents who decide a child's fate (otherwise Adam and Eve would have never sinned). We can only provide direction. They must choose on their own, their fate
- What does Isaac do and say for Jacob this time and why?
- He gives him the blessing to Abraham (the blessing to all nations and the land blessing)
- He may have realized that he was wrong to have tried to give it to Esau
- APPL:
- We need to pray for our children, but ultimately we must give them to God. We cannot force them to live in a manner pleasing to God. If that was possible, God would have done it already
- Also, you don't define your parents. You carry the name and you do represent the family, but your choices define you
- What does Esau's actions show?
- He was trying to win his Father's approval
- Apparently, he never realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his parents
- Suggests that the parents were never really honest with him about how they felt
- APPL: We need to be honest with our children. We need to affirm to them our love
- Where have we heard Bethel before?
- This is where Abraham stopped when he had walked halfway through the land and where he build an altar to God (Gen 13:3,4)
- There is some real and potential imagery here. We just need to be careful about not going beyond the scriptures
- The stone is potential. It is used three times, here and the next few verses. It reminds me of Jacob's stubborn sin of deceitfulness
- A ladder can not reach to heaven, so it is both literal and imagery
- It signifies a relationship with God
- The descending are the answers
- The ascending are the requests
- What does God do and what is significant?
- God speaks first (this has been Jacob's problem all his life)
- God reaffirms his covenant
- It is unconditional
- APPL: Are we seeking God first?
- There is something ironic in Jacob's words that tell his life story so far, do you see it?
- "The Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it"
- Jacob's statement contrasts with something God says, which is also a first in scripture, what is it?
- Vs 15: "I am with you"
- APPL: I think Jacob believed in God, but he clearly did not make or consider God a big part of his life. When it is not Sunday, how big a part of our life is God?
- What do you think of this prayer or vow?
- A number of commentators have suggested that the "if" could be translated "since"
- But it sounds conditional and it seems in contrast to God's unconditional promise above
- Also, it is "I"-centered, there is nothing about God's promise to his future off-spring
- Also, Jacob shows no evidence of any change in his behavior
- I think Jacob is still scheming, and now he is scheming with God
- Life is not about food to eat and clothes to wear and safety
- Life is not a bargain with God, a tit for tat
- Jacob is about to go through 21 years of battling an even better schemer than him
- At the end of it all, he is going to have people seeking to kill him from behind chasing him, and in front coming to meet him
- And finally, in the middle of all that pain, he is going to wrestle with God, but this time he won't be asking for food and clothes and safety, but for God's blessing, real life, and a real relationship with the King
- APPL: Are we still bargaining with God about life? Or have we finally reached the point, when it's not all about us, but it is about God?
Review:
|
2236
|
Birth of Terah
|
Gen 11:24
|
|
2166
|
Birth of Abram
|
Gen 11:27
|
|
2091
|
Abram departs
from Haran
|
Gen 12:4
|
|
2066
|
Birth of lsaac
|
Gen 21:2; cf.21:5
|
|
2026
|
Marriage of Isaac
|
Gen 25:20
|
|
2006
|
Birth of Jacob
and Esau
|
Gen. 25:26
|
|
1991
|
Death of Abram
|
Gen 25:7
|
|
1966
|
Marriage of Esau
|
Gen 26:34
|
|
1930
|
Jacob journeys to
Haran (after 1966 but not sure how much; Isaac' eyes are very bad)
|
Gen 28:2
|
|
1886
|
Death of lsaac
|
Gen 35:28
|
28:1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. 2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. 3 God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. 4 May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!" 5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
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.
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