OVERVIEW:
Isaac confers the Abrahamic covenant upon Jacob; the vision of Jacob’s ladder; Jacob’s journey to Haran; Jacob’s marriages to Leah and Rachel; Laban’s jealousy; Jacob flees.
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
The remainder of the book of Genesis focuses primarily on Jacob. Joseph will most certainly be spotlighted, but his story is actually contained within the context of the account of Jacob’s life.
The name Jacob means “supplanter”, as in deceiver, schemer, or conniver. As we have already seen in chapters 25 and 27, he more than lived up to his name. Jacob is a graphic picture of the worldly/carnal believer who trusts the arm of the flesh to provide what God is more than willing and fully intending to provide by His own hand. For example, what Jacob’s mother (Rebekah) deviously schemed, and Jacob deceitfully carried out in order to obtain the firstborn blessing from his father (Isaac), was totally unnecessary because God had already determined, and had already clearly revealed to Rebekah, that the firstborn blessing was to be Jacob’s when Jacob and Esau were yet in her womb! (See 25:20–23) We don’t know how God would have accomplished bestowing the blessing upon Jacob since it appears that Isaac was intending to be willfully disobedient to God’s word by giving the blessing to Esau, but God most certainly could and would have been able to pull it off without Rebekah and Jacob’s deception and dishonesty. As Bob Jones, Sr. used to say, “It is never right to do wrong in order to do something right.”
As we have already seen, through the first half of the book of Genesis, and will continue to see in the midst of our journey through the remainder of the word of God, there are always painful consequences to sin. Although Jacob received the “blessing” from Isaac in chapter 27, his deception in obtaining it brought “cursing” (conflict) upon him. For example:
- Esau wanted and intended to kill him, causing Jacob to run in fear for the next 20 years.
- Once Jacob left his home in chapter 28 in his attempt to flee from Esau, he never saw his beloved mother again.
- He was deceived by his uncle Laban. The “supplanter” was “supplanted”; the “conniver” was “connived”. It’s the biblical principle of Galatians 6:7–8: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption…”
- His family life was riddled with conflict. This is the biblical principle of Proverbs11:29: “He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.” (In other words, everything becomes difficult, like riding a bicycle against the wind.) May we all beware!
As Jacob leaves his home in chapter 28 on his way to Haran, he comes to Bethel. As he lays down to get some rest from the long journey, he uses a stone as a pillow and has a very unusual, but very significant dream, the infamous “Jacob’s ladder”. The dream verified that God was going to give to Jacob, by the power of His Spirit, what Jacob was striving so tenaciously to gain in the power of his own flesh! Jacob was the one to whom God intended to establish the Abrahamic Covenant all along. Oh, that we would learn to trust our perfect heavenly Father!
In chapter 29, as was mentioned above, “the deceiver” becomes “the deceived”, as Jacob is outsmarted by his own father-in-law, Laban. Thus, the statement, “What goes around comes around!” By the time chapter 29 ends, Jacob has two wives, and in chapter 30, he falls prey to the principle of the iniquity of the fathers being visited upon the children’s children (Exodus 34:6–7), as in great Abrahamic fashion, he takes the handmaid of each of his wives through which to have children. The result, as one would expect, is great conflict. Yet, it is through Jacob’s relationship with these four women that his 12 sons were born, and through whom God established the 12 tribes of Israel.
CHRIST IS REVEALED:
In JACOB’S LADDER – Genesis 28:11-12
Note: Genesis 28:11–12 foreshadows that the promises would culminate in something that would bridge heaven and earth. In John 1:43–51, Jesus identifies Himself as the Ladder. He is the One who opens heaven for us and brings heaven’s blessing to our lives, and He alone is the One who can bring us to the Father.
In the BIRTH OF JOSEPH – Genesis 30:23-24 (Genesis 50:20; Matthew 1:21; 1st Timothy 1:15; John 3:16)
Note: Joseph was born into the world to save and preserve his people.
As the ANGEL OF GOD – Genesis 31:11