A Stairway and a Stone
Notes
Transcript
Text: Genesis 28:10-22
10 Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.
11 On reaching a certain place, he spent the night there because the sun had set. And taking one of the stones from that place, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
12 And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder.
13 And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.
14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
15 Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 When Jacob woke up, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was unaware of it.”
17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven!”
18 Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,
19 and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
21 so that I may return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God.
22 And this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth.”
PRAY
Jacob is on the run in this story — literally on the run from Esau, and figuratively on the run from God. But God is running after him.
Exposition of the Passage
Jacob on the Run
Jacob on the Run
Verse 10
10 Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.
Beersheba (well of the oath) was supposed to be a place of peace; instead, it had become a place of conflict.
Jacob now runs away from Esau, fearing for his life.
At his parent’s direction, he is heading to Haran, the place where Abraham’s extended family lives.
It is as if Jacob is being exiled from the land; leaving the land of promise and heading to the east.
He will be away from his family for 20 years.
Verse 11
11 On reaching a certain place, he spent the night there because the sun had set. And taking one of the stones from that place, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep [in that place].
This place where Jacob spends the night, he later names Bethel. Bethel was 60 miles north of Beersheba, so he’s probably been traveling at least a couple of days at this point. Haran was another 400 miles or so farther to the northeast.
The word “place” is significant in this passage. In the Hebrew text we find it 6 times in this passage (5 in the BSB, just because it sounds so repetitive).
The repetition of this word is going to show us that Jacob’s focus is on the place rather than on the person who appears to him in that place.
One of the interesting details in this story is the stone and what Jacob is doing with it. From this translation and several other good one, it seems that Jacob is using this stone as a pillow.
For one thing,
That doesn’t sound very comfortable. And,
I think there’s something else going on here.
Notice how the CSB puts this verse:
Christian Standard Bible Chapter 28
He reached a certain
The NET Bible, which has very helpful notes on the text and translation says this:
Heb “and he put [it at] the place of his head.” The text does not actually say the stone was placed under his head to serve as a pillow, although most interpreters and translators assume this. It is possible the stone served some other purpose. Jacob does not seem to have been a committed monotheist yet (see v. 20–21) so he may have believed it contained some spiritual power. Note that later in the story he anticipates the stone becoming the residence of God (see v. 22). Many cultures throughout the world view certain types of stones as magical and/or sacred.
While it is possible to see this as a stone pillow, I think it’s more likely to take this as some kind of superstitious practice that Jacob is following, putting this stone near his head because he believes that the stone itself has some kind of spiritual power. So he puts it near his head, perhaps to receive some kind of blessing or protection from the stone.
The LORD’s Pursuit of Jacob
The LORD’s Pursuit of Jacob
Consider: Before Jacob ever starts pursuing God, God is pursuing Jacob. Jacob is on the run, but God is running after him. And the same is true for us.
Verse 12
12 And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder.
The meaning of the word translated “ladder” here is uncertain. It may be a ladder or a stairway, and some have suggested it may have been something more like a ziggurat or pyramid.
Whatever it was, it was apparently wide enough for angels to be going both up and down — from earth to heaven and from heaven to earth.
The language in this verse seems to recall the tower of Babel in Genesis 11. In Genesis 11:4, the people said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens.”
Ever since Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, people have been trying to find a way back to God. They come up with their own plans and ideas, and they do so with proud and rebellious motives, rather than in genuine humility and repentance.
Now God shows Jacob that there is a way from earth to heaven. But it’s God’s way, not man’s way.
Jesus referred back to this scene in John 1:51 when He told His disciples, “Truly, truly, I tell you, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Jesus claims that He Himself is the ladder or stairway from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven. He is the One who bridges the gap between a holy God and sinful men. Jesus is the meeting place of heaven and earth as the eternal Son of God who took on flesh. Only through Him can we access God.
This verse also gives us a glimpse of the task of angels. They are going up to heaven from earth, and they are coming down to earth from heaven.
Hebrews 1:14 tells us, “Are not the angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
Angels are God’s messengers — servants who accomplish His will. Though most of the time we do not see angels, the Scriptures indicate that they are all around us. God has sent them out to serve us — and all God’s people.
Verse 13
13 And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.
The most important part of this vision is not the ladder (stairway) nor the angels. It’s the LORD. Yahweh is now personally appearing to Jacob and personally passing on the promises to him.
He identifies Himself as the God of Abraham and Isaac, but it’s clear from this passage that He’s not yet Jacob’s God.
He promises Jacob that he and his offspring will possess the land.
Verse 14
14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
Then God promises to make Jacob fruitful, with offspring like the dust of the earth, just as He had told Abraham in Genesis 13:16 — “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.”
So we have the land in v. 13, the seed (offspring, descendants) at the beginning of v. 14, and at the end of 14, universal blessing: “all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.”
So the 3 main promises given to Abraham were passed on to Isaac and now God passes them on to Jacob. God will fulfill His promises to Abraham through the line of Jacob.
Verse 15
15 Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Then God repeats the promise He had made to Isaac in Genesis 26:3, 24: “I will be with you.” — a central promise in Scripture.
Then God adds a new promise: “I will watch over you.” (I will guard you). God will be His protector.
And even as Jacob is experiencing an exile from the land, God makes another promise: I will bring you back — just as God promised later to the people of Israel when they went into exile.
And one more promise: I will not leave you. God says to Jacob in essence, “You can count on Me. You can trust My promises. I will do for you everything I said.”
Jacob’s Response to the LORD
Jacob’s Response to the LORD
Verse 16
16 When Jacob woke up, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was unaware of it.”
Jacob does not yet know Yahweh as the only, omnipresent God.
He seems to assume now that this place is the place where this God Yahweh lives (but he probably still assumes there are other gods in other places) — this particular place is where the LORD lives.
Verse 17
17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven!”
Notice his response of fear — “he was afraid”; and the word “awesome” is related to the Hebrew word for fear (fearful or terrifying).
Again, his focus is on the place more than on the person. He seems to give more honor to the place than to the Person he had met there.
Verse 18-19
18 Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,
19 and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz.
Again, Jacob’s focus is on a place, when it should be on a Person (Yahweh)
Jacob’s focus is still on the stone and on the location, rather than on God.
The mention of Bethel is also interesting, because later in Israel’s history this city becomes a place of idolatry.
Bethel is one of the two sites where Jeroboam set up the golden calves for the northern tribes of Israel to worship. So if we’ve read later Scriptures, Bethel will call to our minds the idea of idolatry, and that’s not far from what Jacob seems to be doing here.
He’s setting up a stone pillar and anointing it, probably not as an act of worship to Yahweh, but rather setting up a graven image, like his descendants would do many years later.
It’s not completely clear, but I don’t think we’re supposed to see this as a positive thing, as a genuine act of worship. Jacob’s words in the following verses indicate that he doesn’t yet trust in Yahweh and His promises, and he has not committed himself to serving and worshiping only Yahweh as His God.
Verses 20-22
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
21 so that I may return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God.
22 And this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth.”
This may seem like a positive thing Jacob’s doing here —
He says, “The LORD will be my God”
It sounds like he’s going to worship God
He’s going to give his tithe to God
Sounds like a positive thing.
But consider the lack of faith that is evident in his vow:
Verse 20: If the LORD does all these things (that He just promised to do!), then I’ll commit my life to Him and worship Him and give Him 10%.
So first, he’s expressing doubt that the LORD will actually do what He said.
Second, he states explicitly that the LORD is not his God right now. He says in v. 21, “[If God will do all these things for me], then the LORD will be my God.” And that word “be” is probably better translated “become.” It’s pretty clear in English, and even clearer in the Hebrew, that Jacob has not embraced Yahweh as his God.
21 [If] … then the LORD will be my God.
In other words, He’s not my God right now, but if He does all these good things for me, then I guess I’ll let him be my God — but not until then. That means that for the next 20 years, while he’s with Laban, he is still not going to embrace Yahweh as his God.
How should Jacob have responded to God’s revelation and promises?
Faith — trusting God’s promises. (“I believe what You say”)
Gratitude for God’s grace (“Thank You for choosing me and pursuing me despite my sin”)
Total commitment to God (“I will follow You and submit to You as my God”)
He should have trusted, loved, and obeyed God.
Instead he keeps God at arm’s length.
He fails to trust God’s promise.
He doesn’t show love or gratitude for God’s grace.
He still isn’t submitting himself to God.
When we come near to the end of Jacob’s life, he tells us in Genesis 47 that his years were “few and hard” (Gen 47:9) — because it took him so long to submit himself to the Lord. Just as his years were “hard”, so also life will be harder for us as long as we continue to resist God and His will and plans for us.
Application
If you are here this morning — if you’re hearing this message, it’s probably because God is pursuing you. He’s running after you.
How are you responding to Him?
Will you be like Jacob and continue to run, keeping God at arm’s length? Will you doubt God’s promises? Will you take His grace for granted? Will you keep going your own way instead of His?
Or will you trust His Word? Will you believe what He says?
Will you respond to His grace and mercy with love, gratitude, and worship?
Will you submit your life to Him and obey Him? Will you say, “Not my will, but Your will be done”?
Take a moment to consider how you are responding to God’s work in your life.
PRAY
