| Subject: Genesis 28 vss. 16-22 Post 147 |
Author:
Hillbilly
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Date Posted: 19:23:57 03/24/11 Thu
Genesis 28:16-22 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.
Jacob wakes from his sleep and the dream is still vivid in him memory. It is a dream he cannot forget. Verse 17 makes it clear that the vision has struck the fear of God in him and I would think that Jacob had the feeling that and unholy creature was standing on holy ground. God had come to him in a dream so real it can only be described as a vision.
Jacob's experience is reminiscent of Abraham's dream in chapter 15. In chapter 15 God promised to Abraham and his seed all the land he was now affirming to Jacob and his seed. In both visions the promise of the land was unconditional. Abraham could not enter into a covenant with God in his sleep nor could Jacob. Those who claim that God withdrew His promise to Abraham and his seed because of sin and disobedience forget that the promise was not a conditional promise on the actions of Israel. The promise came because of Abraham's faith and obedience. It was not given based on whether Abraham would remain faithful. It was given freely by God because of Abraham's present condition and standing before God.
The spot where Jacob had his dream was about 12 miles north of Jerusalem. This is the area that Abraham stopped and "called on the name of the LORD" just before going down into Egypt. It is to this same place that Abraham built and altar and sacrificed to God after coming up out of Egypt and his folly there trying to pass Sarah off as his sister.(Gen.13:3) The Bible described it as being east of Bethel and west of Hai at or on a mountain. (Gen. 12:8)
Not a few have claimed error in this passage describing Jacob's naming of the place Bethel. They cry foul because in Gen. 12 and again in chapter 13 the Bible plainly states that Abraham worshipped and sacrificed just east of Bethel. There is not error here. If they would remember that Moses wrote the 1st 5 books of the Bible then they could understand that Moses was identifying the place as being east of a place all Israel would be familiar with. They knew where Hai was and they knew where Bethel was. It was possible that they would know where a place called Luz (meaning Almond tree) was as it had not been called :Luz for over nearly 400 years.
Jacob names the place of his vision Bethel which means the "House of God" and surely as he looked up into heaven and the vision of the glory of the abode of God he must have thought he lay at the front stairs to God's home. The city of Bethel while called the "House of God" became "the house of the god of this world (2 Cor.4:4)". It is recorded in 1 Kings 12 that Jeroboam, the king of Israel, had two golden calves made and he set one in Samaria and the other he set up in Bethel. The 10 norther tribes of Israel forsook going to Jerusalem and went a whoring after the gold idols that Jeroboam set up.
Jacob is so moved by all he has experienced that he now vows a vow to God stating that if God will clothe him, feed him and bring him back to his "father's house in peace" the God of Abraham an Isaac would be his God. He would establish the stone he slept on as God's house and he would pay tithes of all he had.
This statement from Jacob reveals the spiritual side of Jacob. Here the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham is admitting that their God has been his God. God will honor Jacob's "covenant vow" () and will indeed bring him back to Bethel but Jacob is to pay quite a price in the span of time between his vow and God honoring the stipulation Jacob puts on his vow. When considering the work that God had done through Abraham and Isaac, his father, Jacob had to have been brought up to worship Jehovah. That he would make this vow is at the same time revealing and astonishing.
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