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Genesis Chapter
Twenty-Eight
I.
Content of the Chapter
Jacob Went Away From Home
A. Isaac sent Jacob to Padan
B. Esau married the daughter of Ishmael to
please his father (v.6-9);
C. Jacob slept in the open air and dreamed of
the ladder and promise of God (v.10-15);
D. Jacob called the place “
II.
Verse by Verse Commentary
Gen. 28:1 “Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him,
and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the
daughters of
YLT: “And
Isaac calleth unto Jacob, and blesseth him, and commandeth him, and saith to
him, `Thou dost not take a wife of the daughters of Caanan;”
The Background: it was the social custom at that time that
the father had the right to decide whom the sons would marry.
Literal
Meaning: “blessed him”, Isaac
now had clearly known that the will of God was in Jacob, so he blessed him this
time positively.
“Charged him”, it was a commandment.
“You
shall not take a wife from the daughters of
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) Here Jacob obtained his father’s blessing
without deceit. How vain human ways and instrumentalities are, for they only
bring us discipline of God.
2)
Believers shall not be associated with the world, for our God is a God of jealousy.
Gen. 28:2 “Arise, go to Padan
YLT:
“rise, go to Padan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father, and take
for thyself from thence a wife, of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's
brother;”
Meaning
of Words: “Padan
Literal
Meaning: “arise, go to…”,
here the tone of Isaac was not like that of Rebekah ---- “arise,
flee to…” (see 27:43). Therefore, at this time,
Isaac did not Esau would murder Jacob. Isaac sent Jacob away for the apparent
sake of his marriage, but actually it was because Rebekah was afraid that Jacob
would be murdered by Esau (see 27:41-46).
“Your mother’s
father …your
mother’s brother”, it showed the
close relation between Jacob and his mother.
Gen. 28:3 ““May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be
an assembly of peoples;”
YLT:
“and
God Almighty doth bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and
thou hast become an assembly of peoples;”
Literal
Meaning: when God blessed
Abraham, the name of “Almighty God” had ever been used (see 17:1). Isaac
blessed Jacob with this name for the following blessing was related with the
blessing in chapter seventeen.
“Be an assembly
of peoples”, this was an
additional blessing. “Assembly of peoples”, it refers to a large multitude and
interrelated relations. Probably, this was the first time in the Old Testament
of mentioning the concept of “the church” or “the assembly”.
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) It is never a problem to God of “being
fruitful and multiplication”
---- the more, the better ---- Let Christians endeavor to preach the gospel and
bring more people to believe the Lord.
2) God
is a God of “Almighty God” ---- He is mighty enough to deal with all our needs.
Gen. 28:4 “And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your
descendants with you, That
you may inherit the land In
which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham.””
YLT:
“and
He doth give to thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with
thee, to cause thee to possess the land of thy sojournings, which God gave to
Abraham.'”
Literal
Meaning: Isaac here was sure
that Jacob was the right heir of the promised covenant of Abraham given by God.
Gen. 28:5 “So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan
YLT: “And
Isaac sendeth away Jacob, and he goeth to Padan-Aram, unto Laban, son of
Bethuel the Aramaean, brother of Rebekah, mother of Jacob and Esau.”
Literal
Meaning: “Jacob
and Esau”, note Jacob was
mentioned before Esau, showing that Jacob was regarded as the “eldest son”.
Enlightenment
in the Word: on one hand, Jacob
fled. And on the other hand, he was sent by his father. Therefore, all the
environments that we meet are allowed by God.
Gen. 28:6 “Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to
Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him
he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of
Canaan,””
YLT:
“And
Esau seeth that Isaac hath blessed Jacob, and hath sent him to Padan-Aram to
take to himself from thence a wife -- in his blessing him that he layeth a
charge upon him, saying, Thou dost not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan
--”
Gen. 28:7 “and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had
gone to Padan
YLT:
“that
Jacob hearkeneth unto his father and unto his mother, and goeth to Padan-Aram
--”
Literal
Meaning: verse six and seven
mentions three facts that Esau saw: 1) his father blessed and sent Jacob; 2)
his father charged Jacob not to take a wife from the
Gen. 28:8 “Also Esau saw that the daughters of
YLT:
“and
Esau seeth that the daughters of
Gen. 28:9 “So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of
Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to
the wives he had.”
YLT:
“and
Esau goeth unto Ishmael, and taketh Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's
son, sister of Nebajoth, unto his wives, to himself, for a wife.”
Meaning
of Words: “Mahalath”: harp, gentle;
Literal
Meaning: since Esau had known
that his father wanted Jacob to marry the daughter of his mother’s brother.
Therefore, he went to marry the daughter of his father’s brother to please
Isaac. According to the order of birth, Ishmael and Esau were both elder sons,
so this marriage was a union of two elder sons. However, it could not entitle
him to get the birthright nor make him an heir of the promised covenant of
Abraham.
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) Esau took the daughter of
Ishmael to be
his wife for he saw the obedience of Jacob to his parents. Our obedience often
becomes a good example for others to imitate.
2) He
who is religiously zealous often imitates the works of others, thinking that he
will thus please God, but he does not know he has been against the will of God.
Gen. 28:10 “Now Jacob went out from
YLT:
“And
Jacob goeth out from Beer-Sheba, and goeth toward
Meaning
of Words: “
Literal
Meaning: “went
toward
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) Jacob was forced to part from his parents and
left for
2)
Though our way before us is full of “high hills” (the meaning of the word “
3) Let
believers consider and look unto Jesus in the face of difficulties, lest we
become weary and discouraged in our souls (Heb. 12:2-3).
Gen. 28:11 “So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night,
because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones
of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.”
YLT:
“and
he toucheth at a place, and lodgeth there, for the sun hath gone in, and he
taketh of the stones of the place, and maketh his pillows, and lieth down in
that place.”
Literal
Meaning: Jacob left his warm
house and wandered far afield and slept in the open air and rested his head on
a stone. The miserable and lonely condition could be easily imagined.
“That
place”, it was mentioned three times in the original Hebrew with the definite
article (the) ahead, showing that that was a special place.
Spiritual
Meaning: “the
sun had set”, it symbolized the
darkness around.
Gen. 28:12 “Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on
the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God
were ascending and descending on it.”
YLT: “And
he dreameth, and lo, a ladder set up on the earth, and its head is touching the
heavens; and lo, messengers of God are going up and coming down by it;”
Literal
Meaning: “dreamed a ladder”,
“ladder”: a ladder with a set of stairs;
“Was
set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven”, it indicated that the
ladder become a bridge connecting both the heaven and the earth.
“And there the
angels of God were ascending and descending on it”, it pointed that the angels are
responsible for delivering messages between the heaven and the earth to keep
the fellowship smoothly.
Spiritual
Meaning: the “ladder”
connecting the heaven and the earth typifies Christ (John 1:51), who is the
only way to the heaven (John 14:6) as well as the only Mediator between God and
men (1Tim. 2:5).
“There the angels
of God were ascending and descending on it”, it symbolizes that the angels are ministering
spirits sent forth by God to minister for believers (Heb. 1:14).
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) The Lord Jesus can on one hand “stand on the
earth” ---- who meets the criterion of a man and is a model of man. On the
other hand, He “reaches to heaven” ---- who satisfies the criterion of God and
is on behalf of God. Only the Lord Jesus is the perfect God and the perfect
man.
2) God
can draw near to men through the Mediator Jesus Christ only. And man is able to
come to God the Father through Jesus Christ only.
3)
Jacob found no way in the wilderness, but God did not shut up man’s way. The
worldly fellowship may be blocked, but the heavenly fellowship is always
smooth.
4) It
is “going up” first and then “coming down”. How can a man appropriate God’s
blessings without prayer to Him? We shall let our request ascend to the heaven
first, and then the help from above will descend to us.
Gen. 28:13 “And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of
Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you
and your descendants.”
YLT: “and
lo, Jehovah is standing upon it, and He saith, `I Jehovah, God of Abraham thy
father, and God of Isaac; the land on which thou art lying, to thee I give it,
and to thy seed;”
Literal
Meaning: “the
land on which you lie”, it refers to the
Enlightenment
in the Word: Jehovah spoke on
the top of the “ladder” ---- in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son
(Heb. 1:2) ---- He speaks to us in Christ.
Gen. 28:14 “Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the
north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth
shall be blessed.”
YLT:
“and
thy seed hath been as the dust of the land, and thou hast broken forth
westward, and eastward, and northward, and southward, and all families of the
ground have been blessed in thee and in thy seed.”
Literal
Meaning: God particularly
mentioned the descendants of Jacob here, indicating that he would take his wife
in
“You
shall spread abroad to the west and the east”, you shall surmount all the barriers around (see
Is. 54:3).
God’s word from verse thirteen to fifteen had
confirmed Isaac’s blessing to Jacob in verse four. God rebuked Jacob nothing,
but gave him a series of promises and blessings. He told Jacob “He is the
Lord” in the very first. And then His promises extended
from the past to the future, from the place where Jacob was now to the all directions
of the land, from the individual of Jacob to the whole human beings.
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) “And in you and
in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed”. That we are useful in the hand of God is
not due to our own nature, but the will of God. Our hope does not lie in
ourselves, but in the faithfulness of God.
2) The
gospel shall be preached all over the world, and the
3)
Where there is the preaching of the gospel, there are blessings.
Gen. 28:15 “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 spoken to you.””
YLT:
“`And
lo, I with thee, and have kept thee whithersoever thou goest, and have caused
thee to turn back unto this ground; for I leave thee not till that I have
surely done that which I have spoken to thee.'”
Literal
Meaning: here God
concentrated his blessings on Jacob and promised him five things:
1. “Be with you” ---- God would be with Jacob
so that Jacob would not be alone;
2. “Keep you” ---- God
would cover and protect Jacob so that Jacob would not be hurt;
3. “Bring you back” ---- God would guide Jacob
so that Jacob would not be lost;
4. “Will not leave” ---- God
had promised Jacob so that Jacob would not be forsaken;
5. “Until I have done” ---- God had promised
Jacob so that Jacob would not lose hope;
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) The God we believe is an omnipresent God.
Wherever we go, He will be with us.
2) The
God we believe is a faithful God. Whatever we have committed to Him, He will
keep it until that Day (2Tim. 1:12).
3)
Whatever is promised by Him, He will take the full responsibilities. Let
believers not ask the consequences, but whether it is of God.
4) God
did not rebuke Jacob for taking the father’s blessing with deceit, but
manifested to him and promised Him, which indicated that our God is a God with
abundant grace.
5) God
personally revealed to Jacob and helped him when he was in the poorest and most
distressful condition. He is truly our consolation in all tribulations (2Cor.
1:4).
Gen. 28:16 “Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.””
YLT:
“And
Jacob awaketh out of his sleep, and saith, `Surely Jehovah is in this place,
and I knew not;'”
Literal
Meaning: Jacob meant that he
thought God had forsaken him, so he was alone and homeless with grief. However,
God was still even with him. This night of Jacob enabled him to know a constant
fact, i.e. the changelessness of the LORD’s presence ---- He is always close to us.
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) Many times God is indeed with us, but we just
don’t know it.
2)
Meeting God is the first step of spiritual growth to believers.
Gen. 28:17 “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!””
YLT: “and
he feareth, and saith, `How fearful this place; this is nothing but a house of God,
and this a gate of the heavens.'”
The Background: people at that time thought man would die if he saw
God face to face (see Judge 6:23).
Literal
Meaning: here it was the
first time for Jacob to see the largeness of God ---- He is above all, so “the
gate of heaven” could be opened to Jacob wherever he was and thus he was just
like in “the house of God”.
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) Where there is the presence of God, it is just
the heaven.
2)
Since the church is the house of God (1Tim. 3:15), let unbelievers see that God
is truly among us (1Cor. 14:25). Through the church, the gate of heaven is open
to unbelievers so that they are enabled to enter into the heavenly realm.
3) It
is fearful to the carnal ones that there is the righteousness and holiness of
God in the house of God. If the flesh of man is not dealt with, the house of
God is a fearful place to such man.
Gen. 28:18 “Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a
pillar, and poured oil on top of it.”
YLT: “And
Jacob riseth early in the morning, and taketh the stone which he hath made his
pillows, and maketh it a standing pillar, and poureth oil upon its top,”
The Background: in the ancient times, stone pillar was used to be a
sign for covenant (see 31:52). Pouring oil was a custom of separation (see Ex.
30:25; Lev. 8:10-12; Num. 7:1). Moreover, the ancient Jews often carried oil in
case of need when going out (see 31:13; 35:14).
Literal
Meaning: “took
the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar”, setting the stone up as a pillar is for
remembrance, reminding him that God had ever revealed to him here
(see 31:13; 35:14).
“Poured oil on
top of it”, it showed that he
separated himself unto God.
The
stone pillar represents the testimony that man meets God rather than “God”
Himself. Later since the Gentiles set sacred pillars to worship, God forbid the
Israelites to set such pillars (see Ex. 23:24; Lev. 26:1; Deut. 7:5).
Spiritual
Meaning: the church is
characterized by “pouring oil on stones”. Oil typifies the Spirit in the
Scriptures. Stones symbolize all those who are born again (1Pet. 2:5). Pouring
oil on top of it means the Holy Spirit (oil) works in believers (stones) so
that we will be perfected as the church.
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) Believers shall be both living stones as well as
pillars in the house of God (Rev. 3:12; Gal. 2:9) so that the testimony of the
truth of the church shall be established (see 1Tim. 3:15).
2) Let
believers on one hand ask God to pour out the Holy Spirit abundantly on us
(Titus. 3:6), and on the other hand prepare more oil on the vessels (Matt.
25:4) so that we will be “full of the Spirit” (Acts 11:24 the original).
Gen. 28:19 “And he called the name of that place
YLT:
“and
he calleth the name of that place
Meaning
of Words: “
Literal
Meaning: “
Spiritual
Meaning: “
Enlightenment
in the Word:
Gen. 28:20 “Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and
keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to
put on,”
YLT: “And
Jacob voweth a vow, saying, `Seeing God is with me, and hath kept me in this
way which I am going, and hath given to me bread to eat, and a garment to put
on --”
Literal
Meaning: “God will…”, this
was a conditional and self-centered confession of God with a tone of bargain.
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) Those that are of the flesh care for the problem
of clothing, and have not seen the will and plan of God.
2) God
had just promised He would be with Jacob, but Jacob woke up and said “if” God
would be with him. We are often moved by the word of God when reading the
Scriptures, but forget it at all when finishing it.
3) The
self-centered one often does not trust in others, but his own feelings only.
4)
Jacob took the blessing with deceit previously, but now he found that even his
food and clothing became a problem.
Gen. 28:21 “so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the
Lord shall be my God.”
YLT:
“when
I have turned back in peace unto the house of my father, and Jehovah hath
become my God,”
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) The thought of Jacob was characterized by exchange. His fellowship was merely a kind of bargaining.
2)
Many Christians’ faith is still staying in the self-centered stage like Jacob
here. All religions in the world are based on such kind of bargaining belief.
For example, it is totally self-centered of burning incense and prostrating
oneself before the image of Buddha.
3)
Christians who have truly grown up will transfer his concentration from
themselves to God ---- they will no longer seek their own profits, but respond
to the love of God and seek His profit on us.
4)
Only when we believers have truly experienced all the provision and protection
of God, will the objective knowledge of God (your God) be turned into
subjective knowledge (“my God”).
Gen. 28:22 “And this stone which I have set as a
pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to
You.””
YLT:
“then this stone which I have made a standing pillar is a house of God, and all
that Thou dost give to me -- tithing I tithe to Thee.'”
Literal
Meaning: “and
this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house”, here it indicated that the pillar was to
remember the experience of Jacob’s meeting God in
Enlightenment
in the Word:
1) The building of the church (the house of God)
does not depend on the number of believers, but whether we have personal
experience (pillar).
2) We
offer what is given by God to Him. therefore, the more we offer, the more shall
be rewarded.
III.
Outlines of the Spiritual Lessons
A Picture of the Church
A. Be blessed by Isaac (v.1) ---- be blessed by
God in Christ;
B. Not take a wife from the
daughters of
C. Be made fruitful
and multiply and become
an assembly of peoples (v.3) ---- fill the
earth;
D. inherit
the land In
which you are a stranger (v.4) ---- wait for
a better country by faith;
E. Be sent to a foreign land (v.5-7) ---- be a
sojourner on the earth;
F. Which is not of human labor, but of the
gracious election of God (v.8-9);
The Conditions that the Church is Supposed
to Have
A. Dream of the ladder set up
on the earth, and its top reached to heaven (v.10-12) ---- know that Christ is the way to God;
B. Obtain the word of God (v.13-14) ---- be
called by God;
C. Be with God (v.15-17) ---- manifestation God
on the earth;
D. Pour oil on the pillar (v.18) ---- be
transformed and renewed by the Spirit;
E. Call the name of that place “
F. Make a vow (v.20-22) ---- satisfy both God
and men;
──
Caleb Huang《Christian Digest Bible
Commentary Series》
Translated by Mary Zhou