Genesis 28:15 – 29:23 Bible Teaching

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Genesis 28.15-Genesis 29.24
March 26th 2023

So, we left off talking about the ways God telling Jacob (who made a stone his pillow) how He would bless all the families of the earth.

He continues at verse 15

15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.
17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
21 So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

And that ends the chapter – Alright, back to verse 15 where God says, after telling Jacob that he would bless all the families of the earth through him,

15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

In other words, God has made this place His peculiar residence as evidenced by His revealing Himself to me in such remarkable visions and words

17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

The appearance of the ladder, the angels, and the Divine glory at the top of the ladder seems to have left a deep even reverential impression on Jacob and the word translated to dreadful also means, terrifying.

However, dreadful might be appropriate when we consider the state of Jacobs heart – he was still an unrepentant deceiver and in the face of heavenly glories it must have been dreadful to him.

Maybe kind of like the naked dreams some people have when they’re children where they find themselves in school buck naked and unable to do anything about it.

Some scholars believe, however that this was (and perhaps is) a place where the portal of heaven exists and angels actually do come down from above and go up from there.

I’m not so convinced.

18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.

This was in effect Jacob making an alter for worship or sacrifice.

The sacrifice here offered was the oil that Jacob poured over the rock where He had rested his head and saw visions and heard the word of God.

For me the parallel is found at the baptism of our Lord, who is the Rock, who was anointed with the Holy Spirit that descended upon Him and where there was the voice of God speaking from heaven above.

I don’t want to spiritualize everything ad nauseum but this one seems fairly on the nose to me.

Many cultures are known to pour oil over rocks – including the Hindus.

Of course loving tradition, some have suggest that this stone was later brought to Spain, then to Ireland and then Scotland, and that the kings of Scotland sat on it to be crowned.

Anyway, pouring oil anciently was considered an act that consecrated the area where God would then take up residence.

Of course, reflecting the anointing of the Holy Spirit that descended on Christ at His baptism was reflective of Him being washed and anointed King and Priest and being empowered by His Father to then enter into full time ministry.

Pagan cultures in some places continue to anoint stones and smear them with oil along with placing garlands or crowns upon the chosen rocks.

Borrowing from this ancient practice many nobles and kings sat and reigned from polished stone thrones crafted for them to exact judgement over their kingdoms.

All connected.

19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

You may remember that Bethel means, “the house of God,” and it’s a frequent name used today to name Jewish temples and synagogues. Beth means house and El is a name for God (like Elohim, or El-Shaddai).

This appears to be a direct result of the vision of the Ladder connected to heaven and the anointing of the stone here on earth. We might suggest that this is ostensibly, then, the first temple of God on earth made with hands.

But this done in an area called, Luz at first, which the Septuagint translates to Oulamlouz or otherwise, Oulam, which means, “almond.”

So, Luz means an almond, almond or hazel tree, and it is believed that this place was so named because it had plenty of almond trees.

So now we have Jacob making a vow – verses 20-22. And I am going to read this vow with prejudiced emphasis – ready

20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
21 So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

In what to me seems like a purely transactional approach, Jacob requested the company, protection, and care of the Lord during his journey and promised that if these were granted to him he would worship Him (then shall the LORD be my God) and give Him tithes.

It’s pretty close to a bargain isn’t it?

And it is very similar to the first approaches we as people will try and make with God when we are young or walking in pre-faith.

“Hey, God,” we might say, “if you will get me through this math test, then I will believe in you.”

Like we are doing him a favor. And it makes sense when we consider our natural make-up – you know, the world most of us are born into where we are coddled and applauded for everything we do – first steps, first words, every infantile demand met.

So, naturally, we are pretty self-centered and it makes sense that in this state of mind we would see our choosing to have a relationship as sort of a reward for Him.

Of course, we know somehow that He is bigger and more powerful than us, so we offer continual sacrifices up to Him – in this case, it was tithes or a part of Jacobs take.

We will talk about this.

Biblically speaking, a vow was usually a prayer where an individual commits themselves to do something for the Lord, if their requests are granted by the Lord.

In the Old Testament this was often done in times of intense need or danger and there were two types of vows generally made:

First, there was an unconditional vow where people committed themselves to do something for the Lord without requesting any specific blessing in return.

An example of this was the Nazirite vow (which is discussed in Numbers 6:2) and it included three specific actions –
(1) abstinence from wine and strong drink, (2) refraining from cutting the hair off the head during the whole period of the continuance of the vow, and
(3) the avoidance of contact with the dead.

Most people made that vow for a short period of time (Paul included) but there are three men mentioned in scripture who took the vow for life (or it was imposed on them from the womb) Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist.

The second type of vow might be seen as a conditional vow, which was to be fulfilled only if the favor requested was received.

We see evidence of this here with Jacob and in 1st Samuel 1:11. This vow was based on the principle of reciprocity: a favor received calls for an expression of gratitude where the receiver is then transformed into the role of being a giver.

Its’s kind of big, or was, in the Hebrew culture that would spring from the loins of Jacob here.

But again, God is working with us, and is patient with us, and like the greatest parent is longsuffering but knows then they are getting worked or used.

In Psalm 50 it sounds like God gets a little tired of this haggling attitude of the people, and bluntly says at verse 7

Psalm 50:7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.
8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

So there appears to be times where the COI were like desperate teens who will say to a parent

“Please Mom – if you take me here or there I will clean the kitchen for a month,” and a good parent will often make the deal but then there are those teens who flip it on the parents and say, “I’m not mowing the lawn anymore unless you do this or that.”

Not good. But this got me thinking about how we relate to God – how we worship Him, praise Him, thank Him and love Him.

In my mind because I have never understood how to love God with all my heart, soul and might – which is the first and great commandment.

Jesus said in Luke 6:32-35 “For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.”

The type of love Jesus appeals to here is called, agapao in the Greek. It is described by Paul in 1st Corinthian 13 as “longsuffering, kind, lacking envy, not boastful or proud, behaves well, is not self-interested, is not easily provoked, things no evil, rejoices not in evil but in truth” and finally, it’s a love that, “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.”

I see this love as only existing when a human beings love is unconditional, selfless, sacrificial and insufferable because these words summarize what is required every time we extend God’s love to others.

I have even gone so far as to say “there is no real agape love unless there is suffering in it.”

That’s a hard pill to swallow. What is interesting in that the face of this information we find that the first great commandment is “to love God with our all our heart, soul and might,” and that the Greek word for this love is also agapao.

This plainly states that our love toward God would also be, “unconditional, selfless, sacrificial and insufferable!”

In the passage above Jesus said, “For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.”

And this caused me to ask, ‘Do I only love God when He is good to me or when He blesses me and gives me what I want? Or am I able, in the face of His ways that try my patience, and seem indifferent and even unkind at times, to still love Him with all of my heart, soul and might?’

When we praise Him, and worship Him and thank Him, isn’t it usually for His goodness, and grace and benevolence?

Typically it is! And I realized that in my flesh, which is selfish, I much choose to love God but that I really don’t like Him all that much.

He doesn’t do what my flesh wants. I want everything now! I want my way! I want to do what I want – and I don’t like the way He operates from this position.

Just like with others who I am called to love when they are not easy to love, this is the exact same kind of love we are called to have for God!

When HE is absent. Silent. Disciplining me, or asking me to do things I don’t want to do!! That is loving Him. When He actually allows things to hurt us – and we choose to love Him.

So again, all the praising of Him and singing and such are expressions of gratitude and thanks – but real love is when we choose to praise Him and thank Him and to deal patiently with Him when He allows us to suffer.

And It was here that I realized why God may work the way He works with us in this world. If our love for others is best shown in the face of suffering, then wouldn’t it be the same in our love toward God? Maybe this is why God is slow to act (it requires our patience and longsuffering toward Him) and allows evil (which calls for our kindness toward Him in return); maybe this is why he does not give us answers to a lot of things because we are then forced choose to, “bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things” relative to Him and His ways?

Perhaps if we are too turn the other cheek when struck by our neighbor, we are expected to even moreso respond this way to our God? With all of our heart, soul and might. This is the first and great commandment.

Anyway, the impression I get from this vow of Jacobs is it is innocent and God appears to listen.

But God had already promised Jacob to be with him and to protect him so why the vowing of vows?

I maintain that old Yacob wasn’t spiritually right just yet. And in this state of mind it was entirely natural for him to believe that he had the right to actually say, “God, if you do this, then you will be my God.”

Take note in how God introduces himself to Jacob in verse 13 as we read,

And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac:

But He did not say the usual line we use today of God being “the God of Abraham, Isaac AND Jacob” here because He was not the God of Jacob – not yet.

At this point, they were still in the getting to know each other phase.

This is a type for how God works with all of His human creations in making us His children and ultimately sons and daughters.

Unlike what Jacob seems to believe, we do not make Him our God, He patiently extends and introduces himself, blesses us unconditionally, reveals himself in various ways, and we, along the way, come to see that He is God (and we do not make Him anything) and we accept Him or not. Over time, we also choose to love Him . . . or not.

We might see Jacob’s vow here was an initial step in God working to bring the man to the place where He will see Him as the I AM – the self-existing one, and glory in the fact that He patiently and unconditionally blessed Him while He was yet a sinner.

And what does Jacob promise God in exchange for all of his desires? To devote one tenth of all their earthly goods to the worship of Him. Tithes.

Since there was no temple built, and no priesthood established to operate it, what did Jacob do with his tithes? The Bible does not say but the Hebrew scholars I consulted said he burned them all up in sacrificial burnt offerings.

The notion of giving a tenth was established back when Abraham gave a tenth to Melchizedek. It had great application to the material religion of the Nation and we will revisit in when get to its being commanded in Leviticus.

Alright, on into chapter 29 – let’s read from verse 1-14

1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east.
2 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well’s mouth.
3 And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well’s mouth in his place.
4 And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we.
5 And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him.
6 And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.
7 And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them.
8 And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.

9 And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she kept them.
10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.
11 And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.
12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s brother, and that he was Rebekah’s son: and she ran and told her father.
13 And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.
14 And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month.

Alright back to verse 1

1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east.

Apparently, the original language informs us that in the face of all of these events, Jacob didn’t just go on a journey, but he “lifted up his feet, and he travelled unto the land of the children of the east,” and these words bring a certain cheeriness to his travels.

We might suggest that Jacob was trusting in the promises of God for provision and protection and this lightened His load.

Where did he go? To the people of the east which were the inhabitants of Mesopotamia which was the whole country beyond the Euphrates.

2 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well’s mouth.

These “three flocks of sheep” which could have been flocks of any, ”small cattle,”(so sheep and or goats) and they belonged to someone other than Laban and were gathering or laying around the well of water.

3 And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well’s mouth in his place.

If you’re a biblical literalist, and because no shepherds are yet mentioned, we would have to believe that the sheep or flocks rolled the stone from the wells mouth – of course, not so.

It seems that this large stone was put in place to prevent theft and required the strength of several shepherds in the consortium to move it.

4 And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we.

Interestingly, the language here was Chaldee and not Hebrew, but they appear to be very similar sharing a lot of the same words so conversation was possible.

It is also thought that Jacob may have learned Chaldee from his mother, as this was her tongue since she too came from this area.

5 And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him.

Where it says, “son” here it means grandson because Laban was the son of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, in other words, Laban the grandson of Nahor.

6 And he said unto them, Is he well? (meaning, Is there peace with him) And they said, He is well: (meaning, he prospers) and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.

The ch in Rachel is super guttural, which is normative in Hebrew and references to some thinkers the sounds the sheep or ewe would make, though her name means, ewe.

Apparently, the shepherds all gathered at the same time and waited for everyone to be there before they watered their respective flocks. Not knowing this, Jacob says (verse 7)

7 Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them.
8 And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.
9 And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she kept them.

There is a thought among some scholars that young girls were confined to the house as the Hebrew term virgin literally means, “one covered.”

But here we see that this was not so. Additionally, Laban was a chief of that land and wealthy, but the females of that family – beginning with Rebekah who fetched water and now Rachel, who tended the flocks – were physically engaged with the care of the estate.

This is all refiguring some typecasting we have done about women in pre-Israelite days.

10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.

This was an expression of lending a hand to his relative.

11 And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.

Now, this was probably not a romantic kiss on the mouth and like I would like to imagine but appears to be a pure expression between relatives and relations in that day.

We will see that Laban does the very same thing to Jacob in verse 13.

And Jacob lifted up his voice and wept.

Apparently, Jacob was relieved, grateful, enraptured with the deliverance God had given him at this point and was expressing such to the Living God.

Perhaps the beauty of Rachel added to his emotional state.

12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s brother, and that he was Rebekah’s son: and she ran and told her father.
13 And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.
14 And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month.

So, let’s carry on to wrap up the rest of our time, reading from verse 15 to 24 where some real drama unfolds.

15 And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?
16 And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17 Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured.
18 And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.
19 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me.
20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.
21 And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.
22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
23 And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her.
24 And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid.

Okay, back to verse 15

15 And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?

Though you are my nearest relative I have no right to your labor without paying you a fair wage.

Apparently, Jacob while there for a month had worked for the agrarian family and Laban, who we will learn is a crafty man appears to want to pay him out of fairness but perhaps it was a means to retain his labor for himself so he asks Jacob what he required in terms of payment.

16 And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17 Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favored.

Now, the writer compares the two sisters – and when he writes tender eyed is literally means she had beautiful eyes, was soft and kindly looking.

Some suggest that Leah was not attractive and tender eyed means ugly, cross-eyed, bulging eyed or had vision problems.

The Hebrew can mean tender as weak, but it can equally mean, kind, soft or gentle.

But the point is one of contrast because Rachel was what could be described as attractive in shape and form and by comparison Leah was not as alluring or desirable as Rachel who to Jacob was of more beauty in the form of countenance, gait, grace and maybe style.

18 And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.

It was the custom of those times for the father to receive a portion or dowry for his daughter, and not to give one for her as became the tradition.

See, in those days women were of great value to a homestead and to take her away from such would cost the father. So a husband paid the dowry to the father.

Many years later, when women were removed from manual labors or were deemed incapable of adding to the home, the dowry payment moved to the father paying the husband to take her away because he would often incur a person ill-equipped for labor.

All of it unfortunate for women over the ages, and utterly baseless in the realm of true added value. A biblical precedence for men paying dowrys for women can be found in several places including

When Shechem asked Dinah to be his for wife, he said, “Ask me never so much-dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me.”

We remember that when Eliezer went to get Rebekah for Isaac, he took a profusion of riches with him, in silver, gold, jewels, and raiment, with other costly things, which, when the contract was made, he gave to Rebekah, her mother, and her brothers.

David, in order to be Saul’s son-in-law, instead of a dowry, had to kill Goliath; and when this was done, he was not permitted to espouse Michal till he had killed one hundred Philistines.

The Prophet Hosea bought his wife for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer and a half of barley.

Then the same custom prevailed among the ancient Greeks, Indians, and Germans. The Romans also had a sort of marriage in the same way which was called, “per coemptionem” or “by purchase.”

And several cultures still purchase women from their families to offset the LOSS of the female in the home.

It is believed, due to writings of Herodotus, that Laban picked up the practice of receiving money for a daughter from the Babylonians.

So back to the transaction we read at verse 19

19 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me.
20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.

Some say that Jacob took Rachel to wife then served the seven years but this doesn’t make any sense to me especially in light of what we read next.

21 And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.

I’ve paid my dowry for her. I would like to make her mine. This was the deal. But Jacob was about to receive what he had given in life – deception, almost merciless deception.

22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.

The Hebrew description of this feast by virtue of the words best means “a feast of drinking.” No surprise there.

23 And it came to pass in the evening, that he (Laban) took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her.

Just as Isaac’s vision was made dark by age, blinding him to the identity of his sons, Jacob’s sight was obscured through wine and a dark tent, and he was about to be swindled. We will leave off here.

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