Bible Commentaries
Genesis 28

Verses 1-22

CHAPTER 28 Jacob’s Departure to Padan-Aram and His Vision

1. Isaac sends Jacob away and gives his blessing (Genesis 28:1-5 )

2. Esau’s action (Genesis 28:6-9 )

3. Jacob’s vision and vow (Genesis 28:10-22 )

We enter with this upon the interesting wanderings of the third patriarch, Jacob. God was pleased to reveal Himself to the three illustrious men, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as He did not before. In Exodus 3:4-15 Jehovah reveals Himself to Moses and Jehovah calls Himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. This is My name forever.” In Abraham, as we have seen, we have the type of the Father; in Isaac the type of the Son and now in Jacob we shall find the type of the work of the Holy Spirit. Jacob in his history foreshadows the history of Jacob’s sons.

Jacob’s departure stands for Israel’s expulsion from their own land to begin their wanderings and suffering, till they are brought back again to the land sworn to the heads of the nation. In the chastening which passed over him we see God’s governmental dealings with Israel.

The vision at Bethel is mentioned by our Lord in John 1:51 . The Jehovah who stood above the ladder Jacob saw is the same who spoke to Nathaniel, “Hereafter ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” It is the vision of the future. Jehovah in that vision gave the promise of the land to Jacob and told him that his seed shall be as the dust of the earth. Notice while to Isaac the promise is of a heavenly seed to Jacob a seed as the stars of heaven is not mentioned. Still more was promised to Jacob. Read Genesis 28:15 . “I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee about.” Here again is Sovereign Mercy. What did Jacob do to merit all this? Why should God meet him thus? Did he think of the Lord and call on Him for mercy before he slept on the stone? Nothing whatever. And Jehovah kept His promise and did all He had promised. “I will not leave thee” is a repeated promise. See Deuteronomy 31:6 ; Jos 1:5 ; 1 Chronicles 28:20 ; Hebrews 13:5-6 . “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God” (Psalms 146:5 ). And He is our God and our Lord and in His grace keeps and leads us and does all He has promised. Thus God met Jacob at Bethel (the house of God), assured him of His watching care over him and of a return home in peace. Though Israel is now nationally set aside and they are dispersed, yet God watches over them, keeps them and will lead them back in his own time.

The ridiculous claim that “the coronation stone” in London is the stone upon which Jacob slept needs no refutation. Leading geologists declare unanimously that this stone did not come from Palestine.