The Story Through the Bible Gen 28

Marriage matters

Here marriage becomes a bit of a big deal. We’re gonna back up one verse which feels more like it belongs to this chapter than 27.

Genesis 27:46–28:1 ESV

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?” Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.

Rebecca is concerned about having to deal with more of “these women” Just for a refresher “these women” are the ones mentioned in

Genesis 26:34–35 ESV

When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

She can’t take any more of it and it’s clear Isaac agrees with his response in verse 1 forbidding him to take a canaanite. Canaanite incompasses many of the ‘ites’ from the region like Hitittes, Perizzites, Jebusites, Amorites, and others. Why was the Canaanite hacker so powerful? Because he had mo-a-bytes! sorry very bad pun couldn’t resist

Okay back to marriage. We don’t ever see Esau prohibited from Canaanite marriage… maybe he was and didn’t care, but I think it’s just another sign that God hadn’t stepped in to pass that instruction down before he got Married.

Next he gets instruction to go to family on his mother’s side and get a wife from Laban his uncle. Yes we’re still in the first cousin phase. Then we get something that might seem like a slap in the face to Esau… as if them complaining about his wives wasn’t enough Jacob gets another blessing!?

Genesis 28:3–4 ESV

God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. 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!”

The use of “God Almighty” is a special the first time we see it is Genesis 17:1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,” And it’s not used again until this verse. This name of God “El Shaddai” should trigger a memory back to the covenant with Abraham. We get similar language to that promise but the phrase “be fruitful and multiply” takes us back how far? -Yes Back all the way to Gen 1 where that was part of God’s blessing to all creatures.

Now we have this Abraham sandwich, literally between his name and his name in v4 the promise to Abraham is essentially transferred to Jacob.

In verses 6 through 9 we see Esau the rejected son respond in such a cringe way - to use today’s lingo. He thinks it must have been the wives that got him rejected and so he goes and marries an Ishmaelite who wasn’t a Canaanite… that should fix everything right? No, it didn’t it sort of just seals him into the line of rejection like Ishmael was. But it seems like a change from trying to do the opposite of Jacob now he’s trying in some way to imitate him.

Now we shift the story to the dream. This is the first dream to have symbology in it. We get our first stab at interpretation.

First we’ll look at our setting. Remember Jacob is fleeing for his life.

Genesis 28:10–11 ESV

Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 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.

We’re taking the Abraham journey but backward from the land of Canaan to Haran. He ends up stopping at a “certain place” It’s literally “The Place” but he just stopped there because he ran out of daylight. It was just a regular place but because of what happens next it becomes THE PLACE that will be known for generations. Not because it’s special but because God steps into the scene here. Gen 28.12-17

Genesis 28:12–15 ESV

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! 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. 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. 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.”

-beside him or above it? v13 A similar phrase is used to describe the three visitors to Abraham in 18:2

-dispersion is a new addition to the promise that they would spread in every direction

v15 Despite getting the birthright and blessing where is Jacob now? on the run. Where is Esau? effectively getting the possessions and seeing the blessings of growth.

Genesis 28:16–17 ESV

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 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.”

A realization happens, this is a HOLY place! not because of the location but because God was there, something we see again, certainly with Moses.

Here he identifies the place as the gate of God - consequently that’s what the name Babylon means