Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 29:1-2, 5-8

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.

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.

After being initiated into the Abrahamic covenant by God, Jacob arrives at Haran, his destination. Immediately there are many similarities between how his wife is found in this land, and how his father Isaac’s was.

In both cases Jacob and the servant of Abraham happened upon a well, almost immediately before the spouse-to-be arrived. And in both cases that lady was coming to water the flocks of her father. The good fortune in each of these experiences suggests divine intervention.

To Jacob this blessing from God seems particularly meaningful. As mentioned before, he has just come from a sacred introduction to his maker, in which God has promised to keep him and increase him, and right away Jacob is seeing the fulfillment of that.

One can’t help but wonder whether Jacob’s suggestion that the shepherds water their flock and take them grazing was a ploy to get them out of the way, allowing him to meet Rachel in privacy. Unfortunately, that tactic did not work, but as we will see tomorrow, he found another way to cultivate romance instead!

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 28:20-22

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.

We have previously heard mention of tithing in the Old Testament, such as when Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, but these verses are, in my opinion, the clearest definition of what tithing actually is.

Tithing is a covenant. Jacob is entering into a solemn, two-way agreement with God. On the one hand Jacob is agreeing to give up one tenth (a tithe) of all he possesses to God, and in return God will sustain Jacob in all of the necessities of life: food to eat, clothes to wear, and a roof over one’s head.

Gifts and offerings to God are not bound but such clearly defined criteria, because they are not solemn covenants. But when we today speak of tithing, we are again referring to this idea of a two-way contract between us and God. And the parameters for us are the same as they were for Jacob. We give a tenth of our increase and we are cared for in our earthly needs. And, for what it’s worth, this is a covenant that I live, and I absolutely have seen God’s hand sustaining me and my family in all of the essentials.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 28:16-18

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.

“The house of God,” was what Jacob called this place of holy visitation, and he was in a reverential fear of the place! This idea of a house for God will reoccur many times throughout the Bible. Initially the house of God was in the mountains, far and removed from the places of man. Later God instituted the tabernacle through Moses, a specially dedicated place for Him to come and abide while the children of Israel wandered through the desert. Next, God commissioned King Solomon to build him a permanent edifice: the temple. Of course, that temple was eventually destroyed, twice, and where the house of God is today is disputed by the different branches of theology.

I love the detail in verse 18 about Jacob making his altar from the stones he had laid out for his pillow. A common pattern among the “houses of God” is that they are formed through the sacrifice of His people. Here Jacob is in a place of extreme poverty, lacking even the most basic of comforts, yet he gives what very little he has to build a foundation for his God. By surrendering his all to God, he is becoming clay that the Master can form into whatever He wishes.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 28:13-14

13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Last week I examined the vision of Jacob’s Ladder and noted a number of significant details. However, there was one more point that I thought best to visit separately today. Namely, the difference between the blessing Jacob receives from God in this moment and the blessing he obtained from his father Isaac.

I had always believed that the blessing Jacob obtained by trickery from his father was the same covenant blessing from God to Abraham. But really it isn’t. Here, once more, is the language of the blessing Isaac gave in Genesis 27:28-29:

28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:

29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.

An impressive blessing, but not the same as the one from God. Isaac’s blessing is focused more on other people being subservient to Jacob, God’s is about Jacob becoming a great soul that blesses the lives of countless others. Isaac’s blessing reads more like a wish, “God give thee…,” “let people serve thee…,” while God’s is confident and sure, “thou shalt!” Of the two, God’s blessing is the more sublime in purpose and more definite in fulfillment.

And Isaac seems to have known that the blessing he gave was not the same that God could. Here again are his words to Jacob when he left home in Genesis 28:3-4:

3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;

4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.

“Give thee the blessing of Abraham,” meaning that Isaac knows he has not already given that blessing to his son, because he knows it is not his place to do it.

I do wonder whether Jacob and Esau understood that distinction, though. All of their squabble about receiving their father’s birthright and blessing might have been because in their eyes that was the ultimate pinnacle of achievement. Many boys view their father as being essentially God Himself, and only have their eyes opened when they get out on their own as Jacob did.

The things that were incredibly important to Jacob only a few days prior have now become very small. Everything he had hoped to gain from his father has now been eclipsed by the promises of God.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 28:12-15

12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

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.

In this moment of lonely isolation Jacob lays down to sleep and has a heavenly vision. We have not been told what sort of spiritual encounters he had before this moment, but surely this was his first time experiencing anything quite like this.

Let us examine a few of the details from this vision.

First, the image of a ladder between heaven and earth and angels climbing up and down it is a wonderful testimony of God’s active interest in the world. This is showing a direct conduit between God and man, and God’s servants being constantly busy with carrying out God’s work among the mortals.

Second, God introduces Himself as the one who blessed and prospered Jacob’s father Isaac, and his grandfather Abraham. Surely Jacob was aware of how those men had flourished under the hand of their God, and now he knows that he is being welcomed into the same covenant that they enjoyed.

Third, God now gives to Jacob the same covenant that He instituted with Abraham and continued with Isaac. I have always loved this scene because it shows that God does not give a blessing to our ancestors and then leave us to assume that we have just inherited it also. There are no implicit or assumed blessings when it comes to God, all of them are made directly to each of his children when they are ready to receive it. Rather than being left to assume “God loved my father so he must love me,” Jacob has his own manifestation of that love directly.

Fourth, God speaks directly to Jacob’s worries in that particular moment. He concludes the vision by assuring Jacob that He is with him, that Jacob is not alone, that he will be preserved in this strange land, and that he will be brought back safely, all because he is safely held in the hand of God. What a sweet sign of God’s intimate knowledge of Jacob’s heart and His immense desire to comfort it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 27:30-36

30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

31 And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that thy soul may bless me.

32 And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau.

33 And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.

34 And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.

35 And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.

36 And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?

As I mentioned previously, Isaac immediately pieced together what transpired once he was greeted by the real Esau, so he must have still had his suspicions all the way through giving Jacob the first blessing.

And as for Esau, even amidst his anguish his chief concern was that he still receive some sort of blessing. His words “hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?” further shows his misunderstanding of how blessings work. He seems to believe that it us up to his father to produce and give out blessing as if they could be pulled out a bag.

Esau does not appreciate that true blessings are the immutable word of God, given and withheld entirely at His choosing. Thus the blessing that Esau ends up receiving is not some backup gift his father conjured up, it is the original blessing that was always intended for him by God.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 26:23-25

23 And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba.

24 And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.

25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.

Isaac had been exiled and bullied by the citizens of Gerar. First king Abimelech made him move away because he was getting too powerful, then the herdmen fought with him for control of the wells. This was a time when everything in the world was conspiring against him.

It is touching, then, that in this moment of loneliness and frustration, God appeared to Isaac and said “fear not, for I am with thee.” Isaac may have been alone in the world, but he was alone with God, and God would see that he was taken care of. God would support him when no one else would. God would multiply and increase him, in spite of all the world’s opposition.

And so, like his father before him, Isaac built an altar in the open and called upon the name of his God. He threw in with that one, best friend who would see him through thick and thin.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 25:24-28

24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

I imagine that this detail about Jacob reaching out and taking hold of Esau’s heel was preserved to us by Rebekah. Because of what God had foretold of her twins, she would have been the most likely to perceive the significance in the younger brother grabbing hold of the other’s heel, as if to catch and surpass him.

From the very moment of their birth the two were opposites to one another, and so they continued throughout the rest of their lives. Esau became hairy and wild and beloved of his father, Jacob smooth and calm and beloved of his mother.

Esau was expected to receive Isaac’s blessing and inheritance, because that was what the culture of the time said should happen. But God had already revealed to Rebekah that the custom of firstborn sons receiving the inheritance meant very little to Him. He would not be choosing Isaac’s successor based on which son happened to be born first, but on which of the sons was worthy.

God’s choice of Jacob over Esau reminds me of another firstborn that he passed over years later, when Samuel the prophet was looking for the next king of Israel. Samuel was going to anoint Eliab, Jesse’s firstborn, but the Lord told him “I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Then and now, what matters to God are not the random circumstances of our birth, but the intentional choices of our life.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 25:19, 21-23

19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac:

21 And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord.

23 And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Isaac’s story only begins in earnest after Abraham has passed away. I have mentioned before that some people, such as Abraham, seem to have a story so expansive that it is necessary to get out from under their umbrella before one’s own narrative begins. Up until this moment the only word or action we heard from Isaac was when he walked through the field to meet Rebekah for the first time. Here, though, we learn that he, like his father, had a special relationship with God. Rebekah was unable to bear children, so Isaac spoke to the Lord for her sake, and God healed her.

That exchange sounds very simple. Evidently God was more than ready to heal Rebekah, but perhaps He waited for Isaac’s petition to start cultivating that God-Son relationship with him. Admittedly the relationship between God and Isaac is only briefly touched on in the Bible, not nearly so much as it was detailed with Abraham, his father, or as it will be with Jacob, his son.

However, we do get some special insights into God’s relationship with Rebekah. In these verses we read how she felt her twin children struggling in her womb, and went to inquire of the Lord why it was so. This already shows her quality of faith, believing that she could receive understanding for the simple matters of life. And indeed, she did. Long before the drama would play out between Esau and Jacob, Rebekah already knew from God what would happen and who would prevail over the other. Later on, when she helped Jacob to secure his father’s blessing, she was only helping him into the larger story that she already knew God intended for him.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 24:23-24, 26-27

23 And said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father’s house for us to lodge in?

24 And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor.

26 And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the Lord.

27 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.

The servant had marveled when he first met Rebekah. She seemed such a perfect match for Isaac, and everything was going according to plan. All that remained was the matter of her heritage, and now he discovers that everything is right in that regard as well. In all this land the very first young lady he happened upon was the very one he was looking for!

So now he bows and worships. Technically he has not gained the approval of Rebekah or her parents yet, but at this point he is convinced that this path was prepared before him by God, and so he is sure of success at the end of it.