“Genesis 28:1-5”

Thursday, January 30, 2020

“So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, 'You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.' Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.'”

---End of Scripture verses---

“You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.” (verse 1) Isaac's words to Jacob nearly identically echo those of Abraham to his servant in selecting a wife for Isaac (Genesis 24:3-4). As the sole heir of Abraham's blessings, Isaac was forbidden from taking a wife from the heathen people among whom he lived, and he fared very well at “the house of Bethuel” finding a real gem and prize for a wife. Now he sends his younger son back there with his full, voluntary blessings to find a suitable companion of his own. Of course, we know from hindsight that Jacob was walking into a hornet's nest of Laban's making, but he really deserved the treachery he was about to endure, and ultimately he grew to be a better man for the experience.

“May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.” (verse 3) Isaac expands upon the stolen blessing of the previous chapter. He not only confers promises of material prosperity and sovereignty over family and foreigners as he believed he was doing for Esau in Genesis 27:28-29. He extends to Jacob the blessing of great posterity that “God Almighty” (El Shaddai) had promised to Abraham's seed. He does not use the same terminology as God's promise to make Abraham “a great nation” (Genesis 12:2) or to multiply Isaac's “descendants as the stars of heaven” (Genesis 26:4). But Isaac does invoke God's pledge to “multiply” Jacob's descendants such that he would “become a company of peoples.” “This is not the word used in Genesis 17:4, but one that signifies an assembly, especially one summoned for religious purposes. Like the Greek word for church, ecclesia, it comes from a root signifying 'to convoke.' It subsequently became the regular phrase for 'the congregation of Israel' (Leviticus 16:17), and implies even here that the nations descended from Jacob would have a religious significance.” (Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers)

“May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.: (verse 4) “The difference between this blessing and the one that Isaac mistakenly conferred upon Jacob earlier is rather striking. In the first, there was no mention of the Abrahamic promise, but here Isaac apparently made an effort to go all the way in conferring the covenant blessing. But even in this there could have been a deficiency, a lack supplied by God Himself in the vision that came as a sequel, that being the fact that 'all the families of the earth' would be blessed in his seed. Nevertheless, even as it stood, the blessing seemed to convey the impression that Isaac had repented of his sinful effort to convey the birthright to Esau.” (James Burton Coffman)

“Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah...” (verse 5) Let the games begin! What could possibly go wrong?! It seemed like such a reasonable and wise decision to make. But who could have imagined that Jacob would have essentially been trapped in the household of his mother's people for twenty years (Genesis 31:38, 41)?! Life can often seem like a long, strange trip, even though man's days are few and full of trouble (Job 14:1)!

Please read Genesis 28:6-9 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

- Louie Taylor

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