Beetow
Member
- Dec 14, 2024
- 1,064
- 92
- Thread starter
- #201
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● Gen 28:13a . . And behold, The Lord stood above it and said: I am Jehovah; deity
of Abraham your father, and the deity of Isaac;
On the page of Scripture, this is Jacob's very first close encounter with his father's
supreme being. Till now, The Lord had been merely data in Jacob's head;
something he picked up in home-school yeshiva.
Exactly why God chose to become personal with Jacob at just that moment in his
life is a mystery. But the moment came not around the dinner table at home with
family; but actually when Jacob stepped away from his family.
It was as if Jacob's own family-- the holiest family on earth at the time; the keepers
of the knowledge of the one true deity --was actually hindering Jacob's spiritual
progress; and if anything is to be learned at all from his experience, it's that his
own father, the spiritual head of the house, was the one to blame for it. It certainly
wasn't Rebecca; no, not when it was to her that God revealed the eldest of the two
lads would serve the younger: and I'm really curious why God didn't repeat His
edict to Isaac.
● Gen 28:13b-14 . . the ground on which you are lying I will assign to you and to
your offspring. Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread
out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All the families of the
earth shall bless themselves by you and your descendants.
Those are essentially the very same promises that God originally made to Abraham.
The most important one, that of blessing to all nations, has been passed on down,
not to all the descendants of Abraham, but only to special ones; beginning with
Isaac, then Jacob, and eventually to Christ. (Gal 3:16)
Not all Hebrews are a blessing to all the families of the earth. Only those Hebrews
who inherited the patriarchy are a blessing because it is through them that
Messiah's line has existed. The other Hebrews really don't count for much in that
respect except that the nation, as a whole, is credited with safe-keeping the old
testament. (Rom 3:1-2)
● Gen 28:15 . . Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and
will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have
promised you.
Hardly any of those promises were fulfilled in Jacob's lifetime. So how could God
say: "I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you"
Well; I think it best to take it that God remained Jacob's protector even in the
grave, i.e. when God's people pass away, they don't become dead to Him; whereas
when the wicked die, they no longer make any difference; for example:
"As to whether the dead will be raised-- Moses proved this when he wrote about the
burning bush. Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, Moses wrote of The
Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. So he is the
God of the living, not the dead. They are all alive to him." (Luke 20:37-38)
God has always been with Jacob, and never left him even once-- all these many
years; better than three-thousand of them by now. And all this whole time Jacob
has lived under God's providence because God promised He would protect Jacob
wherever he went; and in order for that promise to be meaningful, it has to include
the afterlife. (cf. Ps 139:7-10, Matt 16:18)
● Gen 28:16-17a . . Jacob awoke from his sleep and said: Surely The Lord is
present in this place, and I did not know it! Shaken, he said: How awesome is this
place!
Actually Jacob was very frightened. I believe that place gave him the creeps. It isn't
unusual for an encounter with God to unnerve people. Even the very best saints get
shook up by it. Daniel just about fainted when God talked with him. (Dan 10:17)
And Moses was very frightened when God descended upon Mt. Sinai. (Heb 12:18
21)
● Gen 28:17b . .This is none other than the house of God, and that is the gateway
to heaven.
The Hebrew word for "house" is somewhat ambiguous. It can indicate one's
dwelling, and it can indicate one's entire estate. For example; Pharaoh's house at
Gen 12:15 consisted of a palace while Abraham's house at Gen 14:14 consisted of
all that he owned and possessed. Jacob apparently assumed (probably correctly)
that the real estate where he met with God was a favorite of His in Canaan; i.e. He
had it staked out for Himself: and who's to argue with that?
_
● Gen 28:13a . . And behold, The Lord stood above it and said: I am Jehovah; deity
of Abraham your father, and the deity of Isaac;
On the page of Scripture, this is Jacob's very first close encounter with his father's
supreme being. Till now, The Lord had been merely data in Jacob's head;
something he picked up in home-school yeshiva.
Exactly why God chose to become personal with Jacob at just that moment in his
life is a mystery. But the moment came not around the dinner table at home with
family; but actually when Jacob stepped away from his family.
It was as if Jacob's own family-- the holiest family on earth at the time; the keepers
of the knowledge of the one true deity --was actually hindering Jacob's spiritual
progress; and if anything is to be learned at all from his experience, it's that his
own father, the spiritual head of the house, was the one to blame for it. It certainly
wasn't Rebecca; no, not when it was to her that God revealed the eldest of the two
lads would serve the younger: and I'm really curious why God didn't repeat His
edict to Isaac.
● Gen 28:13b-14 . . the ground on which you are lying I will assign to you and to
your offspring. Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread
out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All the families of the
earth shall bless themselves by you and your descendants.
Those are essentially the very same promises that God originally made to Abraham.
The most important one, that of blessing to all nations, has been passed on down,
not to all the descendants of Abraham, but only to special ones; beginning with
Isaac, then Jacob, and eventually to Christ. (Gal 3:16)
Not all Hebrews are a blessing to all the families of the earth. Only those Hebrews
who inherited the patriarchy are a blessing because it is through them that
Messiah's line has existed. The other Hebrews really don't count for much in that
respect except that the nation, as a whole, is credited with safe-keeping the old
testament. (Rom 3:1-2)
● Gen 28:15 . . Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and
will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have
promised you.
Hardly any of those promises were fulfilled in Jacob's lifetime. So how could God
say: "I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you"
Well; I think it best to take it that God remained Jacob's protector even in the
grave, i.e. when God's people pass away, they don't become dead to Him; whereas
when the wicked die, they no longer make any difference; for example:
"As to whether the dead will be raised-- Moses proved this when he wrote about the
burning bush. Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, Moses wrote of The
Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. So he is the
God of the living, not the dead. They are all alive to him." (Luke 20:37-38)
God has always been with Jacob, and never left him even once-- all these many
years; better than three-thousand of them by now. And all this whole time Jacob
has lived under God's providence because God promised He would protect Jacob
wherever he went; and in order for that promise to be meaningful, it has to include
the afterlife. (cf. Ps 139:7-10, Matt 16:18)
● Gen 28:16-17a . . Jacob awoke from his sleep and said: Surely The Lord is
present in this place, and I did not know it! Shaken, he said: How awesome is this
place!
Actually Jacob was very frightened. I believe that place gave him the creeps. It isn't
unusual for an encounter with God to unnerve people. Even the very best saints get
shook up by it. Daniel just about fainted when God talked with him. (Dan 10:17)
And Moses was very frightened when God descended upon Mt. Sinai. (Heb 12:18
21)
● Gen 28:17b . .This is none other than the house of God, and that is the gateway
to heaven.
The Hebrew word for "house" is somewhat ambiguous. It can indicate one's
dwelling, and it can indicate one's entire estate. For example; Pharaoh's house at
Gen 12:15 consisted of a palace while Abraham's house at Gen 14:14 consisted of
all that he owned and possessed. Jacob apparently assumed (probably correctly)
that the real estate where he met with God was a favorite of His in Canaan; i.e. He
had it staked out for Himself: and who's to argue with that?
_
