A Lamp Unto My Feet Bible Study Website
GENESIS 28
Lesson #43
THE SINNER ENCOUNTERS GOD
- Memory verse: Psalms 52:8
- Background summary:
- The three godly patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob:
- Many times in scripture God says he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exo 3:6 Exo 3:15 Exo 4:5 Mat 22:31 Mar 12:26 Luk 20:37 Act 3:13 Act 7:32).
- It is curious that this is a recurring phrase for the Jews rather than “Adam, Enoch, and Noah” for example.
- Because it is a recurring phrase, it must have some special meaning.
- The prefigures of the three give us the meaning.
- We have seen that Abraham prefigured God, the father, working in the life of the believer. (See your notes on chapter 22, 23, 24). It is the sovereignty of God, the Father, that chooses the believer just as God chose Abraham.
- We have seen that Isaac prefigured Jesus, the son.(See your notes on chapter 21, 22, 24). Isaac illustrates the believer’s submission to the life of faith in Jesus Christ, the Son.
- Therefore, Jacob must prefigure the Holy Spirit and his work in the New Testament believer. (In our lessons to come, we will see this pictured in the experiences of Jacob.) Jacob illustrates the life of divine grace and the conflict of the two natures within the believer.
- The old flesh nature.
- The spirit nature with the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
- Also we see that God is a God of the living. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still alive with God.
- Jacob and the Jews through history
- Jacob (who is later called Israel) and his life experiences also prefigure the history of the Jews.
Jacob Prefigures Jewish History
Jacob |
The History of the Jews |
| Jacob was the object of God’s choice.
Gen 25:19-23 Rom 9:10-11 |
The Jewish nation was especially chosen by God
Deu 6:7; 10:15 Amo 3:2 |
| Jacob was loved before he was born.
Rom 9:11-13 |
The Jewish nation was especially loved by God
Jer 31:2,3 |
| Jacob was the one God said should be served. Gen 25:23
Gen 27:29 |
The Jews will be served in the millennial reign of Christ.
Isa 60:14 Isa 14:2 |
| Jacob was the one to whom God gave the earthly inheritance.
Gen 27:28; 28:13 |
The Jews will possess all the land in the millennium.
Isa 65:8-9 |
| Jacob endured a determination by others to rob him of his inheritance. Gen 27 | Present-day history demonstrates an attempt to rob the Jews of the land of Israel. |
| Jacob valued the blessing of God but sought it in carnal ways and not by faith.
Gen 26:27 |
The Jewish nation down through history has given lip-service to God but not their heart. Rom 10:2,3 |
| Jacob was exiled from the promise land as a consequence of his sin.
Gen 27-28 |
The Jews have periodically lost the land through their history because of sin.
Mat 27:25 (70 AD they lost the land) |
| Jacob spent much of his life as a wandering exile. Gen 28-33 | The Jews have spent much of their history wandering the world in exile. |
| Jacob experienced the chastening of the lord. Gen 29 | The Jews have suffered greatly at the hands of men, allowed by God. (WW II) |
| Jacob had no altar for worship in the land of his exile. | The Jews lost their place of worship in 70 AD when the temple was destroyed and have no temple to this day. Hos 3:4 |
| In exile, Jacob was always homesick for his homeland. Gen 30:25 | The Jews always end Passover with the hope, “next year in Jerusalem”. |
| Jacob was unjustly dealt with in the land of his exile.
Gen 29:23; 31:41,42 |
The Jews have experienced unjust treatment in the lands of their exile. (The holocaust, the Spanish Inquisition, etc.) |
| Jacob developed into a crafty schemer and used subtle devices to obtain earthly riches. Gen 30:37,43 | The Jews have often become the wealthy, the bankers, the successful businessmen in their nations of exile. |
| Jacob, while in exile, received a promise from god that he would return to the land. Gen 28:15 | Whenever the jews have been out of the land, god has given them many prophecies of their return. Eze 37:1-14 |
| Jacob received no further revelation from God during all his years in exile until told to return to the land.
Gen 31:3 |
God’s revelation and work with the Jewish nation is on temporary hold while he works with the Gentiles.
Rom 10-11 |
| Jacob was graciously preserved and protected by God while in exile. | The Jews are marvelously preserved as an ethnic group no matter what countries they live in. |
| Jacob became wealthy in the land of exile. Gen 30:43 | Jews generally have done very well in their lands of exile. |
| Because of Jacob’s success due to God’s special favor, hatred was stirred up against him. Gen 31:1 | Because of their success due to God’s special favor, hatred is often stirred up against the Jews. |
| Jacob finally returned to the Promised Land bringing with him the riches of the Gentiles. Gen 31:18 | The Jews have begun returning to Israel bringing their wealth with them. |
| Jacob is seen at the end blessing the Gentiles.
Gen 47:7 |
The Jews will bless the Gentiles in the millennium.
Isa 49:13 Isa 61 |
- Read Gen 28:1-22
- Hidden messages:
- At times, the original Hebrew text has hidden messages. This chapter is one of those occurrences. If you count every 50th Hebrew letter of the text, it spells out the two names of Jacob’s wives: Leah and Rachel. We will see him marry these two women in chapter 29. It is as though God is saying that He is in control even though Jacob is outside of the Promised Land. We see that message overtly stated in verse 15.
- Jacob leaves home
- The reason for his leaving is to marry within the extended family. (27:46, 28:1-2)
- However, the real reason was because Esau threatened to kill Jacob. (27:41-42)
- Jacob is told to go to Rebekah’s home in Haran.
- Paddan-Aram is the plain around Haran.
- Remember that Haran is outside of the Promised Land.
- Jacob was outside the Promised Land for 20 years.
- Remember that Haran is where Abraham first settled after leaving his home in Ur for the Promised Land.
- Haran is where Abraham’s servant found Rebekah as a wife for Isaac.
- Esau’s new life style:
- After such bitter events in chapter 27, do we see any spiritual change in Esau? No
- What was Esau’s motivation in verses 8-9?
- Esau, makes a feeble attempt to please his parents. He knew his heathen Hittite wives did not please his parents, so he thought he would marry a descendant of Ishmael. However, marrying an Ishmaelite did not make up for all the mistakes of the past.
- Why were his actions not successful?
- His reasons for marrying were the wrong reasons.
- The descendants of Ishmael were not Godly people either.
- Jacob at Luz (Bethel)
- At that time in history, pagan religions taught that gods were local deities who would protect their people only if they stayed within the borders of their territory.
- However, the God of Abraham and Isaac was not a local God, but a universal God.
- You could never get out of his jurisdiction.
- God appeared to Jacob not because he was worthy. Far from it. He was a sinner, running in fear and exile.
- Remember that God’s promises are not dependent on man’s earning them.
- The covenant was unconditional.
- This circumstance was an important milestone in Jacob’s life that has a special significance.
- Jacob’s ladder
- It is called Jacob’s ladder in English, but in fact it was not a ladder at all but a stairway stretching from earth to heaven.
- On the stairway going up and down were angels. Angels are God’s messengers.
- Read John 1:51 It interprets the dream for us.
- The stairway is a bridge between heaven and earth. Jesus is subtly saying that He is the stairway and the disciples will see him bridge the gap between man and God when He goes to the cross to pay for man’s sin. (1Tim 2:5)
- God’s promise
- God identifies himself as the God of Abraham and Isaac.
- God gives Jacob the same promises he gave to Abraham and Isaac:
- -1- The Promised Land
- -2- Descendants numbering as the dust of the earth.
- Note the missing exception:
- God told Abraham his descendants would also be as the stars of heaven.
- -3- All the families of the earth will be blessed through him
- -4- He will have God’s presence with him wherever he goes
- -5- God will return him to the Promised Land some day.
- This is Jacob’s salvation experience
- Jacob’s vow:
- He promised that if God would be with him, if God would protect him, and if God would supply his needs, then the Lord would be Jacob’s God and Jacob would give God 1/10, a tithe, of everything he had.
- Jacob was promising God his life, his worship, and his possessions.
- Jacob took the stone he used as a pillow and set it up as a pillar, a monument, to the experience so that his conversion would not be forgotten. Jacob later returns to this same place in Gen 35.
- The oil poured over the pillar represents the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.
- When one is born again, he receives the Holy Spirit.
- The city’s name was Luz which means = “place of light or separation”. He changed the name to Bethel which means = “house of God or gate of heaven”.
- God, by the Holy Spirit, showed sinful Jacob the light, and Jacob separated himself from worldliness, and he entered into the “house of God by the gate of heaven” as a believer.
- Jacob’s vow:
- At that time in history, pagan religions taught that gods were local deities who would protect their people only if they stayed within the borders of their territory.
- Application:
- What parallel does Jacob’s dream experience have in your life?
- If you are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, you have had the same experience as Jacob in that you have crossed the bridge between earth and heaven by way of Jesus Christ when you received Jesus Christ in your heart.
Homework
Genesis 29
- Application of Gen 28
- If you have never written your experience of being born again, write it here.
- Preparation for Gen 29
- Read Gen 29:1-35
- Describe Laban’s character
- Why do you think God put Laban in Jacob’s life?
- What lessons do you see Jacob learning through his experiences in Haran?
- Read Gen 29:1-35
Memory verse: Hebrews 12:7
