Scriptural Observations

• The first night after Jacob leaves Beersheba for Haran, God appears at the top of the ladder from Earth to Heaven, on which angels ascend and descend. This night is when God first promises to Jacob the promises of Avraham and Yitzchak. He inherits the promises to Avraham. These are expanded and more personal.
  • The land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendnats.
  • They shall be as the dust of the earth.
  • You shall spread from west to east, to north and to the south.
  • In you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
  • I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.
  • I will bring you back to this land.
  • I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.
  • [How are these promises similar to and different from the promises made to Isaac and Avraham? How are they specific to Jacob's situation?]
• Jacob's response
  • Commemorated the place: anointed it and named it.
  • Made a vow (first vow to God in scripture): if God will be with me and keep me in the way way I am going and provide for me, and I come back to His fathers house in peace (with his brother), then...
  • The Lord shall be my God,
  • This stone shall be God's house,
  • I will give a tenth of all you give me.
• Despite all that God promised, Jacob's desire is to be at peace with his brother. It seems he inherited his father, Isaac's, propensity for peace. Also, he knows how his father pursued peace with the nations (Abimelech) and the price he continually paid for it; but now he feels he is the instigator of conflict (and warring nations) within his father's own house. Perhaps he perceives that God's promises will always be plagued with strife should the conflict with his brother endure.
• v16-Jacob was unaware that God was "in this place." Every spot on earth may be for man the gate of heaven; God's revelation is not restricted to sacred places or places he's already been. God can appear, reveal, and bless in any place and in any situation.
• Interesting how Jacob is now the nephew who departs, as Lot was the nephew of Avraham. But this time the nephew is the righteous one, and Laban is the devious one.
• As Jacob plans to depart from Laban and shares his intent with Leah and Rachel, they explain they will go with him because they have no reason to stay; they have no inheritance left from Laban because God has taken all his wealth from him and given it to Jacob, despite Laban's intent to exploit him. What is interesting is how this shows that these women who were joined to Jacob and God's covenant had their original inheritance vanish, to be replaced by the inheritance of Jacob. It is like this for we who join ourselves to Jacob today.

Directional Thoughts

• Even when part of God's plan and seeking to serve His will, sometimes the timing of the reward for our faithfulness can seem unfair or even hopeless.
• While we are waiting and working for the reward God has for us, we can experience "fringe" rewards now if we allow ourselves to trade urgency (or impatience) for trust in God's faithfulness and content in God's provision, even while exercising diligence. If we don't, we may miss part of the blessing God intends for us to experience.
• Sometimes even perfect faithfulness to and exceeding blessing on those we serve is not enough to receive the reward we have earned, because their heart is set to exploit rather than to bless; however, because it is God who we are truly serving, He is our reward, and the giver of our reward; and He will be faithful to reward us according to His grace and perfect and sovereign will.
• Jacob was unaware that God was "in this place." Every place on earth and every situation in life may be for man the gate of heaven. God's revelation is not restricted to sacred places or places he's already been; nor to holy moments or to patterns of life. God can appear, reveal, and bless in any place and in any situation. Knowing this gives us hope, strength, and confidence in times and places when it seems God could never be present.

Worship Responses

• When it seems our rewards are being withheld seek God's help to replace resent with content in what He has provided and confidence in what He has promised.
• Treat God as your reward, and treat His rewards as His expressions of love.
• Seek God's strength to pursue diligence and seek God's presence in every situation; even in times and places where it seems he would never appear.

Theme Words: reward, diligence, presence, service

• Jacob leaves Beersheba for Haran, and God appears in a dream beside him and speaks to him the promises he made to Avraham; but these are expanded and more personal.
• Jacob commemorates the place by anointing it and naming it (Beit El / Bethel), then makes a vow to the Lord. If God will return him to his father's house in peace, the Lord will be his God, and he will give a tenth of all that is given him.

B'resheet 29 - Jacob Loves Rachel

• Jacob journeys to the land of the East (Arabic lands) and finds Rachel at the well when inquiring about Laban.
• Jacob determines to work for his place in Laban's home so he is not indebted to him. He also offers to work seven years to earn Rachel (the younger daughter) as his wife.
• v20 So Jacob served seen years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.
• Laban deceives Jacob and he marries Leah to him. After fulfilling her marriage week, he then gives Rachel to him, for whom he works another seven years.
• The Lord saw Leah was unloved so he opened her womb. She bore Rueben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.

B'resheet 30 - Jacob's Family Grows

• Bilhah, Rachel's maid bears on her behalf Dan and Naphtali.
• Leah gives Zilpah her maid to Jacob and she bore Gad and Asher.
• Reuben finds mandrakes in the field and gives them to Leah his mother. Rachel asks for them. She agrees to let Jacob lie with Leah for the mandrakes. Leah bears Issachar. She conceives again and bears Zebulun; and again and bears a daughter, Dinah.
• God remembers Rachel and and she conceived and bore Joseph, saying "God has taken away my reproach."
• When Rachel bore Joseph, Jacob tells Laban to send him away to go to his own place and his own country. He has earned his wives and children, and is ready to make provision for their future.
• He works another six years to earn and raise a flock, and though Laban tries to defraud Jacob again, Jacob is strategic in thwarting Laban's intents. He increased exceedingly.

B'resheet 31 - Departing From Laban

• Laban and his sons become envious of Jacob's success. The Lord tell sJacob to return to the land of his fathers, and He will be with him.
• He shares his dream in which the Lord spoke to him with Rachel and Leah; they do not protest leaving since they have no inheritance through their father Laban; God has taken it and given it to them through Jacob.
• Jacob and his house steals away while Laban is in the fields; Rachel steals his idols.
• On the third day, Laban learns of their departure and pursues. They catch up on the seventh day, but God has spoken him and warned him not to speak good or bad of Jacob. Laban was not to entice him by offers of kindness, nor force him to return by threats.
• Laban accuses him of stealing all that he has, including his gods. Jacob allows him to search everywhere for the idols, but Rachel cleverly sits on them to conceal them.
• Jacob rebukes Laban for pursuing him despite the 20 years he worked for all he has earned, and how he was blessed while Jacob was in his service; for unjustly changing his wages ten times.
• Jacob says were it not for God and the Fear of Isaac being with him, surely Laban would have sent him away empty-handed. But God has seen his affliction and the labor of his hands, and rebuked Laban the night before.
• Laban still sees everything of Jacob's as his own, but understands he can do nothing. He makes a covenant with Jacob that they will not cross the boundary to do harm to one another. Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

B'resheet 32:1-2 - Meeting With Angels

• Laban departs, and Jacob continues on. The angels of God met him and he said this is God's camp. He called the place Mahanaim, "two camps".