Jacob’s Dream

Today, we continue our series of the narrative lectionary, the sacred mythos, the world of the Bible and God’s unfolding narrative of blessing humanity.

We began a couple weeks ago with the Creation story. God’s presence hovers over the chaos of our lives and speaks the enchanted cosmos into being. And it was very good.

Last week, we fast forwarded to the Abraham story, specifically the aftermath of God’s blessing of Abraham and Sarah with a child, Isaac. God has come close to this family and made a promise to them — you will be a great nation.

This covenant is not without complications, especially as humanity, as we see in Abraham, is prone towards misunderstanding. Abraham thinks God requires blood from this gift of a child. God has other plans and those other plans reveal something of the goodness of God’s character. What is God like? What are the gods like? Do they require retribution and violence to appease them? Or is YHWH, the God of All, somehow different?

God does not demand the killing of the son, but rather faithfulness.

And God’s faithfulness continues to be displayed through the stories of the Abrahamic family.

Today’s readings focus on the third generation of this family, with the story of now-old Isaac’s blessing of his sons, Jacob and Esau.

I’ll get to our reading in a moment, first a quick catch up to where we are. Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, goes off to Abraham’s family and returns with a partner, his wife Rebecca. And Isaac and Rebecca then are blessed with the conception of twins. The Scriptures tell us of the wrestling, warring nations those twins represented, even in the womb. There is telling of a prophecy, that the younger will rule over the elder. This plays out even in their birth, as Isaac grasps the heal of Esau, pulling along out of the womb. This narrative sets up the division of the nations of Israel and Edom, Jacob being the patriarch of Israel (including changing his name to Israel) and Esau the head of the Edomites.

In case you don’t know, I have a twin nephew and niece. These two had a similar kind of gestation story, two little souls wrestling and sharing a womb. In fact, they had what is called twin-to-twin transfusion, where one of them, Luka, actually received more nutrients in the womb than Aiden. While identical twins, Luka grew noticeably more in the womb than Aiden and they emerged weighing pounds different. I still recall their little faces, Luka’s puffed and round, Aiden’s a bit more thin and scrawny. We called him little face.

Of course, they’ve evened out and grown into their own wonderful personalities and identities. I pray they will not become warring nations someday…I think they’ll be ok. :)

As we look at our text from Genesis, we’ll now hear that those two boys, Jacob and Esau, have grown up. They have cattle and crops, families and servants of their own. Isaac is getting on in years and now it comes time to bless his sons. Esau, being the elder by minutes, is called to his father’s tent to receive instructions for his blessing.

Genesis 27:1–4 NRSV

When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called his elder son Esau and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “See, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me. Then prepare for me savory food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”

The story goes on that Esau goes out to hunt and, in the meantime, Rebekah schemes with Jacob to trick their father. This is a classic example of the trickster theme that is present in many ancient texts. The trickster uses deception and misdirection to achieve his ends. Jacob is the Loki to Esau’s Thor.

But there are consequences to such trickery.

Genesis 27:15–23 NRSV

Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob; and she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. Then she handed the savory food, and the bread that she had prepared, to her son Jacob. So he went in to his father, and said, “My father”; and he said, “Here I am; who are you, my son?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.” But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” So Jacob went up to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.

I love that line — “the voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” Trickery. Deception.

From here, Jacob has to flee. Esau is enraged. What was meant to be his blessing has been snatched away by his younger brother.

We might say, “oh, it’s just words of blessing” and consider that they could be revoked or adjusted. But in the ancient mind and ritual practice, a blessing or a vow like this is binding, irrevocable, law. As we recall from the last couple of weeks, Words make meaning, Words actually may have as much or more power than practical actions. So the blessing is stolen.

The story goes on that Isaac does bless Esau, but it is a secondary blessing, very clearly.

So Esau turns is anger towards his brother. And Jacob, the heel, the trickster, the deceiver, must flee.

Our narrative picks up with Jacob on the run. Esau is primed and ready to murder his brother for his trickery. There are consequences to such actions. So Jacob flees and, under the cover of night, finally lays down to rest.

Genesis 28:10–17 NRSV

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the 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. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him 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; and 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 all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that 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.” Then Jacob woke 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.”

Scholars and archeaologists reckon that the site, known as Bethel, was possibly a preexisting sacred place, perhaps known among the other neighboring tribes. And in Jacob’s dream, there are potentially allusions to the Mesopatamian ziggurat, a tall building with steps leading to the heavens. Whether this is truly what the dream describes is uncertain, but clearly Jacob has some kind of vision of a place where the servants of God intermingle with our reality. We might call it a thin place or a holy site. But also, it’s just a place. The place, the place. No proper noun naming it in this part of the text, just a place.

This is our last Genesis text for the cycle. Cosmic Creation, the God who sees us and demands faithfulness, not violence. And now, the God of covenant with broken and dysfunctional humanity.

What is God like? How has God enchanted this existence? Where does God dwell?

Jacob is given a vision of the way God interacts with humanity. As I read these stories again, I have this sense of divine messangers, coming to and fro from the seat of God. It makes me wonder about prayers — how do we conceive of God’s reception of our prayers, our blessing? Are these beings not messengers, couriers of the divine? And what does this all have to do with Jacob and the blessing?

At one level, we can see this story as a confirmation of Jacob’s reception of the blessing from his father. He has been designated the heir of these encounters with YHWH and YHWH’s servants. Despite his trickery and deception, God reveals a vision to him.

But I also find that this revelation lacks something. It is not a profound moment of conversation for Jacob…this will come later, many years later in fact, as he wrestles at the Jabbok River and is given a new name, Israel. But this encounter, this dream, seems less of a change of heart moment and more, perhaps of a revealing that Jacob’s world is far too small, his perspective lacking depth. The trickster must learn to see that his means of manipulation are small and petty compared to the work of God.

And Jacob knows this, at some level, too. This is why he proclaims that this is the entrance to the dwelling place of God, a door to the heavens. He realizes there is much more going on in the ways of God.

We are taught through this narrative to take stock of our smallness, our petty ways. Because as these stories tell us what God is like, where God dwells, don’t they also show us what humanity is like?

What are we prone to do, say, and repeat? Is humanity good, like the Creation story says? Because these stories paint a more nuanced picture, one that doesn’t particularly make the Abrahamic family look that great.

Throughout history, there are stories of family drama and deception. We know the interplay between siblings and parents. And of course, those of us who are elder children, we look at a story like this and think, “of course, the younger always takes more.”

I have a little sister. And whether it’s true or not, I grew up thinking she had it better than me. That my parents would favor her with praise or privileges. Not true, but most stories we tell about our families of origin have a little bit of fiction pulled in, especially when the fiction makes us look like the better. Do you have stories like that in your family?

Jacob’s dream illustrates a strong theme that is found throughout the Scriptures, throughout this sacred mythos: God’s ways and purposes are not dependent upon our goodness or our conniving. God’s movement in the world is not bound to the walls of a church or a specific site of revelation. God is wilder, stranger, and grander than this.

And God uses the stories of messy, deceptive, tricksters to remind us of this. Can God dwell in you and me, with all our faults and flaws? Does God see through our deceptions, see through our disguises?

Remember, these are early stories of the people of God, trying to figure out and articulate what they understand God to be like and how humanity might interact with God.

Hear this good news: Regardless of our trickery and deception. Regardless of our impeccable manners and rigid beliefs. Regardless of our pain and our disbelief…God dwells among us. In particular, it is through Jesus the Christ, that we encounter the dwelling place of God, not in human structures or fantastic visions…but in earthy, grounded reality. God dwells in Christ and now dwells in us, Christ’s followers. We, like Jacob, have received this blessing, this covering of God’s grace. Regardless of our faults and failures. God’s grace is for us, before us, ready to receive us and open our eyes to the enchanted world of God’s love which is so much grander.

So cease your striving. Stop grasping at one another’s heels, trying to get your fill, get your blessing.

I’ll close with Jesus’ interaction with Nathaniel, which we heard read earlier.

John 1:50–51 NRSV

Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Does our faith rely on these grand blessings, this rituals of inheritance? Or is true revelation, true sight, found when we have lost it all, are on the run, and in need of grace? Grace, by faith, we are welcomed into God’s family, tricksters, hucksters, swindlers, jerks, and altogether beautiful, redeemed humanity. May it be so in us. Amen.