ROCKS MAKE HARD PILLOWS

August 6, 2023

Reading: Genesis 28

Focus: Genesis 28:11 – When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.

Father God, open our minds and eyes to see what You want us to see.  Help us to learn what You were trying to tell Jacob.  Help us to be like Jacob and make You our God.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

I cannot imagine the disappointment Isaac felt in Jacob. First, Jacob had tricked Esau out of his birthright with a bowl of stew.  Then, he took Esau’s blessing by deceit.  Yes, Rebekah was the instigator but Jacob went along with it.  And now, Esau was going to hunt Jacob down and kill him.  Some of the problem between the two young men was more than likely the favoritism of their parents.  Isaac favored Esau and Rebekah favored Jacob.  This alone probably created the rivalry between them.  Favoritism in any form can cause rivalry and downright jealousy among our children.  Then we wonder why they seem to hate each other.  I’ve seen it happen in my own family and I swore that I would never have a favorite child or grandchild.

Those of us with children may have probably been deeply disappointed with one or more of them.  This disappointment can come from the choice of mate, their life choices or just plain bad decisions.  But all in all, we still love them.  Or we should.  We should love them unconditionally no matter what they have done or chosen to do.  God loves us this way.  Who are we to not love like God does?

Now, Isaac has to send Jacob away for his own safety.  Isaac sent Jacob with the command that he was not to marry a Canaanite woman and with a blessing that was so much more than the blessing he was given earlier.  Isaac asked God to bless Jacob and make him fruitful, increasing his number until he became a community of people.  He passed on to him the mantle of the Keeper of the Covenant of Abraham “ . . . so that you may take possession of the land where you now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”  It is apparent that Isaac had come to see that Jacob receiving the heir’s blessing was guided by God.  But he also knew that Jacob had to establish his own relationship with God.  Just being Abraham’s grandson was not going to cut it. 

When Esau heard of the command that Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman, he realized just how displeased his parents were with his Canaanite brides.  So he went to Ishmael, his uncle, and married one of his daughters in the hopes that they would be pleased with a non-Canaanite daughter-in-law, among his other wives.  But this was obedience a little late. 

So, Jacob left Beersheba and headed for Mesopotamia and Paddan Aram where his uncle, Laban, lived to find a wife. It was not uncommon in those days for people to marry within family groups.  This protected the culture, the beliefs and wealth of the family.  Jacob was only the 11^th generation after Noah.  So, marrying a cousin was not as critical as it is today from a DNA standpoint. It wasn’t until Moses and the Law that marriage between closely related individuals was forbidden and where a list of those one was forbidden to marry was given. 

The first stop on Jacob’s journey was a place that would be called Bethel, which is about 10 miles north of Jerusalem and 60 miles from Beersheba.  Jacob stopped because night was coming.  Now here is where I would have had to have a soft pillow.  But Jacob took a stone . . . yes . . . a stone and used it for a pillow.  And he actually went to sleep!  With rock pillow!!  And he dreamed.  We have all heard the story of Jacob’s ladder, his dream.  There was a stairway reaching into heaven, with angels were moving up and down the stairway.  At the top stood the Lord.  God repeated the promises He had given Abraham and Isaac.  God confirmed that Jacob was the successor to the Covenant with Abraham.  God promised that He would be with Jacob (and his descendants) until He had done all that He had promised.  God is still keeping that promise.  The Hebrew people may be scattered all over the earth, but God is still with them.  And through Jesus, we non-Hebrews have been adopted into the ‘family’ and God is with us too. 

Can you imagine a dream like that?  Where God spoke directly to you?  I tell you this, it would have a profound effect on me.  I don’t know that I have heard the voice of God directly, but I have seen how He has guided and led me.  Two examples are the vision I had at 16 and the confirmation that this blog was His leading and His tool.  And those are the ones that I remember clearly.  I know there have been many more.  I can’t help but wonder what exactly Jacob felt when he woke up. 

In Genesis 28:16, Jacob says “ . . . Surely the Lord is in this place . . .”  Sounds like a familiar chorus doesn’t it.  We know when God is present in the sanctuary, in our car, at home and anywhere we seek Him.  He will meet with us just as He met with Jacob.  When Jacob rose up in the morning, he set up a pillar using his rock pillow and anointed it with oil. He called the place Bethel, which means ‘House of God’.  There Jacob made a vow in Genesis 28:20.  “If God be with me and watch over me on this journey . . . then the Lord will be my God . . .”  Jacob was on his way to a personal relationship the Creator God. 

Now, Bethel was not always a house of God.  It had been the place where Abraham made one of his first sacrifices when he entered the land.  Bethel was an important center for worship but later became a center of idol worship.  Prophets condemned Bethel for that idol worship.  It is sad that the place where God had visited Jacob eventually became a place of idolatry.

Like Jacob, we must have a personal relationship with God.  We cannot get into heaven because of our parents’ or grandparents’ faith.  It must be through our faith.  Going through the motions and saying all the right things is worthless without faith in God and in His Son, Jesus. It was on a Saturday night in April 15, 1972, that I realized I needed a personal relationship with God.  I had been raised in the church and knew what to say and how to say it but that just was a mind thing not a heart thing.  I got down on my knees before a holy God and confessed that I was a sinner.  Confessed that Jesus Christ was the Son of the Living God and accepted Him as my personal Savior.  Neither my parents nor my grandparents could have done it for me.  It was up to me to make that commitment.  It is an eternal commitment.  It is so simple it’s hard.  You don’t have to clean up.  You don’t have to change. You just have to believe and accept.

Jacob didn’t clean up. He didn’t change. Yet. We’ll see in the next chapters that Jacob hadn’t quite left deceit and trickery behind yet.  But we will also see that God wasn’t finished with him yet either.   When we look at Jacob we see how imperfect we are and then, how God changes us to be what He wants us to be.

How’s your relationship?

Father God,  Thank You for the lesson of Jacob.  Help us to see that we must have a personal relationship with You through Jesus Christ.  Make our hearts a “House of God”.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

Food for Thought

1. Why do you think favoritism among your children is not a good thing?
2. Were there favorites in your family? Among your co-workers?  How does that make you feel?
3. Why do you think Isaac blessed Jacob again?
4. Why do you think Esau tried to please his parents with a non-Canaanite bride?
5. Why does it seem so hard to accept salvation? What are the obstacles?