Genesis 28

Genesis 28

Genesis 28:1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.

Genesis 28:2 Get up, go to Paddan-Aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

Genesis 28:3 God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and enlarge you, that you may become a company of peoples.

Genesis 28:4 May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your seed with you, that you may take possession of the land of your wandering that God gave to Abraham!”

Genesis 28:5 This is how Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-Aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

Genesis 28:6 Esau realized that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-Aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him, he commanded him, and this is what he said, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,”

Genesis 28:7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-Aram.

Genesis 28:8 So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father,

Genesis 28:9 Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the other wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.

Genesis 28:10 Jacob left Beersheba and went in the direction of Haran.

Genesis 28:11 And he happened to come to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones from the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.

Genesis 28:12 And he dreamed, and noticed there was a ladder set up on the land, and the top of it reached to the sky. And see, the agents of God were ascending and descending on it!

Genesis 28:13 And notice, Yahveh stood above it and said, “I am Yahveh, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your seed.

Genesis 28:14 Your seed will be like the dust of the land, and you will spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your seed will all the families of the land be blessed.

Genesis 28:15 Notice, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. Because I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Genesis 28:16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Yahveh is in this place, and I did not know it.”

Genesis 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 the sky.”

Genesis 28:18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a monument and poured oil on the top of it.

Genesis 28:19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at first.

Genesis 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, and this is what he said, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,

Genesis 28:21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then Yahveh will be my God,

Genesis 28:22 and this stone, which I have set up for a monument, will be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Genesis 28 quotes:

“Until Jacob met God on his flight from home (Genesis 28:10-17), there was no evi- dent godliness in his life. He was astute enough to want favors related to religion, including Esau’s birthright and his blessing as the firstborn. But religion that is practiced only for benefit is no more than selfish superstition. When God was revealed to him at Bethel, however, Jacob experienced what might be called his conversion. But there had better be more. Faith begins at conversion, but it shouldn’t end there. At a crisis some twenty years later, God reminded Jacob that they had met previously at Bethel (35:1). ~ Remember your spiritual benchmarks, and use them to encourage your continuing faith”

Kalas, J. Ellsworth. Genesis. Abingdon Press, 2011. p. 71.

“Luz (Genesis 28:19), probably as a way station for the caravan traffic that passed through. Jacob, not wanting to bring notice to himself, stopped on the outskirts of Luz, fashioned an encampment of sorts, and, using a rock for a pillow, fell asleep.”

Morris, Henry M. The Book of Beginnings : A Practical Guide to Understand and Teach Genesis. Institute for Creation Research, 2012. p. 153.

“As the Lord spoke to Jacob in the vision, his message amounted to a personal and direct confirmation of the covenant. Once again, God specified the promise of the land and the seed. Then he pledged to bless Jacob in his wanderings, until he would return to the land of Canaan again.”

Flint, V. Paul. Strangers & Pilgrims : A Study of Genesis. 1st ed., Loizeaux Bros, 1988. p. 174.