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Genesis 28

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Isaac Blesses Jacob and Sends Him Away 1–5

1
And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. ​
2
Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. ​
3
And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a company of peoples; ​
4
and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land of thy sojournings, which God gave unto Abraham. ​
5
And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Paddan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

Esau Seeks a Suitable Wife 6–9

6
Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;
7
and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan-aram:
8
and Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; ​
9
and Esau went unto Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.

Jacob's Dream at Bethel 10–15

10
And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. ​
11
And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. ​
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, Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the 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 whithersoever 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. ​

Jacob Vows to God 16–22

16
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely Jehovah 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 than 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 under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. ​
19
And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of the city was 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, and Jehovah will be my God, ​
22
then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Genesis 28

Verse 1

Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan — Isaac gives Jacob the charge his own father gave: Abraham had his servant swear 'that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites' (Gen 24:3). Esau's Hittite wives had been 'a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah' (Gen 26:35), and Rebekah had spoken of Heth's daughters (27:46).

Verse 2

Padanaram — Paddan-aram, the plain of Aram; the KJV calls its people Syrians, and Rebekah is 'the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian' (Gen 25:20). Bethuel is Rebekah's father (Gen 22:23) and of the line of Nahor, Abraham's brother, so the house Jacob is sent to is his mother's own.

Verse 3

God Almighty — El Shaddai, the name by which God 'appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob' (Ex 6:3). 'Fruitful' and 'multiply' are the pair of Gen 1:28. 'A multitude of people' (qahal, an assembly) is God's own word to Jacob at Bethel later, 'a nation and a company of nations' (Gen 35:11); see 48:3–4.

Verse 4

the blessing of Abraham — The blessing is the promise of seed and land. 'Stranger' (magur) is the word of God's promise to Abraham, 'the land wherein thou art a stranger' (Gen 17:8). Paul says the blessing of Abraham came to the Gentiles through Christ (Gal 3:14).

Verse 8

pleased not Isaac his father — Literally 'evil in the eyes of Isaac'. Esau had already married Judith and Bashemath, Hittites (Gen 26:34). Now he goes to Ishmael and takes Mahalath, Ishmael's daughter, 'unto the wives which he had' (v.9): a wife from the line of Abraham's son.

Verse 10

went out from Beersheba — Beersheba is where Isaac had gone up and the LORD appeared to him (Gen 26:23–24). Haran is the city Abram 'departed out of' (Gen 12:4); Rebekah had told Jacob to 'flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran' (27:43). Later he says 'with my staff I passed over this Jordan' (32:10).

Verse 11

lighted upon a certain place — Paga, to meet or fall upon: he came to the place without choosing it. Maqom, 'place', then recurs in vv.16, 17 and 19, where it becomes Bethel. The stones 'for his pillows' (merashoth, what lay at his head) are the same stone he sets up in v.18.

Verse 12

a ladder set up on the earth — Sullam, found only here in the Old Testament. The ladder is 'set up' (nitsav) and the LORD 'stood' (nitsav) above it in v.13, the same word. Christ applies the picture to himself: 'ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man' (John 1:51).

Verse 13

the LORD stood above it — He names himself by the fathers: 'I am the God of Abraham thy father' is his word to Isaac too (Gen 26:24). The land 'whereon thou liest' is promised to the sleeper on it. Hebrews says 'God is not ashamed to be called their God' (Heb 11:16).

Verse 15

I am with thee — To Isaac he had said, 'I am with thee' (Gen 26:24). 'Keep' is shamar, the verb of 'The LORD bless thee, and keep thee' (Num 6:24) and 'The LORD is thy keeper' (Ps 121:5). 'Bring thee again' is shub, to return. Jacob later recalls the God who 'was with me in the way which I went' (Gen 35:3).

Verse 16

Surely the LORD is in this place — 'Surely' is achen, the word of a thing found out: the place was one he had only 'lighted upon' (v.11), and 'I knew it not.' The same truth is told of other ground: 'the place whereon thou standest is holy ground' (Ex 3:5), said to Moses, and the same to Joshua (Josh 5:15).

Verse 17

How dreadful is this place! — 'Afraid' and 'dreadful' are one root, yare, to fear. 'House of God' is Beth-El, the name given in v.19, and 'gate' is shaar, the word for a city gate. Eccl 5:1, 'Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God', uses the same phrase.

Verse 18

poured oil upon the top of it — The stone becomes a 'pillar' (matstsebah), a standing memorial, and the oil sets it apart, as Moses 'anointed the tabernacle' (Lev 8:10). The LORD himself later calls Bethel the place 'where thou anointedst the pillar' (Gen 31:13); on his return Jacob again 'poured oil thereon' (35:14).

Verse 20

Jacob vowed a vow — Neder, a vow made on conditions, as Jephthah's (Judg 11:31) and Absalom's (2 Sam 15:8). Its terms take up God's words of v.15: 'with me' and 'keep me' (shamar). 'Bread to eat, and raiment to put on' are the two needs of 'food and raiment' (1 Tim 6:8). Jacob later says God 'answered me in the day of my distress' (Gen 35:3).

Verse 21

in peace — Shalom here means a safe return to 'my father's house'. The LORD himself recalls the vow when he sends Jacob home, 'I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me' (Gen 31:13). At Bethel Jacob builds an altar to 'God, who answered me in the day of my distress' (35:3, 7).

Verse 22

God's house — The pillar will be beth Elohim, 'God's house', which is the meaning of the name Bethel (v.19); in Gen 35:7 Jacob calls the place 'Elbethel'. 'Surely give the tenth' doubles the verb (asar) for emphasis. Abram had given Melchizedek 'tithes of all' (Gen 14:20), and the Law calls the tithe holy to the LORD (Lev 27:30).