Genesis 28:1 Commentary and Bible Study

These things, Paul assures us, are written for our learning. So we read these passages not just to take an interest in the history, not just to see the providence of God toward them, not just to glean the odd lesson of a pastoral nature here and there. All those things are present, but we look especially to see what the experiences of the family of Abraham tell us about the New Testament church and how it should be, and how it is blessed.Now, it is a very strange thing, but through chapters 28 to 31 the narrative slows down. It goes at a tremendous pace at the beginning – a 500-mile journey is covered in one sentence. But for most of the chapter, you proceed at a crawl through events that might seem of little significance and very local, things to do with that time and that place. But when the narrative of Genesis or anywhere in the Pentateuch slows down, there is special significance. Take, for example, the life of Joseph. When the brakes go on and everything goes at a crawl, the amount of detail is so considerable. This is of special significance to the New Testament church, the Holy Spirit is saying. Take note, the spotlight is on this. And that's exactly what happens to the events of these chapters. It has been noticed a great deal and many cynical scholars are highly critical of it. They say the book of Genesis is so patchy. You proceed at speed, then medium pace, then it slows down as though there is some chronicler being paid by the word or something. Why? they ask, and they often don't see the point. Look closely. It's of special value to the church of Jesus Christ. Well, everything in Scripture is of special value to the church of Christ, but this is weighty.Jacob has practiced deception with his mother, Rebekah, and effectively stolen the birthright. But it was God's will that it should be with Jacob. He would carry the seed royal that would eventually bring forth the great descendant promised in Genesis 3. Isaac is roused to action by Rebekah’s distress and calls Jacob to come to him. Jacob took this immensely seriously. A charge, an oath, an instruction given under oath by Isaac was a word from God, as far as Jacob was concerned. It would be taken deadly seriously.He charged him and he gave him this commission: ‘Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.’ Israel was to be a separate people, and Jacob is given the instruction to go to Padanaram, 500 miles away, ‘to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.’ Padanaram was where Bethuel the Syrian, the father of Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, was from (Genesis 25:20). Like his father Jacob is to go back to his mother’s family and find a wife for himself. Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah; he was 60 years old when the twins were born; and Jacob was now about seventy seven, so it is nearly 100 years since his mother Rebekah left her family home.That was the right line of descent. Actually, Laban, Jacob's mother's brother, had not followed the family traditions. He was not a worshiper of the one true God. We are told a little later that he had his house full of idols, and when some were stolen from him, he would rest at nothing before he recovered them. They meant everything to him. Laban himself was an unscrupulous person and a deceiver and an idolater. Nevertheless, it was the family line, and Jacob’s wife must come from that line. Isaac gives Jacob a charge that is long overdue: not to do as his brother had done and go to the Canaanites for a wife. Just as Abraham had been very concerned that Isaac did not take a wife from those whose land God was going to take away and give to his descendants, so Isaac rightly had the same concern even if he had to be prompted by Rebekah. This was his acknowledgment that Jacob was the one who would inherit the promises, and so it was Jacob’s line that needed to be kept from corruption by mixture with the Canaanites.Isaac blesses Jacob for the second time before sending him away, but now willingly, signalling his recognition of the Lord’s choice. We are happy to see that Isaac relents, and repents of his wilful favouritism. He is now prepared to forgive Jacob and bless him in spite of his cunning deception. He had tried to bless Esau, even though he knew that God had chosen Jacob, and he was deeply shocked on discovering what had happened realising that the Lord himself had stood in his way, but now he calls and blesses Jacob voluntarily. May we be good at repenting, apologising, not just to God but to others. It is no good when we are on the wrong track, and we just about recover, but without a full repentance or apology. We must admit we are wrong.