Isaac calls Jacob to bless him before his departure, emphasizing the importance of marrying within their own kin rather than Canaanite women, in line with family tradition and divine command. The blessing includes promises of prosperity and land, and serves to confirm Jacob's role as heir to the covenant established with Abraham. Although blessed, Jacob faces trials as he is exiled due to familial conflict, illustrating the complex relationship between divine promises and human actions.

1. GE ESIS 28 COMME TARY
WRITTEN AND EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
1
So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed [1] him and
commanded him: "Do not marry a Canaanite
woman.
His name means "surplanter", one who takes the place of another
through force or plotting (Gen. 27:35-36).
1. Barnes, “Gen_28:1-5
Isaac has now become alive to the real destiny of Jacob. He therefore calls for him to
bless him, and give him a command. The command is to take a wife, not from Kenaan,
but from the kindred of his parents. The blessing comes from “God Almighty” (Gen_
17:1). It is that belonging to the chosen seed, “the blessing of Abraham.” It embraces a
numerous offspring, the land of promise, and all else that is included in the blessing of
Abraham. “A congregation of peoples.” This is the word “congregation” (‫קהל‬ qâhāl)
which is afterward applied to the assembled people of God, and to which the Greek
ᅚκκλησία ekklēsia, “ecclesia,” corresponds. Jacob complies with his mother’s advice and
his father’s command, and, at the same time, reaps the bitter fruit of his fraud against
his brother in the hardship and treachery of an exile of twenty years. The aged Isaac is
not without his share in the unpleasant consequences of endeavoring to go against the
will of God.
2. Clarke, “And Isaac called Jacob - See note on Gen_27:46.
And blessed him - Now voluntarily and cheerfully confirmed to him the blessing,
which he had before obtained through subtlety. It was necessary that he should have this
confirmation previously to his departure; else, considering the way in which he had
obtained both the birthright and the blessing, he might be doubtful, according to his
own words, whether he might not have got a curse instead of a blessing. As the blessing
now pronounced on Jacob was obtained without any deception on his part, it is likely
that it produced a salutary effect upon his mind, might have led him to confession of his
sin, and prepared his heart for those discoveries of God’s goodness with which he was
favored at Luz.
3. Gill, “And Isaac called Jacob,.... Or therefore (d), because of what Rebekah had
said to him, related in the latter part of the preceding chapter, he sent for Jacob to come

2. to him from his tent or apartment where he was, or from the field where he was keeping
the flocks; thus paying a great regard to what his wife Rebekah had suggested to him,
and which appeared to him very right and reasonable:
and blessed him; he did not send for him to chide and reprove him for his fraudulent
dealings with him to get the blessing from his brother, much less to revoke it, but to
confirm it; which was necessary to prevent doubts that might arise in the mind of Jacob
about it, and to strengthen him against the temptations of Satan; since he was about to
be sent away from his father's house solitary and destitute, to go into another country,
where he was to be for awhile in a state of servitude; all which might seem to contradict
the blessing and promises he had received, and would be a trial of his faith in them, as
well as a chastisement on him for the fraudulent manner in which he obtained them:
and charged him, and said unto him, thou shall not take a wife of the
daughters of Canaan; it was time that he was married; for he was now, as the Jewish
writers (e) say, seventy seven, years of age, which exactly agrees with what Polyhistor (f),
an Heathen writer, relates from Demetrius, that Jacob was seventy seven years of age
when he came to Haran, and also his father Isaac was then one hundred and thirty seven
years old; and so it is calculated by the best chronologers, and as he must be, since he
was born when his father was sixty years of age; see Gill on Gen_27:1; and being now
declared the heir of the promised land, it was proper he should marry, but not with any
of the Canaanites, who were to be dispossessed of the land of Canaan, and therefore
their seed, and Abraham's, to whom it was given, must not be mixed. Isaac takes the
same care, and gives the same charge concerning the marriage of his son Jacob, on
whom the entail of the land was settled, as his father Abraham did concerning his, Gen_
24:3.
4. Henry, “Jacob had no sooner obtained the blessing than immediately he was forced
to flee from his country; and, as it if were not enough that he was a stranger and
sojourner there, he must go to be more so, and no better than an exile, in another
country. Now Jacob fled into Syria, Hos_12:12. He was blessed with plenty of corn and
wine, and yet he went away poor, was blessed with government, and yet went out to
service, a hard service. This was, 1. Perhaps to correct him for his dealing fraudulently
with his father. The blessing shall be confirmed to him, and yet he shall smart for the
indirect course he took to obtain it. While there is such an alloy as there is of sin in our
duties, we must expect an alloy of trouble in our comforts. However, 2. It was to teach us
that those who inherit the blessing must expect persecution; those who have peace in
Christ shall have tribulation in the world, Joh_16:33. Being told of his before, we must
not think it strange, and, being assured of a recompence hereafter, we must not think it
hard. We may observe, likewise, that God's providences often seem to contradict his
promises, and to go cross to them; and yet, when the mystery of God shall be finished,
we shall see that all was for the best, and that cross providences did but render the
promises and the accomplishment of them the more illustrious. Now Jacob is here
dismissed by his father,
I. With a solemn charge: He blessed him, and charged him, Gen_28:1, Gen_28:2. Note,
Those that have the blessing must keep the charge annexed to it, and not think to
separate what God has joined. The charge is like that in 2Co_6:14, Be not unequally
yoked with unbelievers; and all that inherit the promises of the remission of sins, and
the gift of the Holy Ghost, must keep this charge, which follows those promises, Save

3. yourselves from this untoward generation, Act_2:38-40. Those that are entitled to
peculiar favours must be a peculiar people. If Jacob be an heir of promise, he must not
take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; those that profess religion should not marry
those that are irreligious.
5. Jamison, “Gen_28:1-19. Jacob’s departure.
Isaac called Jacob and blessed him — He entered fully into Rebekah’s feelings,
and the burden of his parting counsel to his son was to avoid a marriage alliance with
any but the Mesopotamian branch of the family. At the same time he gave him a solemn
blessing - pronounced before unwittingly, now designedly, and with a cordial spirit. It is
more explicitly and fully given, and Jacob was thus acknowledged “the heir of the
promise.”
6. K&D, “Gen_28:1-5
He called Jacob, therefore, and sent him to Padan-Aram to his mother's relations,
with instructions to seek a wife there, and not among the daughters of Canaan, giving
him at the same time the “blessing of Abraham,” i.e., the blessing of promise, which
Abraham had repeatedly received from the Lord, but which is more especially recorded
in Gen_17:2., and Gen_22:16-18.
6b. HAWKER, "No sooner are the people of God brought within the bond of the
covenant, than persecution ariseth. Jacob having obtained the blessing, is obliged to flee
to Padan-aram, to avoid the fury of his brother. The sacred historian relates in this
Chapter, the memorable events of his journey. He is favoured with divine
manifestations: God confirms to him the promised blessing: assures him of his gracious
favor and protection: impressed with a deep sense of thankfulness for those visions of
God, the Patriarch vows to have the Lord for his God, and to dedicate himself to his
service forever.
Gen_28:1
Observe how cautious the Patriarchs were of mingling the holy seed: Ezr_9:2-3; 2Co_
6:14; Act_2:40.
7. SBC, "I. If there be little poetic or romantic charm in the history of Isaac, what a
wealth of it there is in that of Jacob! A double deceit, followed by banishment from his
country; this expulsion relieved and brightened, first by a glorious vision and then by
unexampled prosperity in the strange land whither he had gone; long toils, travails,
disappointments, and quarrels; and, at last, light at eventime in Egypt, and the spirit of
prophecy resting upon his soul. Jacob’s love for Rachel is the most pleasing trait in his
character, as the prophecy from his deathbed is the most sublime.
II. The story of Joseph has often and truly been called a romantic one, as marvellous as
anything in the "Arabian Nights," and yet alive all over with truth and nature. It
combines the charms of the most finished fiction and of the simplest truth. It is at once
the strangest and the most likely of stories. The character of Joseph, so mild, yet so
determined, so wise and so affectionate, yet so astute and pious, develops before you as

4. naturally as a bud into a flower or a slip into a tree. The subordinate characters in this
drama of life are all drawn by brief but most powerful strokes, from the wife of Potiphar
with her mock cry, to the chief butler with his tardy admission, "I do remember my
faults this day"; from the kindness of Reuben to the cruelty of Simeon; from the
tenderness of Benjamin to the pleading eloquence of the repentant Judah.
III. From the history of Jacob and Joseph we may gather these additional thoughts. (1)
Let us learn to admire even the eddies of life, and to respect even the weaker members of
the Church of God (Isaac). (2) Sometimes, though seldom, policy and piety are found in
the same character (Jacob). (3) Let us rejoice that, even in this world of dull injustice
and leaden law, there are again and again opened up to aspiring spirits sudden
opportunities of rising, like Jacob’s ladder stretched along the sky. (4) Let us remember
that we, too, in our turn, must be gathered, like the patriarchs, to our fathers.
G. Gilfillan, Alpha and Omega, vol. ii., p. 21.
8. COFFMA , "The highlight of this chapter, of course, is Jacob's vision of the
ladder reaching to heaven, the whole chapter being built around that event. The
background fact of Jacob's being sent away to Paddan-aram with Isaac's
wholehearted and unrestrained blessing, and also Esau's belated attempt to please
his parents with a proper marriage are also related.
Of special interest is Genesis 28:46 of the previous chapter, which we have included
here because it gives a glimpse of the CO TI UED involvement of Rebekah in the
crucial decisions of this family. It appears that she might, even here, have been less
than candid with Isaac.
Genesis 27:46 says, "And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of
the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these,
of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?"
There's not a word here of the knowledge that Rebekah had regarding Esau's
intention of killing Jacob, nor of the previous decision Rebekah had already made to
send Jacob to her brother's home in Paddan-aram; and, while what she said was
most certainly the truth, it was far from all of the truth. She may have feared that
Isaac was still hostile because of the deception she and Jacob had perpetrated
against him, and, also, she may have desired to conceal from him what she had
heard regarding Esau's expressed intention to murder Jacob, thus not aggravating a
situation already deplorable. Despite this lack of candor, it is hard to fault Rebekah
for the skilled manner in which she prevailed with Isaac, who promptly bestowed
fully the blessing, without reservation, which the Word of God, long known to him,
had plainly commanded.
"And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him,

5. Thou shalt not take a wife of the DAUGHTERS of Canaan. Arise, go to Paddan-
aram, to THE HOUSE of Bethuel thy mother's brother; and take thee a wife from
thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother. And God Almighty bless
thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a company of
peoples; and give 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."
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.
evertheless, 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.
"Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan ..." These are almost the
same words spoken by Abraham to the servant who was sent to procure Rebekah
for Isaac. And one can only marvel that Isaac had avoided and neglected this task as
long as he had. The usual calculation for the age of Jacob at this time Isaiah 77
years, although another method of CALCULATI G his age makes it about 57.[1] If
the first is correct, then Ishmael had been dead fourteen years when Isaac
commanded Jacob to go to the house of Bethuel. If the second calculation is allowed,
Ishmael still lived and would not have died until six years later. The statement that
"Esau went unto Ishmael" (Genesis 28:9), inferring that Ishmael was alive at the
time of the events of this chapter, definitely favors the lower calculations of 57 for
the age of Jacob. The Bible here says nothing whatever about anyone's age, and
human deductions are subject to all kinds of errors.
9. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to
Padanaram.
The beginning of Jacob’s pilgrimage
I. THE CAUSES WHICH LED HIM. TO UNDERTAKE HIS PILGRIMAGE.
1. His brother’s anger.
2. His mother’s counsel.
II. THE DIVINE PROVISIONS FOR HIS PILGRIMAGE.
1. The peculiar blessing of the chosen seed.
2. The ministry of man in conveying this blessing. (T. H. Leale.)
Lessons

6. 1. Good fathers disdain not the wise and gracious advice of mothers for their
children’s good.
2. Good men may change their minds upon God’s convictions for disposal of
blessing.
3. Blessing and command go together from God, by His instruments unto His
covenant ones.
4. Matches of the true seed with the idolaters are expressly forbidden by God (Gen_
28:1).
5. Fathers have their due power to dispose of children in marriage.
6. It is good for fathers herein to follow the dictates and guidance of God, to dispose
children, where the knowledge of God is (Gen_28:2.) (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. God’s blessing needs to be repeated and confirmed unto souls, to answer
temptations, and to prevent unbelief.
2. Obedience yielded to the charge of God foregoing, the blessing shall follow after.
3. God Almighty and All-sufficient is the only fountain of blessing.
4. The issues of good from God Almighty, upon poor creatures, they are blessings
indeed.
5. God’s All-sufficiency gives fruitfulness for the increase of His Church (Gen_28:3).
6. Abraham’s blessing from the Almighty is that which passeth from generation to
generation upon the Church.
7. The rest typical as well as spiritual and eternal, is made the inheritance of God’s
Israel from His Almightiness.
8. God’s gift to Abraham is the just title of all the seed of promise to that inheritance
eternal, typed out in Canaan (Gen_28:4). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Providence makes parents willing to part with dearest children in order to
accomplish His will.
2. Providence ordereth children’s hearts in readiness to obey the father’s charge to
execute God’s purpose.
3. Providence sometimes sends out creatures naked and helpless the more to glorify
Himself (Gen_28:5). He keeps them while they believe on His promises. (G. Hughes,
B. D.)
9. Calvin, “1.And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him. It may be asked, whether the
reason why Isaac repeats A EW the benediction which he had before pronounced,
was that the former one had been of no force; whereas, if he was a prophet and

7. interpreter of the will of God, what had once proceeded from his mouth ought to
have been firm and perpetual. I answer, although the benedictions was in itself
efficacious, yet the faith of Jacob required support of this kind: just as the Lord, in
reiterating, frequently the same promises, derogates nothing either from himself or
from his word, but rather confirms the certainty of that word to his servants, lest, at
any time, their confidence should be shaken through the infirmity of the flesh. What
I have said must also be kept in mind, that Isaac prayed, not as a private person, but
as one furnished with a special command of God, to transmit the covenant deposited
with himself to his son Jacob. It was also of the greatest importance that now, at
length, Jacob should be blessed by his father, knowingly and willingly; lest at a
future time a doubt, arising from the recollection of his father’s mistake and of his
own fraud, might steal over his mind. Therefore Isaac, now purposely directing his
words to his son Jacob, pronounces the blessing to be due to him by right, lest it
should be thought that, having been before deceived, he had uttered words in vain,
under a false character.
10. PI K, "Jacob may be viewed from two chief viewpoints: as a picture of the
believer, and as a type of the Jewish nation. We shall take up the latter first. As to
Jacob foreshadowing the history of the Jews we may note, among others, the
following analogies:
1. Jacob was markedly the object of God’s election: Romans 9:10. So, too, was the
Jewish nation. See Deuteronomy 6:7; 10:15; Amos 3:2.
2. Jacob was loved before he was born, Romans 9:11-13. Of the Jewish nation it is
written, "Thus saith the Lord, the people which were left of the sword found grace
in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest, the Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love"
(Jer. 31:2, 3).
3. Jacob was altogether lacking in natural attractiveness. This is singularly true of
the Jewish people.
4. Jacob was the one from whom the Twelve Tribes directly sprang.
5. Jacob is the one after whom the Jewish race is most frequently called. See Isaiah
2:5, etc.
6. Jacob was the one whom God declared should be "served," Genesis 25:23;
Genesis 27:29. Of the Jews the prophetic scriptures affirm, "Thus saith the Lord
God, Behold, I will lift up Mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up My standard to the
people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be
carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their
queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face to the earth,
and lick up the dust of thy feet" (Isa. 49:22, 23). And again it is written of Israel,
"And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all
nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules" (Isa. 66:20).
7. Jacob was the one to whom God gave the earthly inheritance, Genesis 27:28;
Genesis 28:13. So, too, the Jews.

8. 8. Jacob suffered a determined effort to be robbed of his inheritance, Genesis 27:
Isaac and Esau. So have the Jews.
9. Jacob valued the blessing of God, but sought it in carnal ways, totally opposed to
faith, Genesis 26:27. So it is written of the Jews, "For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God" (Rom. 10:2, 3).
10. Jacob was exiled from the land as the result of his sin, Genesis 28:5. So have the
Jews been.
11. Jacob spent much of his life as a wandering exile from the land; such has been
the history of his descendants
12. Jacob was distinctly the wanderer among the patriarchs, and as such a type of
the wandering Jew!
13. Jacob experienced, as such, the sore chastenings of a righteous God. So, too, the
Jews.
14. Jacob had no "altar" in the land of his exile: thus also is it written of the Jews,
"For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a King, and without a
prince, and without a sacrifice" (Hosea. 3:4).
15. Jacob set his heart upon the land while exiled from it. His yearning for home is
strikingly expressed in his words to Laban: "Send me away, that I may go unto
mine own place, and to my country," (Gen. 30:25). How we behold the same
yearning among the Zionists today, as they appeal to American and British
statesmen to make it possible for them to return in safety to Palestine!
16. Jacob was unjustly dealt with in the land of exile, Genesis 29:23; Genesis 31:41,
42.
17. Jacob developed into a crafty schemer and used subtle devices to secure earthly
riches, Genesis 30:37, 43.
18. Jacob while in exile receives promise from God that he shall return unto the
promised land, Genesis 28:15.
19. Jacob received no further revelation from God during all the years of his exile,
until at length bidden by Him to return, Genesis 31:3.
20. Jacob was graciously preserved by God in the land of his exile and was the
object of His ceaseless providential care.
21. Jacob became wealthy while in the land of exile, Genesis 30:43.
22. Jacob, because of this, had stirred up against him the enmity of those among
whom he sojourned, Genesis 31:1.
23. Jacob ultimately returned to the land bearing with him the riches of the
Gentiles, Genesis 31:18.
24. Jacob is seen at the end blessing the Gentiles (Gen. 47:7), and acting as God’s

9. prophet, Genesis 49.
We shall next look at Jacob as a picture of the believer. It is intensely interesting to
mark how each of the patriarchs foreshadowed some distinct truth in the believer.
In Abraham we see the truth of Divine sovereignty, and the life of faith; in Isaac
Divine sonship, and the life of submission; in Jacob Divine grace, and the life of
conflict. In Abraham, election; in Isaac, the new birth; in Jacob, the manifestation
of the two natures. Thus we find the order of these Old Testament biographies
foreshadowed accurately what is now fully revealed in the ew Testament. Again,
we may remark further that, typically, Jacob is the servant. This is ever the Divine
order. Abraham, the chosen object of God’s sovereign purpose, necessarily comes
first, then Isaac, the son born supernaturally, the heir of the father’s house, followed
by Jacob, the servant. It is needful to call special attention to this order to-day,
though we cannot here enlarge upon it. Man would place sonship at the end of a
long life of service, but God places it at the beginning. Man says, Serve God in order
to become His son; but God says, You must first be My son in order to serve Me
acceptably. The apostle Paul expressed this order when he said: "Whose I am, and
whom I serve" (Acts 27:23). How carefully this order is guarded in our type appears
further in the fact that before Jacob commenced his service at Padan-aram he first
tarried at Bethel, which means "the House of God"—we must first enter God’s
household before we can serve Him! That Jacob does, typically, represent service is
clear from, Hosea 12:12, where we are told, "And Jacob fled into the country of
Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep." The history of this
we get in Genesis 29 and 30. As a servant with Laban, Jacob was singularly faithful.
Here is his own challenge, "These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and
thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.
That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my
hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. Thus I was, in
the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night."
There is still another way in which this progressive order in the typical
foreshadowings of the three great patriarchs comes out. This has been forcefully set
forth by Mr. F. W. Grant who, when commenting on the words of the Lord to Moses
at the burning bush—"say unto the children of Israel, the God of Abraham, and the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob sent me unto you"—says, "In Abraham we find
manifested the type of the Father, and in Isaac admittedly that of the Son, in Jacob-
Israel we find a type and pattern of the Spirit’s work which is again and again dwelt
on and expanded in the after-scriptures. Balaam’s words as to the people, using this
double—this natural and this scriptural name, are surely as true of the nation’s
ancestors. ‘It shall be said of Jacob, and of Israel, what hath God wrought?’ What
God hath wrought is surely what in the one now before us we are called in an
especial way to acknowledge and glory in. For Jacob’s God is He whom we still
know as accomplishing in us by almighty power the purposes of sovereign grace."
While it is true that each of the three great patriarchs exemplified in his own person
some fundamental truth of Divine revelation, yet it is to be particularly noted that
each succeeding individual carried forward what had gone before, so that nothing
was lost. In Abraham we behold the truth of election God’s singling of him out from
all the people on the earth; yet in Isaac the same truth is manifested, as is evident

10. from the passing by of Ishmael and God’s declaration that "In Isaac shall thy seed
be called." Isaac represents the truth of Divine sonship, born supernaturally by the
intervention of God’s power. ow in Jacob both of these truths, with important
additions, are also to be observed. Even more notably than in the eases of Abraham
and Isaac, Jacob is the object of God’s sovereign choice: "Jacob gives occasion to
the exercise of God’s sovereignty as to the twin children of Isaac and Rebekah. ‘For
they being not yet born, nor having done any good or bad, that the purpose of God
according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calls, it was said to
their mother, the elder shall serve the younger.’ It had been shown before in casting
out the bond-woman and her son; but so it was now far more emphatically in Jacob
chosen, not Esau. o flesh shall glory in His sight; in Jehovah certainly, as it ought
to be. Is man only to think and talk of his rights? Sinful man! Has God alone no
rights? Is He to be a mere registrar of man’s wrongs? Oh! his wrongs, not rights:
this is the truth, as no believer should forget from the dawn of a vital work in his
soul!" ("Jacob," by W. Kelly).
As the above truth is now so much controverted we subjoin a further quotation
from the pen of one who is regarded as one of the leading orthodox teachers of our
day: "In all this we see the marvel and glory of the Divine sovereignty. Why the
younger son should have been chosen instead of the elder we do not know. It is,
however, very striking to find the same principle exercised on several other
occasions. It is pretty certain that Abraham was not the eldest son of Terah. We
know that Isaac was the younger son of Abraham, and that Joseph was not the
eldest son of Jacob. All this goes to emphasize the simple fact that the order of
nature is not necessarily the order of grace. All through, God decided to display the
sovereignty of His grace as contrasted with that which was merely natural in human
life. The great problem of Divine sovereignty is of course insoluble by the human
intellect. It has to be accepted as a simple fact. It should, however, be observed that
it is not merely a fact in regard to things spiritual; it is found also in nature in
connection with human temperaments and races. All history is full of illustrations of
the Divine choice, as we may see from such examples as Cyrus and Pharaoh. Divine
election is a fact, whether we can understand it or not (italics ours). God’s purposes
are as certain as they are often inscrutable, and it is perfectly evident from the case
of Esau and Jacob that the Divine choice of men is entirely independent of their
merits or of any pre-vision of their merits or attainments (Rom. 9:11). It is in
connection with this subject that we see the real force of St. Paul’s striking words
when he speaks of God as acting ‘according to the good pleasure of His will’ (Eph.
1:5), and although we are bound to confess the ‘mystery of His will’ (Eph. 1:9), we
are also certain that He works all things ‘after the counsel of His will’ (Eph. 1:11—
italics not ours). There is nothing arbitrary about God and His ways and our truest
wisdom when we cannot understand His reasons is to rest quietly and trustfully,
saying, ‘Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight.’ ‘In His Will is our
peace’" (Dr. Griffith-Thomas, Commentary on Genesis).
ot only is the Divine sovereignty illustrated in Jacob, as in Abraham, but we also
see typified in him the truth of regeneration (as in the case of Isaac) inasmuch as
nature was set aside, and only in answer to prayer and by Divine intervention was
Rebekah enabled to bear Jacob: see Genesis 25:21.

11. That which is most prominent in the Divine dealings with Jacob was the matchless
grace of God, shown to one so unworthy, the marvelous patience exercised toward
one so slow of heart to believe, the changeless love which unweariedly followed him
through all his varied course, the faithfulness which no unfaithfulness on Jacob’s
part could change, and the power of God which effectively preserved and delivered
him through numerous dangers and which, in the end, caused the spirit to triumph
over the flesh, transforming the worm Jacob into Israel the prince of God. How
these Divine perfections were displayed will be discovered as we turn our attention
to the various scenes in which the Holy Spirit has portrayed our patriarch. We turn
now to look briefly at Jacob in Genesis 28.
In our last article we dwelt upon Jacob deceiving his father, now we see how quickly
he began to suffer for his wrongdoing! "And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him,
and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go
to Padan-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" (Gen. 28:1, 2). Jacob
is sent away from home, to which he returns not for many years. In our studies upon
Isaac we have seen how he foreshadowed those who belong to the heavenly calling,
whereas, as we have pointed out above, Jacob typified the people of the earthly
calling. This comes out in many incidental details. Isaac was forbidden to leave
Canaan (type of the Heavenlies)—Genesis 24:5, 6—and his bride was brought to
him, but Jacob is sent forth out of Canaan to the house of his mother’s father in
quest of a wife, and thus was signified the evident contrast between Isaac and Jacob,
and Jacob’s earthly place and relationship.
"And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted
upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he
took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that
place to sleep. 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. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham
thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thy liest to thee will I give it, and
to thy seed; 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 thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with
thee, and will keep thee in all places whither 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" (Gen. 28:10-15). There is much here that might be dwelt upon with profit to
our souls, but we can do little more than mention one or two things.
Here we behold the marvelous grace of God, which delights to single out as its
objects the most unlikely and unworthy subjects. Here was Jacob a fugitive from his
father’s house, fleeing from his brother’s wrath, with probably no thought of God in
his mind. As we behold him there on the bare ground with nothing but the stones
for his pillow, enshrouded by the darkness of night, asleep—symbol of death—we
obtain a striking and true picture of man in his natural state. Man is never so
helpless as when asleep, and it was while he was in this condition that God appeared
unto him! What had Jacob done to deserve this high honor? What was there in him
to merit this wondrous privilege? othing; absolutely nothing. It was God in grace

12. which now met him for the first time and here gave to him and his seed the land
whereon he lay. Such is ever His way. He pleases to choose the foolish and vile
things of this world: He selects those who have nothing and gives them everything:
He singles out those who deserve naught but judgment, and bestows on them
nothing but blessing. But note—and mark it particularly—the recipient of the
Divine favors must first take his place in the dust, as Jacob here did (on the naked
earth) before God will bless him.
And under what similitude did the Lord now reveal Himself to the worm Jacob?
Jacob beheld in his dream a ladder set up on the earth, whose top reached unto
heaven, and from above it the voice of God addressed him. Fortunately we are not
left to our own speculations to determine the signification of this: John 1:51
interprets it for us. We say fortunately, for if we could not point to John 1:51 in
proof of what we advance, some of our readers might charge us with indulging in a
wild flight of the imagination. The "ladder" pointed to Christ Himself, the One who
spanned the infinite gulf which separated heaven from earth, and who has in His
own person provided a Way whereby we may draw near to God. That the "ladder"
reached from earth to heaven, told of the complete provision which Divine grace has
made for sinners. Right down to where the fugitive lay, the ladder came, and right
up to God Himself the "ladder" reached!
In His address to Jacob, the Lord now repeated the promises which He had made
before to Abraham and Isaac, with the additional assurance that He would be with
him, preserving him wherever he went, and ultimately bringing him back to the
land. In perfect harmony with the fact that Jacob represented the earthly people we
may observe here that God declares Jacob’s seed shall be "as the dust of the earth,"
but no reference is made to "the stars of heaven!" The sequel to this vision may be
told in few words. Jacob awoke and was afraid, saying, "How dreadful is this place!
This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven" (v. 17). ext,
he took the stone on which his head had rested and poured oil upon it. Then he
changed the name of the place from Luz to Bethel. It is instructive to note this
change of name, Luz—its original name, signifies "separation," while Bethel, its
new name, means "the house of God." Is it not beautiful to mark the typical force of
this? God calls us to separate from the world, but in leaving the world we enter His
house! " ever do we part from ought at His call, but He far more than makes it up
to us with His own smile" (W. Lincoln).
Finally, we are told, "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, so that! come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my
God. And this stone, which! 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" (Gen. 28:20-22). How
true to life this is! It was not only characteristic of Jacob personally, but typical of
us representatively. Jacob/ailed to rise to the level of God’s grace and was filled with
fear instead of peace, and expressed human legality by speaking of what he will do.
Oh, how often we follow in his steps! Instead of resting in the goodness of God and
appropriating His free grace, like Jacob, we bargain and enter into conditions and
stipulations. May the God of Grace enlarge our hearts to receive His grace, and may
He empower us to magnify His grace by refusing to defile it with any of our own

13. wretched additions.
2
Go at once to Paddan Aram, [2] to the house of your
mother's father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself
there, from among the daughters of Laban, your
mother's brother.
1. Clarke, “Go to Padan-aram - This mission, in its spirit and design, is nearly the
same as that in Genesis 24 (note). There have been several ingenious conjectures
concerning the retinue which Jacob had, or might have had, for his journey; and by
some he has been supposed to have been well attended. Of this nothing is mentioned
here, and the reverse seems to be intimated elsewhere. It appears, from Gen_28:11, that
he lodged in the open air, with a stone for his pillow; and from Gen_32:10, that he went
on foot with his staff in his hand; nor is there even the most indirect mention of any
attendants, nor is it probable there were any. He no doubt took provisions with him
sufficient to carry him to the nearest encampment or village on the way, where he would
naturally recruit his bread and water to carry him to the next stage, and so on. The oil
that he poured on the pillar might be a little of that which he had brought for his own
use, and can be no rational argument of his having a stock of provisions, servants,
camels, etc., for which it has been gravely brought. He had God alone with him.
2. Gill, “Arise, go to Padanaram,.... Of this place; see Gill on Gen_25:20; either he is
bid to go directly, in haste and alone; perhaps by this time Rebekah had given Isaac
some hint of the ill design of Esau against him, which made Isaac the more urgent upon
him to be gone, as well as it was high time he had took to himself a wife:
to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; who though now dead in all
probability, yet the house and family went by his name:
and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's
brother: who had daughters unmarried, of which no doubt Isaac and Rebekah had
knowledge, a correspondence being kept up between the two families, though at a great
distance.
3. Calvin, “2.Arise, go to Padan-aram. In the first place, he commands him to take a
wife from his maternal race. He might have sent for her by some one of his servants,

14. as Rebekah had been brought to him; but perhaps he took this course to avoid the
envy of Esau, who might regard it as a reproach if more solicitude were manifested
about his brother’s marriage than about his own.
3
May God Almighty [3] bless you and make you
fruitful and increase your numbers until you become
a community of peoples.
1. Clarke, “That thou mayest be a multitude of people - ‫עמים‬ ‫לקהל‬ likhal ammim.
There is something very remarkable in the original words: they signify literally for an
assembly, congregation, or church of peoples; referring no doubt to the Jewish Church
in the wilderness, but more particularly to the Christian Church, composed of every
kindred, and nation, and people, and tongue. This is one essential part of the blessing of
Abraham. See Gen_28:4.
2. Gill, “And God Almighty bless thee,.... This is not a new blessing, distinct from
that in Gen_28:1, but the same; there it is expressed in general, here the particulars of it
are given; and by which it appears, that Isaac's blessing Jacob was a prayer, wishing a
blessing from God upon him, and was the prayer of faith, delivered out under the spirit
of prophecy; and they are blessed indeed that are blessed of God, and they must needs
be blessed who are blessed by the Almighty; for what is it he cannot do or give? The
Targum of Jonathan adds,"with much riches;''but no doubt all kind of blessings are
included, both temporal and spiritual:
and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee; with a numerous offspring:
that thou mayest be a multitude of people; or an "assembly" or "congregation" (g)
of them; which may all unite in one body and make one nation, as the twelve tribes
descending from Jacob did.
3. Henry, “With a solemn blessing, Gen_28:3, Gen_28:4. He had before blessed him
unwittingly; now he does it designedly, for the greater encouragement of Jacob in that
melancholy condition to which he was now removing. This blessing is more express and
full than the former; it is an entail of the blessing of Abraham, that blessing which was
poured on the head of Abraham like the anointing oil, thence to run down to his chosen
seed, as the skirts of his garments. It is a gospel blessing, the blessing of church-
privileges, that is the blessing of Abraham, which upon the Gentiles through faith, Gal_
3:14. It is a blessing from God Almighty, by which name God appeared to the patriarchs,
Exo_6:3. Those are blessed indeed whom God Almighty blesses; for he commands and
effects the blessing. Two great promises Abraham was blessed with, and Isaac here

15. entails them both upon Jacob.
1. The promise of heirs: God make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, Gen_28:3. (1.)
Through his loins should descend from Abraham that people who should be numerous
as the stars of heaven, and the sand of the sea, and who should increase more than the
rest of the nations, so as to be an assembly of people, as the margin reads it. And never
was such a multitude of people so often gathered into one assembly as the tribes of Israel
were in the wilderness, and afterwards. (2.) Through his loins should descend from
Abraham that person in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed, and to
whom the gathering of the people should be. Jacob had in him a multitude of people
indeed, for all things in heaven and earth are united in Christ (Eph_1:10), all centre in
him, that corn of wheat, which falling to the ground, produced much fruit, Joh_12:24.
4. Calvin, “3.And God Almighty bless thee. Here follows the form of benediction,
which slightly differs in words from the former, but nevertheless tends to the same
end. First, he desires that Jacob should be blessed by God; that is, that he should be
so increased and amplified in his own offspring, as to grow into a multitude of
nations; or, in other words, that he should produce many people who might combine
into one body under the same head; as if he had said, Let there arise from thee
many tribes, who shall constitute one people. And this truly was, in some measure,
fulfilled when Moses distributed the people into thirteen divisions. evertheless,
Isaac looked for a further result, namely, that many were at length to be gathered
together out of various nations, to the family of his son, that, in this manner, from a
vast and previously scattered multitude, might be formed one assembly. For it is not
to be doubted, that he wished to hand down what he had received; seeing that he
immediately afterwards celebrates the memory of the original covenant, deriving his
present benediction from thence as its source: as if he had said, that he transferred
whatever right he had from his father; to his son Jacob, in order that the
inheritance of life might remain with him, according to the covenant of God made
with Abraham. They who expound this as being said in the way of comparison, as if
Isaac (53) wished those benefits which God had before conferred on Abraham to be
in the same manner GRA TED to his son, attenuate the meaning of the words. For
since God, in making his covenant with Abraham, had annexed this condition, that
it should descend to his posterity, it was necessary to trace its commencement to his
person as its root. Therefore, Isaac constitutes his son Jacob the heir of Abraham, as
successor to the benediction deposited with him, and promised to his seed. This also
appears more clearly from the context following, where he assigns to him the
dominion over the land, because it had been given to Abraham. Moreover, we
perceive, in this member of the sentence, with what consistency of faith the holy
fathers rested on the word of the Lord; for otherwise, they would have found it no
small temptation to be driven about as strangers and pilgrims in the very land, the
possession of which had been divinely assigned them a hundred years before. But we
see, that in their wanderings and their unsettled mode of life, they no less highly
estimated what God had promised them, than if they had already been in the full
enjoyment of it. And this is the true trial of faith; when relying on the word of God
alone, although tossed on the waves of the world, we stand as firmly as if our abode
were already fixed in heaven. Isaac expressly fortifies his son against this

16. temptation, when he calls the land of which he constitutes him lord, the land of his
wanderings. For by these words he teaches him that it was possible he might be a
wanderer all the days of his life: but this did not hinder the promise of God from
being so ratified, that he, contented with that alone, might patiently wait for the
time of revelation. Even the plural number (54) seems to express something
significant, namely, that Jacob would be a wanderer not once only, but in various
ways and perpetually. Since, however, the Hebrew plural has not always such
emphasis, I do not insist on this interpretation. It is more worthy of notice, that the
faith of Jacob was proved by a severe and rigid trial, seeing, that for this very
reason, the land is promised to him in word only, while in fact, he is cast far away
from it. For he seems to be the object of ridicule, when he is commanded to possess
the dominion of the land, and yet to leave it and to bid it farewell, and to depart into
distant exile.
4
May he give you and your descendants the blessing
given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of
the land where you now live as an alien, the land God
gave to Abraham."
1. Clarke, “Give thee the blessing of Abraham - May he confirm the inheritance
with all its attendant blessings to thee, to the exclusion of Esau; as he did to me, to the
exclusion of Ishmael. But, according to St. Paul, much more than this is certainly
intended here, for it appears, from Gal_3:6-14, that the blessing of Abraham, which is to
come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, comprises the whole doctrine of
justification by faith, and its attendant privileges, viz., redemption from the curse of the
law, remission of sins, and the promise of the Holy Spirit, including the constitution and
establishment of the Christian Church.
2. Gill, “And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with
thee,.... Which was promised to Abraham, and was entailed upon Isaac and his seed,
and now upon Jacob and his seed, which follows:
that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God
gave to Abraham; the land of Canaan, which was given to Abraham by promise, but
not in possession; he was a sojourner and stranger in it, and so Isaac had been all his

17. days, and now Jacob, who through the blessing was become heir of it; but as yet neither
he nor his posterity must enjoy it, but be strangers and sojourners in it, for the exercise
of faith, and for the leading of their minds off of all earthly enjoyments, to the better and
heavenly country God has provided for his people; see Heb_11:9.
4. Henry, “ The promise of an inheritance for those heirs: That thou mayest inherit
the land of thy sojournings, Gen_28:4. Canaan was hereby entailed upon the seed of
Jacob, exclusive of the seed of Esau. Isaac was now sending Jacob away into a distant
country, to settle there for some time; and, lest this should look like disinheriting him,
he here confirms the settlement of it upon him, that he might be assured that the
discontinuance of his possession should be no defeasance of his right. Observe, He is
here told that he should inherit the land wherein he sojourned. Those that are
sojourners now shall be heirs for ever: and, even now, those do most inherit the earth
(though they do not inherit most of it) that are most like strangers in it. Those have the
best enjoyment of present things that sit most loose to them. This promise looks as high
as heaven, of which Canaan was a type. This was the better country, which Jacob, with
the other patriarchs, had in his eye, when he confessed himself a stranger and pilgrim
upon the earth, Heb_11:13.
5. HAWKER, "Observe the same blessing still carried on. It is here called Abraham’s
blessing. And what is that but the gospel blessing of the Lord Jesus; on whom, and in
whom alone, all blessings center. Precious expression! A multitude of people. Heb_
12:22-23; Rev_7:9; Num_23:10.
5
Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to
Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean,
the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob
and Esau.
1. Clarke, “Bethuel the Syrian - Literally the Aramean, so called, not because he
was of the race of Aram the son of Shem, but because he dwelt in that country which had
been formerly possessed by the descendants of Aram.
2. Gill, “And Isaac sent away Jacob,.... From Beersheba; not in anger, or in a
dishonourable way, but took his leave of him no doubt in an affectionate manner; as it is
clear he went with his blessing, and had his good wishes for a prosperous journey:
and he went to Padanaram; which from Beersheba, according to some (h), was four

18. hundred and eighty miles:
unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian; some versions make Laban to be the
Syrian, others Bethuel; it is a matter of no great moment which is here so called, since
they were both called Syrians, see Gen_25:20,
the brother of Rebekah; this refers to Laban, for Bethuel was her father:
Jacob's and Esau's mother; Jacob is set first, not only as being most beloved by his
mother, but as now having the birthright and the blessing.
4. Henry, “Jacob, having taken leave of his father, was hastened away with all speed,
lest his brother should find an opportunity to do him a mischief, and away he went to
Padan-aram, Gen_28:5. How unlike was his taking a wife thence to his father's! Isaac
had servants and camels sent to fetch his; Jacob must go himself, go alone, and go afoot,
to fetch his: he must go too in a fright from his father's house, not knowing when he
might return. Note, If God, in his providence, disable us, we must be content, though we
cannot keep up the state and grandeur of our ancestors. We should be more in care to
maintain their piety than to maintain their dignity, and to be as good as they were than
to be as great. Rebekah is here called Jacob's and Esau's mother. Jacob is named first,
not only because he had always been his mother's darling, but because he was now make
his father's heir, and Esau was, in this sense, set aside. Note, The time will come when
piety will have precedency, whatever it has now.
5. COFFMAN, ""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."
It is not stated that Isaac lavishly equipped Jacob for this journey. On the other hand,
Jacob long afterward mentioned that he had passed through this area "on foot with his
staff in his hand" (Genesis 32:10). Some have wondered why Jacob should have been
called upon to endure such hardship. But perhaps it was imperative that he should learn
some of the lessons that vividly appeared in his experience.
Sin always drives the sinner out. Adam and Eve sinned and went out of Eden; Gehazi
sinned and lied to the prophet, and went out a leper white as snow; Judas betrayed the
Lord and went out and hanged himself; Peter profanely denied the Lord and went out
into the darkness weeping bitterly; here Jacob had sinned and lied to his father and went
out to rest in the wilderness with a stone for a pillow. The application is perpetual: men
become vain, worldly and sinful and go out from the Bible SCHOOL, out from the
worship services, out from the prayer meetings, out from the holy church!
The reason behind Jacob's being commanded to take a wife from among the daughters
of Laban lay in the near-universal paganism then descending upon apostate humanity. It
was imperative that the head of the chosen nation be relieved of the burden of paganism
in his own family. Even in the case of Laban's family, there still remained vestiges of the
Gentile paganism then engulfing mankind, but, at least, the people of Laban's household
did know and honor the one true God.

19. We have no sympathy whatever with the critical THEORIES about multiple sources of
this chapter. For those interested in such things, reference is here made to the scientific
analysis of this problem by Leupold, who outlined the various complicated arguments
allegedly favoring a division of the sources, concluding thus:
"Note how flimsy all this becomes on closer examination ... There surely is little
convincing proof ... If such arguments are proof, we do not know what proof means ...
Could any procedure be more unscientific ...? Critics admit that they are not sure ... !"[2]
6. COKE, "Genesis 28:5. Isaac sent away Jacob, &c.— It has been generally supposed,
though without any warrant from the text, that Isaac sent away this son, the heir of the
promise, to walk quite alone all this long journey into Syria. I cannot conceive, that even
in those times, simple as they were, such a step would have been taken: and I apprehend,
that the reason which is given for this proceeding in Isaac and Rebekah rather proves the
contrary: they sent him away privately, it is supposed, through fear of Esau. Now it is
evident that Esau knew perfectly well the whole scheme, (see Genesis 28:6.) and
consequently could not have had a fairer opportunity to kill his brother, than in this
solitary and unattended journey, as it has been thought. It is therefore much more
reasonable to believe, that he was accompanied with presents, and with proper servants,
sufficient to defend him from any attacks: nor can one hardly conceive that Abraham
would send his servants with camels, &c. and Isaac dismiss his son, the heir of the
promise, with his staff only in his hand. Add to this, that from Genesis 28:18 it appears
he had oil with him, more than sufficient for his own use, as he employed it to other
purposes. And as a further confirmation of this opinion, I would observe, that he must
have had provisions with him for his journey, as there were no inns or public places of
reception; and it is not to be imagined that he was able, (circumstanced as he must have
been,) or, if he had been able, that it was proper for him to have travelled alone. These
reasons will serve, the more they are weighed, to confute the popular opinion.
REFLECTIONS.—Rebekah's advice, we find, prevailed on Isaac; and, now Jacob is sent
away into a distant land, expecting a lingering exile. Note; Those who are God's people
must expect the cross with the crown, the suffering with the blessing. Observe,
1. The charge given him, whither he should go, and for what purpose. Note; (1.) It is
comfortable to have a godly friend's house, where we can find an asylum. (2.) It is our
duty not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
2. The blessing bestowed on him. Isaac was now convinced it was God's will that the
blessing should be Jacob's, and therefore confirms the promise. Fruitfulness and
numbers should enlarge his house, and Abraham's emphatical blessing, the Messiah,
spring from him. Though now a distant exile, the possession of Canaan is his own, and
Esau's abode shall not affect his title. Note; Faith can trust more SECURELY on the
promise than any other tenure.
3. Jacob sets off without delay, unknowing when he shall return. Behold how God trains
him up for greatness by humiliation, and teaches him to govern by his servitude: we find
no murmuring at his lot. Note; If they who are reduced to the lowest ebb have the
promise of God with them, they have enough to enrich and comfort them.

20. 6
ow Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and
had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from
there, and that when he blessed him he commanded
him, "Do not marry a Canaanite woman,"
1. Barnes, “Gen_28:6-9
Esau is induced, by the charge of his parents to Jacob, the compliance of the latter
with their wishes, and by their obvious dislike to the daughters of Kenaan, to take
Mahalath, a daughter of Ishmael, in addition to his former wives. “Went unto Ishmael;”
that is, to the family or tribe of Ishmael, as Ishmael himself was now thirteen years dead.
Esau’s hunting and roving career had brought him into contact with this family, and we
shall presently find him settled in a neighboring territory.
2. Gill, “And when Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob,.... Had conferred the
blessing before given, or had wished him a good journey; which perhaps may be all that
Esau understood by it, and so was not so much offended with it:
and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; which
likewise might not be displeasing to him, partly as he understood it to be only on
account of taking a wife, and not on account of his ill design upon him, which he might
imagine his parents knew nothing of; and partly as he would now be out of the way, and
he might find means the easier to ingratiate himself into his father's favour, and get him
to revoke the blessing, and settle the inheritance upon him:
and that as he blessed him, he gave him a charge, saying, thou shalt not take
a wife of the daughters of Canaan; or of the Canaanites, of any of the tribes or
nations that belonged to that people, whether Hittites or others.
3. Henry 6-9, “This passage concerning Esau comes in in the midst of Jacob's story,
either, 1. To show the influence of a good example. Esau, though the greater man, now
begins to think Jacob the better man, and disdains not to take him for his pattern in this
particular instance of marrying with a daughter of Abraham. The elder children should
give to the younger an example of tractableness and obedience; it is bad if they do not:
but it is some alleviation if they take the example of it from them, as Esau here did from
Jacob. Or, 2. To show the folly of an after-wit. Esau did well, but he did it when it was
too late, He saw that the daughters of Canaan pleased not his father, and he might have

21. seen that long ago if he had consulted his father's judgment as much as he did his palate.
And how did he now mend the matter? Why, truly, so as to make bad worse. (1.) He
married a daughter of Ishmael, the son of the bond-woman, who was cast out, and was
not to inherit with Isaac and his seed, thus joining with a family which God had rejected,
and seeking to strengthen his own pretensions by the aid of another pretender. (2.) He
took a third wife, while, for aught that appears, his other two were neither dead nor
divorced. (3.) He did it only to please his father, not to please God. Now that Jacob was
sent into a far country Esau would be all in all at home, and he hoped so to humour his
father as to prevail with him to make a new will, and entail the promise upon him,
revoking the settlement lately made upon Jacob. And thus, [1.] He was wise when it was
too late, like Israel that would venture when the decree had gone forth against them
(Num_14:40), and the foolish virgins, Mat_25:11. [2.] He rested in a partial reformation,
and thought, by pleasing his parents in one thing, to atone for all his other miscarriages.
It is not said that when he saw how obedient Jacob was, and how willing to please his
parents, he repented of his malicious design against him: no, it appeared afterwards that
he persisted in that, and retained his malice. Note, Carnal hearts are apt to think
themselves as good as they should be, because perhaps, in some one particular instance,
they are not so bad as they have been. Thus Micah retains his idols, but thinks himself
happy in having a Levite to be his priest, Jdg_17:13.
4. Jamison 6-9, “when Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, etc. — Desirous
to humor his parents and, if possible, get the last will revoked, he became wise when too
late (see Mat_25:10), and hoped by gratifying his parents in one thing to atone for all his
former delinquencies. But he only made bad worse, and though he did not marry a “wife
of the daughters of Canaan,” he married into a family which God had rejected. It showed
a partial reformation, but no repentance, for he gave no proofs of abating his vindictive
purposes against his brother, nor cherishing that pious spirit that would have gratified
his father - he was like Micah (see Jdg_17:13).
5. K&D 6-9, “Gen_28:6-9
When Esau heard of this blessing and the sending away of Jacob, and saw therein the
displeasure of his parents at his Hittite wives, he went to Ishmael - i.e., to the family of
Ishmael, for Ishmael himself had been dead fourteen years - and took as a third wife
Mahalath, a daughter of Ishmael (called Bashemath in Gen_36:3, a descendant of
Abraham therefore), a step by which he might no doubt ensure the approval of his
parents, but in which he failed to consider that Ishmael had been separated from the
house of Abraham and family of promise by the appointment of God; so that it only
furnished another proof that he had no thought of the religious interests of the chosen
family, and was unfit to be the recipient of divine revelation.
6. Calvin, “6.When Esau saw. A brief narration concerning Esau is here inserted,
which it is useful to know; because we learn from it that the wicked, though they
exalt themselves against God, and though, in contempt of his grace, they please
themselves in obtaining their desires, are yet not able to despise that grace

22. altogether. So now, Esau is penetrated with a desire of the blessing; not that he
aspires to it sincerely and from his heart; but perceiving it to be something valuable,
he is impelled to seek after it, though with reluctance. A further fault is, that he does
not seek it as he ought: for he devises a new and strange method of reconciling God
and his father to himself; and therefore all his diligence is without profit. At the
same time he does not seem to be careful about pleasing God, so that he may but
propitiate his father. Before all things, it was his duty to cast aside his profane
disposition, his perverse manners, and his corrupt affections of the flesh, and then to
bear with meekness the chastisement inflicted upon him: for genuine repentance
would have dictated to him this sentiment, Seeing I have hitherto rendered myself
unworthy of the birthright, my brother is deservedly preferred before me. othing,
therefore, remains for me but to humble myself, and since I am deprived of the
honor of being the head, let it suffice me to be at least one of the members of the
Church. And, certainly, it would have been more desirable for him to remain in
some obscure corner of the Church, than, as one cut off and torn away from the
elect people, to shine with a proud preeminence on earth. He aims, however, at
nothing of this kind, but attempts, by I know not what prevarications, to appease his
father in whatever way he may be able. Moses, in this example, depicts all
hypocrites to the life. For as often as the judgment of God urges them, though they
are wounded with the pain of their punishment, they yet do not seek a true remedy;
for having aimed at offering one kind of satisfaction only, they entirely neglect a
simple and real conversion: and even in the satisfaction offered, they only make a
pretense. Whereas Esau ought thoroughly to have repented, he only tried to correct
the SI GLE fault of his marriage; and this too in a most absurd manner. Yet
another defect follows: for while he retains the wives who were so hateful to his
parents, he supposes he has discharged his duty by marrying a third. But by this
method, neither was the trouble of his parents alleviated, nor his house cleansed
from guilt. And now truly, whence does he marry his third wife? From the race of
Ishmael, whom we know to have been himself degenerate, and whose posterity had
departed from the pure worship of God. A remarkable proof of this is discernible at
the present day, in the pretended and perfidious intermeddlers, who imagine they
can admirably adjust religious differences by simply adorning their too gross
corruptions with attractive colors. (55) The actual state of things compels them to
confess that the vile errors and abuses of Popery have so far prevailed as to render a
Reformation absolutely necessary: but they are unwilling that the filth of this
Camarine marsh be stirred; (56) they only desire to conceal its impurities, and even
that they do by compulsion. For they had previously called their abominations the
sacred worship of God; but since these are now dragged to LIGHT by the word of
God, they therefore descend to novel artifices. They flatter themselves, however; in
vain, seeing they are here condemned by Moses, in the person of Esau. Away, then,
with their impure pretended reformation, which has nothing simple nor sincere.
Moreover, since it is a disease inherent in the human race, willingly to attempt to
deceive God by some fictitious pretext, let us know that we do nothing effectually,
until we tear up our sins by the roots, and thoroughly devote ourselves to God.

23. 7. COFFMA , "One cannot resist the opinion that Esau was a SHADE late with
what he must have considered some kind of a concession to the opinions of his
parents. "This was a rather pathetic attempt, a closing of the barn door after the
horse was gone."[3] It is true that this marriage bore a superficial resemblance to
that of Jacob, in that Jacob married his mother's niece, and Esau married his
father's niece. But the shocking difference lay in the fact that Esau married out of
the covenant line, Ishmael also having been rejected as heir of the promises. Besides
this, he already had two wives from the daughters of Canaan, and the only thing he
did was to add another woman to his polygamous household. Alas, Jacob fell into
the same error, but with provocation that did not exist in the case of Esau. The
behavior of both these grandsons shows what a colossal mistake Abraham made
when Hagar became a second wife.
These marriages by the patriarchs of wives closely akin to them were possible and
permitted because, "The race was young enough that the danger of accumulated
mutational defects was minimized."[4] Later, in the times of Moses, when genetic
problems were more likely, the Law forbade the marriages of persons of near
kinship.
Despite the failure of Esau to make any essential improvement in his situation by
this additional marriage, one may sympathize with what he no doubt intended as a
gesture of reconciliation.
8. ELLICOTT, "(6) When Esau.—The solemn transfer of the birthright to Jacob,
and Isaac’s complete assent thereto, must have been the cause of no little grief to
Esau, and evidently it made him feel that he had greatly contributed to this result by
his own illegitimate marriages. When, then, he sees Jacob sent away to obtain a wife,
in accordance with the rule established by Abraham, he determines also to conform
to it, and marries a daughter of Ishmael. She is called Bashe-math in chap , and
described in both places as “the sister of ebajoth,” in order to show that as
ebajoth “the firstborn” (Genesis 25:13) was undoubtedly the son of Ishmael by his
first wife, “whom Hagar took for him out of the land of Egypt” (Genesis 21:21), so
also Mahalath shared in this precedence, and was not the daughter of any of
Ishmael’s subsequent wives, or of a concubine.
9. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Genesis 28:6-9
Then went Esau unto Ishmael
Esau, the type of worldliness and hypocrisy

24. I. HIS CONDUCT WAS MERCENARY.
II. HIS CONDUCT WAS ONE-SIDED.
III. HIS CONDUCT WAS FRAMED BY THE PRINCIPLE OF IMITATION. (T. H.Leale.)
Lessons
1. Hypocrites hearing of blessing upon others, pretend to make to it as well as any.
2. Hypocrites hearing God’s charge to accompany His blessing, would seem to
observe it (Gen_28:6).
3. Hypocrites seeing the obedience of saints, would seem to imitate it (Gen_28:7).
4. Hypocrites perceiving what is displeasing to God and His servants, would seem to
avoid it (Gen_28:8).
5. Hypocrites in all their pretences for God, take their own ways without His counsel.
6. Hypocrites in all their pretended imitations of the saints do but add sin to sin
(Gen_28:9). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Mistaken imitation
See what awkward work is made when men go about to please others, and promote their
worldly interests, by imitating that in which they have no delight. Ignorance and error
mark every step they take, Esau was in no need of a wife. His parents would not be
gratified by his connection with the apostate family of Ishmael. In short, he is out in all
his calculations; nor can he discover the principles which influence those who fear the
Lord. Thus have we often seen men try to imitate religious people for the sake of gaining
esteem, or some way promoting their selfish ends; but instead of succeeding they have
commonly made bad worse. That which to a right mind is as plain as the most public
highway, to a mind perverted shall appear full of difficulties. “The labour of the foolish
wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city” (Ecc_10:15).
(A. Fuller.)
7
and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and
had gone to Paddan Aram.
1. Gill, “And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother,.... As it became him,
and as it becomes all children to be obedient to their parents in all things lawful they
command them; and it would have been well if Esau had been obedient to them also in a

25. like case, the case of his marriage:
and was gone to Padanaram; as they had enjoined him, to take a wife from thence.
2. TRAPP, "Genesis 28:7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was
gone to Padanaram;
Ver. 7. And was gone to Padanaram.] Which was distant from Beersheba almost
five hundred miles. This was the father of the that family of travellers; and his
affliction is our instruction. [Romans 15:4 1 Corinthians 10:11]
8
Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite
women were to his father Isaac;
1. Gill, “And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his
father. Who he perceived was displeased with the daughters of Canaan, or that they
were "evil in his eyes" (i), offensive to him, and disapproved of by him, because of their
ill manners: Rebekah is not mentioned, whose displeasure he cared not for.
2. H. C. Leupold writes, “What a dullness of spiritual perception! Growing up in a
household where it was well known why Abraham had taken pains to secure a non-
Canaanite wife for Isaac, Esau never seems to have understood why this was done.
The entire spiritual heritage and all spiritual traditions had not as yet begun to
mean anything to Esau. These few verses help us to understand very clearly why
God could not use Esau in the building of the kingdom.”
ot too bright was Esau when it came to discernment about what pleased his
parents and God.
3. TRAPP, "Genesis 28:8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not
Isaac his father;
Ver. 8. Pleased not Isaac his father.] Whether himself or they pleased God or not,
was no part of his care. God is not in all the wicked man’s thoughts. [Psalms 10:4]
What he strives for is, to be well esteemed of by others, to have the good will and
good word of his neighbours and friends, such especially as he hopes for benefit by.
Thus Julian counterfeited zeal, till he had got the EMPIRE: afterwards, of Julian,
he became Idolian, as azianzen saith he was commonly called, because he set open

26. again the idols’ temples, which had been shut up by Constantine, and restored them
to the heathens.
9
so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the
sister of ebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of
Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.
1. Clarke, “Then went Esau unto Ishmael - Those who are apt to take every thing
by the wrong handle, and who think it was utterly impossible for Esau to do any right
action, have classed his taking a daughter of Ishmael among his crimes; whereas there is
nothing more plain than that he did this with a sincere desire to obey and please his
parents. Having heard the pious advice which Isaac gave to Jacob, he therefore went and
took a wife from the family of his grandfather Abraham, as Jacob was desired to do out
of the family of his maternal uncle Laban. Mahalath, whom he took to wife, stood in the
same degree of relationship to Isaac his father as Rachel did to his mother Rebekah.
Esau married his father’s niece; Jacob married his mother’s niece. It was therefore most
obviously to please his parents that Esau took this additional wife. It is supposed that
Ishmael must have been dead thirteen or fourteen years before this time, and that going
to Ishmael signifies only going to the family of Ishmael. If we follow the common
computation, and allow that Isaac was now about one hundred and thirty-six or one
hundred and thirty-seven years of age, and Jacob seventy-seven, and as Ishmael died in
the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of his age, which according to the common
computation was the one hundred and twenty-third of Isaac, then Ishmael must have
been dead about fourteen years. But if we allow the ingenious reasoning of Mr. Skinner
and Dr. Kennicott, that Jacob was at this time only fifty-seven years of age, and Isaac
consequently only one hundred and seventeen, it will appear that Ishmael did not die till
six years after this period; and hence with propriety it might be said, Esau went unto
Ishmael, and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael to be his wife. See note on Gen_
26:34, etc.
3. Gill, “Then went Esau unto Ishmael,.... Not to Ishmael in person, for he was now
dead, Gen_25:17, and had been dead as is reckoned about fourteen years before this, but
to the house of Ishmael:
and took unto the wives which he had; the daughters of Heth, and who seem by
this to be both alive at this time:
Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son; the same with Bashemath,
Gen_36:3; as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it, this person having two names, and is

27. further described:
the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife; who was the eldest son of Ishmael, and, his
father being dead, was the principal in the family; and this woman Esau took to wife was
his sister by his mother's side, as the above Targum expresses, as well as by his father's;
whereas he might have other sisters only by his father's side, he having had more wives
than one. This Esau seems to have done in order to curry favour with his father, who was
displeased with his other wives, and therefore takes one of his father's brother's
daughters; but in this he acted an unwise part, on more accounts than one; partly as it
was taking to wife the daughter of one that was cast out of his grandfather's house, and
had been a persecutor of his father, and therefore not likely to be agreeable to him; and
partly as being a daughter of the bondmaid's son: children born of her could not inherit
the land promised to Abraham and Isaac.
4. TRAPP, "Genesis 28:9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which
he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be
his wife.
Ver. 9. Then went Esau unto Ishmael.] Stulta haec fuit κακοζηλια, et hypocrisis , saith
Pareus rightly. Apes will be imitating men: spiders have their webs, and wasps their
honeycombs. Hypocrites will needs do something, that they may seem to be somebody:
but, for want of an inward principle, they do nothing well: they amend one error with
another, as Esau here; and as Herod prevents perjury by murder. Thus, while they shun
the sands, they rush upon the rocks, and while they keep off the shallows, they fall into
the WHIRLPOOL. (a) Sed nemo ira perplexus tenetur inter duo vitia, quin exitus pateat
absque tertio , saith an ancient.
10
Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.
1. Barnes, “Gen_28:10-22
Jacob’s dream and vow. Setting out on the way to Haran, he was overtaken by night,
and slept in the field. He was far from any dwelling, or he did not wish to enter the house
of a stranger. He dreams. A ladder or stair is seen reaching from earth to heaven, on
which angels ascend and descend. This is a medium of communication between heaven
and earth, by which messengers pass to and fro on errands of mercy. Heaven and earth
have been separated by sin. But this ladder has re-established the contact. It is therefore
a beautiful emblem of what mediates and reconciles Joh_1:51. It here serves to bring
Jacob into communication with God, and teaches him the emphatic lesson that he is
accepted through a mediator. “The Lord stood above it,” and Jacob, the object of his
mercy, beneath. First. He reveals himself to the sleeper as “the Lord” Gen_2:4, “the God
of Abraham thy father, and of Isaac.” It is remarkable that Abraham is styled his father,

28. that is, his actual grandfather, and covenant father. Second. He renews the promise of
the land, of the seed, and of the blessing in that seed for the whole race of man.
Westward, eastward, northward, and southward are they to break forth. This expression
points to the world-wide universality of the kingdom of the seed of Abraham, when it
shall become the fifth monarchy, that shall subdue all that went before, and endure
forever. This transcends the destiny of the natural seed of Abraham. Third. He then
promises to Jacob personally to be with him, protect him, and bring him back in safety.
This is the third announcement of the seed that blesses to the third in the line of descent
Gen_12:2-3; Gen_22:18; Gen_26:4.
2. Gill, “And Jacob went out from Beersheba,.... Where Isaac and Rebekah now
lived: from hence he went alone, without any servants to attend him, though perhaps not
without letters of recommendation from his parents, testifying their affection to him,
and that he came with their knowledge and consent, and was their heir, as Isaac had
been to Abraham; nor without provisions, at least not without money to purchase them
by the way, as appears by the oil he had, Gen_28:18,
and went toward Haran: for thither he could not get in one day, being many days'
journey; See Gill on Gen_28:5.
3. Henry, “We have here Jacob upon his journey towards Syria, in a very desolate
condition, like one that was sent to seek his fortune; but we find that, though he was
alone, yet he was not alone, for the Father was with him, Joh_16:32. If what is here
recorded happened (as it should seem it did) the first night, he had made a long day's
journey from Beersheba to Bethel, above forty miles. Providence brought him to a
convenient place, probably shaded with trees, to rest himself in that night; and there he
had,
4. Jamison, “Jacob went out, etc. — His departure from his father’s house was an
ignominious flight; and for fear of being pursued or waylaid by his vindictive brother, he
did not take the common road, but went by lonely and unfrequented paths, which
increased the length and dangers of the journey.
5. K&D, “Genesis 28:10-15
Jacob's Dream at Bethel. - As he was travelling from Beersheba, where Isaac was then
staying (Gen_26:25), to Haran, Jacob came to a place where he was obliged to stop all
night, because the sun had set. The words “he hit (lighted) upon the place,” indicate the
apparently accidental, yet really divinely appointed choice of this place for his night-
quarters; and the definite article points it out as having become well known through the
revelation of God that ensued. After making a pillow with the stones (‫ּת‬‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬ ְ‫,מ‬ head-place,
pillow), he fell asleep and had a dream, in which he saw a ladder resting upon the earth,
with the top reaching to heaven; and upon it angels of God going up and down, and
Jehovah Himself standing above it. The ladder was a visible symbol of the real and
uninterrupted fellowship between God in heaven and His people upon earth. The angels
upon it carry up the wants of men to God, and bring down the assistance and protection

29. of God to men. The ladder stood there upon the earth, just where Jacob was lying in
solitude, poor, helpless, and forsaken by men. Above in heaven stood Jehovah, and
explained in words the symbol which he saw. Proclaiming Himself to Jacob as the God
of his fathers, He not only confirmed to him all the promises of the fathers in their fullest
extent, but promised him protection on his journey and a safe return to his home (Gen_
28:13-15). But as the fulfilment of this promise to Jacob was still far off, God added the
firm assurance, “I will not leave thee till I have done (carried out) what I have told
thee.”
7. Calvin, “10.And Jacob went out. In the course of this history we must especially
observe, how the Lord preserved his own Church in the person of one man. For
Isaac, on account of his age, lay like a dry trunk; and although the living root of
piety was concealed within his breast, yet no hope of further offspring remained in
his exhausted and barren old age. Esau, like a green and flourishing branch, had
much of show and splendor, but his vigor was only momentary. Jacob, as a severed
twig, was removed into a far distant land; not that, being ingrafted or planted there,
he should acquire strength and greatness, but that, being moistened with the dew of
heaven, he might put forth his shoots as into the air itself. For the Lord wonderfully
nourishes him, and supplies him with strength, until he shall bring him back again
to his father’s house. Meanwhile, let the reader diligently observe, that while he who
was blessed by God is cast into exile; occasion of glorying was given to the reprobate
Esau, who was left in the possession of everything, so that he might SECURELY
reign without a rival. Let us not, then, be disturbed, if at any time the wicked sound
their triumphs, as having gained their wishes, while we are oppressed. Moses
mentions the name of Beersheba, because, as it formed one of the boundaries of the
land of Canaan, and lay towards the great desert and the south, it was the more
remote from the eastern region towards which Jacob was going. He afterwards adds
Charran, (Genesis 29:1,) where Abraham, when he left his own country, dwelt for
some time. ow, it appears that not only the pious old man Terah, when he followed
his son, or accompanied him on his journey, came to Charran where he died; but
that his other son ahor, with his family, also came to the same place. For we read
in the eleventh chapter (Genesis 11:1,) that Terah took his son Abraham, and Lot
his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law. Whence we infer that ahor, at that
time, remained in Chaldea, his native country. But now, since Moses says, that
Laban dwelt at Charran, we may hence conjecture, that ahor, in order that he
might not appear guilty of the inhumanity of deserting his father, afterwards
gathered together his goods and came to him.
Moses here, in a few words, declares what a severe and arduous journey the holy
man (Jacob) had, on ACCOU T of its great length: to which also another
circumstance is added; namely, that he lay on the ground, under the open sky,
without a companion, and without a habitation. But as Moses only briefly alludes to
these facts, so will I also avoid prolixity, as the thing speaks for itself. Wherefore, if,
at any time, we think ourselves to be roughly treated, let us remember the example

30. of the holy man, as a reproof to our fastidiousness.
8. What did they gain by their deception? Rebekah had to lose her son, and Jacob
had to leave home. It looks like they got the short end of the stick, and Esau had the
home and the inheritance of his parents all to himself. He lost all and had to start
from scratch and had many disappointments in his life, and he concluded, “few and
evil have been the days of the years of my life.” They suffered for their folly, and
were not rewarded. Had they waited for God all could have been different.
It is about 1780 B.C. and Jacob is 57 years old. He is on a walk that will take him
450 miles, and so he had many a night sleeping under the stars. Haran is the place
where Abraham left his relatives behind. Jacob is off to see relatives he never met.
With this journey Jacob takes the spotlight of God’s Word off Isaac, and the rest of
Genesis is mainly about him and his family. Isaac lives 63 more years, but his
recorded role is over. Isaac was not chosen to be the leader of a great nation, but his
son was. Isaac was just sort of a middle man between Grandpa and Grandchild. We
need to learn to be content with what God chooses in terms of who will be great and
who will just be the links to other’s greatness.
9. MACLARE , "From Abraham to Jacob is a great descent. The former embodies
the nobler side of the Jewish character,—its capacity for religious ideas; its
elevation above, and separation from, the nations; its consciousness of, and
peaceful satisfaction in, a divine Friend; its consequent vocation in the
world. These all were deep in the founder of the race, and flowed to it from
him. Jacob, on the other hand, has in him the more ignoble qualities, which
Christian treatment of the Jew has fostered, and which have become
indissolubly attached to the name in popular usage. He is a crafty schemer,
selfish, over-reaching, with a keen eye to the main chance. Whoever deals
with him has to look sharply after his own interests. Self-advantage in its
most earthly form is uppermost in him; and, like all timid, selfish men,
shifty ways and evasions are his natural weapons. The great interest of his
history lies in the slow process by which the patient God purified him, and
out of this ‘stone raised up a worthy child to Abraham.’ We see in this
context the first step in his education, and the very imperfect degree in
which he profited by it.
10. SBC, "Genesis 28:10-13
In his dream Jacob saw three things:
I. A way set up between earth and heaven, making a visible connection between the
ground on which he slept and the sky.
II. The free circulation along that way of great powers and ministering influences.
III. He saw God, the supreme directing and inspiring force, eminent over all. From these
we learn: (1) that every man’s ladder should stand upon the ground: no man can be a
Christian by separating himself from his kind; (2) along every man’s ladder should be
seen God’s angels; (3) high above all a man’s plans, high above all his heroic moral

31. resolves, there is to be a living trust in God.
H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 1870, p. 643.
Genesis 28:10-15
I. Consider the circumstances under which the vision here described was granted to
Jacob. He had left his home and was suffering trial and hardship; he was a friendless
and unprotected man.
II. Look at the nature of his vision. From this glimpse into the secrets of the unseen
world, it appears: (1) that the angels are interested in the well-being of God’s people; (2)
that heaven is a place of activity; (3) that there is a way of communication open between
heaven and earth. This way represents the mediation of Christ.
III. Look at the promises which on this occasion were made to Jacob: (1) God promised
to be with Jacob; (2) God promised His protection and guidance to Jacob; (3) God
promised him final deliverance from all trouble.
A. D. Davidson, Lectures and Sermons, p. 108.
I. God is near men when they little think it. He is near (1) when we are not aware of it;
(2) when sin is fresh upon us; (3) when we are in urgent need of Him.
II. God is near men to engage in their religious training (1) God assured Jacob of His
abiding presence with him. (2) Jacob was taught to recognise God in all things. (3) He
was taught to feel his entire dependence upon God throughout the journey of life.
III. God is always near men to effect their complete salvation. Intercourse has been
established between earth and heaven; the whole process of man’s salvation is under the
superintendence of God.
D. Rhys Jenkins, The Eternal Life, p. 347
Reference: Gen_28:10-16.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 98.
Genesis 28:10-17
Jacob makes his brother’s hunger an occasion for bargaining with him for his birthright.
Esau says, "What profit shall this birthright do to me?" Neither one nor the other knew
what good it would do. The vision of something to be realised now or hereafter dawned
upon Jacob—a vision probably mixed with many sensual and selfish expectations, still of
a good not tangible, a good which must come to him as a gift from God. The absence of
all want, all discontent with the present and the visible, is the feeling which exhibits itself
in the acts and utterances of Esau.
I. The vision at Bethel was the first step in Jacob’s Divine education—the assurance
which raised him to the feelings and dignity of a man. He knew that though he was to be

32. chief of no hunting tribe, there might yet come forth from him a blessing to the whole
earth.
II. Jacob’s vision came to him in a dream. But that which had been revealed was a
permanent reality, a fact to accompany him through all his after-existence. The great
question we have to ask ourselves is, Was this a fact for Jacob the Mesopotamian
shepherd, and is it a phantasm for all ages to come? or was it a truth which Jacob was to
learn that it might be declared to his seed after him, and that they might be acquainted
with it as he was, but in a fuller and deeper sense? If we take the Bible for our guide we
must accept the latter conclusion and not the former. The Son of Man is the ladder
between earth and heaven, between the Father above and His children upon earth—
which explains and reconciles all previous visions, and shows how angels and men can
meet and hold converse with each other.
F. D. Maurice, The Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament, p. 100.
11. COFFMA ,""From Beersheba ... toward Haran ..." Haran was some 500 miles
from Beersheba, and this first event on the way to be mentioned by the sacred
record occurred evidently about the third night after his departure. Bethel was some
fifty or sixty miles distant from Beersheba.
"He LIGHTED upon a certain place ..." This was not some "holy" location honored
by the pagan populations of Canaan. It had nothing whatever to do with cultic
shrines, or anything of that nature. It was altogether a "chance location," exactly at
the place where the sun went down on him.
"And he dreamed, and, behold a ladder ... !" The word here is ladder, not stairway
or staircase. It is most reprehensible that critical scholars pervert what is written
here by changing ladder to stairway. "The word [~cullum], used only here in the
Bible, is well established as meaning ladder.[5] Seeing that what the word means is
ladder, why do the critics want to change it? First, why did the Holy Spirit use this
word? Surely the word for a terraced staircase was known in those days. And,
therefore, we must conclude that this word was chosen to indicate that it was not
such a staircase. Here is the reason why the change is advocated:
"It goes without saying that a picture of angels going up and down in a steady
stream is hard to reconcile with an ordinary ladder ... The Mesopotamian ziggurats
were equipped with a FLIGHT of stairs leading to the summit ... Only a stairway
can account for Jacob's later description of it as a `gateway to heaven.'"[6]
So, there is no textual basis whatever for changing "ladder" to "staircase." The
reason lies in the purpose of making this dream purely a human dream without God
anywhere visible in it. ote the prejudice here that a "steady stream of angels"
(where did he read that) could not go up and down at the same time on an ordinary
ladder! Where does this text refer to this ladder as "ordinary"? The word occurs

33. once in the whole Bible.
Also, how does the critic know that angels could not ascend and descend at the same
time on the device Jacob dreamed of here? The critic did not tell us where he got all
that information about how many angels could stand on the point of a needle! As we
have pointed out, the medieval disputants never did solve that problem. Have the
modern critics done so? As a matter of faith, changes in the sacred text that are
supported solely by the undependable opinions of men should be rejected.
Once they have made this dream a vision of the stairway of some pagan shrine, they
attribute this dream to Jacob's having seen such a ziggurat, of which there is no
proof whatever. And God, as the true author of the vision, is left out of it altogether.
Such piddlings with the Word of God are not interpretation; they are denials! It is a
similar denial to make this vision the result of the steppe-like terrain where Jacob
rested.
The fact of our Lord Jesus Christ having referred to himself in words that
unmistakably come from this vision here, removes all question as to the accuracy
and inspiration of the vision. (See John 1:51).
Due to its importance, we shall return to this vision of the ladder a little later.
"One of the stones of that place ..." Men cannot leave the Word of God alone.
Josephus was sure that it was not a SI GLE stone, but a whole group of stones that
Jacob gathered. That would have been some pillow!
THE MEA I G OF THE LADDER
Jacob had engaged in multiple deceptions and falsehoods. And, angrily, his brother
Esau had vowed to kill him, so he was fleeing from his home and native land in
order to escape. He was the heir of great wealth, but this journey would appear to
have been taken on foot with minimal provisions. The mention of "bread ... and
clothing" (Genesis 28:20) is equivalent to, "just enough to subsist on."[7] He no
doubt felt rejected, ashamed, and frightened.
But that night, God appeared to him in a dream. As the author of Hebrews said
(Hebrews 1:1), God spoke to the fathers "in various ways." In this instance, it was
by a dream. God reassured Jacob of his love and PROTECTIO , confirmed to him
the Abrahamic covenant, and promised him heavenly protection until he should
return to that land again. God told him of his ultimate destiny as the head of the

34. Chosen ation. But what was the meaning of that fantastic ladder, reaching all the
way to heaven (not to the summit of a Babylonian ziggurat)?
Many dreams are not even remembered the next morning, and in rare cases any
longer than a few days, but this one has haunted the imaginations of men for
millenniums of time. The Son of God himself spoke of it! Why? Because this dream
did not derive from physical or environmental conditions that are sometimes
received as a cause of dreams. This one was from God. It was not merely intended to
bless Jacob, but all subsequent generations of mankind as well. Among the great
teachings that are inherent in it are the following:
(1) The CO TI UAL interest of God in his human creation is evident. Earth is not
isolated from God or from heaven. There is a line of communication. Countless
angels are busy as divine servants "doing service for them that shall be the heirs of
salvation" (Hebrews 1:14)
(2) The omnipresence of God, called also His ubiquitousness, was also shown in this
dream. Jacob was away from home, in a strange land, and fleeing from the wrath of
a brother, but one cannot flee beyond the watchful eye of the Lord. o more could
Jacob than Jonah, run away from God. Every man must discover (soon or late) that
"Surely God is in this place (every place)" whether men know it or not.
(3) The ladder is also a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The ladder was "the way"
between earth and heaven; and Christ affirmed that he is indeed "The Way" (John
14:6); and, as Jacob saw the angels of God ascending and descending upon that
ladder, Jesus affirmed to athaniel that he would "see angels ascending and
descending upon the Son of Man" (John 1:51). The ladder is therefore a perfect
representation of Christ in that in him God came down to men, and in him men
themselves may go up to God and be in heaven with him forever. Christ is the only
avenue of communication between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5), just as this ladder
in the dream was the only way to God's presence. To miss this significance of the
ladder is to lose the most important thing in the chapter.
12. CO STABLE, "Verses 10-17
The "ladder" (Genesis 28:12, Heb. sullam) evidently resembled a stairway or ramp.
Some interpreters take it as an allusion to a ziggurat while others believe it refers to
the slope or ascent of the mountain of Bethel. [ ote: See C. Houtman, "What Did
Jacob See In His Dream At Bethel?" Vetus Testamentum 27:3 (July 1977):337-51.]
"The ladder was a visible symbol of the real and uninterrupted fellowship between
God in heaven and His people upon earth. The angels upon it carry up the wants of

35. men to God, and bring down the assistance and protection of God to men. The
ladder stood there upon the earth, just where Jacob was lying in solitude, poor,
helpless, and forsaken by men. Above in heaven stood Jehovah, and explained in
words the symbol which he saw. Proclaiming Himself to Jacob as the God of his
fathers, He not only confirmed to him all the promises of the fathers in their fullest
extent, but promised him protection on his journey and a safe return to his home
(Genesis 28:13-15). But as the fulfillment of this promise to Jacob was still far off,
God added the firm assurance, 'I will not leave thee till I have done (carried out)
what I have told thee.'" [ ote: Keil and Delitzsch, 1:281-82.]
Other visions of God's heavenly throneroom appear in 1 Kings 22:19-22; Job 1:6-8;
Job 2:1-3; Isaiah 6; Ezekiel 1; Zechariah 1:10; Zechariah 6:5; Revelation 4-5; et al.
This was God's first revelation to Jacob, and it came in a dream (cf. John 1:51).
Other passages contain promises of the land (Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:14-16;
Genesis 15:18; Genesis 17:8; Genesis 24:7), but this one (Genesis 28:13-14) is closest
in terminology to the one in chapter 13, which also features a Bethel setting.
Jacob was the second person in the Bible to hear the assurance "I am with you"
(Genesis 28:15). Isaac was the first (cf. Genesis 26:3; Genesis 26:24). This was a
promise that God later repeated to Moses (Exodus 3:12); Joshua (Joshua 1:5),
Gideon (Judges 6:16), regarding Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23), and to all
Christians (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5).
Perhaps God's revelation surprised Jacob because he was preparing to leave the
Promised Land (Genesis 28:16-17). He may have felt that God would abandon him
since he was leaving the land that God had promised his forefathers.
The "house of God" (Genesis 28:17, Bethel) is the place where God dwells. The
"gate of heaven" is the place where Jacob entered heaven (in his dream).
"The term 'fear' is used in the Bible to describe a mixture of terror and adoration, a
worshipful fear (cf. Exodus 19:16)." [ ote: Ross, Creation and . . ., p. 491.]
"As Abraham's vision anticipated narratives from the latter part of the Pentateuch,
so Jacob's vision anticipated the events which were to come in the next several
chapters." [ ote: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 193.]
13. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on
the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven
Jacob at Bethel
I. THE WANDERER. It had been a desolate day, and there was only desolation at night.
In his weariness he slept, and as he slept, he dreamed. If dreams reflect the thoughts of
the day, a new life must have begun within him. It was not Esau, or the plotting mother,

36. or the aged father, upon whom he looked. The old tent was not over him, nor did he long
for the pillows of home. It was a new experience, and the story of his vision has been told
all down the centuries for more than three and a half thousand years. What does it
mean?
II. THE MEETING-PLACE. It was upon the barren mountainside. Tier on tier of rocks
reaching to the mountain-summit were the stairs of nature’s cathedral. The winds of the
mountains roused him not. The audience of that night was asleep. If the beasts came
forth from their retreats, they did not disturb him. His own sin had driven him into
solitude. Voice of friend or foe, there was none. He was alone; but God was there even
when he knew it not. What meetings there have been alone with God I What night-
scenes of grandeur and awe! Amid sufferings from sin, in deepest trials and in roughest
places, many a soul has exclaimed with the waking Jacob, “Surely the Lord is in this
place; and I knew it not This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of
heaven.”
III. THE VISION AND THE DIVINE COVENANT. Two thoughts are suggested at the
outset by this vision: the reaching up of earth to heaven, and the reaching down of
heaven to earth.
IV. THE PILLAR OF REMEMBRANCE. Gratitude should be the very first fruit of
religion. What less has God reason to expect? What else can man prefer to give? (D. O.
Mears, D. D.)
Jacob at Bethel
I. THE DREAMER.
1. A lonely faith.
2. An exile from home.
3. A fugitive from his brother.
II. THE DREAM.
1. The ladder. Heaven not closed to man.
2. Angels of God ascending and descending. Ministry.
3. God at the summit of the ladder.
III. THE IMPRESSION OF HIS DREAM.
1. An overpowering sense of the presence of God.
2. His sin rose before him. (G. R. Leavitt.)
Jacob’s vision
I. IT WAS VOUCHSAFED TO HIM IN A TIME OF INWARD AND OUTWARD
TROUBLE.
II. IT SATISFIED ALL HIS SPIRITUAL NECESSITIES.
1. It assured him that heaven and earth were not separated by an impassable gulf.

37. 2. It assured him that there was a way of reconciliation between God and man.
3. It assured him that the love of God was above all the darkness of human sin and
evil.
4. It imparted to him the blessings of a revelation from God.
III. IT REVEALED THE AWFUL SOLEMNITY OF HUMAN LIFE,
IV. IT RESULTED IN JACOB’S CONVERSION,
1. He erected a memorial of the event.
2. He resolved to make God supreme in all his thoughts and actions. (T. H.Leale.)
Jacob’s vision
I. CONSIDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES under which the vision was granted.
II. LOOK AT THE NATURE of the vision.
1. The angels are interested in the well-being of God’s people.
2. Heaven is a place of activity.
3. There is a way of communication open between heaven and earth. This way
represents the mediation of Christ.
III. LOOK AT THE PROMISES which on this occasion were made to Jacob.
1. God promised to be with Jacob.
2. God promised His protection and guidance to Jacob.
3. God promised him final deliverance from all trouble. (A. D.Davidson.)
Jacob’s dream
I. A way set up between earth and heaven, making a visible connection between the
ground on which he slept and the sky.
II. The free circulation along that way of great powers and ministering influences.
III. God, the supreme directing and inspiring force, eminent over all. Lessons:
1. Every man’s ladder should stand upon the ground. No man can be a Christian by
separating himself from his kind.
2. Along every man’s ladder should be seen God’s angels.
3. High above all a man’s plans and resolves, there must beta living trust in God. (H.
W. Beecher.)
The vision at Bethel
I. The vision at Bethel was the first step in Jacob’s Divine education—the assurance
which raised him to the feelings and dignity of a man. He knew that though he was to be
chief of no hunting tribe, there might yet come forth from him a blessing to the whole

38. earth.
II. Jacob’s vision came to him in a dream. But that which had been revealed was a
permanent reality, a fact to accompany him through all his after-existence. Now the
great question we have to ask ourselves is, “Was this a fact for Jacob the Mesopotamian
shepherd, and is it a phantasm for all ages to come? Or was it a truth which Jacob was to
learn just as he was to learn the truth of birth, the truth of marriage, the truth of death,
that it might be declared to his seed after him; and that they might be acquainted with it
as he was, only in a fuller and deeper sense?” If we take the Bible for our guide we must
accept the latter conclusion, and not the former. The Son of Man is the ladder between
earth and heaven, between the Father above and His children on earth. (F. D. Maurice,
M. A.)
What Jacob saw in sleep
Sleeping to see. One may be too wide-awake to see. There are things which are hidden
from us until we lie down to sleep. Only then do the heavens open and the angels of God
disclose themselves.
I. It does not follow that God is not, because we cannot discern Him. Little do we dream
of the veiled wonders and splendours amid which we move. To Jacob’s mental fret and
confusion, the wilderness where God brooded was a wilderness and nothing more. But
in sleep he grew tranquil and still; he lost himself—the flurried, heated, uneasy self that
he had brought with him from Beer-sheba; and while he slept the hitherto unperceived
Eternal came out softly, largely, above and around him. We learn from this the secret of
the Lord’s nearness.
II. No man is ever completely awake; something in him always sleeps. There is a sense in
which it may be said with truth that were we less wakeful, more of God and spiritual
realities might be unveiled to us. We are always doing—too much so for finest being; are
always striving—too much so for highest attaining. Our religion consists too much in
solicitude to get; it is continually “ The Lord, the Father of mercies,” rather than “The
Lord, the Father of glory.” We require to sleep from ourselves before the heavens can
open upon us freely and richly flow around us. (S. A. Tipple.)
A ladder between heaven and earth
I. JESUS, THE LADDER, CONNECTS EARTH WITH HEAVEN.
II. THIS LADDER COMES TO SINNERS.
III. GOD IS AT THE TOP, SPEARING KIND WORDS DOWN THE LADDER.
IV. ADVICE TO CLIMBERS:
1. Be sure to get the right ladder; there are plenty of shams.
2. Take firm hold; you will want both hands.
3. Don’t look down, or you will be giddy.
4. Don’t come down to fetch any one else up. If your friends will not follow you, leave
them behind. (T. Champness.)

39. Intercourse between earth and heaven
I. The ancient heathens told in their fables how the gods had all left the earth one by
one; how one lingered in pity, loath to desert the once happy world; how even that one at
last departed. Jacob’s dream showed something better, truer than this; it showed him
God above him, God’s angels all about him.
II. The intercourse between God and man has been enlarged and made perpetual in
Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son.
III. When Jacob awoke he consecrated a pillar, and vowed to build a sanctuary there
and give tithes. We cannot altogether commend the spirit in which he made his vow. He
tried to make a good bargain with the Almighty; yet God accepted him. The place was
holy to him, because he knew that God was there. (R. Winterbotham, M. A.)
The nearness of God to men
I. GOD IS NEAR MEN WHEN THEY LITTLE THINK IT. “He is near—
1. When we are not aware of it.
2. When sin is fresh upon us.
3. When we are in urgent need of Him.
II. GOD IS NEAR MEN TO ENGAGE IN THEIR RELIGIOUS TRAINING.
1. God assured Jacob of His abiding presence with him.
2. Jacob was taught to recognize God in all things.
3. He was taught to feel his entire dependence upon God throughout the journey of
life.
III. GOD IS ALWAYS NEAR MEN TO EFFECT THEIR COMPLETE SALVATION.
Intercourse has been established between earth and heaven; the whole process of man’s
salvation is under the superintendence of God. (D. Rhys Jenkins.)
Jacob’s conversion
I. JACOB’S IMPRESSIONS. First time of leaving his father’s home. When night came
on, and there was no tent to repose under, and no pillow but a stone on which to lay his
weary head, then a feeling of loneliness came over him, then tender thoughts awoke. He
felt remorse, tears came unbidden. He felt, “I shall never be in my father’s house the boy
I was.” In all this observe—
1. A solemn conviction stealing over Jacob of what life is, a struggle which each man
must make in self-dependence.
2. But beside this conviction of what life is, Jacob was impressed in another way at
this time. God made a direct communication to his soul. “He lay down to sleep, and
he dreamed.” We know what dreams are. They are strange combinations of our
waking thoughts in fanciful forms, and we may trace in Jacob’s previous journey the
groundwork of his dream. He looked up all day to heaven as he trudged along, the

40. glorious expanse of an Oriental sky was around him, a quivering trembling mass of
blue; but he was alone, and, when the stars came out, melancholy sensations were
his, such as youth frequently feels in autumn time. Deep questionings beset him.
Time he felt was fleeting. Eternity, what was it? Life, what a mystery! And all this
took form in his dream. Thus far all was natural; the supernatural in this dream was
the manner in which God impressed it on his heart. Similar dreams we have often
had; but the remembrance of them has faded away. Conversion is the impression
made by circumstances, and that impression lasting for life; it is God the Spirit’s
work upon the soul.
3. Jacob felt reconciliation with God. There is a distance between man and God. It is
seen in the restlessness of men, in the estrangement which they feel from Him. Well,
Jacob felt all this. He had sinned, overreached his brother, deceived his father. Self-
convicted he walked all day long; the sky as brass; a solemn silence around him; no
opening in the heaven; no sign nor voice from God; his own heart shut up by the
sense of sin, unable to rise. Then came the dream in which he felt reconciliation with
God. Do not mind the form but the substance. It contains three things:
(1) The ladder signifying heaven and earth joined, the gulf bridged over.
(2) The angels signifying the communication which exists between earth and
heaven.
(3) The voice which told him of God’s paternal care.
(4) The last impression made on Jacob was that of the awfulness of life.
II. THE RESOLUTIONS WHICH HE MADE.
1. The first of these was a resolution to set up a memorial of the impressions just
made upon him. He erected a few stones, and called them Bethel. They were a fixed
point to remind him of the past.
2. Jacob determined from this time to take the Lord for his God. He would worship
from henceforth not the sun, or the moon, not honour, pleasure, business, but God.
With respect to this determination, observe first” that it was done with a kind of
selfish feeling; there was a sort of stipulation, that if God would be with him to
protect and provide for him, that then he would take Him for his God (Gen_28:20-
21). And this is too much the way with us; there is mostly a selfishness in our first
turning to God. A kind of bargain is struck. If religion makes me happy then I will be
religious. God accepted this bargain in Jacob’s case; He enriched him with cattle and
goods in the land whither he went (Gen_31:18): “for godliness has the promise of the
life that now is.” Disinterested religion comes later on. Observe, secondly, what
taking God for our God implies. It is not the mere repetition of so many words; for as
our Lord has said, “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of God.” To have God for our God is not to prostrate the knee but the heart
in adoration before Him. God is truth: to persist in truth at a loss to ourselves, that is
to have God for our God. God is purity: resolve to shut up evil books, turn a
countenance of offended purity to the insult of licentious conversation; banish
thoughts that conjure up wicked imaginations; then you have God for your God. God
is love: you are offended; and the world says, resent; God says, forgive. Can you
forgive? Can you love your enemy, or one whose creed is different from your own?
That is to have God for your God. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

41. The heavenly pathway and the earthly heart
I. CONSIDER THE VISION AND ITS ACCOMPANYING PROMISE. We are to conceive
of the form of the vision as a broad stair or sloping ascent, rather than a ladder, reaching
right from the sleeper’s side to the far-off heaven, its pathway peopled with messengers,
and its summit touching the place where a glory shone that paled even the lustrous
constellations of that pure sky. Jacob had thought himself alone; the vision peoples the
wilderness. He had felt himself defenceless; the vision musters armies for his safety. He
had been grovelling on earth, with no thoughts beyond its fleeting goods; the vision lifts
his eyes from the low level on which they had been gazing. He had been conscious of but
little connection with heaven; the vision shows him a path from his very side right into
its depths. He had probably thought that he was leaving the presence of his father’s God
when he left his father’s tent; the vision burns into his astonished heart the
consciousness of God as there, in the solitude and the night. The Divine promise is the
best commentary on the meaning of the vision. The familiar ancestral promise is
repeated to him, and the blessing and the birthright thus confirmed. In addition, special
assurances, the translation of the vision into word and adapted to his then wants, are
given—God’s presence in his wanderings, his protection, Jacob’s return to the land, and
the promise of God’s persistent presence, working through all paradoxes of providence,
and sins of his servant, and incapable of staying its operations, or satisfying God’s heart,
or vindicating his faithfulness, at any point short of complete accomplishment of his
plighted word. Jacob’s vision was meant to teach him, and is meant to teach us, the
nearness of God, and the swift directness of communication, whereby His help comes to
us and our desires rise to Him. These and their kindred truths were to be to him, and
should be to us, the parents of much nobleness. Here is the secret of elevation of aim and
thought above the mean things of sense. It is the secret of purity too. It is also the secret
of peace.
II. NOTICE THE IMPERFECT RECEPTION dream indicates a very low level both of
religious knowledge and feeling. Nor is there any reason for taking the words in any but
their most natural sense; for it is a mistake to ascribe to him the knowledge of God due
to later revelation, or, at this stage of his life, any depth of religious emotion. He is
alarmed at the thought that God is near. Probably he had been accustomed to think of
God’s presence as in some special way associated with his father’s encampment, and had
not risen to the belief of His omnipresence. There seems no joyous leaping up of his
heart at the thought that God is here. Dread, not unmingled with the superstitious fear
that he had profaned a holy place by laying himself down in it, is his prevailing feeling,
and he pleads ignorance as the excuse for his sacrilege. He does not draw the conclusion
from the vision that all the earth is hallowed by a near God, but only that he has
unwittingly stumbled on His house; and he does not learn that from every place there is
an open door for the loving heart into the calm depths where God is throned, but only
that here he stands at the gate of heaven. So he misses the very inner purpose of the
vision, and rather shrinks from it than welcomes it. Was that spasm of fear all that
passed through his mind that night? Did he sleep again when the glory died out of the
heaven? So the story would appear to suggest. But, in any ease, we see here the effect of
the sudden blitzing in upon a heart not yet familiar with the Divine Friend, of the
conviction that He is really near. Gracious as God’s promise was, it did not dissipate the
creeping awe at His presence. It is an eloquent testimony of man’s consciousness of sin,
that whensoever a present God becomes a reality to a man, he trembles. “This place”
would not be “dreadful,” but blessed, if it were not for the sense of discord between God
and me. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

42. The angel-ladder
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH THIS REVELATION WAS MADE TO HIM.
1. Jacob was lonely.
2. Jacob was standing on the threshold of independence.
3. Jacob was also in fear.
II. THE ELEMENTS OF WHICH THIS REVELATION CONSISTED.
1. The ladder.
2. The angels.
3. The voice of God. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Bethel: a picture and its lesson
I. THE PICTURE.
1. A solitary man.
2. A guilty man. Sin pierced his hand more than his staff did.
3. An injured man. “A child may have more of his mother than her blessing.”
4. A fugitive man. “He had, like a maltreated animal, the fear of man habitually
before his eyes.” He cringes one moment, and dodges the next; deprecating the blow
he invites, expects, and gets.
5. He is a weary man. There he lies. Now look at him. Mark these—the nameless
spot, the shelterless couch, the comfortless pillow, the restless slumber.
II. THE LESSON.
1. In this world wicked success is real failure. No security after sin save in repenting
of it.
2. In this world God pays in kind, but blesses sovereignly. That is to say, retribution
is often like crime, but grace is a surprise.
3. Turning over a new leaf does not always show a fresh page. It does no good to take
up a journey from Beer-sheba to Padan-aram when one means to do the same thing
right along. God demands a change in the heart, not in the habit; not so much in the
record and show of the life as in the life itself.
4. Sometimes unhappiness is our chief felicity. Jacob has one good, valuable
characteristic—he cannot sleep soundly when the angels of covenant grace are
coming for him. It was a grand thing for this fugitive that he was restless while the
ladder of love was unfolding over him.
5. Retribution is lifted only by redemption. God’s mercy gave Jacob chance of
becoming a new man that night. It would have saved him Penuel and a forty years’
wreck had he accepted it. He might have beckoned an ascending angel to his side,
and sent by him a prayer up the ladder; and then an angel descending along the
shining rounds would have instantly brought him a message of pardon. Surely any

43. man can show some sign of a penitent heart. We can be sorry we do not sorrow. (C.
S. Robinson, D. D.)
A man asleep
I. Jacob is the type ISRAELITE Of his lineage. From this night Jacob becomes the
pattern Jew. All that is good or bad in his descendants has its natural beginning in him.
II. Jacob is the type MAN of his race. Far from God. Homesick. What man wants is God.
III. Jacob is the type CHRISTIAN of the Church.
1. He was chosen even before he was born.
2. He is now in the thick of the conflict between nature and grace.
3. He will eventually be saved in the kingdom of heaven. (C. S.Robinson, D. D.)
The ladder of doctrine
I. THE PROPHETIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SCENE.
1. It could not have been exclusively personal to Jacob.
3. Furthermore, the vision is not exhausted in any mere engagement of God’s
providential care.
3. Hence the vision must be interpreted as belonging to the kingdom of grace.
4. This vision, therefore, is discharged of its full weight of meaning only when we
admit it to be a fine, high symbol of Jesus Christ.
II. ITS DOCTRINAL REACH. The plan of redemption comes out in this symbol. Jesus
Christ became the medium of grace and restoration. If, now, no mistake has been made
in our inquiry thus far, the conclusion we have attained will be fairly corroborated from
the disclosures presented of Jesus’ person and work.
1. Begin with His Person. Surely no more felicitous image could have been presented.
Christ’s double nature is well shown. It would have been only a mockery to Jacob to
disclose a ladder coming almost to this earth, yet falling short by a round or two, so
as to be just out of reach. Then the angels could not have alighted, and no human
foot could have risen. Nor would the case have been anywise better if he had been
made to see that his ladder reached nearly to heaven, not quite. For then the angels
would have had as great need as he, and an uncrossed gulf would have been beyond
them in the air.
2. As to the work of Christ, furthermore, we may remark the same exquisite aptness
of this figure in Jacob’s vision. Examining it closely, we find that it teaches the
sovereign assumption, the perfect completion, the evident display, and the free offer,
of the plan of grace. (C. S.Robinson, D. D.)
The ladder of life
I. RECONCILIATION IS NOW OFFERED IN GOOD FAITH TO EVERY INDIVIDUAL

44. OF THE HUMAN RACE.
II. THE NECESSITY OF AN INSTANT AND DETERMINATE DECISION IN OUR
DEALING WITH THE OFFERS OF GRACE.
III. HOW ESSENTIAL IT IS FOR EVERY SOUL THUS ADDRESSED BY THE GOSPEL
OFFER TO MEASURE ALTERNATIVES.
IV. WHAT FELICITOUS DISPOSAL THIS VISION MAKES OF THE VEXED
QUESTION CONCERNING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN FAITH AND WORKS.
V. GROWTH IN GRACE IS ALSO GROWTH IN EXPERIENCE.
VI. RESPONSIBILITY BEGINS THE MOMENT THE FIRST STEP OF DUTY IS
DISCLOSED TO AN INTELLIGENT MAN.
VII. PERSONAL ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS OUR SAVIOUR AND SURETY.
(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The vision of God
I. ANALYSIS.
1. It is evident that God Himself was the sum and substance, the centre and glory, of
that entire vision. The Almighty was disclosed in presence and purpose, in prediction
and promise, as standing up over the ladder of grace for a fallen world.
2. See the effect of this discovery upon Jacob.
(1) The first thing it did was to frighten him.
(2) The next effect seems to have been some sort of sense of guilt. He vaguely
feels the need of propitiation.
II. LESSONS. The truest way to produce conviction of sin is to make a disclosure of
Divine holiness.
2. The uselessness of mere religious emotion without establishment of principle.
3. God really offers a chance of salvation to every man who will enter upon the new
life. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
A turn in the tide
I. THAT ERRING MEN NEED DIVINE HELP.
II. THAT THIS SPECIAL HELP WAS GRANTED TO JACOB IN VIEW OF THE
FUTURE. Lessons:
1. The presence of God comes closer than we often think.
2. The earthly may be in unison with the heavenly.
3. Avoid bargain-making with God. Do not say, “I could believe I am saved if only I
felt happy!” Say, “He calls me to come; and as He will in no wise cast me out, I must
be accepted by Him. What more dare I ask for? “ Do not say, “If only I had more
time, if I were not so pressed with poverty, if I had but some friend to direct me, I
would serve God!” What I You do not need God because you are moneyless,

45. friendless! What! You would walk with God in a calm, but not when a storm was
yelling and dashing! Oh, foolish people and unwise! Away with all reserves! God is
for us: Christ is with us. Receive what He proffers. Do as far as you know of His will,
and leave all consequences with Him, sure that He will secure everlasting blessings.
(D. G. Watt, M. A.)
Jacob at Bethel
I. THE VISION GRANTED TO JACOB.
1. This dream taught Jacob that there is a close connection between this world and
the next.
2. It taught him that God rules over all.
3. It taught him the solemnity of life.
II. THE PROMISES MADE TO JACOB.
1. That he should be greatly blessed.
2. That he should be a blessing.
3. That God would watch over him.
III. THE RESOLUTIONS FORMED BY HIM.
1. He resolved to make a memorial of the night vision and the promises.
2. He resolved to accept the Lord as his God.
3. He also resolved to give back to God a tenth. (W. J. Evans.)
Divine providence
I. THERE IS A DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
II. THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT IS VEILED AND SILENT IN ITS OPERATION.
III. THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT IS ACCOMPLISHED BY MANY AGENTS.
IV. THE DIVINE PURPOSE IS ACCOMPLISHED AMID MUCH APPARENT
CONFUSION.
V. THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT IS CONTINUED WITHOUT INTERRUPTION OR
HINDRANCE.
VI. THE GRAND DESIGN OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT IS MORAL AND SAVING.
(W. L. Watkinson.)
Bethel
I. THE PILGRIM. “The way of transgressors is hard.” He is without a guide, friendless,
defenceless.
II. THE PILGRIM’S VISION. “In Me is thy help.” “Lo, I am with you alway.”
III. THE PILGRIM’S VOW. (T. S. Dickson.)

46. I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS VISION.
1. The close connection between earth and heaven; between things unseen and
things seen.
2. The ministry of heaven to earth; the communication between things unseen and
things seen.
3. The assurance of Divine love and care.
The dreamer
II. WHAT THIS VISION AND REVELATION OF GOD TAUGHT JACOB.
1. The universal presence of God.
2. The sacredness of common things.
III. WHAT THIS VISION AND REVELATION LED JACOB TO DO.
1. TO set up a memorial of that night.
2. To consecrate himself to God. (A. F. Joscelyne, B. A.)
Bethel; or, the true vision of life
I. IN THE TRUE VISION OF LIFE THERE IS A RECOGNITION OF OUR
CONNECTION WITH OTHER WORLDS.
II. IN THE TRUE VISION OF LIFE THERE IS A RECOGNITION OF GOD’S
RELATION TO ALL.
1. As the Sovereign of all.
2. As the Friend of man. Two things show this.
(1) Man’s continuation as a sinner in such a world as this.
(2) The special means introduced for his moral restoration.
III. IN THE TRUE VISION OF LIFE THERE IS THE RECOGNITION OF A DIVINE
PROVIDENCE OVER INDIVIDUALS.
1. This Biblical doctrine agrees with reason.
2. It agrees with consciousness.
IV. IN THE TRUE VISION OF LIFE THERE IS THE RECOGNITION OF THE
SOLEMNITY OF OUR EARTHLY POSITION. “How dreadful is this place!”
1. Jacob’s discovery introduced a new epoch into his history.
2. Jacob’s discovery introduced a memorable epoch in his life. (Homilist.)
Man’s spiritual capacity
I. THE EXISTENCE OF A SPIRITUAL CAPACITY IN MAN.

47. 1. Jacob saw angels, and God Himself.
2. He heard the voice of the Infinite.
3. He felt emotions which mere animal existence could not experience.
II. THE AWAKENING OF THIS SPIRITUAL CAPACITY IN MAN.
1. It is sometimes unexpected.
2. It is always Divine.
3. It is ever glorious.
4. It is ever memorable. (Homilist.)
Jacob’s vision
I. TAKE NOTE OF THE SURROUNDINGS OF THE VISION.
1. The ambitious schemings of Jacob and his mother to supplant his brother Esau.
2. Jacob is an illustration of a man in whose soul faith struggles with ambition.
II. EMPHASIZE THE REVELATION WHICH THE VISION CONTAINS.
1. God as the God of providence.
2. The intimate union of the seen and unseen.
III. NOTICE ITS EFFECT UPON THE MIND OF HIM TO WHOM IT WAS GIVEN.
1. A sense of the universal presence of God.
2. A sense of awe which possesses the sinning soul at the revelation of God’s
presence.
3. A sense of penitence at the revelation of God’s goodness. (R. Thomas, M. A.)
Jacob’s dream
I. THAT THE MORAL DISTANCE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH IS GREAT.
1. Heaven is distant from the thoughts of the ungodly.
2. The conceptions of man prove the same thing.
3. The conduct of sinners seems to confirm this statement.
II. THAT THERE IS A SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN HEAVEN AND
EARTH.
1. This confers dignity upon our globe.
2. This imparts honour to man.
3. This communication is of Divine origin.
4. Heavenly communications are not dependent on the outward circumstances of
man.
III. THAT THROUGH THIS COMMUNICATION ALONE MAN CAN HAVE A TRUE

48. KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
1. Because the human and divine are united.
2. Because through it a covenant relationship is formed between us and God.
3. It secures to us the protection of God.
4. It provides for the consummation of our highest conceptions of felicity.
IV. THAT TRUE COMMUNION WITH GOD PRODUCES REVERENTIAL FEAR IN
THE HEART. (Homilist.)
The spirit world
I. THIS VISION SUGGESTS THE IDEA OF A SPIRIT WORLD.
1. We think of a spirit—
(1) As a self-modifying agent or being.
(2) As a religious being.
(3) As a reflecting being.
(4) As a self-conscious being.
(5) As a self-complete being.
(6) As a personally responsible being.
2. That a world of such beings exists may be argued from—
(1) The structure of the visible universe.
(2) The concurrent impressions of mankind.
(3) Our own individual consciousness.
(4) The Word of God.
II. THIS VISION SUGGESTS THAT MAN IS CONNECTED WITH THE SPIRIT
WORLD.
1. He is a member of it.
2. He is amenable to its laws.
3. He is now forming a character that will determine his position in it.
III. THIS VISION SUGGESTS THAT THERE IS ONE MASTER. (Homilist.)
The solitary one and his visitation
I. THE SITUATION AND CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH JACOB WAS PLACED when
he received this visitation from heaven.
1. He was solitary.
2. He had a weary body.
3. He had an anxious mind.

49. 4. He was asleep. The Almighty can visit and bless at a time and in a manner which
we little expect.
II. THE GRACIOUS VISITATION WHICH JACOB HAD FROM GOD.
1. It was in a dream.
2. It was an encouraging visit.
3. It was a glorious visit.
4. It was a gracious visit.
III. THE EFFECTS PRODUCED ON JACOB’S MIND AND THE LINE OF CONDUCT
WHICH HE WAS INDUCED TO PURSUE.
1. He was afraid.
2. He set up a pillar.
3. He changed the name of the place.
4. He entered into a solemn covenant with God.
IV. APPLICATION.
1. In our journey through life we may sometimes be solitary, dejected, and
perplexed; but we often have gracious visits from the Lord.
2. The vows of God are upon us, viz., those of baptism and good resolution.
3. Do we offer unto God thanksgiving and pay our vows unto the Most High?
(Benson Bailey.)
Jacob’s vision
I. WHAT JACOB SAW ON THIS OCCASION.
1. A ladder
2. Its position.
3. Its base.
4. The top of it.
5. Above it.
6. Upon it.
II. WHAT JACOB HEARD.
1. Jehovah proclaimed Himself the God of his fathers.
2. Jehovah promised him the possession of the country where he then was.
3. He promised him a numerous progeny; and that of him should come the
illustrious Messiah, in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed.
4. He promised him His Divine presence and protection.
III. WHAT JACOB FELT.
1. He felt the influence of the Divine presence.

50. 2. He felt a sacred and solemn fear.
3. He felt himself on the precincts of the heavenly world.
IV. WHAT JACOB DID.
1. He expressed his solemn sense of the Divine presence (Gen_28:16-17).
2. He erected and consecrated a memorial of the events of that eventful night.
3. He vowed obedience to the Lord.
4. He went on his way in peace and safety.
Application:
1. The privileges of piety. Divine manifestations, promises.
2. The duties of piety.
3. The delights of public worship. God’s house is indeed the gate of heaven.
4. How glorious a place is heaven! (J. Burns, D. D.)
The dream of Jacob
I. Here is, first of all, LARGER SPACE. Jacob saw heaven. Enlargement of space has a
wonderful influence upon mind and spirit of every degree and quality. Go abroad; climb
the hill, and leave your sorrow there. Take in the great revelation of space, and know that
God’s government is no local incident or trifle which the human hand can take up and
manage and dispose of. We perish in many an intellectual difficulty for want of room.
Things are only big because they are near; in themselves they are little if set up with the
firmament domed above them, and numbered along with other things, which give
proportion to all the elements which make up the circle of their influence. Go into the
field, pass over the waves of the seas, pray when the stars are all ablaze like altars that
cannot be counted, and at which an infinite universe is offering its evening oblation; take
in more space, and many a difficulty which hampers and frets the mind will be thrown
off, and manhood will take a bound forwards and upwards. Space is not emptiness:
space is a possible Church.
II. Enlarging space never goes alone; it brings with it ENLARGING LIFE. Jacob not only
beheld heaven: he saw the angels coming down, going up—stirred by an urgent business.
It is one thing to talk about the angels: it“is” another to see them.
III. Enlarging. “space brings enlarging life; enlarging life brings AN ENLARGING
ALTAR. Jacob said, Surely the Lord is in this place.” We cannot enter into Jacob’s
meaning of that exclamation. He had been reared in the faith that God was to be
worshipped in definite and specified localities. There were places at which Jacob would
have been surprised if he had not seen manifestations of God. The point is, at the place
where he did not expect anything he saw heaven; he saw some form or revelation of God.
See how the greater truth dawns upon his opening mind, “Surely the Lord is in this
place,” and that is the very end of our spiritual education; to find God everywhere; never
to open a rose-bud without finding God; never to see the days whitening the eastern sky
without seeing the coming of the King’s brightness; so feel that every place is praying
ground to renounce the idea of partial and official consecration, and stand in a universe
every particle of which is blessed and consecrated by the presence of the infinite Creator.

51. IV. Immediately following these larger conceptions of things, we find a marvellous and
instructive instance of THE ABSORBING POWER OF THE RELIGIOUS IDEA. In
Jacob’s dream there was but one thought. When we see God all other sights are
extinguished. This is the beginning of conversion; this is essential to the reality of a new
life. For a time the eye must be filled with a heavenly image; for a time the eye must be
filled with a celestial message; a complete forgetfulness of everything past, a new seizure
and apprehension of the whole solemn future. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Christ typified by Jacob’s ladder
A beautiful emblem of the Saviour. It may typify—
1. The person of the Saviour.
2. The mediatorial work of Christ.
3. Christ as the only way to the Father.
4. The accessibility of Christ to the perishing sinner.
5. The connection of angels with the work and Kingdom of Christ.
6. The heavenly state to which Christ will exalt His people. (J. Burns, D. D.)
Jacob at Bethel
1. The office of sorrow—even of remorse, the sorrow of sin—is to drive us from the
visible to the invisible, from earth to heaven, from ourselves to God.
2. There is a ladder between earth and heaven on which angel messengers carry up
our prayers to God and bring His answers down. Nay! this is but the hope of our
dreams; the reality transcends it; for God is here, and needs neither ladder nor angel
to communicate with us or open to us communication with Him: here in our hours
of sorest need, of bitterest loneliness, of self-inflicted sorrow, of well-deserved
penalty, of more poignant remorse; here as He was in the burning bush to Moses,
and in the mysterious visitor to Gideon, and in the still, small voice to Elijah, and in
the child wrapped in the swaddling clothes to the stable guests; and still by most of
us unseen and to most of us unknown.
3. But when the veil is taken from our faces and we see Him, then the ground
becomes consecrated ground, the stable a sacred place, the lowing of the cattle an
anthem, Horeb a sanctuary, the land of Midian a holy land, our pile of stones a
Bethel.
4. Yea! more than this; not places only but persons are transformed by this vision of
the invisible, by this awakening to the truth, Lo, God is here. It here changes Abram,
Chaldean worshipper, into Abraham, Friend of God; Jacob, the supplanter, into
Israel, Prince of God; Moses, the impetuous murderer of the Egyptian, into the
meekest man of sacred history; David, the sensual king, into the sweet singer of
spiritual experiences; Jeremiah, the prophet of lamentation, into the hope and
courage of Israel; Saul, the persecuting Pharisee, into Paul, the self-sacrificing
Apostle; John, the son of thunder, into John the beloved disciple.
5. Finally, the poorest consecration—the gift of ourselves with even Jacob’s “if”—is

52. accepted by God as a beginning. Whosoever cometh unto Him He will in no wise cast
out. (Lyman Abbott, D. D.)
Jacob at Bethel
I. THE SEVERITY OF GOD. The pitiable condition of Jacob when he arrived at Bethel
illustrates this. A homeless, helpless, despondent wanderer.
II. THE GOODNESS OF GOD.
1. In its suggestive symbol (Gen_28:12).
2. In its encouraging revelation of the Divine presence (Gen_28:13).
3. In its encouraging promises (Gen_28:13-15). Inheritance, guidance, protection,
companionship.
III. THE EFFECT UPON JACOB.
1. It awoke him of his sleep.
2. It filled him with an awe-inspiring sense of the Divine presence.
3. It filled him with a spirit of worship.
4. It led him to a reconsecration of himself to God.
Lessons:
1. Self-seeking even leads to failure.
2. God will never leave nor forsake His child.
3. Let us beware of a partial consecration. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The Christ ladder
The great truth, therefore, that ariseth from hence is, that Christ is our Ladder of Life
and Love, by which we have communion with God upon earth, while we live, and
admission unto God in heaven, when we die. This ladder hath seven excellent properties.
It is—
1. A living ladder, therefore it is called a ladder of life; a ladder that hath life in it,
both intrinsically and objectively.
2. A loving ladder, that will not, cannot easily let go its hold of any such as sincerely
come to it, to climb upon it, and do therein take hold of it, and thereby embrace it.
3. It is a lively ladder also that will so lovingly embrace us, and so livelily both take
hold and keep hold of us, and not let us go until He has brought us up to the top of
the ladder, and from thence into mansions of glory.
4. It is a lovely ladder.
(1) In its nature.
(2) In its posture.
The posture and end of its erection is for saving from hell, and sending to heaven.

53. 5. The fifth excellent property is, it is a large ladder; there is room enough both for
saints and angels upon this ladder. It is so large, that it enlargeth and stretcheth out
itself into all lands, as do the great luminaries of heaven. This ladder is—
(1) Extensive, as it is found everywhere, Asia, Africa, or America; whether it be in
the city or in the country; whether it be in public, or in private, whether in family
worship, or closet retirements; in all those places believers do find this large
ladder of love let down to them, and there doth Christ give them his loves (Son_
7:11-12). Upon which account the apostle saith, “I will that men pray
everywhere,” etc. (1Ti_2:8), whether in the fields, or in the villages, or in the
vineyards, or under the secret places of the stairs (Son_2:14). Any place, yea a
chimney corner may make a good Oratory upon this ladder, whereon Christ
accounteth our voices sweet, and our countenances comely. And this ladder,
Christ.
(2) It is comprehenensive to all persons; there is room enough upon this ladder
for all the saints in all the nations of the world.
6. The sixth excellent property—it is a long and lofty ladder, so long as to reach from
earth to heaven.
7. The seventh excellent property of this ladder is, it is a lasting, yea, an everlasting
ladder. (C. Nose.)
Jacob’s dream: the solution of a mystery
I. THE DUALITY OF EXISTENCE. Let us pause for a moment and contemplate our own
existence; for each one of us is a little universe, a miniature representation of the great
universe of which we form a part, Now, we carry within ourselves a kind of double
consciousness. We have a higher nature and a lower nature, a spiritual side and a
material side, an immortal element and a mortal element. It is this double consciousness
that has suggested to heathen nations the existence of another world. Men of thought
and reflection among them have discovered in themselves powers that can never be
developed in the present life, desires that can never be satisfied by any material objects,
and hence they have speculated and discoursed concerning a higher, a nobler, a more
permanent state of existence. But Jacob was not left to grope after this knowledge by the
light of his own reason. In this magnificent vision of the night, the truth is made known
to him in all its imposing details, is revealed to him with marvellous clearness and
emphatic precision. This truth is taught unto you, not by the uncertain voice of your
constitution, as it was to ancient sages; not by supernatural visions, as it was to Jacob;
but by the explicit and authoritative teaching of God’s word. It was a part of Christ’s
mission, when He assumed our nature, to teach us this truth; for He brought life and
immortality to light through the Gospel. He came to elevate us, by setting us free from
the tyranny of sense, and directing our thoughts to things invisible. Labour not for the
meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the
Son of Man shall give unto you.”
II. THE UNITY OF EXISTENCE. We know that we possess both a material and a
spiritual nature, but the point at which they come in contact it is impossible to ascertain.
You have a definite reply in the text. Heaven above and earth below are connected by one
great ladder. They are, therefore, not two, but one. “And, behold, the Lord stood above
it.” The Lord of heaven is also the Lord of earth; heaven End earth are therefore united
into one realm. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland contains different

54. countries; all separate, yet all united; owing allegiance to the same sovereign. The
universe is a vast united kingdom, embracing different provinces, different
principalities, different powers; but all alike subject to the central government. “And,
behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.” The spirit-world is very near
to us, we are but one step removed from it, were our eyes opened we should perceive
that it stands round about us. Indeed, we are sometimes inclined to believe that material
forms are but symbolical representations of spiritual realities, that the things which are
seen are but outward manifestations of the things which are not seen. Through its agony
and atoning death, the way which sin had shut up has been reopened. God can have
mercy upon us, can hold communion with us, can send His angels down to comfort us in
our troubles, to strengthen us in our conflicts, and at last to bear our ransomed souls to
glory. The unity of existence! It is a wonderful, and yet a solemn fact. All being is but one
vast territory, broken up into innumerable separate parts, but all united under one
sceptre. Dream not, then, that when you quit this world, you will become the subject of a
different government, or become amenable to different laws. (D. Rowlands, B. A.)
A ladder of escape
A company of shipwrecked sailors cast on the coast of Scotland at the bottom of a great
precipice, where the water would have broken up their vessel and drowned them, found
a ladder hanging down the precipice, which they reached from their ship’s mast, and
escaped thereby. So Christ is to us a ladder of salvation, and if we believe on Him we
shall be saved from all evil, and we may rise to be holy, happy, and useful. (D. Rowlands,
B. A.)
The God of Bethel
I. CONSIDER WHAT JACOB SAW.
II. CONSIDER WHAT HE HEARD.
1. “I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac.” It is well to have
a known God, a tried God, a family God, and a father’s God; it is well to be able to
say, as the Church does in the twenty-second Psalm, “Our fathers trusted in Thee:
they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them.” It is well for you, when God looks down
and sees you walking in the same path that your fathers did who are gone to heaven
before you, “followers of those who through faith and patience are now inheriting the
promises.”
2. “The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.” God had
already given it by promise to Abraham, but at present he had no inheritance, not so
much as to set his foot on. But as God had given it to him and his seed by promise, it
was as sure as if in actual possession. Yet several hundred years were previously to
elapse, and they must suffer much in Egypt, and must wander forty years in the
wilderness. But what of this?
It was the land of promise; God had given them it, and nothing could hinder their
possession of it.
3. “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 so it was. You know in
a few years they became an innumerable people, and what millions since have

55. descended from this one patriarch.
4. “And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” This
refers to the Messiah. To them as concerning the flesh He came, God having raised
up His Son, even Jesus, who “delivered us from the wrath to come.” In His name we
are blessed with all spiritual blessings. This promise has as yet received only a partial
accomplishment. Few as yet are blessed with faithful Abraham. But we read of a
nation being “born in a day”; that all nations of the earth shall be blessed in Him;
that all shall know the Lord from the least even to the greatest.
5. “And, behold, I am with thee.” So He is with all His people. His essential presence
fills heaven and earth.
6. “And will bring thee again into this land.” This would be gladsome tidings to
Jacob, for who is he that could not rejoice at such tidings concerning a country
where he was born and bred, the residence of his most impressive years?
7. “For I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.”
But would He leave him then? Oh no; his anxieties therefore were entirely
unnecessary. Thus it is with Christians: they have exceeding great and precious
promises, “All yea and amen in Christ Jesus,” and all of them must be fulfilled before
God leaves His people. Will He leave you then? No, He will never leave you, nor
forsake you, to all eternity. As your day is, so shall your strength be while here;
hereafter all tears shall be wiped from your eyes.
III. OBSERVE WHAT HE DID.
1. He discovered and acknowledged what he was ignorant of before he went to sleep.
2. He confessed a privilege.
3. He reared a memorial.
4. He vowed a vow. (W. Jay.)
The vision
I. THE SITUATION OF JACOB AT THIS PRESENT TIME.
1. And, that we may understand this more accurately, let us notice his character.
According to the chronology of sacred Scripture, Jacob was now more than seventy
years of age; so that his character was not then to be formed. He had lived
sufficiently long to develop all its reigning tendencies; and though some might be
disposed to conclude, from the impropriety of his conduct on this occasion, that he
was yet a stranger to God, and to the renewing influence of Divine grace, yet an
accurate knowledge of human nature, and an extensive acquaintance with the errors
of men of sincere piety, would hardly sanction so harsh a conclusion.
2. His affliction. A short time previously Jacob had no enemy. Behind him were the
terrors of murderous revenge, and before him the uninteresting waste of an untried
world. To this must be added the sorrows of separation from all that he had learned
to love. These things could not but press upon him as he went out from Beer-sheba
to Haran; and the distress of his heart would be in a still greater degree aggravated
by the consciousness of guilt. He had defrauded his brother—he had deceived his
father—he had lied unto God. The peace of conscience which he once enjoyed must
have been disturbed. He could not look up with cheerful confidence towards the God

56. of truth. Sin against God has ever had the same character and effects. It drove the
angels out of heaven, and our first parents out of paradise.
3. His submission. Not a word of murmuring appears on the record—nothing of the
spirit of resistance—no high rebellious contending against the providence of God;
but silently he obeys the injunctions of parental authority; and with nothing but his
staff, he steals unobtrusively from under his father’s roof, and enters alone upon the
pilgrimage, which his misconduct had rendered necessary. There would be, however,
some comfort even in the spirit of pious submission.
4. His afflicted mind would, in the midst of trial, be in some measure cheered by the
expectation which he had been warranted to encourage. He was yet, as a matter of
grace, encouraged to look upon himself as one “ whom the Lord had blessed”; and it
appears, that in the sorrowful hour of his departure from home, his father, fearing
lest, in his exile, he should “ be swallowed up of overmuch sorrow,” gave him even
additional encouragement. He confirmed the blessing to him in language still more
distinct” God Almighty bless thee, and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee,
and to thy seed with thee.” We see, then, Jacob fallen and afflicted, but submissive,
penitent, and borne up by hope in the promise of God, taking his journey through
the wilderness, till the shadows of evening lengthen round him—till the setting sun
finds him in a solitary spot, remote from the dwellings of man; where the turf must
be his bed-the circle of heaven his canopy—and one of the stones of the place his
pillow; and where, if he finds comfort, it must be from a source beyond the range of
human calculation. We must not attach to such a scene, in a warm climate, all the
desolateness of a houseless wanderer among ourselves; but still, such a combination
of circumstances wears the strong character of chastening; and we may write upon it
that interesting passage of Holy Writ. “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” Jacob strove to hasten an event which he
should have looked for in the regular course of God’s providence—the result is that
he delays it. He aimed at the pre-eminence in his father’s house, and, in a few hours
he is resting his houseless head upon a stony pillow in the wilderness. Such
dispensations are highly calculated for the advancement of the spiritual character.
God only can make the storm a fertilizing, rather than a desolating shower.
II. But we come to consider THE CONSOLATION WHICH WAS MERCIFULLY
VOUCHSAFED TO JACOB IN HIS SOLITUDE. In the failure of all sources of earthly
comfort, God generally appears most especially, for the support of those who trust in
Him.
1. The obscure intimation of a gracious reconciliation with God through a mediator.
2. The second lesson inculcated in this vision was the providential protection of God.
It was shown to him, that He who through a sufficient mediation was a reconciled
God, would also be a father, a protector, a guide. It is scarcely possible to conceive a
more kind and encouraging address, to one in the circumstances of Jacob. It is
calculated to give a very exalted idea of the mercy of God, who not only blesses
beyond what we ask or think; but even when we think not, meets his erring and
disconsolate children with the assurances of a love that cannot be averted, and a
fatherly protection that will never fail. How blessed are they who have the Lord for
their God! In the midst of outward affliction and inward trial, Jacob was crowned
with blessings that empire could not command, and that wealth could not buy. Let
not then the pilgrim of the cross be discouraged. A rich provision is made for you—a
throne of grace is open to you; a willing helper only waits, and scarcely waits, for the
petition of faith, that he may give you aid. How deeply is their lot to be regretted who

57. have never sought the Redeemer, the guardian, the guide, the comforter of Jacob!—
how much is the mere man of this present world to be pitied! (E. Craig.)
Life as a ladder
It was a good while ago that a young man, sleeping one night in the open air, had a
wonderful vision of a ladder that reached up all the way into heaven. Whatever else it
meant, it was at least a vision of what his life might be, of what every life may be, of what
every true and noble life must be. Its foot rested on the earth; and we must all start very
low down. He who would ascend a ladder, puts his foot first on the lowest round. We
cannot start in life at the top, but must begin at the bottom and climb up. We cannot
begin as angels, nor as holy saints, nor even as moderately advanced Christians. We
must begin in the most rudimentary way, with the simplest duties, just as the wisest men
once sat with primer and spelling-book in hand. But this ladder was not lying all along
on the earth; its foot was on the ground, but its top was up above the stars, amid the
glory of God’s presence. A true life rises heavenward. It is a poor, an unworthy, life-plan
that is all on the earth, that lifts no eye or thought upward, that does not take heaven
into its purpose. The true life must press upward until it reaches glory. Its aim is the
perfection of character. Its constant aspirations are for holiness and righteousness—
Christlikeness. Its goal is heaven itself. A ladder is climbed step by step; no one leaps to
the top. And no one rises to sainthood at a bound. No one gets the victory once for all
over his sins and faults. It is a struggle of long years; and every day must have its own
victories, if we are ever to be crowned. It may give some people considerable comfort to
think of life’s course as a ladder, which one must climb slowly, step by step. A ladder is
not easy to ascend. It is toilsome work to go up its rounds. It is not easy to rise
Christward; it is hard, costly, painful. Railroad tracks suggest speed, but a ladder
suggests slow progress. We rise upward in spiritual life, not at railway speed, nor even at
the racer’s rate of progress, but as men go up a ladder. Then there is another side to this
truth. Men do not fly up ladders; yet they go up step by step. We ought always to be
making at least some progress in Christian life, as the years go on. Each day should show
some slight advance in holiness, some new conquest over the evil that is in us, some
besetting sin or wrong habit gotten a little more under our feet. Every fault we overcome
lifts us a little higher. Every low desire, every bad habit, all longings for ignoble things,
that we trample down, become ladder-rounds on which we climb upward out of
grovelling and sinfulness into nobler being. There really is no other way by which we can
rise upward. If we are not living victoriously these little common days, we are not
making any progress. Only those who climb are getting toward the stars. Heaven is for
those who overcome. Not that the struggle is to be made in our own strength, or that the
victories are to be won by our own hands; there is a mighty Helper with us always on the
ladder. He does not carry us up, always we must do the climbing; but He helps and
cheers, putting ever new strength into the heart, and so aiding every one who truly
strives in His name to do his best. The ladder did not come to an end half-way up to
heaven; it reached to the very steps of God’s throne. A true life is persistent and
persevering, and ends not short of glory. It is ladder, too, all the way; it does not become
a plain, easy, flower lined path after a time. A really earnest and faithful Christian life
never gets easy. The easy way does not lead upward; it leads always downward. Nothing
worth living for can be had without pain and cost and struggle. Every step up the way to
heaven is up-hill, and steep besides. Heaven always keeps above us, no matter how far
we climb up toward it. However long we have been climbing, and whatever height we
have reached, there are always other victories to win, other heights to gain. We shall

58. never get to the top of the ladder until our feet are on heaven’s threshold. This wonderful
vision-ladder was radiant with angels. We are not alone in our toilsome climbing. We
have the companionship and ministry of strong friends we have never seen. Besides, the
going up and coming down of these celestial messengers told of communication never
interrupted between God and those who are climbing up the ladder. There is never a
moment, nor any experience, in the life of a true Christian, from which a message may
not instantly be sent up to God, and back to which help may not instantly come. God is
not off in heaven merely, at the top of the long, steep life-ladder, looking down upon us
as we struggle upward in pain and tears. As we listen, we hear Him speak to the sad,
weary man who lies there at the foot of the stairway, and He says: “Behold, I am with
thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest; I will not leave thee.” Not angel
championship alone, precious as it is, is promised, but Divine companionship also, every
step of the toilsome way, until we get home. It is never impossible, therefore, for any one
to mount the ladder to the very summit; with God’s strong, loving help the weakest need
never faint nor fail. (J. M. Miller, D. D.)
Jacob at Bethel
I. JACOB’S DREAM.
1. When he dreamed it.
2. What the dream was.
3. What it meant.
II. JACOB’S WAKING THOUGHTS.
1. Humble surprise.
2. Reverential awe.
3. A joyful discovery.
III. JACOB’S VOW.
1. The preparation.
2. The vow itself. Jacob dedicates
(1) himself,
(2) his substance, to God. (J. Hambleton, M. A.)
Right principles
There comes a time when every young man or maiden must start out upon life. The seed
that ripens upon the stalk must be shaken off, and be planted, and grown upon its own
root. The scion is cut away from the parent branch and grafted upon another stalk. It is
at the starting out in life that every one needs an inspiration, and will have it, either good
or bad. It is just at this point that every one needs, in some way suited to his genius, his
circumstances and condition, that there should happen to him substantially that which
happened to Jacob; that in his vision (which may be upon his bed, or may be one of
those waking visions which men have) there should be a ladder, which, touching the
earth, connects it with heaven; and a vision of God’s angels passing between the Father

59. and His earthly child. Let me, then, not so much preach as talk with you of your visions;
and I address myself mainly to the young—to those that are just entering upon life. Shall
your ladder, standing on the earth, reach to heaven? or is your ladder, in its whole
length, flat along the ground? Stop one moment, and think, you who have started out, or
are about starting. By ladder I mean your plans in life. Are they, all of them, lying upon
the ground, or, though they begin there, do they really go up, and consciously take hold
of the future and of the spiritual? Man must not avoid the world. Every ladder should
stand upon the ground. The ground is a very good place to start from, but a very poor
place to stop on. No man can be a Christian by separating himself from his kind. No man
can be a Christian by avoiding business; and if you transact business, it must be
transacted in the accustomed ways. Activity in earthly things is not inconsistent with
true piety. A right industry, a right enterprise, and right ambitions in these, do not stand
in the way of true religion. They not only perfectly harmonize with it, but they are
indispensable to it. I can scarcely conceive of a lazy man being a Christian. Even the
chronicles of those that have sought by retiring to caves, and thus separating themselves
from human life, to live a Christian life, show that while they escaped from men, they did
not escape from the temptations which sprang up through the passions of human
nature. A human life, in its ordinary condition in Christian communities, is favourable
(if one be wise enough to employ it) to the production of morality, of virtue, and of true
piety. A man’s ladder, then, should stand on the ground. A man that is going to be a
Christian should be a man among men—joined in interest with them, sympathising in
their pursuits, active in daily duties; not above the enterprise, the thoughtfulness, and
the proper amount of care that belong to the worldly avocations. This is a part of the
Divine economy; and those that have the romantic notion of piety, that it is something
that lifts them out of the way of and away from actual worldly cares, misconceive totally
the methods of Divine grace. But while man’s plans in this world should be secular, and
adapted to the great laws of that physical condition in which he was born, they must not
end where they begin. Woe be to him that uses the earth for the earth, or whose plans
are wholly material, beginning and ending in secularity and materiality; who means by
fortune—riches, and nothing else; who means by power—carnal, temporal power, and
nothing else; whose pleasure consists in that which addresses itself to the senses, and in
nothing else. Woe be to him who lays out a plan which has nothing in it but this world.
At the very time when you plant your ladder on the ground, you must see to it that it is
long enough to reach, and that it does reach, and rests its top in heaven. This world and
the other must be consciously connected in every true man’s life. This world is shallow.
Our atmosphere is smotheringly near to us. There is no manhood possible that does not
recognize an existence beyond our horizon, and that does not stretch itself up into the
proportions, at least ideal, which belong to it as a creature of the Infinite. And even if one
were to look only upon natural results and economic courses, he is best prepared for this
life who considers this life to be made up of this life and of that which is to come. In
every outstarting in life it is not enough that you propose to yourself to do well in this
world—your “this world” must reach to the other, Along every man’s ladder should be
seen God’s good angels. You are not at liberty to execute a good plan with bad
instruments. When you lay the course of your life out before you, and say to yourself that
you propose to achieve in your mortal life such and such things, it is not a matter of
indifference to you how you achieve them. God’s angels must ascend and descend on
your ladder, otherwise other and worse angels will. When youth first opens, if it has been
Christianity instructed, I think the impulses generally are noble, and even romantic.
Youth characteristically aspires to do things that are right, and to do them in a right
manner. One of the earliest experiences is that of surprise and even horror at the world’s
ignoble ways, and the temporary withdrawal of the young soul from its first contacts

60. with life. Its first comprehension of actual life, and of what must be done in the world, if
one would succeed, violates its romantic notion of manly truthfulness, of
straightforwardness, of honourable dealings. Almost all young men come up to that
period of life at which they are to break away from home, and go out into the world, with
the most generous purposes. They seem inspired by truth, honesty, fidelity, enterprise,
generosity, honour and even heroism. These all belong to youthful aspirations. They
mean never to forsake these things. They mean to carry these qualities into their lives,
and to live by them. Now these are God’s good angels to you; not that there are none
better; but it may be well said that these nobler incitements, and motives, and
aspirations stand along the line of a young man’s plans in life as so many angelic
messengers by which he purposes to work out his ideal in life. Let every one who begins
life, then, have a plan along which are clearly seen noble sentiments and convictions. No
plan is fit for achievement which you cannot achieve by open, honest, clean, upright
Christian motives. You cannot afford to succeed by any other course. Your ladder,
though standing on the ground, should rest its top in heaven; and there should be angels
constantly passing between the top and the bottom. It is bad enough to have a plan that
begins on earth and stays on earth; but for a man having a good plan to consent to
execute it from base sentiments or by base influences, is unpardonable. Your life will
task and prove you. Do not, however, let it drive away from you those influences which
overhang your childhood. Have they not already gone from some of you? Has not an
enamel already formed over some of your tender feelings? Have not some of you boasted
of forgetfulness? Have you not boasted that you no longer remembered or were
influenced by those tender impulses? and that you have strengthened yourself against
them? that you have devastated, to some extent, purity, delicacy, refinement, truth,
honour, justice, and rectitude? Are you not already working down toward the animal
conditions of life? Do not, however, trust alone to those generous sentiments. Morality is
not piety. In the vision of Jacob there was not alone the ladder between the earth and
heaven, and the angels ascending and descending, but brightest, and best, and grandest,
and behind all the angels, stood God, saying to him, “I am thy father’s God.” Now high
above all a man’s plans, high above all his heroic moral resolves, there is to be a living
trust in God; and there is to be a soul-connection between ourselves or our business, and
our God. All our life long we must not be far from Him. Piety must quicken morality;
then life will be safe, and will be successful. Here, then, is a general schedule of a right
life; something to do that is right; a plan by which you shall execute a right life by right
instruments; and over all, the benign, genial, stimulating influence of the heavenly
Father. Business, morality, piety—these three should be coupled together. They are the
trinity of influences from which every one should act, and it is transcendently important
that young men should find this out before they find out anything else. Blessed be that
man who, going from his father’s house, and lying down to sleep, though it be upon the
ground, and though the stones be under his head, sees a ladder between heaven and
earth, typifying his future life, and on that ladder angels ascending and descending, and
hears God saying to him, “I am thy God.” That is an inspiration on life’s threshold, worth
any man’s aspirations. (H. W.Beecher)
The comfortable vision
Four points present themselves for consideration in the spiritual meaning of this vision.
I. The perfect Manhood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The ladder “was set up on the earth.”
II. The eternal Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ. “The top of it reached to heaven.”

61. III. The mediatorial character of our Lord Jesus Christ, resulting from this union of two
natures in one Person. He is here represented as a ladder between earth and heaven.
IV. The communications carried on through the Mediator between earth and heaven.
The angels of God were seen “ascending and descending on” the ladder. Prayer, grace,
mercy, peace, praise—these are the messages, with which the several angels are charged
respectively. (Dean Goulburn)
.
Jacob’s ladder
I. The appearance is a ladder; and, now, the dullest of comprehension must at once feel
that one mournful truth is here taught. We are plainly reminded of this emblem that the
natural normal communication between God and man has been destroyed; and that, by
the fall, this planet has been placed in a state of isolation and non-intercourse with
heaven.
II. Having considered the first truth taught by this vision, let us now pass to the second,
let us examine the medium which God provides to renew this intercourse, to re-establish
this alliance between earth and heaven. We have spoken of a disruption, of a chasm such
as no thunder ever rifted, and over this abyss angel thoughts must have often hovered in
grief and dismay. And, now, can this breach never be healed? is this yawning gulf for
ever impassable? Can no skill construct, no virtue, no prayers, win a path of return for a
single soul? Must all hope for man be for ever buried in despair? To these questions
human reason could not have given but one answer. Human reason, did I say? Cherub
and seraph must have shuddered as they gazed at the rent sin had made; and, recalling a
frightful tragedy among the celestial hierarchies, they must have felt that for man all was
“lost”—not in danger of being lest—but lost, the soul lost, heaven lost, hope lost, all lost,
and lost for ever. But blessed be God, hosannah to His grace; everlasting praises to Him
who came “to seek and to save that which was lost,” these questions have been answered,
and so answered that angels are lost in pondering such mercy. Eternal wisdom and
power and love have solved the problem, and solved it by consecrating for us “a new and
living way.” In the first place, observe that God, not man, is the architect of this ladder.
Jacob did nothing—could do nothing—towards its construction. And so, if we “have
boldness to enter into the holiest,” it is “not by works of righteousness which we have
done,” but “by the blood of Jesus.” Mark, in the next place, the form and position of this
ladder; its foot is planted on the earth, and its top reaches to heaven. A third truth
taught by this remarkable vision is the freeness of salvation by Jesus. What conditions
are here interposed? What fitness? What works? Between God and man there is one
mediator, Jesus Christ; but between that mediator and man there is, there can be none.
III. We have thus seen that the ladder on which Jacob gazed was a type of Christ, of the
mysterious interference by which heaven and earth are reconciled. It is not, however,
only in this district of God’s moral dominion that so wonderful an interposition is the
subject of intense and adoring interest. On this ladder the patriarch saw an order of
beings far superior to man. From top to bottom it swarmed with radiant cherubim and
seraphim, “the angels of God ascending and descending.” “Ascending and descending”;
exulting that this new avenue has been opened; and, at once, in eager bands, pouring
down to earth as “ministering spirits to minister to them who are heirs of salvation.”
“Descending”; coming down to encamp about the righteous, whether they sleep or wake,
and deliver them—as it is written, “He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee
in all thy ways; they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a
stone.” And “ascending”; now to bear the news of a sinner’s repentance and send a tide
of rapture and gratulation along the habitations of heaven; and now to escort the soul of

62. some Lazarus—to guard it from the “prince of the power of the air,” who watches like a
wolf scared from his prey—to guide it on its course, some as strong-winged avant
couriers, and some as convoys wafting it up to realms of peace and purity and love, to
the bosom of its God. (R. Fuller.)
The vision in the wilderness
I. THE WEARY WANDERER.
1. Homeless.
2. Regretful.
3. Apprehensive.
4. Disappointed.
II. THE WONDROUS VISION.
III. THE WILLING VOW. Rather a response to God than a bargain with Him. Lessons:
Note how Jacob, in this journey, may represent three stages in spiritual experience.
1. The penitent; feeling the burden of sin.
2. The believer; rejoicing, with trembling, in God’s revelation of mercy.
3. The worshipper; consecrating his whole life to the service of his God and Saviour.
(W. S. Smith, B. D.)
Jacob’s night at Bethel
This sacred story of Jacob’s night at Bethel may serve to teach us that in our darkest and
most desolate moments God may be using our trouble and despondency as a means of
drawing our hearts to Him. We may find Him nearest when we thought Him farthest off.
What the world would call the greatest misfortune may be found to have been sent in the
greatest mercy. There is no such word as chance or accident in the inspired vocabulary
of faith. Nobody but a sceptic or a misanthrope would say of himself “I am as a weed,
Flung from the rock on ocean’s foam to sail Where’er the surge may sweep, the tempest’s
breath prevail.” All places are safe, all losses are profitable, all things work together for
good to them that love God. Every experience of the unsatisfactory nature of earthly
things should direct us to the stronghold of hope. Every pang caused by an uneasy
conscience should awaken within us a more intense longing for the peace which passeth
all understanding. Out in mid-ocean there is a ship tossing on the waves. The night is
dark, the winds are high. The angry elements rage and howl as if determined to tear the
shattered vessel in pieces or sink it in the deep. A sailor-boy has just climbed down from
the swinging mast and crept into his narrow locker, wet and cold, to get a little rest. He
sleeps unconscious of the howl of the storm and the roll of the groaning ship. His heart
is far away in that quiet home which he left for a roving life on the seas. He hears again
the voice of evening prayer offered from the parental lips, and one fervent, tender
petition bears his own name to the throne of the infinite mercy. The Sabbath bell calls,
and he goes in the light of memory, with his youthful companions, along the green walks
and beneath the shade of ancient trees to the village church. He hears the blessed words
of Christ, “Come unto Me.” God is speaking to that wanderer upon the seas as He spoke
to Jacob at Bethel in the dreams of the night. And that vision of home and voice of

63. prayer is sent to that sailor-boy to make the tossing ship to him the house of God and
gate of heaven. When he wakes from that brief and troubled sleep, he has only to answer
the call of Heaven, as Jacob did, with the gift of his heart, and that night of tossing on
the lonely seas shall be to him also the beginning of a new and a better life. Far away,
among the mountains of Nevada, where of old God’s creative hand locked up veins of
gold in the fissures of the rock, the weary miner lies down in his cheerless cabin to sleep.
It is the evening of the blessed Sabbath, and yet to him it has not been a day of rest.
Work, work, work, with hammer and spade and drill, from morn to eve, through all the
week, has been his life for months and years. His calloused hands, and stiffened frame,
and weary step, tell of hardships such as few can bear and live. And he has borne them
all—with heat and cold, and rain and drought, and famine and fever—that he might fill
his hands with gold. And now, in this wakeful and lonely hour, something impels him to
ask himself what all the treasures of the mountains would be worth to him if he had not
found rest for his soul. To that tired, Sabbathless worker in his solitude comes a gentle
influence, as if it were an angel’s whisper, to tell him of riches that never perish, and of a
home where the weary are at rest. Thus, all round the earth—on the sea and the land, in
the city and the wilderness, by night and by day—God is calling wanderers home. (D.
March, D. D.)
The angels of God ascending and descending on it
Ascending and descending angels
I. The first white-winged angel whom I ask you to look in the face is ADVANCEMENT.
From our earliest to our latest years personal advancement is a keen and noble
satisfaction. It is the antagonism which we have to overcome which makes our effort
interesting and meritorious. When we strive to go up, the force of gravitation pulls us
back. The inertia of our own bodies must be overcome; the lungs, heart, and brain must
be subjected to a greater pressure. And it is just so in our moral life. Therefore the saint
says, “It was good for me that I was afflicted.” Therefore we teach that discontent is a
good thin, g, that languorous situations are to be avoided, and that a repletion of any
sort is dangerous to the soul. Just as soon as a man feels that there is no need for further
effort, his angel descends. Perhaps one reason why the angels of little children always
behold the face of their Father who is in heaven is because children grow so fast and
hunger so after knowledge, and ask questions so far-reaching that they puzzle their too
often motionless elders. Biology teaches that, in the life below our own, the life of the
animals, when some function which has been long and sorely striven for, perhaps
through countless generations, gets fixed in the order of life, its action becomes
automatic, and is no longer a factor in the mental outreaching of the individual. It is so
also with man. You may be advanced beyond your neighbours in generosity of belief, in
the strictness of your veracity, in the extent of your benevolence; but if you are simply
carrying out the spiritual functions which your ancestors organized in you by toil and
tears, if your faith, truthfulness, charity, cost you no effort, no upward strain, it is not
accounted to you for righteousness. And then we learn from science that everything
which can become merely mechanical has its day and ceases to be. Only that which is
subject to perpetual change can survive.
II. The next angel is MORALITY. Even morality in us is not always ascending. It
proceeds or recedes. How many times in the world’s history all rights have been
determined and all moralities squared! To-day nothing is more alarming to most people
than the notion that right has been a variable thing with the growing ages. Conscience is

64. the voice of God in the soul of man; but how has that soul of man echoed and contorted
the voice! The sense of the right is growing, as it long has grown in the race. Except it is
growing in you, as an individual, so that you feel its birth-pangs, and struggle with them,
it is not an ascending angel for you. Morality is an angel anywhere—in African jungles,
where it keeps a man from killing the members of his household unless they are old or
sick, and in the best neighbour you can call to mind, who is too honourable to take an
unfair advantage of another. Cicero was moral; and we are told that Brutus was an
houourable man. But the stride which morality took from these Roman heroes to
Abraham Lincoln is a very marked one, known and read of all men. Thirty years since it
was immoral in America not to respect the physical rights of white men. To-day it is
immoral not to maintain the rights of men, whatever their colour. After a little it will be
accounted simply moral to give woman her rights, the custody of her own child, the
control of her own earnings and clothes, the right to express an opinion as to how much
she shall be taxed, how much of her property the public may appropriate, the right to as
much civil consideration as the ignorant Irishman receives who cracks stone on the
road. Some time we shall so enlarge the boundaries of morality that men will be
forbidden to enslave the minds of their fellows, that they may appropriate their property
through the larceny of their brains. Some time it will be thought as dastardly a deed to
slowly unnerve and stamp out men by whiskey as it was to poison them with wines,
perfumes, roses, and fans in the soft days of luxurious Rome. Some time a man who
simply does so much right as custom exacts, who clamours for the letter, as Shylock for
the word of the bond, shall be a byword and a hissing; for the only claim you can lay
upon the future springs from your individual advance upon the sense of morality you
have inherited.
III. The third angel is INSPIRATION. Of what avail is the evolution of our life below,
and the growth of conduct into better and best, if the Holy Spirit does not occasionally
hold us as the pledge of eternal possession? For, of course, by inspiration here I mean
the filling of your soul and mine with the sweetest assurance. The inspiration which
made our sacred volume, which long since scented and winged a poet soul in Persia, so
that its orisons flew to our day and clime, which made great India like a sandal-wood
chest out of which come to-day poems and teachings, fragrantly preserved, is only as a
faded nosegay which your aged mother shows as a souvenir of her young days, only as a
pathetic glove which a century since eased a young hand which soon was dust. But to
you there may come an exhilaration before which clover-scented mornings are but a
passing dream. The descending angel of inspiration is going down now to trouble the
waters of ancient Siloam, hovering with a ghost’s dead hands over interpretations of
Scripture long since palsied through disuse, raising again the widow’s son by the gate of
Nain. The ascending angel is wreathing with an electric flush the human pillar of
integrity; it is steadying man’s moral nerve to translate correctly all that observers see in
nature and life; it is lifting from the dead past capacities which have lapsed in us, in our
forward march, and restoring to man an equable health of body and soul, a confidence in
an all-round Providence, which will make us patient and calm, and a power of knowing
much which is unseen, as animals know, and even inanimate life, but which is as
dropped stitches in our life. The angel of inspiration bids us look up, and calls, “Come”;
but, in looking and going upward, we lift the world with us. Believe that inspiration is
ahead of you and within. It is a messenger of God. It is the crown of effort and of purity.
It does not descend with family heirlooms, mental or moral. It is the gift of God to the
individual. There are many angels besides those I have named. Belief is one, if it is allied
to inspiration; but let these three lead you—Advancement, Morality, Inspiration. They
can open to you abiding joys of which my word is but a feeble hint:—

65. “Around your lifetime golden ladders rise;
And up and down the skies,
With winged sandals shod,
The angels come and go, the messengers of God.”
(A. S.Nickerson.)
Angelic ministries
I. The most obvious truth herein conveyed s, of course, the constant presence and
activity of the inhabitants of heaven; and indeed it is the general tenor of Scripture that
God acts upon us men by and through the angelic host. “The providence of God,” says
Bishop Bull, “in the government of this lower world, is in a great part administered by
the holy angels. These, as Philo terms them, are ‘the ears and eyes of the Universal
King.’” The expression alludes to the government of earthly monarchs, who have their
deputies in all parts of their dominion, who are, as it were, the eyes by which they see
and the hands by which they act. Now, if we learn to believe in the principle that God
deals with us through the ministrations of angels, we shall have to believe also that we
ourselves are in these days the subject of these ministrations, although we behold them
not. It is not empty space between earth and heaven; the pathways of the air are filled
like the roads and avenues of this world. “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even
thousands of angels.” Bound upon unnumbered missions, they hurry to and fro, those
swift and shining forms; now to superintend a kingdom’s welfare, now to hold up a
monarch’s steps; now to guard the head of some mighty chief in the shock of battle, now
to wait beside the sick bed of some houseless poor one, to suggest thoughts of peace to
the heart racked with pain and care; and eventually, when the last sand has run out, to
waft the liberated soul to the green pastures and the still waters of paradise: for have we
not read how it is that they receive us into the everlasting habitations? And it is as
revealing this general and universal law that the dream of Jacob is especially remarkable.
What he saw then is always, unceasingly, going on. “Ascending and descending” I From
the beginning of the world’s history until now that ever-moving host have been rushing
to and fro, unseen, save by him who slumbered on the couch of stone. “He called the
place Bethel,” and supposed that the particular spot on which he rested was opposite to
the gate of heaven. Ah! vain imagination! in every quarter of creation the same dazzling
scene is being enacted. From every part of the firmament are ever, ever issuing those
“watchers and holy ones.” No foot of earth is unvisited by them, no tract of air is
unswept by their forms of fire. In the bright sunshine they are with us; in the stilly hours
of slumber they keep sentinel watch around us. Do you ask bow it happens that we feel
them not? Yea, sirs, do we not feel their influence? Have we never experienced strong
and irresistible impulses upon our minds to do certain things, impulses which we cannot
explain, but which the event proves to have been for our good? Have we never been
diverted, by sudden and unexpected accidents cast in our way, from going on some
journey which, if we had pursued, we learn afterwards, would have been productive of
loss of life or limb? What strange ominous forebodings and fears ofttimes seize upon
men of the strongest minds, warnings of approaching perils or of coming death,
warnings which, if listened unto, would enable many a man to prepare for his meeting
with God. And all these things we would have you attribute to nothing less than the care
and tenderness of those guardian spirits, who are never far absent from the heirs of
salvation. And is there nothing more? Have we not seen or read of death-beds where the
sufferer hath been soothed by whisperings unheard by other ears, and charmed with the
melody of strains which none could catch save the parting soul? Oh, men and brethren,

66. call it not what the infidel calls it, the wanderings of a disordered mind. Rather believe
that angel-guards are verily near, nerving the soul in the last agony, and beckoning
onwards to its rest. Rather believe that, as the earthly house of this tabernacle decays,
the immortal spirit gets closer converse with celestial things. Rather learn to hope that
ye too, when your last hour arrives, and ye stand trembling on the brink of eternity, may
be calmed and encouraged by the sight of the ministers of grace, and see in a measure
what Jacob saw of old, “the angels of God ascending and descending” around you.
II. If we take the vision as designed to instruct the mind of the patriarch as to angelic
ministries, we cannot suppose “the ladder planted upon the earth” to be without
significance. What, then, may we hence learn? what further light is hence thrown upon
the mysterious subject of spiritual agency? Now, the first truth conveyed to us has
reference, we think, to the nature of angels. Jacob saw angels ascending and descending,
but he saw this descent and ascent accomplished by a ladder. There was an external and
independent instrumentality. The language of Scripture does not teach us to regard the
angels as purely spiritual creatures. It is probably the peculiar property of God alone to
be entirely immaterial. “God,” it is emplastically declared, “is a Spirit.” He, and none
beside Him, is wholly without bodily parts. It is, indeed, said of the Almighty, “He
maketh His angels spirits”; but we are not hence to conclude that they have no body at
all. When the term spirit is employed to denote the angelic nature, we must take it in a
lower sense, to denote their exemption from those gross and earthly bodies which the
inhabitants of this world possess. They are not flesh and blood, as we are; nor is their
substance like any of those things that fall under our observation. Yet have they a body,
subject, it would appear, to the action of time; for in the Book of Daniel the angel Gabriel
declares that the command was given him to visit the prophet when he began his
supplications; and it is added that, flying swiftly, he came to him and touched him about
the hour of the evening sacrifice. Now, it is the proper attribute of a body, as
distinguished from a pure spirit, to require time to convey itself from one locality to
another. “God is a Spirit,” a perfect Spirit, and He is everywhere at once; a body cannot
be in more than one spot at a time. The angels, then, we conclude, have bodies, but
bodies of a most refined and glorious quality. The bodies of angels, we may conceive, are
spiritual bodies; not like ours, sluggish and inactive, incapable of keeping pace with the
nimble and rapid movements of the mind, but of a wonderful subtlety, travelling with an
inconceivable velocity, possessed of stupendous power. Jacob saw them ascending and
descending upon a ladder, spanning the space between heaven and earth. He did not
behold them moving about in an instant, everywhere at once; there was the appearance
of a material communication, just such as beings with bodies would require. To
delineate purely spiritual creatures as ascending and descending upon a ladder would be
an absurdity. The introduction of a ladder into the patriarch’s dream is an intimation
that the angels, though vastly more glorious than men, are yet utterly unlike God in their
nature; that they are not, in short, quite free from the burden of matter. And it may be
that higher truths still are taught by the erection of that mystic ladder, whose foot was
upon the ground, and its top reaching unto heaven. We cannot wholly dissever the text
from a remarkable speech of our blessed Lord. “Hereafter,” said Christ, “shall ye see the
heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
The Redeemer Himself steps forward as the interpreter of Jacob’s dream, and represents
Himself as fulfilling the type of the ladder which arrested the patriarch’s gaze. And it is
not hard to understand how this may be. For is it not through Christ, and for His merits,
that the communication between man and God was not quite cut off at Adam’s fall? Was
it not for Christ’s sake alone that the Almighty did not utterly excommunicate the race of
men, and shut up His compassions from them? Indeed, indeed, if there has been angelic

67. guardianship extended to the saints, if the seraphim and cherubim have busied
themselves with this lower world, it has only been because Christ Jesus has vouchsafed
to take our nature upon Him. He has been the Way. As none of us can come to the
Father save by Him, so neither angel nor archangel can visit us save by Him. (Bishop
Woodford.)
The Incarnation a helpful fact
Do you think the idea of the Incarnation too aerial and speculative to carry with you for
help in rough, practical matters? The Incarnation is not a mere idea, but a fact as
substantial and solidly rooted in life as anything you have to do with. Even the shadow of
it Jacob saw carried in it so much of what was real that when he was broad awake he
trusted it and acted on it. It was not scattered by the chill of the morning air, nor by that
fixed staring reality which external nature assumes in the grey dawn as one object after
another shows itself in the same spot and form in which night had fallen upon it. There
were no angels visible when he opened his eyes; the staircase was there, but it was of no
heavenly substance, and if it had any secret to tell, it coldly and darkly kept it. There was
no retreat for the runaway from the poor common facts of yesterday. The sky seemed as
far from earth as it did yesterday, his tract over the hills as lonely, his brother’s wrath as
real; but other things also had become real; and as he looked back from the top of the
hill on the stone he had set up, he felt the words, “I am with thee in all places whither
thou goest,” graven on his heart, and giving him new courage; and he knew that every
footfall of his was making a Bethel, and that as he went he was carrying God through the
world. The bleakest rain that swept across the hills of Bethel could never wash out of his
mind the vision of bright-winged angels, as little as they could wash off the oil or wear
down the stone he had set up. The brightest glare of this world’s heyday of real life could
not outshine and cause them to disappear; and the vision on which we hope is not one
that vanishes at cock-crow, nor is He who connects us with God shy of human handling,
but substantial as ourselves. (M. Doris, D. D.)
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.
1. Clarke, “A certain place, and tarried there - From Gen_28:19, we find this
certain place was Luz, or some part of its vicinity. Jacob had probably intended to reach
Luz; but the sun being set, and night coming on, he either could not reach the city, or he
might suspect the inhabitants, and rather prefer the open field, as he must have heard of

68. the character and conduct of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah. Or the gates might be
shut by the time he reached it, which would prevent his admission; for it frequently
happens, to the present day, that travelers not reaching a city in the eastern countries
previously to the shutting of the gates, are obliged to lodge under the walls all night, as
when once shut they refuse to open them till the next day. This was probably Jacob’s
case.
He took of the stones - He took one of the stones that were in that place: from
Gen_28:18 we find it was one stone only which he had for his pillow. Luz was about
forty-eight miles distant from Beer-sheba; too great a journey for one day, through what
we may conceive very unready roads.
2. Gill, “And he lighted upon a certain place,.... Without any design to take up
there, but as it were casually to him, though very providentially, after he had travelled
forty eight miles; for so far it seems it was from Beersheba to Luz or Bethel (k), as this
place was called:
and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; which hindered his
pursuing his journey any further that day, and therefore took a night's lodging here: and
he took of the stones of that place; one of the stones that lay there, as Aben Ezra and Ben
Melech rightly interpret it, as appears from Gen_28:13; though the Targums of
Jonathan and Jerusalem will have it, that these were four stones that he took, and that
by a miracle they became one, and is one of the five miracles they say were done for
Jacob on that day:
and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place and slept; being
weary with his journey though he had no other bed than the earth, and for his pillow a
stone, and for his canopy or curtain the open heaven; a different lodging this from what
he had been used to in his father's house, and under the indulgence of his mother; and
one would wonder how he could sleep in such circumstances, and that he did not take
cold, after such a journey: but it must be considered that it was in a warm climate, and in
an age when they did not use themselves to such soft beds as now, and especially that he
was under the particular care of divine Providence.
3. Henry, “A hard lodging (Gen_28:11), the stones for his pillows, and the heavens for
his canopy and curtains. As the usage then was, perhaps this was not so bad as it seems
how to us; but we should think, 1. He lay very cold, the cold ground for his bed, and,
which one would suppose made the matter worse, a cold stone for his pillow, and in the
cold air. 2. Very uneasy. If his bones were sore with his day's journey, his night's rest
would but make them sorer. 3. Very much exposed. He forgot that he was fleeing for his
life; or had his brother, in his rage, pursued, or sent a murderer after him, here he lay
ready to be sacrificed, and destitute of shelter and defence. We cannot think it was by
reason of his poverty that he was so ill accommodated, but, (1.) It was owing to the
plainness and simplicity of those times, when men did not take so much state, and
consult their ease so much, as in these later times of softness and effeminacy. (2.) Jacob
had been particularly used to hardships, as a plain man dwelling in tents; and, designing
now to go to service, he was the more willing to inure himself to them; and, as it proved,
it was well, Gen_31:40. (3.) His comfort in the divine blessing, and his confidence in the

69. divine protection, made him easy, even when he lay thus exposed; being sure that his
God made him to dwell in safety, he could lie down and sleep upon a stone.
II. In his hard lodging he had a pleasant dream. Any Israelite indeed would be willing to
take up with Jacob's pillow, provided he might but have Jacob's dream. Then, and there,
he heard the words of God, and saw the visions of the Almighty. It was the best night's
sleep he ever had in his life. Note, God's time to visit his people with his comforts is
when they are most destitute of other comforts, and other comforters; when afflictions
in the way of duty (as these were) do abound, then shall consolations so much the more
abound
4. Jamison, “he lighted upon a certain place — By a forced march he had reached
Beth-el, about forty-eight miles from Beer-sheba, and had to spend the night in the open
field.
he took of the stones, etc. — “The nature of the soil is an existing comment on the
record of the stony territory where Jacob lay” [Clarke’s Travels].
5. To start with, this was the first time Jacob had ever been away from home. It
would be an understatement to say that Jacob was tied to his mother's apron strings
and therefore, now out on his own fleeing for his life, he was probably horribly
frightened and homesick. It was at this low point in Jacob's life that the Lord
appeared to him in a dream and passed on to him the Abrahamic promise of land,
seed, and blessing. On top of this God also promises to be with Jacob, to watch over
him, to bring him back into this land, and not to leave him. There are no less than
six "I will's" in verses 13-15.
Try sleeping on a stone sometime, and you will have a strange night too, I am sure.
Stone pillows have just never caught on, and even though it led to a special dream,
there is no hint that it is a recommended way to sleep. Just because something is in
the Bible does not mean it is recommended. Had this been the case we would have,
not just cheese heads, but stone heads as well.
6. Maclaren,
"Consider the vision and its accompanying promise. Jacob has fled from
home on account of his nobler brother’s fierce wrath at the trick which
their scheming mother and he had contrived. It was an ugly, heartless fraud,
a crime against a doting father, as against Esau. Rebekah gets alarmed for
her favourite; and her fertile brain hits upon another device to blind Isaac
and get Jacob out of harm’s way, in the excuse that she cannot bear his
marriage with a Hittite woman. Her exaggerated expressions of passionate
dislike to ‘the daughters of Heth’ have no religious basis. They are partly
feigned and partly petulance. So the poor old blind father is beguiled once
more, and sends his son away. Starting under such auspices, and coming from
such an atmosphere, and journeying back to Haran, the hole of the pit whence
Abraham had been digged, and turning his back on the land where God had been

70. with his house, the wanderer was not likely to be cherishing any lofty
thoughts. His life was in danger; he was alone, a dim future was before him,
perhaps his conscience was not very comfortable. These things would be in
his mind as he lay down and gazed into the violet sky so far above him,
burning with all its stars. Weary, and with a head full of sordid cares,
plans, and possibly fears, he slept; and then there flamed on ‘that inward
eye, which is the bliss of solitude’ to the pure, and its terror to the
evil, this vision, which speaks indeed to his then need, as he discerned it,
but reveals to him and to us the truth which ennobles all life, burns up the
dross of earthward-turned aims, and selfish, crafty ways.
7. COKE, "Genesis 28:11. LIGHTEDupon a certain place, &c.— From Beer-sheba
to Padan-aram was a journey of about 500 miles. In the first day's journey he rested
at a place called Luz, Genesis 28:19 which is about a day's journey from Beer-sheba.
Here he found a convenient place to lodge in, SHADED probably with trees, for the
word Luz signifies an almond tree: and, used to the labours of a pastoral life, he
chose one of the stones which he thought most convenient for his pillow; on which,
being properly strawed or covered over, he rested his head and slept: When, behold,
the Almighty appeared to him in an extraordinary vision, and renewed his promise
of blessing to him. The ladder, which reached from earth to heaven, was a proper
image of the Providence of God, whose care extends to all things on earth and in
heaven, Psalms 113:5-6. The angels are represented ascending and descending upon
this mysterious ladder, because these ministering spirits are always active in the
execution of the wise designs of Providence, and are especially appointed guardians
to watch over and PROTECT the just, Hebrews 1:14. They ascend, as it were, to
receive, and descend to execute the Divine orders. Lastly, by the representation of
the Divine Majesty appearing above the ladder, is meant, that however the conduct
of Providence be high, and often beyond the reach of human comprehension, yet the
whole is under the management of infinite wisdom and goodness; that though we see
but a few of the lower steps of the ladder, or that end of it which stands upon the
earth, yet it hath a top which reacheth unto heaven; and, could we trace the
concatenation of causes and effects up to their hidden source, we should see them all
ascend by just gradation higher and higher, till they terminate in the Supreme
Being, the first and proper Cause of all, who presides over, superintends, and
directs the complicated scheme of Providence, from the beginning of the world to
the consummation of things. That this is a true explication of the vision, appears not
only from the suitableness of the several images to illustrate all the parts of the
moral truth designed, but from the direct application which God makes of it to
Jacob, in the 15th verse, by assuring him, that, in consequence of this general view
of Providence, and more especially of the grand [evangelical] promise GRA TED to
him, his particular interest would always be taken care of, that God was now with
him, would keep him in all places whither he went, would bring him again to his
father's land, and not leave him until he had accomplished his promise concerning
him. And what could have been a more seasonable relief to him in his present
circumstances, than to have such a joyful assurance that, though exiled from his
native home, he was still in the presence of his Maker; and that, whatever dangers
he might be exposed to in his perilous journey, he was SAFE from any absolute or

71. real evil, under the Divine foresight and protection. See more in Saurin's twenty-
eighth Dissertation. Eusebius has made it appear, that the heathens have many
traces of this vision of Jacob's, as well as of many other particulars in his life.
8. ELLICOTT, "11) He LIGHTED upon a certain place.—Heb., he lighted upon the
place. The article probably signifies that it was the place appointed for the
revelation, though lighted upon by Jacob by chance. As it lay twelve miles north of
Jerusalem, in the mountains of Ephraim, Jacob had already been at least four days
on the route (see ote on Genesis 22:4); and though we are not to suppose that Isaac
would send away the son who was heir of the blessing without a few trusty servants
(nor does the expression in Genesis 32:10 require it), yet Jacob would none the less
feel the solemnity of the journey, and the difficulties which surrounded him. Well
may he have asked whether El Shaddai would confirm him in the possession of that
which he had defiled by fraud and cunning. And thus, meditating much and praying
much, he had in those four days drawn near to God, and is at last accepted. The
interest in Jacob’s life lies in the gradual improvement and progress of his
character. Religion was always a reality with him; but at first it was of a low type,
and marred by duplicity and earthly scheming. His schemes succeed, but bring with
them sorrow and trial; and trial purifies him, and gradually he advances into a
region of unselfish and holy piety. Though to the last he was a man sagacious, and
full of expedients, yet the nobler part of his character finally had the supremacy.
He took of the stones. . . . —Heb., he took one of the stones of the place, and put it as
his bolster. Jewish commentators identify the place with Mount Moriah, and say
that the stone which Jacob placed under his head was one of those which had
formed the altar upon which Isaac had been bound for sacrifice. The name Beth-el
signified, they add, the temple, and as makôm—place—is thrice used in this verse, it
mysteriously foreshadowed the three temples—Solomon’s, Ze-rubbabel’s, and
Herod’s—which successively occupied the site. More probably Beth-el was really
the town of that name, and these explanations are allegorical rather than expository.
12
He had a dream in which he saw a stairway [4]
resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven,
and the angels of God were ascending and descending
on it.
1. Clarke, “He dreamed, and behold a ladder - A multitude of fanciful things
have been spoken of Jacob’s vision of the ladder, and its signification. It might have
several designs, as God chooses to accomplish the greatest number of ends by the fewest
and simplest means possible. 1. It is very likely that its primary design was to point out
the providence of God, by which he watches over and regulates all terrestrial things; for

72. nothing is left to merely natural causes; a heavenly agency pervades, actuates, and
directs all. In his present circumstances it was highly necessary that Jacob should have a
clear and distinct view of this subject, that he might be the better prepared to meet all
occurrences with the conviction that all was working together for his good. 2. It might be
intended also to point out the intercourse between heaven and earth, and the connection
of both worlds by the means of angelic ministry. That this is fact we learn from many
histories in the Old Testament; and it is a doctrine that is unequivocally taught in the
New: Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be
heirs of salvation? 3. It was probably a type of Christ, in whom both worlds meet, and in
whom the Divine and human nature are conjoined. The Ladder was set up on the Earth,
and the Top of it reached to Heaven; for God was manifested in the Flesh, and in him
dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Nothing could be a more expressive emblem
of the incarnation and its effects; Jesus Christ is the grand connecting medium between
heaven and earth, and between God and man. By him God comes down to man; through
him man ascends to God. It appears that our Lord applies the vision in this way himself,
first, In that remarkable speech to Nathanael, Hereafter ye shall see the heaven opened,
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man, Joh_1:51. Secondly,
in his speech to Thomas, Joh_14:6 : I am the Way, and the truth, and the life; no man
cometh unto the Father but by me.
2. Gill, “And he dreamed,.... As he slept; not a common dream, but under divine
direction and influence:
and, behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven:
denoting either the providence of God, and the various steps of it, bringing about his
own glory and the good of his people; and which is steady, firm, and sure, and reaches to
all things here on earth; and in an especial manner is concerned about the people of God,
their protection and safety; and is directed and governed according to the will, counsels,
and purposes of God in heaven; a view of which must be very encouraging to Jacob in
his present circumstances: or else the incarnation and mediation of Christ, who in his
human nature was to be in the fulness of time on earth, there to live a while, obey, suffer,
and die, and so was the ladder set on earth; and his divine nature was the top of it, which
reached heaven; here he was in that nature before his incarnation, and from hence he
came; and indeed here he was in that when on earth; and as man, he ascended on high
when he had done his work, and is now higher than the heavens; he may be fitly
represented hereby as the Mediator, who has reconciled things in heaven and things on
earth, and has as it were joined and united heaven and earth together: and the various
rungs in this ladder, so considered, are Christ's interposition as a surety front eternity;
his incarnation in time; his being under the law, and his obedience to it; his sufferings,
the shedding of his blood, and the death of the cross; his resurrection from the dead,
ascension to heaven, session at the right hand of God, and intercession there. Moreover
this may point out to us Christ as the way to his Father, of access unto him, and
acceptance with him, by which he communicates the blessings of his grace to men, and
by which they ascend to God with their prayers and praises to him: as also as being the
way to heaven and eternal happiness; the various steps to which are election in him,
redemption by him, regeneration by his Spirit and grace, the several graces of his Spirit,
faith, hope, and love, justification by his righteousness, pardon by his blood, adoption
through him, and the resurrection of the dead:

73. and, behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it: which may be
expressive of the employment of angels in the affairs of Providence, who receive their
commission from heaven, and execute it on earth, in which they are diligent, faithful,
and constant; and of the ministry of them, both to Christ personal, and to his church and
people, even to every particular believer; see Joh_1:51.
3. Henry, “1. The encouraging vision Jacob saw, Gen_28:12. He saw a ladder which
reached from earth to heaven, the angels ascending and descending upon it, and God
himself at the head of it. Now this represents the two things that are very comfortable to
good people at all times, and in all conditions: - (1.) The providence of God, by which
there is a constant correspondence kept up between heaven and earth. The counsels of
heaven are executed on earth, and the actions and affairs of this earth are all known in
heaven are executed on earth, and the actions and affairs of this earth are all known in
heaven and judged there. Providence does its work gradually, and by steps. Angels are
employed as ministering spirits, to serve all the purposes and designs of Providence, and
the wisdom of God is at the upper end of the ladder, directing all the motions of second
causes to the glory of the first Cause. The angels are active spirits, continually ascending
and descending; they rest not, day nor night, from service, according to the posts
assigned them. They ascend, to give account of what they have done, and to receive
orders; and then descend, to execute the orders they have received. Thus we should
always abound in the work of the Lord, that we may do it as the angels do it, Psa_
103:20, Psa_103:21. This vision gave very seasonable comfort to Jacob, letting him know
that he had both a good guide and a good guard, in his going out and coming in, - that,
though he was made to wander from his father's house, yet still he was the care of a kind
Providence, and the charge of the holy angels. This is comfort enough, though we should
not admit the notion which some have, that the tutelar angels of Canaan were ascending,
having guarded Jacob out of their land, and the angels of Syria descending to take him
into their custody. Jacob was now the type and representative of the whole church, with
the guardianship of which the angels are entrusted. (2.) The mediation of Christ. He is
this ladder, the foot on earth in his human nature, the top in heaven in his divine nature:
or the former in his humiliation, the latter in his exaltation. All the intercourse between
heaven and earth, since the fall, is by this ladder. Christ is the way; all God's favours
come to us, and all our services go to him, by Christ. If God dwell with us, and we with
him, it is by Christ. We have no way of getting to heaven, but by this ladder; if we climb
up any other way we are thieves and robbers. To this vision our Saviour alludes when he
speaks of the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man (Joh_1:51);
for the kind offices the angels do us, and the benefits we receive by their ministration,
are all owing to Christ, who has reconciled things on earth and things in heaven (Col_
1:20), and made them all meet in himself, Eph_1:10.
2. The encouraging words Jacob heard. God now brought him into the wilderness, and
spoke comfortably to him, spoke from the head of the ladder; for all the glad tidings we
receive from heaven come through Jesus Christ.
4. Jamison, “he dreamed ... and behold a ladder — Some writers are of opinion
that it was not a literal ladder that is meant, as it is impossible to conceive any imagery
stranger and more unnatural than that of a ladder, whose base was on earth, while its
top reached heaven, without having any thing on which to rest its upper extremity. They
suppose that the little heap of stones, on which his head reclined for a pillow, being the
miniature model of the object that appeared to his imagination, the latter was a gigantic

74. mountain pile, whose sides, indented in the rock, gave it the appearance of a scaling
ladder. There can be no doubt that this use of the original term was common among the
early Hebrews; as Josephus, describing the town of Ptolemais (Acre), says it was
bounded by a mountain, which, from its projecting sides, was called “the ladder,” and
the stairs that led down to the city are, in the original, termed a ladder (Neh_3:15)
though they were only a flight of steps cut in the side of the rock. But whether the image
presented to the mental eye of Jacob were a common ladder, or such a mountain pile as
has been described, the design of this vision was to afford comfort, encouragement, and
confidence to the lonely fugitive, both in his present circumstances and as to his future
prospects. His thoughts during the day must have been painful - he would be his own
self-accuser that he had brought exile and privation upon himself - and above all, that
though he had obtained the forgiveness of his father, he had much reason to fear lest
God might have forsaken him. Solitude affords time for reflection; and it was now that
God began to bring Jacob under a course of religious instruction and training. To dispel
his fears and allay the inward tumult of his mind, nothing was better fitted than the
vision of the gigantic ladder, which reached from himself to heaven, and on which the
angels were continually ascending and descending from God Himself on their
benevolent errands (Joh_1:51).
5. Calvin, “12.And he dreamed. Moses here teaches how opportunely, and (as we
may say) in the critical moment, the Lord succoured his servant. For who would not
have said that holy Jacob was neglected by God, since he was exposed to the
incursion of wild beasts, and obnoxious to every kind of injury from earth and
heaven, and found nowhere any help or solace? But when he was thus reduced to
the last necessity, the Lord suddenly stretches out his hand to him, and wonderfully
alleviates his trouble by a remarkable oracle. As, therefore, Jacob’s invincible
perseverance had before shone forth, so now the Lord gives a memorable example
of his paternal care towards the faithful. Three things are here to be noticed in their
order; first, that the Lord appeared unto Jacob in a dream; secondly, the nature of
the vision as described by Moses; thirdly, the words of the oracle. When mention is
made of a dream, no doubt that mode of revelation is signified, which the Lord
formerly was wont to ADOPT towards his servants. ( umbers 12:6.) Jacob,
therefore, knew that this dream was divinely sent to him, as one differing from
common dreams; and this is intimated in the words of Moses, when he says that God
appeared to him in a dream. For Jacob could not see God, nor perceive him present,
unless his majesty had been distinguishable by certain marks.
And behold a ladder. Here the form of the vision is related, which is very pertinent
to the subject of it; namely, that God manifested himself as seated upon a ladder, the
extreme parts of which touched heaven and earth, and which was the VEHICLE of
angels, who descended from heaven upon earth. The interpretation of some of the
Hebrews, that the ladder is a figure of the Divine Providence, cannot be admitted:
for the Lord has given another sign more suitable. (57) But to us, who hold to this
principle, that the covenant of God was founded in Christ, and that Christ himself
was the eternal image of the Father, in which he manifested himself to the holy
patriarchs, there is nothing in this vision intricate or ambiguous. For since men are
alienated from God by sin, though he fills and sustains all things by his power; yet

75. that communication by which he would draw us to himself is not perceived by us;
but, on the other hand, so greatly are we at variance with him, that, regarding him
as adverse to us, we, in our turn, flee from his presence. Moreover the angels, to
whom is committed the guardianship of the human race, while strenuously applying
themselves to their office, yet do not communicate with us in such a way that we
become conscious of their presence. It is Christ alone, therefore, who connects
heaven and earth: he is the only Mediator who reaches from heaven down to earth:
he is the medium through which the fullness of all celestial blessings flows down to
us, and through which we, in turn, ascend to God. He it is who, being the head over
angels, causes them to minister to his earthly members. Therefore, (as we read in
John 1:51,) he properly claims for himself this honor, that after he shall have been
manifested in the world, angels shall ascend and descend. If, then, we say that the
ladder is a figure of Christ, the exposition will not be forced. For the similitude of a
ladder well suits the Mediator, through whom ministering angels, righteousness and
life, with all the graces of the Holy Spirit, descend to us step by step. We also, who
were not only fixed to the earth, but plunged into the depths of the curse, and into
hell itself, ascend even unto God. Also, the God of HOSTS is seated on the ladder;
because the fullness of the Deity dwells in Christ; and hence also it is, that it reaches
unto heaven. For although all power is committed even to his human nature by the
Father, he still would not truly sustain our faith, unless he were God manifested in
the flesh. And the fact that the body of Christ is finite, does not prevent him from
filling heaven and earth, because his grace and power are everywhere diffused.
Whence also, Paul being witness, he ascended into heaven that he might fill all
things. They who translate the particle ‫על‬ (al) by the word “near,” entirely destroy
the sense of the passage. For Moses wishes to state that the fullness of the Godhead
dwelt in the person of the Mediator. Christ not only approached unto us, but
clothed himself in our nature, that he might make us one with himself. That the
ladder was a symbol of Christ, is also confirmed by this consideration, that nothing
was more suitable than that God should ratify his covenant of eternal salvation in
his Son to his servant Jacob. And hence we feel unspeakable joy, when we hear that
Christ, who so far excels all creatures, is nevertheless joined with us. The majesty,
indeed, of God, which here presents itself conspicuously to view, ought to inspire
terror; so that every knee should bow to Christ, that all creatures should look up to
him and adore him, and that all flesh should keep silence in his presence. But his
friendly and lovely image is at the same time depicted; that we may know by his
descent, that heaven is opened to us, and the angels of God are rendered familiar to
us. For hence we have fraternal society with them, since the common Head both of
them and us has his station on earth.
6. UNKNOWN AUTHOR, "The angels were going both ways because it is a two way
street this stairway from earth to heaven. Prayers go up and blessings come down. The
angels convey messages both ways. We upload to God and He downloads to us, and the
means is not the computer but angels.
What Jacob saw in hia dream was only the glorified pre
sentment of the thoughts with which his mind had been filled

76. during the day. The ladder, which was the scenic framework of
his vision, may have been but the terraced hillside on which he
had been gazing ere he fell asleep.
Faith s ladder pales not, Angels yet are found
All beauteous in calm and holy light;
Their silver robes have skirted many a cloud
Thronging the purple night.
Swift from the golden gates they come and go,
And glad fulfil their Master s high behest,
Bringing celestial balms for human woe,
Blessing and being blessed.
And have not we sore need the faith to hold
Of the surrounding of the Angel bands;
Mid all earth s dust to trace their steps of gold,
And feel the uplifting hands ?
Ah ! yes, I think so, then with firm believing,
With reverence, hail each soul s celestial guest;
Till they shall come, God s final will revealing,
To fold us into rest.
7. CRISWELL
I think a better translation would be a “staircase.” He saw all of those stones at Bethel
assemble themselves into a huge staircase that leaned. The top of it went up there to the
very throne of God. So we speak of a link between him and God. God was not far away,
even though it was a lonely, desperate place; the Lord was watching over.
So earth is not a wandering planet, lost, and unknown. Rather, it is bound to heaven, not
by golden chains of poetic fancy and not by iron fetters of necessity and not even by
invisible silken ties of gravitation, but by a great staircase of fellowship and communion
and loving care and remembrance. Wherever you are, there’s a beautiful staircase that
goes to up God in heaven.
Well, the infidel looks up and he sees no bond of union between this atom of stardust and
the great throne of God. He sees it not at all. But if his eyes were open, and he’d see the
bond between the two—earth here where we are and heaven there where God is—that
great leap, that sullam, that stairway is Jesus our Lord.
In the passage that we read together, John 1:51, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter
ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending.” Isn’t that remarkable? Not
descending but ascending and then descending upon the Son of Man. He is the link
between the two, God up there and we down here.

77. As he says in John 14:6, “No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” He is the great
mediator. With one hand, He holds God and with the other hand, He grasps us.
Now the vision of the angels. That’s one of the most beautiful, imaginative scenes to be
thought for. What a comfort it was to Jacob: this lonely spot is as thickly populated as
the gate of an eastern city—only this was the gate to heaven.
8. Maclaren
We are to conceive of the form of the vision as a broad stair or sloping
ascent, rather than a ladder, reaching right from the sleeper’s side to the
far-off heaven, its pathway peopled with messengers, and its summit touching
the place where a glory shone that paled even the lustrous constellations of
that pure sky. Jacob had thought himself alone; the vision peoples the
wilderness. He had felt himself defenceless; the vision musters armies for
his safety. He had been grovelling on earth, with no thoughts beyond its
fleeting goods; the vision lifts his eyes from the low level on which they
had been gazing. He had been conscious of but little connection with heaven;
the vision shows him a path from his very side right into its depths. He had
probably thought that he was leaving the presence of his father’s God when
he left his father’s tent; the vision burns into his astonished heart the
consciousness of God as there, in the solitude and the night.
The divine promise is the best commentary on the meaning of the vision. The
familiar ancestral promise is repeated to him, and the blessing and the
birthright thus confirmed. In addition, special assurances, the translation
of the vision into word and adapted to his then wants, are given,—God’s
presence in his wanderings, his protection, Jacob’s return to the land, and
the promise of God’s persistent presence, working through all paradoxes of
providence and sins of His servant, and incapable of staying its operations,
or satisfying God’s heart, or vindicating His faithfulness, at any point
short of complete accomplishment of His plighted word.
We pass from the lone desert and the mysterious twilight of Genesis to the
beaten ways between Galilee and Jordan, and to the clear historic daylight
of the gospel, and we hear Christ renewing the promise to the crafty Jacob,
to one whom He called a son of Jacob in his after better days, ‘an Israelite
indeed, in whom is no guile.’ The very heart of Christ’s work was unveiled
in the terms of this vision: From henceforth ‘ye shall see the heaven
opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of
man.’ So, then, the fleeting vision was a transient revelation of a
permanent reality, and a faint foreshadowing of the true communication
between heaven and earth. Jesus Christ is the ladder between God and man. On
Him all divine gifts descend; by Him all the angels of human devotion,
consecration, and aspiration go up. This flat earth is not so far from the
topmost heaven as sense thinks. The despairing question of Jewish wisdom,
‘Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? . . .What is his name, and

78. what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?’—which has likewise been the
question of every age that has not been altogether sunk in sensual
delights—is answered once for all in the incarnate and crucified and
ascended Lord, by and in whom all heaven has stooped to earth, that earth
might be lifted to heaven. Every child of man, though lonely and earthly,
has the ladder-foot by his side,—like the sunbeam, which comes straight into
the eyes of every gazer, wherever he stands. It becomes increasingly
evident, in the controversies of these days, that there will remain for
modern thought only the alternative,—either Jesus Christ is the means of
communication between God and man, or there is no communication. Deism and
theism are compromises, and cannot live. The cultivated world in both
hemispheres is being more and more shut up to either accepting Christ as
revealer, by whom alone we know, and as medium by whom alone we love and
approach, God; or sinking into abysses of negations where choke-damp will
stifle enthusiasm and poetry, as well as devotion and immortal hope.
Jacob’s vision was meant to teach him, and is meant to teach us, the
nearness of God, and the swift directness of communication, whereby His help
comes to us and our desires rise to Him. These and their kindred truths were
to be to him, and should be to us, the parents of much nobleness. Here is
the secret of elevation of aim and thought above the mean things of sense.
We all, and especially the young, in whose veins the blood dances, and to
whom life is in all its glory and freshness, are tempted to think of it as
all. It does us good to have this vision of the eternal realities blazing in
upon us, even if it seems to glare at us, rather than to shine with lambent
light. The seen is but a thin veil of the unseen. Earth, which we are too
apt to make a workshop, or a mere garden of pleasure, is a Bethel,—a house
of God. Everywhere the ladder stands; everywhere the angels go up and down;
everywhere the Face looks from the top. Nothing will save life from
becoming, sooner or later, trivial, monotonous, and infinitely wearisome,
but the continual vision of the present God, and the continual experience of
the swift ascent and descent of our aspirations and His blessings.
It is the secret of purity too. How could Jacob indulge in his craft, and
foul his conscience with sin, as long as he carried the memory of what he
had seen in the solitary night on the uplands of Bethel? The direct result
of the vision is the same command as Abraham received, ‘Walk before Me, and
be thou perfect.’ Realise My presence, and let that kill the motions of sin,
and quicken to service.
It is also the secret of peace. Hopes and fears, and dim uncertainty of the
future, no doubt agitated the sleeper’s mind as he laid him down. His
independent life was beginning. He had just left his father’s tents for the
first time; and, though not a youth in years, he was in the position which
youth holds with us. So to him, and to all young persons, here is shown the
charm which will keep the heart calm, and preserve us from being ‘over
exquisite to cast the fashion of uncertain evils,’ or too eagerly longing

79. for possible good. ‘I am with thee’ should be enough to steady our souls;
and the confidence that God will not leave us till He has accomplished His
own purpose for us, should make us willing to let Him do as He will with
ours.
9. AUTHOR UNKNOWN, This dream reveals that there is a whole vast world of
being besides those on earth. The universe is populated with intelligent life that God
has created. Angelic life is everywhere from earth to heaven, and because it is
invisible we do not think of it often, just as we do not often think of viruses. God
and His created beings are not absent form anyplace. He uses the dream to get us in
touch with this reality of the unseen world. There is communication between
heaven and earth and angels are the messengers. His dream fit the architecture of
his day. The ancient temples were like stairways leading up to heaven where God
was to dwell at the top.
Spurgeon says the ladder is a picture of Christ. He is the way to God and the
mediator between God and man. In John 1:51 we read, “I tell you the truth, you
shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the
Son of Man.” Elizabeth Clephane wrote back in 1869-
O safe and happy shelter!
O refuge tried and sweet!
O trysting-place where heaven’s love
And heaven’s justice meet!
As to the exiled patriarch
That wondrous dream was given,
So seems my Saviour’s cross to me,
A ladder up to heaven.
The stairway or ladder has become symbolic of the climb that is involved in making
progress in the spiritual life. It is not all at once, but by a step by step climb.
Heaven is not reached at a single bound,
But we build the ladder by which we rise
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,
And we mount to its summit round by round.
We rise by the things that are under feet;
By what we have mastered of good and gain;
By the pride deposed and the passion slain;
And the vanquished ills that we hourly meet.
Longfellow put it, The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight;
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.

80. 10. TRAPP, "Genesis 28:12 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.
Ver. 12. Behold a ladder.] Scala est, piorum in hoc mundo peregrinatio , saith
Pareus, after Junius. But besides this interpretation, our Saviour offereth us
another, [John 1:51] applying it to himself, the true ladder of life, per quem solum in
coelum ascendere possimus . He that will go up any other way must, as the emperor
once said, erect a ladder and go up alone. He touched heaven, in respect of his
DEITY; earth, in respect of his humanity; and joined earth to heaven, by
reconciling man to God. Gregory speaks elegantly of Christ, γεφυρωσας, that he
joined heaven and earth together, as with a bridge; being the only true Pontifex , or
bridge-maker. Heaven is now open and obvious, to them that acknowledge him their
sole Mediator, and lay hold, by the hand of faith, on his merits, as the rungs of this
heavenly ladder: these only ascend; that is, their consciences are drawn out of the
depths of despair, and put into heaven, as it were, by pardon, and peace with God,
rest sweetly in his bosom, calling him, Abba, Father, and have the holy angels
ascending to report their needs, and descending, as messengers of mercies. We must
also ascend, saith St Bernard, by those two feet, as it were, - meditation and prayer:
yea, there must be CO TI UAL ascensions in our hearts, as that martyr (a) said:
and as Jacob saw the angels ascending, and descending, and none standing still; so
must we be active, and abundant in God’s work, "as knowing that our labour is not
in vain in the Lord": [1 Corinthians 15:58] and that, non proficere est deficere ,{ b}
not to go forward is to go backward.
13. AUTHOR U K OW , "he dreamed . . . and behold a ladder--Some writers are
of opinion that it was not a literal ladder that is meant, as it is impossible to conceive any
imagery stranger and more unnatural than that of a ladder, whose base was on earth, while
its top reached heaven, without having any thing on which to rest its upper extremity.
They suppose that the little heap of stones, on which his head reclined for a pillow, being
the miniature model of the object that appeared to his imagination, the latter was a
gigantic mountain pile, whose sides, indented in the rock, gave it the appearance of a
scaling ladder. There can be no doubt that this use of the original term was common
among the early Hebrews; as JOSEPHUS, describing the town of Ptolemais (Acre), says
it was bounded by a mountain, which, from its projecting sides, was called "the ladder,"
and the stairs that led down to the city are, in the original, termed a ladder (Ne 3:15)
though they were only a flight of steps cut in the side of the rock. But whether the image
presented to the mental eye of Jacob were a common ladder, or such a mountain pile as
has been described, the design of this vision was to afford comfort, encouragement, and
confidence to the lonely fugitive, both in his present circumstances and as to his future
prospects. His thoughts during the day must have been painful--he would be his own self-
accuser that he had brought exile and privation upon himself--and above all, that though
he had obtained the forgiveness of his father, he had much reason to fear lest God might
have forsaken him. Solitude affords time for reflection; and it was now that God began to
bring Jacob under a course of religious instruction and training. To dispel his fears and
allay the inward tumult of his mind, nothing was better fitted than the vision of the
gigantic ladder, which reached from himself to heaven, and on which the angels were

81. continually ascending and descending from God Himself on their benevolent errands (Joh
1:51)."
14. ELLICOTT, "12) Behold a ladder. . . . —Isaac had confirmed Jacob in the possession
of the blessing before he started on his long journey, but it was necessary that he should
also have the Divine ratification of his appointment; for the chief privilege was the
covenant with God previously confirmed to Isaac, his father (Genesis 17:19-21). Day
after day, then, he travels forward, anxious and oppressed, feeling as he went farther from
his home the responsibilities attendant upon that birthright which he had coveted so
eagerly. His lot was now a repetition of that of Abraham; but he had travelled from Haran
with a noble following, and by express command. Jacob had at most but a few attendants,
and no voice from God had ever as yet reached him. But faith in Him was growing
strong, and the Divine ratification to him of the Abrahamic covenant was at length
vouchsafed. In his sleep he sees a ladder, or staircase, rising from the ground at his side,
and reaching up to heaven. It tells him that heaven and earth are united, and that there is a
way from one to the other. Upon these stairs “messengers of Elohim are ascending and
descending,” carrying up to God men’s prayers, and the tale of their wants and sorrows,
of their faith and hope and trust; and bringing down to them help and comfort and
blessing. At the head of the ladder Jehovah himself stands. The word is that used in
Genesis 24:13, and signifies that the Deity was not there accidentally, but that He holds
there His permanent station. Finally, Jehovah from His heavenly post confirms to Jacob
all the promises made from the time when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees, and assures
him of His constant presence and PROTECTION.
It has been pointed out that each of the three stages in the dream has emphasis given to it
by the word behold, and that this rises to a climax at the third repetition, when the
covenant God is seen stationed at the head of this pathway between earth and heaven. But
besides this, the value of Jacob in Jehovah’s sight arises now from his being the
appointed ancestor of the Mesciah, in whom all the families of the earth were to be
blessed (Genesis 28:14). Christ, too, is the Way symbolised by this ladder (John 14:6),
and the bridge of union between the material and the spiritual world (1 Timothy 2:5). Our
Lord, accordingly, Himself claims that “the angels of God ascend and descend upon Him”
(John 1:51),
13
There above it [5] stood the LORD, and he said: "I
am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and
the God of Isaac. I will give you and your
descendants the land on which you are lying.

82. 1. Clarke, “I am the Lord God of Abraham - Here God confirms to him the
blessing of Abraham, for which Isaac had prayed, Gen_28:3, Gen_28:4.
2. Gill, “And behold, the Lord stood above it,.... Ordering, directing, and
overruling all things in Providence, for the glory of his name and the good of his people;
and may signify, as the ladder may be a figure of Christ, that Jehovah the Father, is
above him, as man and Mediator, and makes himself known in and by him, and delivers
out all his blessings and promises through him, both temporal and spiritual, and such as
follow:
and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac:
their covenant God and Father in Christ, who had made promises unto them, and
bestowed blessings upon them; and the same was and would continue to be the God of
Jacob, which is strongly intimated:
the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; meaning not
that small pittance of land only on which his body then lay, and which it covered, but all
the land of which it was a part, even the whole land of Canaan; hereby entailing it on him
and his seed, and so explaining and confirming the blessing of his father Isaac; and by
which it appears, that all that had been done was under a divine direction, and according
to the will of God.
3. Henry, “The former promises made to his father were repeated and ratified to him,
Gen_28:13, Gen_28:14. In general, God intimated to him that he would be the same to
him that he had been to Abraham and Isaac. Those that tread in the steps of their godly
parents are interested in their covenant and entitled to their privileges. Particularly, [1.]
The land of Canaan is settled upon him, the land whereon thou liest; as if by his lying so
contentedly upon the bare ground he had taken livery and seisin of the whole land. [2.] It
is promised him that his posterity should multiply exceedingly as the dust of the earth -
that, though he seemed now to be plucked off as a withered branch, yet he should
become a flourishing tree, that should send out his boughs unto the sea. These were the
blessings with which his father had blessed him (Gen_28:3, Gen_28:4), and God here
said Amen to them, that he might have strong consolation. [3.] It is added that the
Messiah should come from his loins, in whom all the families of the earth should be
blessed. Christ is the great blessing of the world. All that are blessed, whatever family
they are of, are blessed in him, and none of any family are excluded from blessedness in
him, but those that exclude themselves.
4. Jamison, “The Lord stood above it, and said — That Jacob might be at no loss
to know the purport of the vision, he heard the divine voice; and the announcement of
His name, together with a renewal of the covenant, and an assurance of personal
protection, produced at once the most solemnizing and inspiriting effect on his mind.
5. . Calvin, “13.I am the Lord God of Abraham. This is the third point which, I said,

83. was to be noticed: for mute visions are cold; therefore the word of the Lord is as the
soul which quickens them. The figure, therefore, of the ladder was the inferior
appendage of this promise; just as God illustrates and adorns his word by external
symbols, that both greater clearness and authority may be added to it. Whence also
we prove that sacraments in the Papacy are frivolous, because no VOICE is heard
in them which may edify the soul. We may therefore observe, that whenever God
manifested himself to the fathers, he also spoke, lest a mute vision should have held
them in suspense. Under the name ‫יהוה‬ Jehovah God teaches that he is the only
Creator of the world, that Jacob might not seek after other gods. But since his
majesty is in itself incomprehensible, he accommodates himself to the capacity of his
servant, by immediately adding, that he is the God of Abraham and Isaac. For
though it is necessary to maintain that the God whom we worship is the only God;
yet because when our senses would aspire to the comprehension of his greatness,
they fail at the first attempt; we must diligently cultivate that sobriety which teaches
us not to desire to know more concerning him than he reveals unto us; and then he,
accommodating himself to our weakness, according to his infinite goodness, sill omit
nothing which tends to promote our salvation. And whereas he made a special
covenant with Abraham and Isaac, proclaiming himself their God, he recalls his
servant Jacob to the true source of faith, and retains him also in his perpetual
covenant. This is the sacred bond of religion, by which all the sons of God are united
among themselves, when from the first to the last they hear the same promise of
salvation, and agree together in one common hope. And this is the effect of that
benediction which Jacob had lately received from his father; because God with his
own mouth pronounces him to be the heir of the covenant, lest the mere testimony of
man should be thought illusive.
The land whereon thou liest. We read that the land was given to his POSTERITY;
yet he himself was not only a stranger in it to the last, but was not permitted even to
die there. Whence we infer, that under the pledge or earnest of the land, something
better and more excellent was given, seeing that Abraham was a spiritual possessor
of the land, and contented with the mere beholding of it, fixed his chief regard on
heaven. We, may observe, however, that the SEED of Jacob is here placed in
opposition to the other sons of Abraham, who, according to the flesh, traced their
origin to him, but were cut off from the holy people: yet, from the time when the
sons of Jacob entered the land of Canaan, they had the perpetual inheritance unto
the coming of Christ, by whose advent the world was renewed.
He was dreaming in the promised land. He was away from home, but God was going
to give him a new home and homeland.
6. PINK
"Here we behold the marvelous grace of God, which delights to single out as its objects
the most unlikely and unworthy subjects. Here was Jacob a fugitive from his father’s
house, fleeing from his brother’s wrath, with probably no thought of God in his mind. As
we behold him there on the bare ground with nothing but the stones for his pillow,

84. enshrouded by the darkness of night, asleep—symbol of death—we obtain a striking and
true picture of man in his natural state. Man is never so helpless as when asleep, and it
was while he was in this condition that God appeared unto him! What had Jacob done to
deserve this high honor? What was there in him to merit this wondrous privilege?
Nothing; absolutely nothing. It was God in grace which now met him for the first time
and here gave to him and his seed the land whereon he lay. Such is ever His way. He
pleases to choose the foolish and vile things of this world: He selects those who have
nothing and gives them everything: He singles out those who deserve naught but
judgment, and bestows on them nothing but blessing. But note—and mark it
particularly—the recipient of the Divine favors must first take his place in the dust, as
Jacob here did (on the naked earth) before God will bless him.
7. COKE, "Genesis 28:13. The Lord— Jehovah; the second Divine Person, He who had
always manifested himself to the Patriarchs. The words, to thee will I give it, and to thy
seed, might perhaps be read with as much propriety, to thee, EVEN to thy seed: see ch.
Genesis 13:15. Nothing can be conceived more majestic than this declaration, on the part
of the Almighty; and to Jacob, nothing could be more consolatory and refreshing. The
benediction given to Jacob was applied in after-times among the Jews by those who
wished a numerous posterity to any one: "God bless you as he blessed Jacob, and make
your offspring like to his."
REFLECTIONS.—We have here Jacob on his journey to Syria. Night approaching, he
bethinks himself of a lodging. Observe,
1. He had a hard bed and a cold pillow for weary bones to rest upon: but he had God's
blessing and care over him, and then he could sleep in peace.
2. His dream, his sacred vision, made up for all the inconveniences of his lodging:
Angelic HOSTSwatched over him. These are the ministering spirits, who, though unseen,
still minister to the heirs of salvation. He had left his home and his friends, but God
appeared for him, let down his ladder of Grace, and opened to him the gate of heaven.
Note; Christ is this ladder: no man cometh to the Father, but by him.
3. God's promise: a confirmation to him and his seed of the covenant made to Abraham;
and moreover, an assurance of PROTECTION and provision wheresoever he went. Note;
If God be our guardian, no danger can come nigh us.
14
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth,
and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to
the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will
be blessed through you and your offspring.

85. 1. Clarke, “Thy seed shall be as the dust - The people that shall descend from
thee shall be extremely numerous, and in thee and thy seed - the Lord Jesus descending
from thee, according to the flesh, shall all the families of the earth - not only all of thy
race, but all the other families or tribes of mankind which have not proceeded from any
branch of the Abrahamic family, be blessed; for Jesus Christ by the grace of God tasted
death For Every Man, Heb_2:9.
2. Gill, “And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth,.... Innumerable, see Gen_
13:16,
and thou shalt spread abroad to the west; or "the sea", the Mediterranean sea,
which was west of the land of Canaan:
and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; not of the whole world, but of
the land of Canaan: the meaning is, that his posterity should be numerous, and break
out and spread themselves like a flood of water, and reach to the utmost bounds of the
land on all sides:
and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed; that
is, in that eminent and principal seed that should spring from him, the Messiah, in
whom some of all nations should, as they have been, be blessed with all spiritual
blessings, as redemption, peace, pardon, justification, adoption, and eternal life; the
same promise had been made to Abraham, was renewed to Isaac, and now confirmed to
Jacob, see Gen_22:18.
3. HAWKER, “Observe how at every renewed visit of the Lord to his people, that first,
and best of covenant mercies, is again confirmed: Gen_17:7.
4. Calvin, “14.And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth. The sum of the whole is
this, Whatever the Lord had promised to Abraham, Jacob transmitted to his sons.
Meanwhile it behoved the holy man, in reliance on this divine testimony, to hope
against hope; for though the promise was vast and magnificent, yet, wherever Jacob
turned himself, no ray of good hope shone upon him. He saw himself a solitary man;
no condition better than that of exile presented itself; his return was uncertain and
full of danger; but it was profitable for him to be thus left destitute of all means of
help, that he might learn to depend on the word of God alone. Thus, at the present
time, if God freely promises to give us all things, and yet seems to approach us
empty-handed, it is still proper that we should pay such honor and reverence to his
word, that we may be enriched and filled with faith. At length, indeed, after the
death of Jacob, the event declared how efficacious had been this promise: by which

86. example we are taught that the Lord by no means disappoints his people, even when
he defers the GRA TI G of those good things which he has promised, till after
their death.
And in thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed (58) This
clause has the greater weight, because in Jacob and in his SEED the blessing is to be
restored from which the whole human race had been cut off in their first parent.
But what this expression means, I have explained above; namely, that Jacob will not
only be an exemplar, or formula of blessing, but its fountain, cause, or foundation;
for though a certain exquisite degree of happiness is often signified by an expression
of this kind; yet, in many passages of Scripture, it means the same as to desire from
any one his blessing, and to acknowledge it as his gift. Thus men are said to bless
themselves in God, when they acknowledge him as the author of all good. So here
God promises that in Jacob and his seed all nations shall bless themselves, because
no happiness will ever be found except what proceeds from this source. That,
however, which is peculiar to Christ, is without impropriety transferred to Jacob, in
whose loins Christ then was. Therefore, inasmuch as Jacob, at that time,
represented the person of Christ, it is said that all nations are to be blessed in him;
but, seeing that the manifestation of a benefit so great depended on another, the
expression in thy seed is immediately added in the way of explanation. That the
word seed is a collective noun, forms no objection to this interpretation, (as I have
elsewhere said,) for since all unbelievers deprive themselves of honor and of grace,
and are thus ACCOU TED strangers; it is necessary to refer to the Head, in order
that the unity of the seed may appear. Whoever will reverently ponder this, will
easily see that, in this interpretation, which is that of Paul, there is nothing tortuous
or constrained.
5. Here is the blessing God promised to Abraham and his descendants, and now it is
repeated to Jacob. All people, and not just some people, are to be blessed because of
his offspring, and that is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for the sin
of the world that all people might be saved and be a part of the family of God
forever. The promise is found in 26:24, deut. 31:6-8 and Josh 1:5 and IChron. 28:20
and Matt. 28:20 and Heb. 13:6
Spurgeon points out that Jacob was immature and was one who depended on his
own cleverness. He needed a special visit from God to learn to depend on God and
not his own tricks. He was an egocentric person and needed to learn to be
theocentric. All of us need this lesson. The three ways to change an egocentric
person are 1. Through suffering. 2. Through recognition of a will at work in our
lives greater than our own will. 3. By coming to care for someone other than
ourselves. All three of these were to happen to Jacob in rapid succession.

87. 15
I am with you and will watch over you wherever you
go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not
leave you until I have done what I have promised
you."
1. Clarke, “And, behold, I am with thee - For I fill the heavens and the earth. “My
Word shall be thy help.” - Targum. And will keep thee in all places, εν τᇽ ᆇδሩ πασᇽ, in all
this way - Septuagint. I shall direct, help, and support thee in a peculiar manner, in thy
present journey, be with thee while thou sojournest with thy uncle, and will bring thee
again into this land; so that in all thy concerns thou mayest consider thyself under my
especial providence, for I will not leave thee. Thy descendants also shall be my peculiar
people, whom I shall continue to preserve as such until I have done that which I have
spoken to thee of - until the Messiah shall be born of thy race, and all the families of the
earth - the Gentiles, be blessed through thee; the Gospel being preached to them, and
they, with the believing Jews, made One Fold under One Shepherd, and one Bishop or
Overseer of souls. And this circumstantial promise has been literally and punctually
fulfilled.
2. Gill, “And, behold, I am with thee,.... Though alone, at a distance from his
father's house, no friend to keep him company, or servant to attend him; but the
presence of God here promised is abundantly more than an equivalent for all this:
and will keep thee in all places, whither thou goest; from beasts of prey, in
lonesome places through which he might travel; from thieves and robbers, to whom he
might be exposed; from his brother Esau, and all his ill designs against him; and from
being always under the bondage of Laban, into which he would be brought:
and will bring thee again into this land: the land of Canaan, which was entailed on
him and his seed for an inheritance; but, as he would now soon be out of it, and continue
in another land for many years, as he did, which would make it look very unpromising
that he and his seed should inherit it, this is said unto him:
for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee
of; made good all his promises to him: and the sense is, not that he would then leave
him when he had done so, but as not before, so never after; for God never does, nor
never will, utterly forsake his people.
3. Henry, “ Fresh promises were made him, accommodated to his present condition,
Gen_28:15. [1.] Jacob was apprehensive of danger from his brother Esau; but God
promises to keep him. Note, Those are safe whom god protects, whoever pursues them.

88. [2.] He had now a long journey before him, had to travel alone, in an unknown road, to
an unknown country; but, behold, I am with thee, says God. Note, Wherever we are, we
are safe, and may be easy, if we have God's favourable presence with us. [3.] He knew
not, but God foresaw, what hardships he should meet with in his uncle's service, and
therefore promises to preserve him in all places. Note, God knows how to give his people
graces and comforts accommodated to the events that shall be, as well as to those that
are. [4.] He was now going as an exile into a place far distant, but God promises him to
bring him back again to this land. Note, He that preserves his people's going out will also
take care of their coming in, Psa_121:8. [5.] He seemed to be forsaken of all his friends,
but God here gives him this assurance, I will not leave thee. Note, Whom God loves he
never leaves. This promise is sure to all the seed, Heb_13:5. [6.] Providences seemed to
contradict the promises; he is therefore assured of the performance of them in their
season: All shall be done that I have spoken to thee of. Note, Saying and doing are not
two things with God, whatever they are with us.
4. HAWKER, “All promises are in Christ, and with Christ; all promises are connected.
And Reader! do not forget how the Holy Ghost taught the church to apply his to all
Christ’s seed. Heb_13:5-6.
5. Calvin, “15.I am with thee, and will keep thee. God now promptly anticipates the
temptation which might steal over the mind of holy Jacob; for though he is, for a
time, thrust out into a foreign land, God declares that he will be his keeper until he
shall have brought him back again. He then extends his promise still further; saying,
that he will never desert him till all things are fulfilled. There was a twofold use of
this promise: first, it retained his mind in the faith of the divine covenant; and,
secondly, it taught him that it could not be well with him unless he were a partaker
of the promised inheritance.
6. The presence of God is the most precious of promises. You can handle a lot of
loneliness if you know God is with you. He was not worthy, but if God only chose the
worthy there would be nobody to choose. Grace is always choosing the unworthy, for if
they are worthy then it is not grace but merit.
16
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought,
"Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not
aware of it."

89. 1. Barnes, “Gen_28:16-19
Jacob awakes, and exclaims, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.” He
knew his omnipresence; but he did not expect a special manifestation of the Lord in this
place, far from the sanctuaries of his father. He is filled with solemn awe, when he finds
himself in the house of God and at the gate of heaven. The pillar is the monument of the
event. The pouring of oil upon it is an act of consecration to God who has there appeared
to him Num_7:1. He calls the name of the place Bethel, “the house of God.” This is not
the first time it received the name. Abraham also worshipped God here, and met with
the name already existing (see on Gen_12:8; Gen_13:3; Gen_25:30.)
2. Clarke, “The Lord is in this place; and I knew it not - That is, God has made
this place his peculiar residence; it is a place in which he meets with and reveals himself
to his followers. Jacob might have supposed that this place had been consecrated to God.
And it has already been supposed that, his mind having been brought into a humble
frame, he was prepared to hold communion with his Maker.
3. Gill, “And Jacob awaked out of his sleep,.... Which had been sweet unto him,
and out of his dream, it being now over; and it having left such a weight upon his mind,
and such an awe upon his spirits, it might tend the sooner to awaken him; what time it
was is not said, perhaps it was in the middle of the night or towards morning, since after
this it is said that he rose early in the morning:
and he said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not; God is
everywhere, in a general way, upholding all things by his power, as he is immense and
omnipresent; but here he was in a special sense, by some signal token of his presence; by
a stream of light and glory darting from the heavens, hence Onkelos and Jonathan
paraphrase it,"the glory of the Lord, and the glory of the majesty of the Lord;''and by the
appearance of angels, and by the communications of his mind and will, and grace to
Jacob, and that communion he had with him in his dream, of which he was very
sensible: for, when he says, "I knew it not", the meaning is, he did not think or expect to
meet with God in such a place; he did not know that God ever appeared anywhere but in
the houses of his people, such as his father's house; and in the congregation of the
faithful, or where the saints met for public worship, or where an altar was erected for
God: though sometimes God is present with his people, and they are not sensible of it; as
the church in Isa_41:10; and as Mary, when Christ was at her elbow, and she knew him
not, Joh_20:13.
4. Henry, “God manifested himself and his favour to Jacob when he was asleep and
purely passive; for the spirit, like the wind, blows when and where he listeth, and God's
grace, like the dew, tarrieth not for the sons of men, Mic_5:7. But Jacob applied himself
to the improvement of the visit God had made him when he was awake; and we may well
think he awaked, as the prophet did (Jer_31:26), and behold his sleep was sweet to him.
Here is much of Jacob's devotion on this occasion.

90. I. He expressed a great surprise at the tokens he had of God's special presence with him
in that place: Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not, Gen_28:16. Note, 1.
God's manifestations of himself to his people carry their own evidence along with them.
God can give undeniable demonstrations of his presence, such as give abundant
satisfaction to the souls of the faithful that God is with them of a truth, satisfaction not
communicable to others, but convincing to themselves. 2. We sometimes meet with God
where we little thought of meeting with him. He is where we did not think he had been,
is found where we asked not for him. No place excludes divine visits (Gen_16:13, here
also); wherever we are, in the city or in the desert, in the house or in the field, in the
shop or in the street, we may keep up our intercourse with Heaven if it be not our own
fault.
5. Jamison, “Jacob awaked out of his sleep — His language and his conduct were
alike that of a man whose mind was pervaded by sentiments of solemn awe, of fervent
piety, and lively gratitude (Jer_31:36).
6. K&D 16-17, “Jacob gave utterance to the impression made by this vision as soon as
he awoke from sleep, in the words, “Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew it not.”
Not that the omnipresence of God was unknown to him; but that Jehovah in His
condescending mercy should be near to him even here, far away from his father's house
and from the places consecrated to His worship-it was this which he did not know or
imagine. The revelation was intended not only to stamp the blessing, with which Isaac
had dismissed him from his home, with the seal of divine approval, but also to impress
upon Jacob's mind the fact, that although Jehovah would be near to protect and guide
him even in a foreign land, the land of promise was the holy ground on which the God of
his fathers would set up the covenant of His grace. On his departure from that land, he
was to carry with him a sacred awe of the gracious presence of Jehovah there. To that
end the Lord proved to him that He was near, in such a way that the place appeared
“dreadful,” inasmuch as the nearness of the holy God makes an alarming impression
upon unholy man, and the consciousness of sin grows into the fear of death. But in spite
of this alarm, the place was none other than “the house of God and the gate of heaven,”
i.e., a place where God dwelt, and a way that opened to Him in heaven.
7. Calvin, “16.And Jacob awaked. Moses again affirms that this was no common
dream; for when any one awakes he immediately perceives that he had been under a
delusions in dreaming. But God impressed a sign on the mind of his servant, by
which, when he awoke, he might recognize the heavenly oracle which he had heard
in his sleep. Moreover, Jacob, in express terms, accuses himself, and extols the
goodness of God, who deigned to present himself to one who sought him not; for
Jacob thought that he was there alone: but now, after the Lord appeared, he
wonders, and exclaims that he had obtained more than he could have dared to hope
for. It is not, however, to be doubted that Jacob had called upon God, and had
trusted that he would be the guide of his journey; but, because his faith had not
availed to persuade him that God was thus near unto him, he justly extols this act of
grace. So, whenever God anticipates our wishes, and GRA TS us more than our

91. minds have conceived; let us learn, after the example of this patriarch, to wonder
that God should have been present with us. ow, if each of us would reflect how
feeble his faith is, this mode of speaking would appear always proper for us all; for
who can comprehend, in his scanty measure, the immense multitude of gifts which
God is perpetually heaping upon us?
8. This is the first of seven theophanies of Jacob’s experience. 2 is in 31:3. And 3 in
32:1,2 and 4 in 32:24 and 5 in 35:1 and 6 in 35:9-12 and 7 in 46:1-4.
He was cast out of his own home, but here he realizes that he is ever in the presence of
God and so is always home wherever he is. Home is where love is, or where God is. He is
not homeless after all but is in Bethel the house of God. Nothing changes a man more
than the awareness that he lives in the presence of God. He got a religious education in
that dream. We are always in the presence of God but most of the time we are not aware
of His presence. His dream put him in touch with reality in its fullness. We are usually
dealing with only a small part of reality. God’s presence is the greatest reality.
Upon waking Jacob has a thought that I believe gives an important insight into how he
lived his life before this encounter with God. He says, "surely the Lord is in this place,
and I was not aware of it" (28:16). Many times it is not until we have reached rock bottom
that we finally hear the Lord and realize that He is all around us. I believe that up to this
point Jacob, who was clever and self-sufficient, had been able to ignore God's presence or
had drowned it out with other things. However, now at the end of his rope and uncertain
of his future the Lord breaks through loud and clear. It was probably just as surprising to
him as it was comforting, as most epiphanies are. Perhaps this sudden realization was the
cause of Jacob's fear in verse 17. The KJV actually translates this verse as: "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" (28:17). Jacob's response reminds me of the first several verse
of the old hymn At Calvary where the author writes, "Years I spent in vanity and pride
caring not my Lord was crucified knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary. By
God's Word at last my sin I learned then I trembled at the law I'd spurned till my guilty
soul imploring turned to Calvary." Jacob had quite the wake up call at Bethel-pun
intended.
9. Spurgeon wrote, “"What is the Spirit which shall enable us constantly to feel it? The
presence of electricity is very soon discovered by those bodies which are susceptible of its
action. The presence, for instance, of iron in a vessel is very soon detected and discovered
by the magnetic needle. There is an affinity between them. That carnal men should not
discover God here I do not wonder at: that they should even say, "There is no God," is no
marvel, because there is nothing in their nature akin to him, and therefore they do not
perceive him. They lack all the affinity that can discover his presence.
To commence, then. If you would feel God's presence, you must have an affinity to his
nature. Your soul must have the spirit of adoption, and it will soon find out its Father.
Your spirit must have a desire after holiness, and it will soon discover the presence of
Him who is holiness itself. Your mind must be heavenly, and you will soon detect that the
God of Heaven is here. The more nearly we become like God, the more sure shall we be

92. that God is where we are. To a man who has reached the highest stage of sanctification
the presence of God becomes a more sure fact than the presence of anything else beside.
In fact, he may even get to such a state that he will look upon the fields, streets,
inhabitants and events of the world as a dream, a passing background, while the only real
thing to him will be the unseen God which his new nature so clearly manifests to him,
that his faith becomes the evidence of things not seen, the substance of things which
sense cannot perceive. Likeness to God is first necessary for the clear perception of his
presence. Next, there must be a calmness of spirit. God was in the place when Jacob came
there that night, but he did not know it, for he was alarmed about his brother Esau; he was
troubled, and vexed, and disturbed. He fell asleep, and his dream calmed him; he awoke
refreshed; the noise of his troubled thoughts was gone and heard the voice of God.
"In solemn silence of the mind,
My heaven and there my God I find."
More quiet we want, more quiet, more calm retirement, before we shall well be able, even
with spiritual minds, to discover the sensible presence of God.
But then, next Jacob had in addition to this calm of mind—a revelation of Christ. That
ladder, as I have said in the exposition, was a picture of Christ, the way of access between
man and God. You will never perceive God in nature, until you have learned to see God
in grace. We have heard a great deal about going up from nature to nature's God.
Impossible! A man might as well attempt to go from the top of the Alps to heaven. There
is still a long gulf between nature and God to the natural mind. You must first of all
perceive God incarnate in the flesh of Christ, before you will perceive God in the creation
which he has made. We have heard a great deal about men worshipping in the forest
glades, who never frequent the sanctuary of the saints. You have heard much, but there
was little truth in it. There is often great sound where there is much emptiness, and you
will frequently find that those men who talk most of this natural worship are those who
do not worship God at all. God's works are too gross a medium to allow the light, and the
road to him is a rugged one if we go the way of the creatures. But when I see Christ, I see
God's new and living way, between my soul and my God, most clear and pleasant. I come
to my God at once, and finding him in Christ, I find him everywhere else besides.
More than this, no man will perceive God, wherever he may be, unless he knows that God
has made a promise to be with him and is able by faith to look to the fulfillment of it. In
Jacob's case God said, "I will be with thee whithersoever thou goest, and I will not leave
thee." Christian, have you heard the same? Is the twenty-third Psalm the song of your
faith? "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil,
for thou art with me." Have you consciously perceived that though men forsook you, God
stood with you? Could you join the song of one who said,
"When trouble like a gloomy cloud
Has gathered thick and thunder'd loud,
He near my side hath always stood,
His loving-kindness O how good!"
Then to you it will not be difficult to perceive the presence of God. You will in fact look
upon it as so real that when you open your eyes in the morning, you will look for him
with praise, and when you close them at night, it will only be that you may repose under
the shadow of his wings.”

93. 10. CRISWELL
Now the last, Jacob’s response. Genesis 28:16 he says, “The Lord is in this place.” That’s a wonderful
discovery, that lonely waste, and God was there. And wherever you are, that little cottage in which you live
or that little apartment upstairs or even by that bed of affliction, God is there.
If God were to open our eyes, we could touch it and angels are all around. Some never discover that. Some
never see it. May I give you an illustration of that?
In the ninth chapter of the Book of Acts there is a story of the conversion of the Apostle Paul. He’s on the
way to Damascus and, you remember the vision, the Lord appeared to him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me?”
And Saul falls at the feet of the Lord, and says, “Who art thou, Lord?”
And [He] replies, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”
And Paul falling down says, “Lord, [what] would you have me to do?”
Now, do you remember the next verse in that story? The men that were with him, the next verse says, heard
a sound and that was all.
How many, many, many, of us are like that? We don’t see. We don’t hear. Our hearts are hard and our
eyes are blind when God is there, and the Lord is speaking and the precious Savior is calling.
Thou hast been with me in the dark and cold,
And all the night I thought I was alone;
The chariots of Thy glory round me rolled,
On me attending, yet by me unknown.
Clouds were Thy chariots, and I knew them not;
They came in solemn thunders to my ear;
I thought that far away Thou hadst forgot,
But Thou wert by my side, and heaven was near.
Why did I murmur underneath the night,
When night was spanned by golden steps to Thee ?
Why did I cry disconsolate for light,
When all Thy stars were bending over me?
The darkness of my night has been Thy day;
My stony pillow was Thy ladder s rest;
And all Thine angels watched my couch of clay

94. To bless the soul, unconscious it was blest.
So sometimes comes to soul and sense
The feeling which is evidence
That very near about us lies
The realm of spiritual mysteries.
The sphere of the supernal powers
Impinges on this world of ours.
The low and dark horizon lifts,
To light the scenic terror shifts;
The breath of a diviner air
Blows down the answer of a prayer:
That all our sorrow, pain, and doubt
A great compassion clasps about,
And law and goodness, love and force,
Are wedded fast beyond divorce.
Then duty leaves to love its task,
The beggar Self forgets to ask ;
With smile of trust and folded hands,
The passive soul in waiting stands
To feel, as flowers the sun and dew,
The One true Life its own renew. 1
1 J. Q. Whittier, The Meeting,
11.COKE, "Genesis 28:16. Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not— Jacob
knew very well that the Lord was in every place; nor can his words be fairly understood
to contradict this fundamental knowledge. But though the Lord is in every place, yet, he
was pleased, of old times, to vouchsafe his presence to manifest his glory, in some places
peculiarly; to this Jacob refers: "This is a place consecrated to, and in which the Lord
manifests himself; and I knew not that it was a place of such a nature: I did not know that
it was any other than a common spot; I understood not that Jehovah peculiarly manifested
his presence here." In the primitive ages, when God vouchsafed to exhibit symbols and
tokens of his presence in particular places, it was natural and just to affix a notion of
relative sanctity to these places. In this view, all objections concerning the patriarch's
imperfect notions of the Deity vanish: and the next words follow with great propriety,
This is none other but a house of God, (which I conceived to be an ordinary place,) and
this is the gate of heaven! the door of entrance into those celestial regions, which this
Divine vision hath represented to me. Some think that these words allude to the custom of
those times, of kings and judges keeping their courts in the gates of cities, attended with
their guards and officers; as if Jacob had said, "Here God keeps his court, attended by his
angels."
12. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Surely the Lord is In this place, and I knew it not
The sense of God’s presence
I. This living sense of God’s presence with us is a leading feature of the character of all
His saints under every dispensation. This is the purpose of all God’s dealings with every
child of Adam—to reveal Himself to them and in them. He kindles desires after Himself;
He helps and strengthens the wayward will; He broods with a loving energy over the
soul; He will save us if we will be saved. All God’s saints learn how near He is to them,

95. and they rejoice to learn it. They learn to delight themselves in the Lord—He gives them
their hearts’ desire.
II. Notice, secondly, how this blessing is bestowed on us. For around us, as around
David, only far more abundantly, are appointed outward means, whereby God intends to
reveal Himself to the soul. This is the true character of every ordinance of the Church: all
are living means of His appointment, whereby He reveals Himself to those who thirst
after Him. We use these means aright when through them we seek after God. Their
abuse consists either in carelessly neglecting these outward things or ill prizing them for
themselves and so resting in them, by which abuse they are turned into especial curses.
(Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
Unconscious providences
You cannot understand the annals of the race, unless you employ the doctrine of special
providence for your key. “We need celestial observations,” said Coleridge, “whenever we
attempt to mark out terrestial chalets.” It was reported as great wisdom, though
uninspired, when somebody remarked, “Man proposes, God disposes.” But wisdom
inspired had said long before that: “There are many devices in a man’s heart;
nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.”
I. Let us look, for a moment, through the familiar incidents of the Scriptural story, for
the sake of some quiet illustrations they furnish The only way to look upon Scripture
characters is to contemplate them on the heaven side, to just look up straight at them. In
our conceit, we are sometimes wont to estimate these worthies of the Old and New
Testaments as being altogether such as ourselves, wilfulest and most blind, moving self-
impelled in orbits of earthly history. Just as a child contemplates the stars it sees far
down in a placid lake, over the surface of which it sails. They do seem mere points of fire
under the water, and an infant mind may well wonder what is their errand there. It
ought, however, to need no more than a mature instructor’s voice to remind the
mistaken boy that these are but images; the true stars are circling overhead, where the
creating Hand first placed them in a system. So these orbs of human existence, distinct,
rounded, inclusive, must be judged, not as they appear down here in the confused
depths of a merely human career, but aloft, where they belong, orbited in their settled
and honourable place in the counsels of God;—
“For ever singing, as they shine, The hand that made us is Divine.”
II. Nor is the case otherwise, when we enter the field of secular history for a new series
of illustrations. The Almighty, in building up His architectures of purpose, seems to have
been pleased to use light and easy strokes, slender instruments, and dedicate took He
uses the hands less, the horns coming out of His hands more, for “there is the hiding of
His power.” He has employed the least things to further the execution of His widest
plans, sometimes bringing them into startling prominence, and investing them with
critical, and to all appearance incommensurate, importance. What we call accidents are
parts of His ordinary, and even profound, counsels, lie chooses the weakest things of this
world to confound the mighty. Two college students by a haystack began the Foreign
Mission work. An old marine on ship-board commenced the Association for Sailors. The
tears of a desolate Welsh girl, crying for a Testament, led to the first society for
distributing Bibles. Were these events accidents? No; nor these lives either. God reached
the events through the lives. “The Lord” was “in that place.” He established those lives,
nameless or named, like sentinels at posts. They did their office when the time came.

96. They may not have understood it, but the Lord did. And even they understood it
afterwards.
III. We might arrest the argument here. I choose to push it on one step further, and
enter the field of individual biography. In our every-day existence we sometimes run
along the verge of the strangest possibilities, any one of which would make or mar the
history. And nobody ever seems to know it but God. I feel quite sure most of us could
mention the day and the hour when a certain momentous question was decided for us,
the effect of which was to fix our entire future. Our profession, our home, our
relationships all grew out of it. No man can ever be satisfied that his life has been mere
commonplace. Events seem striking, when we contemplate the influence they have had
on ourselves. A journey, a fit of sickness, a windfall of fortune, the defection of a friend—
any such incident is most remarkable when all after-life feels it. We never appreciate
these things at the time. Yet at this moment you can point your finger to a page in the
unchangeable Book, and say honestly: “The Lord was in that place, and I knew it not.”
We are ready, now, I should suppose, to search out the use to which this principle may
be applied in ordering our lives.
1. In the beginning, we learn here at once, who are the heroes and heroines of the
world’s history. They are the people who have most of the moulding care, and
gracious presence of God. It may be quite true they know it not. But they will know it
in the end.
2. Our next lesson has to do with what may be considered the sleeps and stirs of
experience. The soul is beginning to battle with its human belongings, and to
struggle after peace under the pressure of high purposes, the sway of which it neither
wills to receive, nor dares to resist. The Lord is in that place, and the man knows it
not. Now what needs to be done, when Christian charity deals with him? You see he
is asleep; yet the ladder of Divine grace out in the air over him makes him stir. He
dreams.
He is sure to see the passing and repassing angels soon, if you treat him rightly. He must
be carefully taught and tenderly admonished.
3. We may learn likewise a third lesson; the text teaches something as to blights in
life. The world is full of cowed individuals; of men and women broken in spirit, yet
still trying to hold on. Some catastrophe took them down. They cannot right up
again. Many a man knows that a single event, lasting hardly a day or a night, has
changed his entire career. He questions now, in all candour, whether he might not as
well slip quietly out under the eaves, and take his abrupt chances of a better
hereafter. If a blight results from one’s own will and intelligent sin, he deserves a scar
and a limp. Pray God to forgive the past, and try to work the robustness of what
remains into new results. But if we were only sinned against, or were unfortunate,
that goes for nothing. If we only suffered, and no sinew is wrung, we may well have
done with thinking discontentedly of it. While the world stands, all Adam’s sons
must work, and all Eve’s daughters must wail. No life is now, or is going to be,
blighted, that can still take a new start. Begin again. These periods of reversal will all
sweep by and by into the system of purposes. We shall sing songs of praise about
them in heaven.
4. Hence our best lesson is the last; it tells us how to estimate final results. The true
valuation of any human life can be made only when the entire account shall come in.
Oh, how fine it is for any one to be told, as Jacob was: “I will not leave thee until I
have done that which I have spoken to thee oil” How it magnifies and glorifies a

97. human life to understand that God himself is urging it on to its ultimate reckoning!
(C. S.Robinson, D. D.)
Jacob at Bethel
I. The first circumstance we must notice, is THE TIME WHEN THIS DISCOVERY OF
GOD TO JACOB WAS MADE.
1. It was in a season of distress.
2. It was just after he had fallen into a grievous sin.
II. CONSIDER THE ENDS TO BE ANSWERED BY IT.
1. One design, then, of this vision certainly was to give Jacob at this time a lively
impression of the presence and providence of God, His universal presence and ever
active providence.
2. But God had another design in this vision. It was intended to renew and confirm
to Jacob the promises He had given him.
III. But let us go on to notice THE EFFECTS PRODUCED ON JACOB BY THIS
HEAVENLY VISION.
1. The first of these was just what we might have expected—a sense of God’s
presence; a new, startling sense of it.
2. This vision produced fear also in Jacob. “He was afraid,” we read. “How dreadful,”
he said, “is this place!” And yet why should Jacob fear? No spectacle of terror has
been presented to him. No words of wrath have been addressed to him. There has
appeared no visionary mount Sinai flaming and shaking before him. All he has seen
and heard has spoken to him of peace. We might have expected him as he waked to
have sung with joy. What a change since he laid himself down on these stones to
sleep! The evils he most dreaded, all averted; the mercies he mourned over as lost, all
restored. Happy must his sleep have been, and happy now his waking! But not one
word do we read here of happiness. The Holy Spirit tells us only of Jacob’s fear. And
why? To impress this truth on our minds, that the man who sees God never trifles
with Him; that the soul He visits and gladdens with His mercy, He always fills with
an awe of His majesty.
3. Notice yet one effect more of this scene—a desire in Jacob to render something to
the God who had so visited him. And this seems to have risen up in his mind as soon
as he awoke, and to have been an exceedingly strong desire. There is nothing he can
do now for God, but he sets up a memorial of God’s loving kindness to him, and
binds himself by a solemn purpose and vow to show in the days that are to come his
thankfulness for it. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
Jacob’s waking exclamation
I. First, THE DOCTRINE OF GOD’S OMNIPRESENCE. He is everywhere. In the early
Christian Church there was a wicked heresy, which for a long while caused great
disturbance, and exceeding much controversy. There were some who taught that Satan,
the representative of evil, was of co-equal power with God, the representative of good.
These men found it necessary to impugn the doctrine of God’s universal power. Their

98. doctrine denied the all-pervading presence of God in the present world, and they seemed
to imagine that we should of necessity have to get out of the world of nature altogether,
before we could be in the presence of God. Their preachers seemed to teach that there
was a great distance between God and His great universe; they always preached of Him
as the King who dwelt in the land that was very far off; nay, they almost seemed to go as
far as though they had said, “Between us and Him there is a great gulf fixed, so that
neither can our prayers reach Him, nor can the thoughts of His mercy come down to us.”
Blessed be God that error has long ago been exploded, and we as Christian men, without
exception, believe that God is as much in the lowest hell as in the highest heaven, and as
truly among the sinful hosts of mortals, as among the blissful choir of immaculate
immortals, who day without night praise His name. He is everywhere in the fields of
nature. Ye shall go where ye will; ye shall look to the most magnificent of God’s works,
and ye shall say—“God is here, upon thine awful summit, O hoary Alp! in thy dark
bosom, O tempest-cloud! and in thy angry breath, O devastating hurricane!” “He makes
the clouds His chariot and rides upon the wings of the wind.” God is here. And so in the
most minute—in the blossom of the apple, in the bloom of the tiny field flower, in the
sea-shell which has been washed up from its mother-deep, in the sparkling of the
mineral brought up from darkest mines, in the highest star or in yon comet that startles
the nations and in its fiery chariot soon drives afar from mortal ken—great God, Thou
art here, Thou art everywhere, From the minute to the magnificent, in the beautiful and
in the terrible, in the fleeting and in the lasting, Thou art here, though sometimes we
know it not.
2. Let us enter now the kingdom of Providence, again to rejoice that God is there. My
brethren, let us walk the centuries, and at one stride of thought let us traverse the
earliest times when man first came out of Eden, driven from it by the fall. Then this
earth had no human population, and the wild tribes of animals roamed at their will.
We know not what this island was then, save that we may suspect it to have been
covered with dense forests, and perhaps inhabited by ferocious beasts; but God was
here, as much here as He is to-day; as truly was He here then, when no ear heard His
foot fall as He walked in the cool of the day in this great garden—as truly here as
when to-day the songs of ten thousand rise up to heaven, blessing and magnifying
His name. And then when our history began—turn over its pages and you will read of
cruel invasions and wars which stained the soil with blood, and crimsoned it a foot
deep with clotted gore; you will read of civil wars and intestine strifes between
brother and brother, and you will say—“How is this? How was this permitted?” But if
you read on and see how by tumult and bloody strife Liberty was served, and the best
interests of man, you will say, “Verily, God was here. History will conduct you to
awful battle-fields; she will bid you behold the garment rolled in blood; she will cover
you with the thick darkness of her fire and vapour of smoke; and as you hear the
clash of arms, and see the bodies of your fellow-men, you say, “The devil is here”; but
truth will say, “No, though evil be here, yet surely God was in this place though we
knew it not; all this was needful after all—these calamities are but revolutions of the
mighty wheels of Providence, which are too high to be understood, but are as sure in
their action as though we could predict their results.” Turn if you will to what is
perhaps a worse feature in history still, and more dreary far—I mean the story of
persecutions. Read how the men of God were stoned and were sawn asunder; let
your imaginations revive the burnings of Smithfield, and the old dungeons of the
Lollards’ Tower; think how with fire and sword, and instruments of torture, the
fiends of hell seemed determined to extirpate the chosen seed. But remember as you
read the bloodiest tragedy; as your very soul grows sick at some awful picture of poor

99. tortured human flesh, that verily God was in that place, scattering with rough hands,
it may be, the eternal seed, bidding persecution be as the blast which carries seed
away from some fruit-bearing tree that it may take root in distant islets which it had
never reached unless it had been carried on the wings of the storm. Thou art, O God,
even where man is most in his sin and blasphemy; Thou art reigning over rebels
themselves, and over those who seem to defy and to overturn Thy will. Remember,
always, that in history, however dreadful may seem the circumstance of the
narrative, surely God is in that place.
3. But we now come to the third great kingdom of which the truth holds good in a yet
more evident manner—the kingdom of grace. In yonder province of conviction,
where hard-hearted ones are weeping penitential tears, where proud ones who said
they would never haw this Man to reign over them are bowing their knees to kiss the
Son lest He be angry; where rocky, adamantine consciences have at last begun to
feel; where obdurate, determined, incorrigible sinners have at last turned from the
error of their ways-God is there, for were He not there, none of these holy feelings
would ever have arisen, and the cry would never have been heard—“I will arise and
go unto my Father.” And in yonder providence which shines under a brighter sun,
where penitents with joy look to a bleeding Saviour, where sinners leap to lose their
chains, sad oppressed ones sing because their burdens have rolled away; where they
who were just now sitting in darkness and in the valley of the shadow of death have
seen the great light—God is in that place, or faith had never come and hope had
never arisen.And there in yonder province, brighter still, where Christians lay their
bodies upon the altar as living sacrifices, where men with self-denying zeal think
themselves to be nothing and Christ to be all in all; where the missionary leaves his
kindred that he may die among the swarthy heathen; where the young man
renounces brilliant prospects that he may be the humble servant of Jesus; where
yonder work-girl toils night and day to earn her bread rather than sell her soul;
where yonder toiling labourer stands up for the rights of conscience against the
demands of the mighty; where yonder struggling believer still holds to God in all his
troubles, saying—“Though He slay me yet will I trust in Him.” God is in that place,
and he that has eyes to see will soon perceive His presence there. Where the sigh is
heaving, where the tear is falling, where the song is rising, where the desire is
mounting, where love is burning, hope anticipating, faith abiding, joy o’erflowing,
patience suffering, and zeal abounding, God is surely present.
II. BUT HOW ARE WE TO RECOGNIZE THIS PRESENCE OF GOD? What is the spirit
which shall enable us constantly to feel it?
1. If you would feel God’s presence, you must have an affinity to His nature. Your
soul must have the spirit of adoption, and it will soon find out its Father. Your spirit
must have a desire after holiness, and it will soon discover the presence of Him who
is holiness itself. Your mind must be heavenly, and you will soon detect that the God
of Heaven is here. The more nearly we become like God, the more Sure shall we be
that God is where we are.
2. Next, there must be a calmness of spirit. God was in the place when Jacob came
there that night, but he did not know it, for he was alarmed about his brother Esau;
he was troubled, and vexed, and disturbed. He fell asleep, and his dream calmed
him; he awoke refreshed; the noise of his troubled thoughts was gone and he heard
the voice of God. More quiet we want, more quiet, more calm retirement, before we
shall well be able, even with spiritual minds, to discover the sensible presence of
God.

100. 3. But then, next, Jacob had in addition to this calm of mind, a revelation of Christ.
That ladder, as I have said in the exposition, was a picture of Christ, the way of
access between man and God. You will never perceive God in nature, until you have
learned to see God in grace.
4. More than this, no man will perceive God, wherever he may be, unless he knows
that God has made a promise to be with him and is able by faith to look to the
fulfilment of it. In Jacob’s case God said, “I will be with thee whithersoever thou
goest, and I will not leave thee.” Christian, have you heard the same?
III. THE PRACTICAL RESULTS OF A FULL RECOGNITION IN THE SOUL OF THIS
DOCTRINE OF GOD’S OMNIPRESENCE. One of the first things would be to check our
inordinate levity. Cheerfulness is a virtue: levity a vice. How much foolish talking, how
much jesting which is not convenient, would at once end if we said, “Surely God is in this
place.” And you, if you are called to enter a den such as Bunyan called his dungeon, can
say, “Surely God is in this place,” and you make it a palace at once. Some of you, too, are
in very deep affliction. You are driven to such straits that you do not know where things
will end, and you are in great despondency to-day. Surely God is in that place. As certain
as there was one like unto the Son of God in the midst of the fiery furnace with
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, so surely on the glowing coals of your affliction the
heavenly footprints may be seen, for surely God is in this place. You are called to-day to
some extraordinary duty, and you do not feel strong enough for it. Go to it, for “Surely
God is in this place.” You have to address an assembly this afternoon for the first time.
Surely God is in that place. He will help you. The arm will not be far off on which you
have to lean, the Divine strength will not be remote to which you have to look. “Surely
God is in this place.” And, lastly, if we always remembered that God was where we are,
what reverence would it inspire when we are in His house, in the place particularly and
specially set apart for His service! Oh, may we remember “ Surely God is in this place,”
and it will give us awe when we come into His immediate presence! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
17
He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place!
This is none other than the house of God; this is the
gate of heaven."
God is always home, and He is everywhere, and so everywhere is home, and so
wherever we are we are in Bethel, the house of God. God knows that the best way to
change a man is to give him a promise and dignity with a great future, and then see
him change to try to live up to the level of that image of what God expects.
1. Clarke, “How dreadful is this place! - The appearance of the ladder, the angels,
and the Divine glory at the top of the ladder, must have left deep, solemn, and even awful
impressions on the mind of Jacob; and hence the exclamation in the text, How dreadful

101. is this place! This is none other but the house of God - The Chaldee gives this place a
curious turn: “This is not a common place, but a place in which God delights; and
opposite to this place is the gate of heaven.” Onkelos seems to suppose that the gate or
entrance into heaven was actually above this spot, and that when the angels of God
descended to earth, they came through that opening into this place, and returned by the
same way. And it really appears that Jacob himself had a similar notion.
2. Gill, “And he was afraid,.... Not with a servile but filial fear; not with a fear of the
wrath and displeasure of God, but with a fear of his grace and goodness; not with a fear
of distrust of it, of which he had just had such a comfortable assurance; but with an awe
of the greatness and glory of God, being conscious of his own unworthiness to receive
such favours from him:
and said, how dreadful is this place! not terrible and horrible, being not like Mount
Sinai, but like Sion; not as the suburbs of hell, but as the gate of heaven majestic and
venerable, because of the glory of God that appeared in it, whose name is holy and
reverend and because of the holy angels here present: and so the church, of which this
was an emblem, is a solemn assembly, awful and venerable; a city of solemnities,
because of the worship of God in it, and his presence there; who is to be feared in the
assembly of his saints, and to be had in reverence of all that are about him; and where
persons should behave in a serious and solemn manner. The Targum of Jonathan
is,"how tremendous and praiseworthy is this place! this is not a common place:"
this is none other but the house of God; wherefore he afterwards called it Bethel,
which signifies the house of God; and so the church of God is often called, Psa_23:6;
which is of God's building, where he dwells, and his family is, of which he is the master
and governor; which he beautifies and adorns, fills, repairs, and defends:
and this is the gate of heaven: Mr. Mede renders it "the court of heaven", because of
the angels; since in gates justice was administered by kings, attended with their retinue;
but royal courts were not kept there, only courts of judicature: this place seems to be so
called, because the heavens were opened and the glory of God was seen, attended by his
angels, who were passing and repassing, as people through the streets of a city; and was
an emblem of the church of Christ, who is figured by the ladder set on earth, whose top
reached to heaven, the door, the gate, the way of ascent to it; here he is preached in the
word as the way of salvation, the way to heaven and eternal happiness; here he is held
forth in the ordinances; here he grants his presence to his people, and indulges them
with communion with him, which makes it like and next to heaven unto them: and,
generally speaking, though not always, God brings his people to heaven this way,
through a Gospel church state, and by means of the word and ordinances; and here
angels also attend, 1Co_11:10.
3. Henry, “It struck an awe upon him (Gen_28:17): He was afraid; so far was he
from being puffed up, and exalted above measure, with the abundance of the revelations
(2Co_12:7), that he was afraid. Note, The more we see of God the more cause we see for
holy trembling and blushing before him. Those to whom God is pleased to manifest
himself are thereby laid, and kept, very low in their own eyes, and see cause to fear even
the Lord and his goodness, Hos_3:5. He said, How dreadful is this place! that is, “The

102. appearance of God in this place is never to be thought of, but with a holy awe and
reverence. I shall have a respect for this place, and remember it by this token, as long as
I live:” not that he thought the place itself any nearer the divine visions than other
places; but what he saw there at this time was, as it were, the house of God, the residence
of the divine Majesty, and the gate of heaven, that is, the general rendezvous of the
inhabitants of the upper world, as the meetings of a city were in their gates; or the angels
ascending and descending were like travellers passing and re-passing through the gates
of a city. Note, 1. God is in a special manner present where his grace is revealed and
where his covenants are published and sealed, as of old by the ministry of angels, so now
by instituted ordinances, Mat_28:20. 2. Where God meets us with his special presence
we ought to meet him with the most humble reverence, remembering his justice and
holiness, and our own meanness and vileness.
4. K&D, “Jacob gave utterance to the impression made by this vision as soon as he
awoke from sleep, in the words, “Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew it not.” Not
that the omnipresence of God was unknown to him; but that Jehovah in His
condescending mercy should be near to him even here, far away from his father's house
and from the places consecrated to His worship-it was this which he did not know or
imagine. The revelation was intended not only to stamp the blessing, with which Isaac
had dismissed him from his home, with the seal of divine approval, but also to impress
upon Jacob's mind the fact, that although Jehovah would be near to protect and guide
him even in a foreign land, the land of promise was the holy ground on which the God of
his fathers would set up the covenant of His grace. On his departure from that land, he
was to carry with him a sacred awe of the gracious presence of Jehovah there. To that
end the Lord proved to him that He was near, in such a way that the place appeared
“dreadful,” inasmuch as the nearness of the holy God makes an alarming impression
upon unholy man, and the consciousness of sin grows into the fear of death. But in spite
of this alarm, the place was none other than “the house of God and the gate of heaven,”
i.e., a place where God dwelt, and a way that opened to Him in heaven.
5. Calvin, “17.And he was afraid, and said. It seems surprising that Jacob should fear,
when God spoke so graciously to him; or that he should call that place “dreadful,” where
he had been filled with incredible joy. I answer, although God exhilarates his servants, he
at the same time inspires them with fear, in order that they may learn, with true humility
and self-denial, to embrace his mercy. We are not therefore to understand that Jacob was
struck with terror, as reprobates are, as soon as God shows himself; but he was inspired
with a fear which produces pious submission. He also properly calls that place the gate of
heaven, on account of the manifestation of God: for, because God is placed in heaven as
on his royal throne, Jacob truly declares that, in seeing God, he had penetrated into
heaven. In this sense the preaching of the gospel is called the KINGDOM of heaven, and
the sacraments may be called the gate of heaven, because they admit us into the presence
of God. The Papists, however, foolishly misapply this passage to their temples, as if God
dwelt in filthy places. (59) But if we concede, that the places which they designate by this
title, are not polluted with impious superstitions, yet this honor belongs to no peculiar
place, since Christ has filled the whole world with the presence of his Deity. Those helps
to faith only, (as I have before taught,) by which God raises us to himself, can be called

103. the gates of heaven.
6. AUTHOR UNKNOWN, "Jacob s vision was not granted to him at a spot
that had previously been accounted holy. He was at Luz an
obscure locality to which he had chanced to come. " He lighted,"
we read, "upon a certain place." Nor was he engaged in any
sacred observances. On the contrary, he was travelling on foot
through a desolate region a very prosaic and secular occupation.
But it was in that place, and while he was thus engaged, that God
drew near to speak to Jacob.
The same lesson comes again and again from the Divine
revelations of which we read in Scripture. Moses was tending
his sheep amidst the rocks and furze of Horeb, when God appeared
to him in the burning bush and taught him that that mountain-side
Fear was inherent in Jacob s character. It spoilt him in
his early days, but he had manly stuff in him and he subdued it,
and afterwards it was lifted into veneration of God. His present
fear was caused partly by the sense of sin, partly by realizing
the presence of the Invisible. No one who does not know God
can feel himself touched by God without fear. If he feels Him
only as a dreadful power the result will be superstition, but
if he knows and loves Him the result is veneration. From
that hour the love that casts out fear began to stir in Jacob s
heart. He began to realize, not an angry Being, but One who
loved him and would care for him.
Jacob had sinned grievously. He was fresh from an act
of shameful deceit, seconded by several deliberate lies, and
aggravated by the fact that his victims were his only brother
and his aged father, now smitten with blindness and infirmity.
Was a man, upon whose soul such sins lay hot and unrepented
of, a possible subject for such a revelation of God as we read of in
this chapter ? Not unless all the laws of man s relation to God
were completely disregarded in the case of Jacob. From the
very fact that God appeared to the patriarch with this gracious
manifestation of Himself and promise of His favour, we conclude
that Jacob must have had some contrition for his sin, that he
must at that very time have been passing through the painful
struggles of an awakened conscience. Jacob had sinned deeply ;
but he would have been a callous sinner indeed if he had had no
pangs of compunction when he heard his father s reproachful
voice and his brother s exceeding bitter cry. And now all the
afflictions that had befallen him his enforced flight, his banish
ment from home, his lonely journey, the dangers by which he

104. was beset these afflictions had engraven deep upon his mind
the solemn lesson that the devil s wages are always very hard,
and had worked in him that godly sorrow which leads to true
repentance. Jacob, we might say, had been wrestling with God
in the secret places of his soul, even as Nathanael had been
kneeling before God under the fig tree when Jesus promised that
he too, like Jacob, should see the heaven opened, and the angels
of God ascending and descending.
7. CRISWELL
The angel ladder. Bethel is a name that is sacred and hallowed in Holy Scripture. In
Genesis 31:13, God says to Jacob, “I am the God Bethel, where thou vowedst a vow unto
me.” This happened when God sent him back to Canaan from Mesopotamia.
Then again in Genesis 35, verse 1, “And God said unto Jacob, ‘Arise, go to up Bethel and
make thee an altar unto God that appeared unto thee.’” This is when his two sons Simeon
and Levi did the despicable thing of destroying the entire city of Shechem. God sends
him and his family back to Bethel.
So in Genesis in the passage we just read, Israel says, “This is none other but the house of
God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
I feel that way about this sacred place, our dear First Baptist Church in Dallas. This is the
house of God and this is the gate to heaven.
We speak first of Jacob’s arrival in Bethel. In Genesis 28:11, “And he lighted upon a
certain place where he lodged for the night.” It was oblique and a lonely scene.
I have been there. I’m sure many of you have been there. All that you find at Bethel is
rocks and rocks and more rocks. I’ve heard the story of Gabriel, that he had a [big] bag of
rock for the whole earth, and it broke and all of them fell down there at Bethel. I’ve
heard another story of Gabriel that he had some rocks left over after he distributed them
all over creation, and he put them there at Bethel. It’s a very rocky, stony, barren place.
And so in Genesis 28:11 as you read, “And he took the stones of that place and put them
there for his pillow,” well, Jacob was there because of fear. He was fleeing northward
from Beersheba from Esau who had sworn to slay him.
8. Maclaren
Notice the imperfect reception of the divine teaching. Jacob’s startled
exclamation on awakening from his dream indicates a very low level both of
religious knowledge and feeling. Nor is there any reason for taking the
words in any but their most natural sense; for it is a mistake to ascribe to
him the knowledge of God due to later revelation, or, at this stage of his
life, any depth of religious emotion. He is alarmed at the thought that God
is near. Probably he had been accustomed to think of God’s presence as in
some special way associated with his father’s encampment, and had not risen

105. to the belief of His omnipresence. There seems no joyous leaping up of his
heart at the thought that God is here. Dread, not unmingled with the
superstitious fear that he had profaned a holy place by laying himself down
in it, is his prevailing feeling, and he pleads ignorance as the excuse for
his sacrilege. He does not draw the conclusion from the vision that all the
earth is hallowed by a near God, but only that he has unwittingly stumbled
on His house; and he does not learn that from every place there is an open
door for the loving heart into the calm depths where God is throned, but
only that here he unwittingly stands at the gate of heaven. So he misses the
very inner purpose of the vision, and rather shrinks from it than welcomes
it. Was that spasm of fear all that passed through his mind that night? Did
he sleep again when the glory died out of the heaven? So the story would
appear to suggest. But, in any case, we see here the effect of the sudden
blazing in upon a heart not yet familiar with the Divine Friend, of the
conviction that He is really near. Gracious as God’s promise was, it did not
dissipate the creeping awe at His presence. It is an eloquent testimony of
man’s consciousness of sin, that whensoever a present God becomes a reality
to a worldly man, he trembles. ‘This place’ would not be ‘dreadful,’ but
blessed, if it were not for the sense of discord between God and me.
The morning light brought other thoughts, when it filled the silent heavens,
and where the ladder had stretched, there was but empty blue. The lesson is
sinking into his mind. He lifts the rude stone and pours oil on it, as a
symbol of consecration, as nameless races have done all over the world. His
vow shows that he had but begun to learn in God’s school. He hedges about
his promise with a punctilious repetition of God’s undertaking, as if
resolved that there should be no mistake. Clause by clause he goes over it
all, and puts an ‘if’ to it. God’s word should have kindled something liker
faith than that. What a fall from ‘Abram believed in the Lord, and He
counted it to him for righteousness’ ! Jacob barely believed, and will wait
to see whether all will turn out as it has been promised. That is not the
glad, swift response of a loving, trusting heart. Nor is he contented with
repeating to God the terms of his engagement, but he adds a couple of
clauses which strike him as being important, and as having been omitted.
There was nothing about ‘bread to eat, and raiment to put on,’ nor about
coming back again ‘in peace,’ so he adds these. A true ‘Jew,’—great at a
bargain, and determined to get all he can, and to have no mistake about what
he must get before he gives anything! Was Jesus thinking at all of the
ancestor when He warned the descendants, in words which sound curiously like
an echo of Jacob’s, not to be anxious ‘what ye shall eat,’ nor ‘what ye
shall put on’? As the vow stands in the Authorised Version, it is farther
open to the charge of suspending his worship of God upon the fulfilment of
these conditions; but it is better to adopt the marginal rendering of the
Revised Version, according to which the clause ‘then shall the Lord be my
God’ is a part of the conditions, not of the vow, and is to be read ‘And
[if] the Lord will be . . .then this stone . . .shall be,’ etc. If this
rendering be adopted, as I think it should be, the vow proper is simply of

106. outward service,—he will rear an altar, and he will tithe his substance. Not
a very munificent pledge! And where in it is the surrender of the heart?
Where is the outgoing of love and gratitude? Where the clasping of the hand
of his heavenly Friend with calm rapture of thankful self-yielding, and
steadfastness of implicit trust? God did not want Jacob’s altar, nor his
tenths; He wanted Jacob. But many a weary year and many a sore sorrow have
to leave their marks on him before the evil strain is pressed out of his
blood; and by the unwearied long-suffering of his patient Friend and Teacher
in heaven, the crafty, earthly-minded Jacob ‘the supplanter’ is turned into
‘Israel, the prince with God, in whom is no guile.’ The slower the scholar,
the more wonderful the forbearance of the Teacher; and the more may we, who
are slow scholars too, take heart to believe that He will not be soon angry
with us, nor leave us until He has done that which He has spoken to us of.
We are tempted to cry out with Jacob, when we realize what it
means, "How dreadful is this place." We recall the words
spoken to Moses, " o man shall see my face and live," or the
confession of Isaiah, " Woe is me, for I am undone . . . for mine
eyes have seen the King in his beauty." But the incarnation has
changed our relation to God. In the Son of Man the glory of
God is tempered to our vision. It is true that no man hath seen
God at any time: that He dwelleth in light unapproachable,
"Whom no man hath seen nor can see," yet we have also for
our assurance the Lord s own words : " He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father," not indeed seen God as God in His most
awful majesty, but God revealed through the love of His Son.
18
Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had
placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and
poured oil on top of it.
1. Clarke, “And Jacob - took the stone - and set it up for a pillar - He placed
the stone in an erect posture, that it might stand as a monument of the extraordinary
vision which he had in this place; and he poured oil upon it, thereby consecrating it to
God, so that it might be considered an altar on which libations might be poured, and
sacrifices offered unto God. See Gen_35:14.
The Brahmins anoint their stone images with oil before bathing; and some anoint
them with sweet-scented oil. This is a practice which arises more from the customs of
the Hindoos than from their idolatry. Anointing persons as an act of homage has been

107. transferred to their idols.
There is a foolish tradition that the stone set up by Jacob was afterwards brought to
Jerusalem, from which, after a long lapse of time, it was brought to Spain, from Spain to
Ireland, from Ireland to Scotland, and on it the kings of Scotland sat to be crowned; and
concerning which the following leonine verses were made: -
Ni fallat fatum, - Scoti quocunque locatum
Invenient lapidem, - regnare tenentur ibidem.
Or fate is blind - or Scots shall find
Where’er this stone - the royal throne.
Camden’s Perthshire.
Edward I. had it brought to Westminster; and there this stone, called Jacob’s pillar,
and Jacob’s pillow, is now placed under the chair on which the king sits when crowned!
It would be as ridiculous to attempt to disprove the truth of this tradition, as to prove
that the stone under the old chair in Westminster was the identical stone which served
the patriarch for a bolster.
And poured oil upon the top of it - Stones, images, and altars, dedicated to Divine
worship, were always anointed with oil. This appears to have been considered as a
consecration of them to the object of the worship, and a means of inducing the god or
goddess to take up their residence there, and answer the petitions of their votaries.
Anointing stones, images, etc., is used in idolatrous countries to the present day, and the
whole idol is generally smeared over with oil. Sometimes, besides the anointing, a crown
or garland was placed on the stone or altar to honor the divinity, who was supposed, in
consequence of the anointing, to have set up his residence in that place. It appears to
have been on this ground that the seats of polished stone, on which the kings sat in the
front of their palaces to administer justice, were anointed, merely to invite the deity to
reside there, that true judgment might be given, and a righteous sentence always be
pronounced. Of this we have an instance in Homer, Odyss. lib. v., ver. 406-410: -
Εκ δ’ ελθων, κατ’ αρ’ ᅛζετ’ επι ξεστοισι λιθοσιν,
Οᅷ οᅷ εσαν προπαροιθε θυραων ᆓψηλαων,
∆ευκοι, αποστιλβοντες αλειφατος· οᅷς επι µεν πριν
Νηλευς ᅷζεσκεν, θεοφιν µηστωρ αταλαντος.
The old man early rose, walk’d forth, and sate
On polish’d stone before his palace gate;
With unguent smooth the lucid marble shone,
Where ancient Neleus sate, a rustic throne.
Pope.
This gives a part of the sense of the passage; but the last line, on which much stress
should be laid, is very inadequately rendered by the English poet. It should be
translated, -
Where Neleus sat, equal in counsel to the gods; because inspired by their wisdom, and
which inspiration he and his successor took pains to secure by consecrating with the
anointing oil the seat of judgment on which they were accustomed to sit. Some of the
ancient commentators on Homer mistook the meaning of this place by not

108. understanding the nature of the custom; and these Cowper unfortunately follows,
translating “resplendent as with oil;” which as destroys the whole sense, and obliterates
the allusion. This sort of anointing was a common custom in all antiquity, and was
probably derived from this circumstance. Arnobius tells us that it was customary with
himself while a heathen, “when he saw a smooth polished stone that had been smeared
with oils, to kiss and adore it, as if possessing a Divine virtue.”
Si quando conspexeram lubricatum lapidem,
et ex olivi unguine sordidatum (ordinatum)
tanquam inesset vis prasens, adulabar, affabar.
And Theodoret, in his eighty-fourth question on Genesis, asserts that many pious
women in his time were accustomed to anoint the coffins of the martyrs, etc. And in
Catholic countries when a church is consecrated they anoint the door-posts, pillars,
altars, etc. So under the law there was a holy anointing oil to sanctify the tabernacle,
laver, and all other things used in God’s service, Exo_40:9, etc.
2. Gill, “And Jacob rose up early in the morning,.... In order to proceed on his
journey, being comfortably refreshed both in body and mind: but first he
took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar; not for
a statue or an idol to be worshipped, but for a memorial of the mercy and goodness of
God unto him, see Jos_4:3; indeed, among the Heathens, stones, even rude and
unpolished ones, were worshipped as gods; and this was the ancient custom among the
Greeks, and which, as Pausanias (l) says, universally obtained among them:
and poured oil upon the top of it; which he had brought with him for necessary
uses in his journey, or fetched from the neighbouring city; the former is most likely: and
this he did, that he might know it again when he returned, as Aben Ezra remarks, and
not for the consecration of it for religious use; though it is thought, by some learned men
(m), that the Phoenicians worshipped this stone which Jacob anointed; and that from
this anointed stone at Bethel came the Boetylia, which were anointed stones consecrated
to Saturn and Jupiter, and others, and were worshipped as gods; the original of which
Sanchoniatho (n) ascribes to Uranus, who, he says, devised the Boetylia, forming
animated stones, which Bochart renders anointed stones; and so Apuleius (o), Minutius
Felix (p), Arnobius (q), and others, speak of anointed stones, worshipped as deities; and
hence it may be through the early and ancient abuse of such pillars it was, that they were
forbidden by the law of Moses, and such as the Heathens had erected were to be pulled
down, Lev_26:1.
3. Henry, “ He took care to preserve the memorial of it two ways: 1. He set up the
stone for a pillar (Gen_28:18); not as if he thought the visions of his head were any way
owing to the stone on which it lay, but thus he would mark the place against he came
back, and erect a lasting monument of God's favour to him, and because he had not time
now to build an altar here, as Abraham did in the places where God appeared to him,
Gen_12:7. He therefore poured oil on the top of this stone, which probably was the
ceremony then used in dedicating their altars, as an earnest of his building an altar when
he should have conveniences for it, as afterwards he did, in gratitude to God for this

109. vision, Gen_35:7. Note, Grants of mercy call for returns of duty, and the sweet
communion we have with God ought ever to be remembered. 2. He gave a new name to
the place, Gen_28:19. It had been called Luz, an almond-tree; but he will have it
henceforward called Beth-el, the house of God. This gracious appearance of God to him
put a greater honour upon it, and made it more remarkable, than all the almond-trees
that flourished there. This is that Beth-el where, long after, it is said, God found Jacob,
and there (in what he said to him) he spoke with us, Hos_12:4. In process of time, this
Beth-el, the house of God, became Beth-aven, a house of vanity and iniquity, when
Jeroboam set up one of his calves there.
4. Jamison, “Jacob set up a stone, etc. — The mere setting up of the stone might
have been as a future memorial to mark the spot; and this practice is still common in the
East, in memory of a religious vow or engagement. But the pouring oil upon it was a
consecration. Accordingly he gave it a new name, Beth-el, “the house of God” (Hos_
12:4); and it will not appear a thing forced or unnatural to call a stone a house, when one
considers the common practice in warm countries of sitting in the open air by or on a
stone, as are those of this place, “broad sheets of bare rock, some of them standing like
the cromlechs of Druidical monuments” [Stanely].
5. HAWKER, “How sweet and grateful this token of God’s love, and Jacob’s sense of it.
What must have been the Patriarch’s view of it twenty years afterward, when he came
back to it again: See Gen_32:9-12.
6. . Calvin, “18.And Jacob rose up early. Moses relates that the holy father was not
satisfied with merely giving thanks at the time, but would also transmit a memorial
of his gratitude to POSTERITY. Therefore he raised a monument, and gave a name
to the place, which implied that he thought such a signal benefit of God worthy to be
celebrated in all ages. For this reason, the Scripture not only commands the faithful
to sing the praises of God among their brethren; but also enjoins them to train their
children to religious duties, and to propagate the worship of God among their
descendants.
And set it up for a pillar. Moses does not mean that the stone was made an idol, but
that it should be a special memorial. God indeed uses this word ‫מצבה‬ (matsbah,)
when he forbids statues to be erected to himself, (Leviticus 26:1,) because almost all
statues were objects of veneration, as if they were likenesses of God. But the design
of Jacob was different; namely, that he might leave a testimony of the vision which
had appeared unto him, not that he might represent God by that symbol or figure.
Therefore the stone was not there placed by him, for the purpose of depressing the
minds of men into any gross superstition, but rather of raising them upward. He
used oil as a sign of consecration, and not without reason; for as, in the world,
everything is profane which is destitute of the Spirit of God, so there is no pure
religion except that which the heavenly unction sanctifies. And to this point the
solemn right of consecration, which God commanded in his law, tends, in order that

110. the faithful may learn to bring in nothing of their own, lest they should pollute the
temple and worship of God. And though, in the times of Jacob, no teaching had yet
been committed to writing; it is, nevertheless, certain that he had been imbued with
that principle of piety which God from the beginning had infused into the hearts of
the devout: wherefore, it is not to be ascribed to superstition that he poured oil upon
the stone; but he rather testified, as I have said, that no worship can be acceptable to
God, or pure, without the sanctification of the Spirit. Other commentators argue,
with more subtlety, that the stone was a symbol of Christ, on whom all the graces of
the Spirit were poured out, that all might draw out of his fullness; but I do not know
that any such thing entered the mind of Moses or of Jacob. I am satisfied with what
I have before stated, that a stone was erected to be a witness or a memorial (so to
speak) of a vision, the benefit of which reaches to all ages. It may be asked, Whence
did the holy man obtain oil in the desert? They who answer that it had been brought
from a neighboring city are, in my opinion, greatly deceived; for this place was then
void of inhabitants, as I shall soon show. I therefore rather conjecture, that on
ACCOU T of the necessity of the times, seeing that suitable accommodations could
not always be had, he had taken some portion of food for his journey along with
him; and as we know that great use was made of oil in those parts, it is no wonder if
he carried a flagon of oil with his bread.
7. COFFMA , ""The stone that he had put under his head ..." It is of interest that
all kinds of traditions about this stone have been alleged. It was supposed to have
been taken to Jerusalem, to Spain, to Ireland, and to Scotland, upon which, "The
Kings of Scotland sat to be CROW ED!"[8] It is not at all likely that any truth lies
behind the tradition. Dummelow pointed out that, Edward I of England removed it
from Scotland to Westminster Abbey, but he observed that the "Stone under the
coronation CHAIR in the Abbey is common granite, whereas all the stone in the
area of Bethel is limestone!"[9]
The text seems to say that Jacob anointed the stone "as THE HOUSE of God," but
this is merely metonymy for the "place." ote: "God is in this place," (Genesis
28:16), not "in this stone." He called the name "of the place" Bethel (Genesis 28:19).
"How dreadful is this place," not "how dreadful is this stone" (Genesis 28:17). Such
emphasis leaves no doubt that "the place," not the rock was considered holy by
Jacob. The setting up of the pillar as a marker in order for him to be able to later
identify "the place" is the thing in view here.
As is easily understood, all kinds of superstitions arose over the stone, with
allegations that God dwelt "in such things," such pagan notions being at least
partially derived from a misunderstanding of this passage. The Canaanite pagans
indeed had such conceptions. Later on, it was necessary for God to forbid such
practices. "The O.T. often condemns the use of pillars in worship because they were

111. associated with pagan rites (Leviticus 26:1; Deuteronomy 12:3; 16:22; 1 Kings
14:23; Hosea 10:1-2; Micah 5:13, etc."[10] There are a number of passages
(especially Genesis 31) where cairns of stones, or in some instances a pillar, were
raised as memorials, or evidence of agreements, but those were not instances in
which God approved "the worship" of pillars. That was a pagan practice altogether.
"Bethel ..." means "the place of God," not "the stone of God."
"I will surely give the tenth unto thee ..." The conditional nature of Jacob's vow in
this place should not be overly stressed. True, it is phrased conditionally, but Jacob
considered the fulfillment of that condition as being certain, founded upon the
unchanging Word of God, and thus his vow is in effect a promise to give one-tenth
of all to God's service.
This is the second time that tithing in the O.T. has been mentioned, the other being
in the instance of Abraham's tithes to Melchizedek. Perhaps this is not the place for
a discussion of whether or not Christians should give "a tenth" to the work of God.
For a dissertation on this, the reader is referred to my commentary on Hebrews 7:8.
ote that Jacob did not originate or invent the conception of tithing. It was
apparently an accepted understanding even among the remnant of monotheistic
peoples prior to Abraham, with reference to the duties of devout worshippers of
God to support holy religion by generous giving. The question to be faced today is
whether or not we, who have been blessed so superabundantly above all the
blessings received by Jacob, should be content to give less than he vowed to give.
8. CO STABLE, "Verses 18-22
Jacob set the stone up as a memorial to this revelation and God's promise (Genesis
28:18). Pouring oil on it constituted an act of consecration. Jacob did not build an
altar in response to God's revelation, as his forefathers had done.
Jacob vowed to convert his pillar into an altar if God would fulfill His promise
(Genesis 28:15). This is the only recorded time that a patriarch proposed a vow with
God (cf. Genesis 31:13). He swore that Yahweh would be his God if God proved
faithful to him. Jacob's vow (Genesis 28:20-21; cf. Genesis 31:13; Genesis 35:1-3;
Genesis 35:7) can be translated "Since ... " rather than "If . . . " This was probably
not as crass a bargain as it appears to have been, though the record of Jacob's life
shows that he typically was keen on negotiating deals. Jacob was apparently a
believer in Yahweh already, but his commitment to God at this time appears to have
been somewhat selfish and conditional. He had not yet fully surrendered and

112. dedicated himself to God. [ ote: On tithing, see the note on 14:20.]
"The assurance of God's presence should bring about in every believer the same
response of worship and confidence it prompted in Jacob. This is the message from
the beginning: God by grace visits His people and promises them protection and
provision so that they might be a blessing to others. They in turn were to respond in
faith, fearing Him, worshiping Him, offering to Him, vowing to Him, and making
memorials for future worshipers at such places." [ ote: Ross, "Genesis," p. 75.]
Jacob's relationship with Yahweh was quite different from what Abraham or
Isaac's relationship had been. God tested Abraham, but Jacob tested God. God told
Abraham to leave his country before he entered into blessing, but Jacob imposed
conditions on God before he vowed to bless God. [ ote: J. H. Walton, Genesis: The
IV Appication Commentary, pp. 573-74.] He was willing to accept God's promises,
but he did not commit himself to God until God proved faithful to him personally.
God blessed Jacob because of God's election and Abraham and Isaac's faith more
than because of Jacob's faith at this time.
Many believers bargain with God as Jacob did here. They agree to worship Him on
their terms rather than because God has proven Himself faithful in the past. God
often accommodates such weak faith, but the fact that He does does not commend
the practice of bargaining with God.
The revelation of God's presence and promised blessings inspires genuine worship.
This worship is the appropriate response to such revelation.
9. COKE, "Genesis 28:18. Set it up for a pillar, and poured oil, &c.— The antiquity
of this custom (of which we shall find frequent mention) is very evident from this
place: he set up the pillar to preserve the memory of the vision, and he poured oil
upon it, to consecrate it to God, and as a monument of his favour. See Dr. Jackson's
Treatise of the Original of Unbelief, c. 35. It might perhaps be esteemed an omission,
were we not to observe, that this stone was held in great veneration by the Jews in
after-times, and was translated to Jerusalem. And, ACCORDI G to vulgar
tradition, this is the stone on which the inauguration of the kings of Scotland was
performed, in which the people placed a kind of fatality, and had engraven on it this
distich:
i fallat fatum, Scoti, quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur
ibidem.

113. "Or fate's deceived, or Heav'n decrees in vain, Or where they find this stone the
Scots shall reign."
It had been brought out of Spain into Ireland, afterwards out of Ireland into
Argyleshire, and Edward I. caused it to be conveyed to Westminster.
10. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "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. And he called the name of that place Bethel.
Memorials of blessing
I. First of all, we are told that Jacob erected a material monument, and planted it as a
fixed landmark on the spot. Concerning which, remark these three things: he did it
immediately, he did it symbolically, he did it religiously. There is instruction in each.
1. “He rose up early in the morning.” He took the moment when the memory of his
bright vision was the clearest, and the emotion it aroused was at its height. He
caught the fitful experience when it had most force, as if he knew it might grow less
before long. When Divine grace invites, and kindles, and stands ready to help, no
time must be lost.
2. Remark, again, Jacob “took the stone that he had put for his pillow, and set it up
for a pillar.” That is to say, he made his affliction the monument of His mercy. Plenty
of stones besides that there were lying about in that bleak plain. But he chose that
one, so as to identify the history, when he saw the spot. Herein was the very spirit of
splendid symbolism. Nothing could be finer. No emblem could be more pathetically
accurate, as a picture of the utter desolation which he, as a homeless fugitive, had felt
the evening before, than the fragment of rock he had been obliged to lay his head
upon to sleep. Now to make that, the reminder of his friendlessness, the monument
also of his disclosure of Divine adoption, was matchless in ingenuity. When he
should see that pillar in the future, he would say, “Behold the outcast, and the prince!
behold man’s necessity, and God’s opportunity I behold earthly weakness, and
heavenly help I see where I was, and where I am!”
3. But observe, once more, Jacob, having set up his pillar, “poured oil upon the top
of it.” You are quite familiar with Old Testament uses of oil in religious service. These
were established by direct order. The command given early to Moses was, “Thou
shalt take the anointing off, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and
shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof, and it shall be holy.” This direction was
extended so as to cover the altar and the laver, and even the priests, Aaron and his
sons. The spirit of inspiration laid hold of what was an earlier custom, and so
consecrated it. If Jacob had said, concerning this great incident of his life, It is the
turning-point in my history, and I will not forget it, he would have done no
unimportant thing by itself. But by anointing the pillar he made it a definitely
religious memorial. It recognized not only his extraordinary blessing, but recorded
for ever the fact that God had bestowed it upon him. It was an act of devotion. There
was worship in it. There was self-consecration in it.
II. The lessons thus far learned, however, will become clearer and more impressive
when we pass on to consider the second form of perpetuation this patriarch adopted. He
proceeded to invoke the help of his fellow-men. “He called the name of that place Bethel,

114. but the name of the city was called Luz at the first.” Conclusion:
1. Count up your mercies for rehearsal and record.
2. Confess Christ openly before men.
3. Set up memorials of blessing.
4. Expect to understand your own biography by and by. When Jacob next visited
Bethel, he could read the meaning of the Divine promise. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Bethel
I. BETHEL TELLS OF AN EXILE AWAY FROM HIS FATHER’S HOUSE.
II. BETHEL TELLS OF A GLORIOUS VISION.
III. BETHEL TELLS OF A HOLY VOW.
IV. BETHEL TELLS OF A SACRED MEMORIAL. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The memorial impulse in religion
I. THE TIME, PLACE, AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF A MAN’S DISCOVERY OF GOD IN
HIS LIFE ARE THE MOST MEMORABLE IN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
II. WITH SUCH A DISCOVERY, THERE ALWAYS RISES AN IMPULSE TO SET UP
SOME LANDMARK FOR MEMORY.
III. THE BEST MEMORIALS ARE THOSE WHICH RISE UP IN A MAN’S HABITS
AND CHARACTER. (The Preacher’s Monthly.)
Jacob at Bethel
I. We must observe, first, that in the action of the patriarch there was
COMMEMORATION. It was clearly his design in erecting this pillar to commemorate
the events which had recently transpired in his history, and, as far as possible, to give
permanence to their remembrance. Before the invention, or the general use, of the art of
writing, the commemoration of remarkable events by monumental pillars appeared the
most apt and the most effectual that could be designed; and this mode, therefore, of
giving permanence to great events, is a custom also very generally practised among the
nations of antiquity. Although now we erect no monumental pillars, and although now
we chisel not on those pillars any hieroglyphical symbols, yet we ought to cherish in our
hearts the sacred recollection of the goodness we have received. That our past career has
in every ease been a career of mercy, and that we have all received the bounty of our
common Father, is a fact which it is impossible not to admit; and of which in our
remembrance no time and no change should exhaust the tenderness and the mercy; but
it should continue supreme and paramount, until we are permitted to unite in the higher
commemorations of that world where mercy will be consummated in salvation. But let
us advert more distinctly to the nature of those mercies which it was the object of the
patriarch to commemorate, and which permits a direct application to ourselves.
1. You will observe, in the first instance, that here was clearly a commemoration of

115. providential favour.
2. Here was also the commemoration of spiritual blessings.
II. We now require your attention to observe, secondly, that in the action of the
patriarch there was DEDICATION. It will be observed “he 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 “—the oil being
the sign, not merely that he dedicated the pillar for the purpose of commemoration, but
that he also dedicated himself to the service and glory of that God from whom his
marries had been received. This act of the patriarch, my brethren, very clearly and
beautifully sets forth the duty of the children of men in the review and retrospect of
mercies which they have received from God—even the duty of dedicating themselves
wholly to His praise and to His glory. Let me request you now, under this part of the
subject, with greater distinctnesss, to observe in what this dedication consists, and
under what circumstances this dedication is especially appropriate.
1. Observe in what this dedication consists. It must be regarded, of course, as
founded upon a recognition by men of the right of God, the Author of all their
mercies, to the entire possession of whatever they possess, and of whatever they are;
and comprehends within it certain resolutions which are intended to constitute a
permanent state of heart and life. For, example, it comprehends a resolution that
there shall be firm and unbending adherence to the truths which God has revealed;
and whatever principles He is found to have announced for your cordial acceptance
and belief, will be cordially embraced and adhered to. Again, it involves a resolution
that there shall be anxious and diligent cultivation of the holiness which God has
commanded; and whatever are the requirements of His law for governing the
deportment and the affections of men, so as to conform them to His own image—
these will be sincerely and cheerfully obeyed. Again, it comprehends the resolution
that there shall be public and solemn union with the people whom He has redeemed;
and whatever external ordinances and public professions have been appointed by
Divine authority, as the pledge and the sign of that union, will be at once and readily
performed; so that it may be seen by those around that the decision pronounced by
Ruth has been taken in the highest and most spiritual sense with regard to those who
constitute the Church of the living God: “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return
from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodges, I
will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will
I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but
death part thee and me.” And then it involves a resolution that there shall be zealous
and persevering activity for the cause which God has established; and whatever
objects God has determined upon and announced for the purpose of extending His
authority and restoring His glory in this apostate and long-disordered world—these
will be studiously and diligently pursued. There will be the rendering of time, there
will be the rendering of talent, and the rendering (which is often the hardest of all) of
property, for the purpose of carrying on those designs of mercy, which are not to
terminate till the whole world shall be brought back to its allegiance to the Almighty.
These, my brethren, is man called upon to give, and in the spirit in which the
disciples remembered the saying and applied it to the Redeemer: “The zeal of the
Lord’s house hath eaten me up.”
2. There is a second inquiry, which must be regarded as intimately connected with
this, namely, under what circumstances this dedication is peculiarly appropriate. The
spirit of dedication, as the result of the mercies with which God has been pleased to
surround us, must properly be considered as furnishing and constituting what ought

116. to be the habitual condition of man. There is not a pulse that beats, nor is there a
throb that palpitates in the hand or in the heart, but what ought to remind every one
amongst us that we should write upon ourselves “Corban”—a gift upon the altar of
God. There are circumstances which sometimes peculiarly occur in the course of life,
when it seems especially appropriate that the dedication should be undertaken, or, if
already undertaken, that it should be renovated and renewed. We may, for example,
mention seasons when new and extraordinary mercies have been received from God.
We may mention, again, the seasons when new and extraordinary manifestations
have occurred in the course of human existence. Here, for example, are the seasons
when we constitute and enter into new domestic or social connections; the seasons
when we commemorate the days of our birth, or the seasons when we mark the lapse
of time by passing from one closing year to the commencement of another.
III. In the action of the patriarch there was ANTICIPATION. The whole of the passage
which is before us distinctly announces that, in connection with the retrospect of the
past, there was, in the memorial of the patriarch, the anticipation of the future. Nor can
we look upon the monumental pillar which he had erected, without finding that it was
not merely a commemoration, but a prophecy; and that from the past he hurried his
thoughts onward and still onward into the dark and almost impalpable future, showing
him the destinies of his temporal prosperity in distant ages, especially exhibiting to him
the day of Him whom Abraham rejoiced to see and was glad; and raising his thoughts
above the scenes of this sublunary state to the enjoyment of that better country, that is, a
heavenly, into which he knew his spiritual seed would be exalted, through the boundless
mercy of God. And, my brethren, those of us who have performed the act of dedication
to our God, and are desirous of preserving the spirit of dedication as long as life shall
last, are called on to connect our commemoration and our dedication with a spirit of
anticipation, from which we shall find our highest and purest emotions to be derived.
Observe that our expectation must involve future good in time. Having rendered
yourselves to the service of that Jehovah who has conjured us by His past mercies, we
have nothing before us, my brethren, in the prospect of the future, but calmness and
peace. It is so in Providence. Affliction, poverty, bereavement, disease, “the rich man’s
scorn, the proud man’s contumely,” the worst storms and buffetings of “outrageous
fortune”—these, separately or accumulated, form no drawback or hindrance to the
enjoyment of the blessings we have announced. No, my brethren, these very things
themselves, in consequence of our covenant connection with our God, are transformed,
possess a new aspect; not rising before us like demons and fiends of terror, but like
ministering angels, only to bring us nearer and nearer to our God, and to bring us nearer
and nearer to His reward. Nor is there one who, in reviewing past mercies, which his
God has rendered him, and who has been able to dedicate himself to the service of that
God in return, who cannot rest in the prospect of the future, on that one stupendous,
glorious announcement of the apostle, “All things shall work together for good to them
that love God.” And then, in the sphere of grace, what can we anticipate with regard to
the future in the present life, but those enjoyments which “make rich,” and can “add no
sorrow”? We anticipate that we shall be kept; that we shall receive larger
communications of knowledge, of holiness, of love, and of zeal; that we shall receive
additional and nearer visions of Jehovah in spiritual intercourse and fellowship with
Him; and that we shall be made more and more like unto Him who was given “that He
might be the First-born among many brethren”; becoming etherealized in our own
nature, and made thus to partake of the beginning of heaven below. Nor can we
anticipate but that when the end of our pilgrimage is come, we shall go and stand by the
side of “the rolling stream of Jordan; not terrified nor shrinking back, as we behold it

117. bear upon its flood the wrecks of departed beauty and departed power; for we shall find
the ark of the covenant there, and the glory of the Shekinah there; and no sooner shall
the foot touch the stream than the waters, as by magic power, shall cleave asunder, and
will permit us to pass dry-shod through the deep, exclaiming, in triumphant language,
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ.” And so, to use the language of Bunyan, we may anticipate that
“all the trumpets shall sound for us from the other side.” And my brethren, the future
good which we may anticipate in time, must be also connected with the fact that we must
anticipate future good throughout immortality. My brethren, there is not a blessing in
Providence or in grace received by one who, as the result of an enlightened retrospective,
has dedicated himself to the service of God, but what must be considered as a pledge and
foretaste, a decisive promise of higher and more holy and extactic blessings which are
reserved beyond the grave. And now, my brethren, in closing this address, let me present
two calls to those who, perhaps, constitute a large proportion of this assembly. The first
call is one to immediate repentance. In connection with our call to immediate
repentance, we must also present a call to immediate dedication and devotedness to
God, by which alone repentance can be testified and can be confirmed. (J. Parsons, M.
A.)
Genesis 28:19
And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at
the first
A Divine transformation
Luz transformed into Bethel! A grove of almonds into the house of God! The Bible is full
of transformations.
There is a law of gravitation spiritual as well as physical. The downward plunge, the leap
earthward is natural because in accordance with this law. But what natural law can turn
the current upward, heavenward? A burning brand and natural law can accomplish a
transformation of ruin; but it needs Divine intervention, a law of supernatural potency,
to repair the ruin, erect the pillars of redemption, and upon them to sweep the arch of
perfected restoration. In other words, between Luz and Bethel—the grove of almonds
and the house of God—I recognize the necessity of a Divine heart and a Divine hand.
I. Let us view LUZ BEFORE THE TRANSFORMATION. In the midst of a wild and
rugged region, broken here and there by hills, from the top of one of which Lot surveyed
the well-watered valley of Jordan, and Abraham scanned his promised inheritance, a few
stunted almond trees, drawing precarious nourishment from the scanty soil, afford
grateful shade to the traveller. Gray, bare rocks everywhere shoot their sharp peaks
through the parched earth, and not a vestige of verdure relieves the eye save the little
clump of trees which gives Luz its name. Significant symbol—the almond tree! Precious,
princely, yet, if embittered, deadly poison. Does the patriarch in famine-stricken Canaan
design to send presents to Egypt to propitiate “the man, the lord of the country,” then he
chooses the fruit of the almond tree to make his offering acceptable. Precious fruit!
There is uniting in the wilderness among the princes of the host of Israel against the
supremacy of Aaron, and a rod of the almond tree is chosen to represent the head of
each tribe in the tabernacle of witness. Princely fruit! Precious, princely man! The

118. almond tree of this bleak and rugged world. Let us reverence humanity. Not the rank or
station, the varied and varying adventitious enwrapments of his lot, but the man
himself! But alas! the almond may become embittered and tranformed into deadly
poison. Strangely, the bitter fruit does not differ in chemical composition from the other,
yet by a mysterious change of nature, it becomes a deadly thing. Sad, yet striking symbol
of man! A virulent poison has entered his life-blood and venomed the whole. Men are
apt to regard sin as the commission of a few evil acts, and they are disposed to balance
their so-called good acts, against the evil, with a secret complacency that the account
must balance in their favour. But sin is a permeating poison, engendering the habitual
disposition of rebellion against and distrust toward God, circulating its venom through
every artery of the soul and tainting all the issues of life and thought.
II. But notice THE TRANSFORMATION. Luz is changed to Bethel; the grove of almonds
into the house of God. One evening a solitary traveller, with weary step, approaches the
little clump of almond trees, and, noticing the grateful shade, casts his way-worn form
upon the scant but welcome grass. His countenance betokens youth, but there are lines
of deep sorrow and premature care upon his brow. The story of the prodigal son is being
rehearsed in the desert of Haran. It is Jacob, the dishonest supplanter, leaving his
father’s house. The curtains of darkness fall upon the scene and we see the pilgrim no
longer with his awful burden of woe. Does he pray? Does he weep? Jacob sleeps as
soundly and sweetly that night with the bare ground for a bed, and a rock for a pillow, as
he ever did when a child, upon his mother’s breast. In other words, Luz is transformed
into Bethel, the grove of almonds into the house of God. But wherein does this
transformation consist?
1. Jehovah unbars the casement of heaven and reveals Himself to Jacob. Now it is
not Jacob who discovers God; it is God who reveals Himself to the poor wanderer.
Wondrous revelation! Luz is transformed into Bethel, the place is sacred ground, for
where the Supreme reveals Himself, there is the house of God. This is the age of
exploration and discovery. Hidden continents, unscaled summits, untraversed deeps,
secret forces have been tracked and discovered. But why is it that the explorer, the
man of science, the astute discoverer has brought no tidings of God? The knowledge
of the Divine Being is not a discovery by man, but a revelation from God! It is He and
He alone who can unfilm the eye and unstop the ear and reveal Himself. And this He
does to the “babes,” to those who, like Jacob, get to the end of their resources, and in
their extremity and self-destitution cry out to Him. And where He reveals Himself
there is Bethel, the house of God.
2. But there is more here than a dim and distant revelation; broad as is the gulf
between earth and heaven, that gulf is bridged by a ladder, the foot of which rests
upon earth while the top reaches heaven. The revelation of
God as He is, without such a connecting bridge, would be no boon to the sinful soul. On
the 10th of May, 1869, at a place called Promontory Point, the junction was made
completing the railway communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the
United States of America. A silver spike was brought by the Governor of Arizona,
another was contributed by the citizens of Nevada. They were driven home into a sleeper
of Californian laurel with a silver mallet. As the last blow was struck the hammer was
brought into contact with a telegraph wire, and the news was flashed and simultaneously
saluted on the shores of two great oceans, and through the expanse of a vast continent,
by the roar of cannon and the chiming of bells. When the awful abyss between God and
man had to be bridged, the junction over the deepest chasm was made by the
outstretched arms of the Son of God; and as the spikes crashed through His open palms

119. He cried: “It is finished”; and swifter than electric current or lightning’s flash, the tidings
were winged to the farthest bounds of three worlds. The stairway connecting earth with
heaven is completed; the awful chasm is bridged; Luz is transformed into Bethel. Christ
by dying has opened up the way to God.
3. But Jacob not only saw the ladder erected; there was actual communication
between earth and heaven; he beheld the angels of God ascending and descending
upon it. Much interest concentres in the first or trial trip upon a new road, or over a
wide and difficult bridge. And many a fair structure has succumbed to the actual
strain of traffic. There are two angels at least with whom each of us may and ought to
be acquainted; their names are Faith and Love. Let faith bear up your cry to the
throne of God, and love will bring the answer down. Swifter than the eagle’s wing,
the message of grace will be borne to your needy heart, “if faith but bear the plea.”
And your weariness will be transformed into joy, your night of sorrow into a mid-day
of gladness: in other words, Luz will be transformed into Bethel, the grove of
almonds into the house of God. (D. Osborne.)
19
He called that place Bethel, [6] though the city used
to be called Luz.
1. Clarke, “He called the name of that place Beth-el - That is, the house of
God; for in consequence of his having anointed the stone, and thus consecrated it to
God, he considered it as becoming henceforth his peculiar residence; see on the
preceding verse. This word should be always pronounced as two distinct syllables, each
strongly accented, Beth-El.
Was called Luz at the first - The Hebrew has ‫לוז‬ ‫אולם‬ Ulam Luz, which the Roman
edition of the Septuagint translates Ουλαµλουζ Oulamlouz; the Alexandrian MS.,
Ουλαµµους Oulammaus; the Aldine, Ουλαµµαους Oulammaous; Symmachus, Λαµµαους
Lammaous; and some others, Ουλαµ Oulam. The Hebrew ‫אולם‬ ulam is sometimes a
particle signifying as, just as; hence it may signify that the place was called Beth-El, as it
was formerly called Luz. As Luz signifies an almond, almond or hazel tree, this place
probably had its name from a number of such trees growing in that region. Many of the
ancients confounded this city with Jerusalem, to which they attribute the eight following
names, which are all expressed in this verse: -
Solyma, Luza, Bethel, Hierosolyma, Jebus, Aelia,

120. Urbs sacra, Hierusalem dicitur atque Salem.
Solyma, Luz, Beth-El, Hierosolyma, Jebus, Aelia,
The holy city is call’d, as also Jerusalem and Salem.
From Beth-El came the Baetylia, Bethyllia, Βαιτυλια, or animated stones, so celebrated
in antiquity, and to which Divine honors were paid. The tradition of Jacob anointing this
stone, and calling the place Beth-El, gave rise to all the superstitious accounts of the
Baetylia or consecrated stones, which we find in Sanchoniathon and others. These
became abused to idolatrous purposes, and hence God strongly prohibits them, Lev_
26:1; and it is very likely that stones of this kind were the most ancient objects of
idolatrous worship; these were afterwards formed into beautiful human figures, male
and female, when the art of sculpture became tolerably perfected, and hence the origin
of idolatry as far as it refers to the worshipping of images, for these, being consecrated
by anointing, etc., were supposed immediately to become instinct with the power and
energy of some divinity. Hence, then, the Baetylia or living stones of the ancient
Phoenicians, etc. As oil is an emblem of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, so those
who receive this anointing are considered as being alive unto God, and are expressly
called by St. Peter living stones, 1Pe_2:4, 1Pe_2:5. May not the apostle have reference to
those living stones or Baetyllia of antiquity, and thus correct the notion by showing that
these rather represented the true worshippers of God, who were consecrated to his
service and made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and that these alone could be properly
called the living stone, out of which the true spiritual temple is composed?
2. Gill, “And he called the name of that place Bethel,.... The house of God, which
he took this place to be:
but the name of that city was called Luz at the first; which signifies an almond
or hazel nut, Gen_30:37; perhaps from the number of this sort of trees that grew there,
under which Jacob might lay himself down, which was probably in the field of Luz; and
being at night, he might not know there was a city so near, until the morning. Though
Josephus (r) says he did it purposely, out of hatred to the Canaanites, and chose rather
to lie under the open air. This was about twelve miles from Jerusalem, as Jerom (s) says.
3. Henry, “He gave a new name to the place, Gen_28:19. It had been called Luz, an
almond-tree; but he will have it henceforward called Beth-el, the house of God. This
gracious appearance of God to him put a greater honour upon it, and made it more
remarkable, than all the almond-trees that flourished there. This is that Beth-el where,
long after, it is said, God found Jacob, and there (in what he said to him) he spoke with
us, Hos_12:4. In process of time, this Beth-el, the house of God, became Beth-aven, a
house of vanity and iniquity, when Jeroboam set up one of his calves there.
4. Calvin, “19.And he called the name of that place Beth-el. It may appear absurd that
Moses should speak of that place as a city, respecting which he had a little while before
said that Jacob had slept there in the open air; for why did not he seek an abode, or hide
himself in some corner of a house? But the difficulty is easily solved, because the city

121. was not yet built; neither did the place immediately take the name which Jacob had
assigned, but lay long concealed. Even when a town was afterwards built on the spot, no
mention is made of Beth-el, as if Jacob had never passed that way; for the inhabitants did
not know what had been done there, and therefore they called the city Luz, (60) according
to their own imagination; which name it retained until the Israelites, having taken
possession of the land, recalled into common use, as by an act of restoration, the former
name which had been abolished. And it is to be observed, that when posterity, by a
foolish emulation, worshipped God in Beth-el, seeing that it was done without a divine
command, the prophets severely inveighed against that worship, calling the name of the
place Bethaven, that is, THE HOUSE of iniquity: whence we infer how unsafe it is to rely
upon the examples of the fathers without the word of God. The greatest care, therefore,
must be taken, in treating of the worship of God, that what has been once done by men,
should not be drawn into a precedent; but that what God himself has prescribed in his
word should remain an inflexible rule.
5. COKE, "Genesis 28:19. Of that place, Beth-el— That is, the house of God. It is
imagined from what follows, (the name of that city was Luz,) that there was a city near
the place where Jacob slept; but it is more probable that a city was built there in after-
times. From the word Beth-el some derive the baetylia or baetylii of the Heathens,
mentioned by Sanchoniatho; a sort of rude stones, which they worshipped as symbols of
divinity. The word matzebah, says Stack-house, which our interpreters render a pillar, is
by the Septuagint translated σπηλη, and by the vulgar Latin titulus; and hence several,
both ancients and moderns, have supposed that there was an inscription on this pillar. The
manner of consecrating this pillar was by pouring oil upon it, which Jacob might have by
him without a miracle, (considering how common the use of oil is in these hot countries,)
to refresh his limbs when weary with travelling; and how necessary upon that account it
was to carry some with him in his journey: nor is there any reason to suppose that Jacob
made use of this form of consecration in compliance with the custom of the country
where he then was. It is uncertain whether this custom was established in Jacob's time;
but if it was, it is hardly credible that so pious a man as he is represented, would have
ADOPTED a superstitious ceremony into the worship of the true God. The much more
probable opinion therefore is, that as the rites of sacrificing and circumcision were
instituted before the promulgation of the law; so this manner of consecrating things in the
way of unction or libation was at first enjoined the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac by God;
and, either by precept or tradition from them, came afterwards to be practised by Jacob:
nor is it unlikely but that Jacob's practice in this particular, and the great veneration which
was afterwards paid to his monumental pillar, might give occasion to the worshipping
such erected stones in future ages, and (upon such abuse) to God's so strictly prohibiting
any to be set up: Ye shall not make you any idols or graven image, neither shall ye rear up
any matzebah (statue or pillar) to bow down unto it, for I am the Lord your GOD.
5. Next, he took the stone on which his head had rested and poured oil upon it. Then he
changed the name of the place from Luz to Bethel. It is instructive to note this change of

122. name, Luz—its original name, signifies "separation," while Bethel, its new name, means
"the house of God." Is it not beautiful to mark the typical force of this? God calls us to
separate from the world, but in leaving the world we enter His house! "Never do we part
from ought at His call, but He far more than makes it up to us with His own smile" (W.
Lincoln).
20
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with
me and will watch over me on this journey I am
taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to
wear
1. Barnes, “Gen_28:20-22
Jacob’s vow. A vow is a solemn engagement to perform a certain duty, the obligation
of which is felt at the time to be especially binding. It partakes, therefore, of the nature of
a promise or a covenant. It involves in its obligation, however, only one party, and is the
spontaneous act of that party. Here, then, Jacob appears to take a step in advance of his
predecessors. Hitherto, God had taken the initiative in every promise, and the
everlasting covenant rests solely on his eternal purpose. Abraham had responded to the
call of God, believed in the Lord, walked before him, entered into communion with him,
made intercession with him, and given up his only son to him at his demand. In all this
there is an acceptance on the part of the creature of the supremacy of the merciful
Creator. But now the spirit of adoption prompts Jacob to a spontaneous movement
toward God. This is no ordinary vow, referring to some special or occasional resolve.
It is the grand and solemn expression of the soul’s free, full, and perpetual acceptance
of the Lord to be its own God. This is the most frank and open utterance of newborn
spiritual liberty from the heart of man that has yet appeared in the divine record. “If God
will be with me.” This is not the condition on which Jacob will accept God in a
mercenary spirit. It is merely the echo and the thankful acknowledgment of the divine
assurance, “I am with thee,” which was given immediately before. It is the response of
the son to the assurance of the father: “Wilt thou indeed be with me? Thou shalt be my
God.” “This stone shall be God’s house,” a monument of the presence of God among his
people, and a symbol of the indwelling of his Spirit in their hearts. As it comes in here it
signalizes the grateful and loving welcome and entertainment which God receives from
his saints. “A tenth will I surely give unto thee.” The honored guest is treated as one of
the family. Ten is the whole: a tenth is a share of the whole. The Lord of all receives one
share as an acknowledgment of his sovereign right to all. Here it is represented as the
full share given to the king who condescends to dwell with his subjects. Thus, Jacob
opens his heart, his home, and his treasure to God. These are the simple elements of a
theocracy, a national establishment of the true religion. The spirit of power, and of love,

123. and of a sound mind, has begun to reign in Jacob. As the Father is prominently
manifested in regenerate Abraham, and the Son in Isaac, so also the Spirit in Jacob.
2. Clarke, “Vowed a vow - A vow is a solemn, holy promise, by which a man bound
himself to do certain things in a particular way, time, etc., and for power to accomplish
which he depended on God; hence all vows were made with prayer.
If God will be with me, etc. - Jacob seems to make this vow rather for his posterity
than for himself, as we may learn from Gen_28:13-15; for he particularly refers to the
promises which God had made to him, which concerned the multiplication of his
offspring, and their establishment in that land. If, then, God shall fulfill these promises,
he binds his posterity to build God a house, and to devote for the maintenance of his
worship the tenth of all their earthly goods. This mode of interpretation removes that
appearance of self-interest which almost any other view of the subject presents. Jacob
had certainly, long ere this, taken Jehovah for his God; and so thoroughly had he been
instructed in the knowledge of Jehovah, that we may rest satisfied no reverses of fortune
could have induced him to apostatize: but as his taking refuge with Laban was probably
typical of the sojourning of his descendants in Egypt, his persecution, so as to be obliged
to depart from Laban, the bad treatment of his posterity by the Egyptians, his rescue
from death, preservation on his journey, re-establishment in his own country, etc., were
all typical of the exodus of his descendants, their travels in the desert, and establishment
in the promised land, where they built a house to God, and where, for the support and
maintenance of the pure worship of God, they gave to the priests and Levites the tenth of
all their worldly produce. If all this be understood as referring to Jacob only, the
Scripture gives us no information how he performed his vow.
3. Gill, “And Jacob vowed a vow,.... Which is the first vow we read of in Scripture:
saying, if God will be with me; the word if is not a sign of doubting, but is either an
adverb of time, and may be rendered, "when God shall be with me" (t); or as a
supposition, expressive of an inference or conclusion drawn, "seeing God will be with
me" (u); which he had the utmost reason to believe he would, since he had not only
promised it, but had so lately granted him his presence in a very singular and
remarkable manner, referring to the promise of God, Gen_28:15,
and will keep me in this way that I go; as he had said he would, and as hitherto he
had, and for the future he had reason to believe he still would:
and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on; which is included in that
clause, "I will not leave thee", &c. Gen_28:15, even not without food and raiment; which
is all men can desire or use, and therefore with them should be content.
4. Henry, “He made a solemn vow upon this occasion, Gen_28:20-22. By religious
vows we give glory to God, own our dependence upon him, and lay a bond upon our own
souls to engage and quicken our obedience to him. Jacob was now in fear and distress;
and it is seasonable to make vows in times of trouble, or when we are in pursuit of any

124. special mercy, Jon_1:16; Psa_66:13, Psa_66:14; 1Sa_1:11; Num_21:1-3. Jacob had now
had a gracious visit from heaven. God had renewed his covenant with him, and the
covenant is mutual. When God ratifies his promises to us, it is proper for us to repeat
our promises to him. Now in this vow observe, 1. Jacob's faith. God had said (Gen_
28:15), I am with thee, and will keep thee. Jacob takes hold of this, and infers, “Seeing
God will be with me, and will keep me, as he hath said, and (which is implied in that
promise) will provide comfortably for me, - and seeing he has promised to bring me
again to this land, that is, to the house of my father, whom I hope to find alive at my
return in peace” (so unlike was he to Esau who longed for the days of mourning for his
father), - “I depend upon it.” Note, God's promises are to be the guide and measure of
our desires and expectations. 2. Jacob's modesty and great moderation in his desires. He
will cheerfully content himself with bread to eat, and raiment to put on; and, though
God's promise had now made him heir to a very great estate, yet he indents not for soft
clothing and dainty meat. Agur's wish is his, Feed me with food convenient for me; and
see 1Ti_6:8. Nature is content with a little, and grace with less. Those that have most
have, in effect, no more for themselves than food and raiment; of the overplus they have
only either the keeping or the giving, not the enjoyment: if God give us more, we are
bound to be thankful, and to use it for him; if he give us but this, we are bound to be
content, and cheerfully to enjoy him in it. 3. Jacob's piety, and his regard to God, which
appear here, (1.) In what he desired, that God would be with him and keep him. Note,
We need desire no more to make us easy and happy, wherever we are, than to have God's
presence with us and to be under his protection. It is comfortable, in a journey, to have a
guide in an unknown way, a guard in a dangerous way, to be well carried, well provided
for, and to have good company in any way; and those that have God with them have all
this in the best manner. (2.) In what he designed. His resolution is, [1.] In general, to
cleave to the Lord, as his God in covenant: Then shall the Lord be my God. Not as if he
would disown him and cast him off if he should want food and raiment; no, though he
slay us, we must cleave to him; but “then I will rejoice in him as my God; then I will
more strongly engage myself to abide with him.” Note, Every mercy we receive from God
should be improved as an additional obligation upon us to walk closely with him as our
God. [2.] In particular, that he would perform some special acts of devotion, in token of
his gratitude. First, “This pillar shall keep possession here till I come back in peace, and
then it shall be God's house,” that is, “an altar shall be erected here to the honour of
God.” Secondly, “The house of god shall not be unfurnished, nor his altar without a
sacrifice: Of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee, to be spent
either upon God's altars or upon his poor,” both which are his receivers in the world.
Probably it was according to some general instructions received from heaven that
Abraham and Jacob offered the tenth of their acquisitions to God. Note, 1. God must be
honoured with our estates, and must have his dues out of them. When we receive more
than ordinary mercy from God we should study to give some signal instances of
gratitude to him. 2. The tenth is a very fit proportion to be devoted to God and employed
for him, though, as circumstances vary, it may be more or less, as God prospers us, 1Co_
16:2; 2Co_9:7.
5. Jamison, “Gen_28:20-22. Jacob’s vow.
Jacob vowed a vow — His words are not to be considered as implying a doubt, far
less as stating the condition or terms on which he would dedicate himself to God. Let “if”
be changed into “since,” and the language will appear a proper expression of Jacob’s

125. faith - an evidence of his having truly embraced the promise. How edifying often to
meditate on Jacob at Beth-el.
6. K&D, “Lastly, Jacob made a vow: that if God would give him the promised
protection on his journey, and bring him back in safety to his father's house, Jehovah
should be his God (‫ה‬ָ‫י‬ ָ‫ה‬ְ‫ו‬ in Gen_28:21 commences the apodosis), the stone which he had
set up should be a house of God, and Jehovah should receive a tenth of all that He gave
to him. It is to be noticed here, that Elohim is used in the protasis instead of Jehovah, as
constituting the essence of the vow: if Jehovah, who had appeared to him, proved
Himself to be God by fulfilling His promise, then he would acknowledge and worship
Him as his God, by making the stone thus set up into a house of God, i.e., a place of
sacrifice, and by tithing all his possessions. With regard to the fulfilment of this vow, we
learn from Gen_35:7 that Jacob built an altar, and probably also dedicated the tenth to
God, i.e., offered it to Jehovah; or, as some have supposed, applied it partly to the
erection and preservation of the altar, and partly to burnt and thank-offerings combined
with sacrificial meals, according to the analogy of Deu_14:28-29 (cf. Gen_31:54; Gen_
46:1).
7. Calvin, “20.And Jacob vowed a vow. The design of this vow was, that Jacob
would manifest his gratitude, if God should prove favorable unto him. Thus they
offered peace-offerings under the law, to testify their gratitude; and since
thanksgiving is a sacrifice of a sweet odour, the Lord declares vows of this nature to
be acceptable to him; and therefore we must also have respect to this point, when we
are asked what and how it is lawful to vow to God; for some are too fastidious, who
would utterly condemn all vows rather than open the door to superstitions. But if
the rashness of those persons is perverse, who indiscriminately pour forth their
vows, we must also beware lest we become like those on the opposite side, who
disallow all vows without exception. ow, in order that a vow may be lawful and
pleasing to God, it is first necessary that it should tend to a right end; and next, that
men should devote nothing by a vow but what is in itself approved by God, and
what he has placed within their own power. When the separate parts of this vow are
examined, we shall see holy Jacob so regulating his conduct as to omit none of these
things which I have mentioned. In the first place, he has nothing else in his mind
than to testify his gratitude. Secondly, he confines whatever he is about to do, to the
lawful worship of God. Inthe third place, he does not proudly promise what he had
not the power to perform, but devotes the tithe of his goods as a sacred oblation.
Wherefore, the folly of the Papists is easily refuted; who, in order to justify their
own confused farrago of vows, catch at one or another vow, soberly conceived, as a
precedent, when in the meantime their own license exceeds all bounds. Whatever
comes uppermost they are not ashamed to obtrude upon God. One man makes his
worship to consist in abstinence from flesh, another in pilgrimages, a third in
sanctifyingcertain days by the use of sackcloth, or by other things of the same kind;
and not to God only do they make their vows, but also admit any dead person they

126. please into a participation of this honor. They arrogate to themselves the choice of
perpetual celibacy. What do they find in the example of Jacob which has any
similitude or affinity to such rashness, that they should hence catch at such a
covering for themselves? But, for the purpose of bringing all these things clearly to
LIGHT, we must first enter upon an explanation of the words. It may seem absurd
that Jacob here makes a covenant with God, to be his worshipper, if he will give him
what he desires; as if truly he did not intend to worship God for nothing. I answer,
that, by interposing this condition, Jacob did not by any means act from distrust, as
if he doubted of God’s continual protection; but that in this manner made provision
against his own infirmity, in preparing himself to celebrate the divine goodness by a
vow previously made. (61) The superstitious deal with God just as they do with
mortal man; they try to soothe him with their allurements. The design of Jacob was
far different; namely, that he might the more effectually stimulate himself to the
duties of religion. He had often heard from the mouth of God, I will be always with
thee; and he annexes his vow as an appendage to that promise. He seems indeed, at
first sight, like a mercenary, acting in a servile manner; but since he depends
entirely upon the promises given unto him, and forms both his language and his
affections in accordance with them, he aims at nothing but the confirmation of his
faith, and gathers together those aids which he knows to be suitable to his infirmity.
When, therefore, he speaks of food and clothing, we must not, on that account,
accuse him of solicitude respecting this earthly life alone; whereas he rather
contends, like a valiant champion, against violent temptations. He found himself in
want of all things; hunger and nakedness were continually threatening him with
death, not to mention his other innumerable dangers: therefore he arms himself
with confidence, that he might proceed through all difficulties and obstacles, being
fully assured that every kind of assistance was laid up for him in the grace of God:
for he confesses himself to be in extreme destitution, when he says, If the Lord will
supply me with food and raiment. It may nevertheless be asked, since his
grandfather Abraham had sent his servant with a splendid retinue, with camels and
precious ornaments; why does Isaac now send away his son without a single
companion, and almost without provisions? It is possible that he was thus dismissed,
that the mind of cruel Esau might be moved to tenderness by a spectacle so
miserable. Yet, in my judgment, another reason was of greater weight; for
Abraham, fearing lest his son Isaac should remain with his relatives, took an oath
from his servant that he would not suffer his son to go into Mesopotamia. But now,
since necessity compels holy Isaac to determine differently for his son Jacob; he, at
least, takes care not to do anything which might retard his return. He therefore
supplies him with no wealth, and with no delicacies which might ensnare his mind,
but purposely sends him away poor and empty, that he might be the more ready to
return. Thus we see that Jacob preferred his father’s house to all KI GDOMS, and
had no desire of settled repose elsewhere.
8. TRAPP, "Genesis 28:20 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,

127. Ver. 20. And Jacob vowed a vow.] The first holy vow that ever we read of: whence
Jacob also is called the father of vows; which, out of this text, may be thus
described. A vow is nothing else but a religious promise made to God in prayer, and
grounded upon the promise of God; whereby we tie ourselves, by way of
thankfulness, to do something that is lawful, and within our power; with condition
of obtaining some further favour at the hands of God. Thus Jacob vows to God
only: he is the sole object of fear, therefore also of vows. See them set together,
Psalms 76:11. ext, he prays when he vows. Eυχη ετ προσευχη: a vow and a prayer
are of near and necessary affinity. See Psalms 61:8, 11:30-31. That was a
blasphemous vow of Pope Julius, that said, he would have his will, al despito di Dio .
{ a} And not unlike of Solyman the great Turk, in a speech to his soldiers: So help
me great Mohammed, I vow, in despite of Christ and John, in short time to set up
mine ensigns with the Moon, in the middle of the market place in Rhodes. (b) Jacob,
as he vowed only by the fear of his father Isaac, so he presented his vow in a holy
prayer, not in a hellish execration. I add, that it is a promise grounded upon God’s
promise; so was Jacob’s here, in all points, as is to be seen if compared with Genesis
28:15. ext, I say, that by this vow we bind ourselves, &c. ot as casting any new
snare upon ourselves thereby; but rather a new provocation to the PAYME T of an
old debt. For what can Jacob vow to God that he owes him not beforehand, without
any such obligation? This he doth, too, by way of thankfulness; as doth likewise
David in Psalms 116:8-9, and otherwhere. And that which he voweth is lawful and
possible: not as theirs was, that vowed Paul’s death, [Acts 23:14] or as Julian the
apostate’s, who, going against the Persians, made this vow; that if he sped well, he
would offer the blood of Christians. Or as that Constable of France, who
covenanted with God, that if he had the victory at St Quintin’s, he would attack
Geneva. (c) These men thought they had made a great good bargain with God; but
did not his hot wrath KI DLE against them? So Gerald Earl of Desmond’s
Irishmen were justly consumed with famine and sword, which had barbarously
vowed to forswear God, before they would forsake him. (d) Lastly, all this that
Jacob doth, is on condition of some further favour: "If God will be with me, and will
preserve me, and provide for me," &c. All which he doubts not of, as having a
promise; but yet helps forward his faith by this holy vow; then shall God have the
utmost, both in inward and outward worship: for God shall be his God; and he will
build him a house, and pay him tithes, &c.
And will give me bread to eat.] "Having food and raiment," saith the apostle, "let us
therewith be content." ature is content with little; (e) grace with less. Insaniae
damnandi sunt, qui tam multa, tam anxie congerunt, quum sit tam paucis opus ,
saith Ludovicus Vives. Oλιγοδεης ο σπουδαιος, saith Clem. Alex. Cibus et potus sunt
divitiae Christianorum , saith Jerome. Bread and water, with the gospel, are good
cheer, saith Greenham. Cui cum paupertate bene convenit, pauper non est .{ f} The
disciples are bid pray for bread, not biscuit: they dined, on a Sabbath day, with
grain rubbed in their hands, with broiled FISH, &c. Luther made many a meal of a
herring; (g) Junius, of an egg. One told a philosopher, If you will be content to
please Dionysius, you need not feed upon green herbs. He replied, And if you be

128. content to feed upon green herbs, you need not please Dionysius.
9. SBC, "Jacob and Esau are very like men that we meet every day—commonplace,
ordinary men, neither of them distinguished in character or ability. They were children
of a weak father and of a crafty mother. Neither of them has any special religiousness. In
the case of Esau the sensuous half of the man is all that could be desired, the spiritual
half is altogether wanting. The natural half of Jacob’s character is far less noble than that
of Esau, but there were also in him certain religious susceptibilities—a religious
imagination and sentiment and personal purity—which constituted the possibility of
religious development. The difference between them is the difference between the good
things in a bad man and the bad things in a good man, with their contrasted issues. Both
of these youths began with the somewhat feeble religiousness of Isaac’s tent. It took no
hold upon Esau the profane, and he became Edom. It did take some hold upon Jacob the
crafty, and he became Israel.
I. The night at Bethel was clearly a crisis in Jacob’s religious character. He lay down a
desolate, smitten, remorseful lad; the swift retribution of his sin had overtaken him. His
vision was a revelation of the spiritual world and a teaching of the vital connection of
God’s providence with our human life. A wanderer of whom no human eye took
cognisance, he was still under the eye of God; an exile for whom no one cared, God’s
angels ministered to him. Like Peter, his fall had been the means of his rising to a new
spiritual life.
II. And then Jacob vowed his vow. It sounds somewhat carnal and bargain-making, but I
do not think it was. Jacob simply takes up the words which God had spoken to him. They
were the ideas of his day: he would be devout and benevolent, serve God and man
according to his opportunity. He would offer to God all that he could offer. His history is
a great parabolic lesson for young men—not in its details of wrong-doing and remorse,
but in its departure from home, in the loneliness of a new life, and in its new sense of
God and consecration to Him.
H. ALLON, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 60.
10. COKE, "Genesis 28:20. Jacob vowed a vow, &c.— This is the first time we find
mention made of a vow, which was allowed then, and in after-ages, to be a part of
religion, and no doubt had been inculcated upon Jacob as such by his pious
ancestors. See Psalms 50:14; Psalms 65:1; Psalms 65:13. The plain meaning of
Jacob's vow is this: "If God shall be pleased to preserve me, that I may return again
to this place, then will I glorify him here in a public and remarkable manner, by
adhering stedfastly to the true religion in the midst of this land of idolaters; and this
place where I have set up a pillar, will I mark as my most solemn place of public
worship, ch. Genesis 35:3. and the tythe of all that I get before my return will I
consecrate to God, either by applying it to the maintenance of the poor, or for other
pious uses." From which explication it appears that the vow has no particular and
immediate reference to that internal worship of God, which is our indispensable
duty at all times and in all places, otherwise we might well suppose that Jacob
intended to forsake the God of his fathers during the interval; but that it refers only

129. to special acts of gratitude and religion. Jacob's moderation in requesting only the
necessaries of life, food and raiment, shews his character in an amiable view.
11. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "And Jacob vowed a vow
Covenant vows
I. Let us, in the beginning, consider what is taught us in God’s Word about vows in
general, and that will lead the way easily to the examination of those peculiar in the
Christian dispensation.
1. The Old Testament is the main source of all profitable information. Indeed it
hardly appears necessary to go beyond it. Classic history, however, makes clear the
fact that all religions and schemes of faith have encouraged their devotees in the
practice of making vows to their deities. Temples of every sort, the world over, are
filled with votive offerings, presented by grateful recipients of Divine favour, when
they have been delivered from danger, or prospered in difficult enterprises. Even the
rituals of heathenism, the wildest and the wisest seem to agree in this. The custom,
therefore, has very ancient authority. It was not an original invention of Jacob. Nor
was it introduced by Moses, nor was it ever announced from heaven. Its history is as
old as the annals of the race. The great law-giver Moses, acting under Divine
direction, found this custom when he came to the leadership of Israel, He simply set
himself to regulate the practice, and put it under some code of intelligent
management.
2. The New Testament doctrine. No precept given; no regulation prescribed. The
spirit of the New Testament is one of freedom. Freedom, however, is not lawlessness;
liberty is not license. It is possible that there may be found in our churches some
persons, or even in our own moods, some moments to which vows could be of
service.
II. From these general considerations, it gives us pleasure and relief to turn to the
special examination of what we term Christian vows.
1. We mean by this expression to cover a class of covenant engagements which stand
in close relationship to the New Testament church. They are represented in the two
ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
2. The reach of these vows is universal. They cover our possessions—our ways—our
hearts—our lives.
3. A reach so extensive as this flings over the whole transaction a spirit of profound
solemnity. The parties to the covenant are not man and man, but man and God. The
witnesses who stand around are the world, the church, angels—and devils. The
sanctions of the covenant are expressibly sacred and awful. All the good and evil of
this life, all the blessings and the curses of the life to come hang upon the question of
our fidelity in keeping the faith we have pledged.
4. Now no mere human being could abide the pressure of engagements of such reach
and solemnity, except for the alleviation annexed to them. There is a promise
underneath each one of them all. God not only keeps His own covenant, but helps us
keep ours.
5. The use which can be made practically of these covenant engagements of ours is
threefold. They give us a profitable caution; they furnish ground for fresh hope; they

130. remind us of former experiences of trust and deliverance. The stated, steady
repetition of them at periodic times, is of prodigious service. They suddenly arrest us
in the midst of daily life, and demand a return of thoughtful surrender. The moment
temptation confronts us, a voice seems to speak in the air—Remember thine oath!
And if we are intelligent, we are quite glad to remember it; for God covenanted when
we did. There is a dowry in every duty, and a promise in every call. Our vows come to
be burdens less, and badges more; they are not fetters on our limbs, but rings on our
fingers. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
A long look ahead
I. WHAT JACOB SOUGHT.
1. God’s presence.
2. Divine protection.
3. Divine providence.
4. Divine peace.
II. WHAT JACOB PROMISED.
1. To surrender himself, his entire being, to God.
2. To establish a perennial reminder of Divine goodness and mercy on the spot
where he had first found it.
3. To consecrate to God a fixed portion of his income for all benevolent and religious
use. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The noble resolve
There were three steps in God’s dealings with this mean and crafty spirit; and in one
form or another they have a universal application.
1. To begin with, God revealed Jacob to himself.
2. In the next place, God permitted Jacob to suffer the loss of all earthly friends and
goods.
3. Finally, God thrust into Jacob’s life a revelation of His love. That ladder
symbolized the love of God. All through his life that love had surrounded Jacob with
its balmy atmosphere; but he had never realized, or returned, or yielded to it. But
now it was gathered up and crystallized into one definite appeal, and thrust upon
him; so that he could do no other than behold it. And in that hour of conviction and
need, it was as welcome as a ladder put down into a dark and noisome pit, where a
man is sinking fast into despair; he quickly hails its seasonable aid, and begins to
climb back to daylight. The revelation of God’s love will have five results on the
receptive spirit.
I. IT WILL MAKE US QUICK TO DISCOVER GOD. Jacob had been inclined to localize
God in his father’s tents: as many localize Him now in chapel, church, or minister;
supposing that prayer and worship are more acceptable there than anywhere beside.
Now he learned that God was equally in every place—on the moorland waste as well as

131. by Isaac’s altar, though his eyes had been too blind to perceive Him. In point of fact, the
difference lay not in God, but in himself; the human spirit carries with it everywhere its
own atmosphere, through which it may see, or not see, the presence of the Omnipresent.
If your spirit is reverent, it will discern God on a moorland waste. If your spirit is
thoughtless and careless, it will fail to find Him even in the face of Jesus Christ.
II. IT WILL INSPIRE US WITH GODLY FEAR. “He was afraid, and said, How dreadful
is this place!” “Perfect love casteth out fear”—the fear that hath torment; but it begets in
us another fear, which is the beginning of wisdom and the foundation of all noble lives;
the fear that reveres God, and shudders to grieve Him; and dreads to lose the tiniest
chance of doing His holy will. True love is always fearless and fearful. It is fearless with
the freedom of undoubting trust; but it is fearful lest it should miss a single grain of-
tender affection, or should bring a moment’s shadow over the face of the beloved.
III. IT WILL CONSTRAIN US TO GIVE OURSELVES TO GOD.
IV. IT WILL PROMPT US TO DEVOTE OUR PROPERTY TO HIM. “Of all that Thou
shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto Thee.” There is no reason to doubt that
this became the principle of Jacob’s life: and if so, he shames the majority of Christian
people—most of whom do not give on principle; and give a very uncertain and meagre
percentage of their income.
V. IT WILL FILL US WITH JOY. “Then Jacob lifted up his feet” (Gen_29:1, marg.).
Does not that denote the light-hearted alacrity with which he sped upon his way? His
feet were winged with joy, and seemed scarcely to tread the earth. All sorrow had gone
from his heart; for he had handed his burdens over to those ascending angels. And this
will be our happy lot, if only we will believe the love that God hath to us. We, too, shall
lose our burdens at the foot of the Cross; and we shall learn the blessed secret of handing
over, as soon as they arise, all worries and fears to our pitiful High Priest. (F. B. Meyer,
B. A.)
Jacob’s vow
I. WHAT JACOB DESIRED OF GOD IN REFERENCE TO THIS WORLD.
1. The comfortable presence and favour of God. “If God will be with me.” When the
ancients would express all that seemed beneficial in life, they used this phrase (Gen_
39:2-3; Gen_39:21). The wisdom, courage, and success of David is resolved into this;
“ The Lord was with him” (1Sa_18:14; 1Sa_18:28; 2Sa_5:10). This administers solid,
satisfying comfort to the soul (Psa_4:6-7; Psa_36:7-9; Psa_63:1; Joh_4:14).
2. The guidance of the Divine counsel and the protection of the Divine providence.
“And will keep me in this way that I go.” This is a most sure direction and safe
defence. The righteous shall not err in anything of importance, either as to this life or
the next; either as to truth or duty. They shall be safe (Pro_18:10; Psa_27:1-6; Psa_
32:7).
II. WHAT JACOB PROMISES TO GOD. “Then shall the Lord be my God.” (J. Benson.)
The vow
I. Notice THE IMPRESSION MADE UPON JACOB’S MIND. This vision, which had
been vouchsafed to him, was not a mere idle dream, passing confusedly away with the

132. shades of night, and leaving no useful lesson impressed upon the heart. It was a
mysterious scene, permitted to pass before the mind of Jacob in his sleep; but it left a
real, powerful, and lasting impression behind. The impression produced was rational,
powerful, convincing, and influential; it was such an impression as was most desirable
under his circumstances, and such as issued in the most becoming and consistent
conduct.
1. He was impressed with a sense of the presence and nearness of the invisible God.
Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I
knew it not.” He had a clear conviction that God had been with him in a very peculiar
manner. “He inhabiteth eternity. He filleth all in all. He is about our bed, and about
our path, and spies out all our ways. If we go up to heaven He is there, if we go down
to hell He is there also. In Him we live, and move, and have our being—and He is not
far off from any one of us.” But the scripture shows us also, that God is particularly
present with, and near to His saints. A large portion of the revealed word of God is
occupied in showing that “the Lord is nigh unto them that call upon Him”; that if we
will “draw nigh to God, He will draw nigh to us.” “The eternal God is thy refuge, and
underneath thee are the everlasting arms.” The 121st Psalm seems almost to refer to
this very event, when it says, “Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber
nor sleep.” There is then, for the first time, a consciousness of God’s existence—of his
presence and nearness to the soul—a reality of communion with Him—a living
sensibly within the range of His holy influence and dominion—and a bringing this
fact to bear continually upon the conduct and the heart. The impression produced on
his mind through a vision, was the same as that which is now given through the
shining of the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ into the heart. It was the
knowledge of God.
2. He felt that the presence of God was awful. He said, “Surely the Lord is in this
place; and he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place!” No man can trifle
with religious services who is admitted to the reality of religious privileges. The more
his religions impressions, convictions, intentions, and enjoyments, assume the
character of reality, the more serious will he be in his spirit, and in all his religious
feelings and transactions. A becoming seriousness of deportment is always the result
of frequent communion with God—of much living in the Divine presence. It will not
be irrelevant to notice here that a truly sincere and serious spirit in religion will show
itself in an enlightened, but not superstitious, attention to all the decencies and
proprieties of the public service of God.
3. Jacob was impressed with the conviction that the place where God communicates
with men is “the gate of heaven.” That communion with God by faith is an opening to
the mind of the eternal and invisible world, a realizing of that interior and more
elevated scene of God’s dominions, where He reigns unveiled. Faith is the gate of
heaven.
4. This vision evidently impressed Jacob with a higher notion of the benevolence and
kindness of God. It was altogether a revelation of a peculiarly merciful character.
II. We come to notice THE CONDUCT WHICH JACOB IMMEDIATELY ADOPTED. His
provision for the external act of worship was but scanty; but whatever, under his
straitened circumstances, he could perform, he did.
There was here no idle and specious delay. It would have been easy to have deferred this
solemn scene of worship to a more seasonable opportunity, when he would be better
provided. But this is not the effect of the gifts of Divine grace. The mercy of God, thus

133. graciously revealed to him, had touched his heart; and it made the religious service, and
the religious vow, his delight. He rose early, and while his feelings were yet fresh, and
unblemished by the mere natural course of vagrant thought, he addressed himself to this
act of piety, that he might perpetuate in his waking hours the enjoyments of his
extraordinary dream. What could be more simple and spiritual than this act of worship?
All the formalities of official sacrifice are, in the want of means for them, dispensed with.
No bleeding sacrifice was there; but in the simple symbol that he was compelled to use,
the true spirit of the appointed ceremony was retained. The type of the true Israel, he
appears to have out-reached the bounds of knowledge in those earlier days, and to have
approached God as a true worshipper, in spirit and in truth.
III. But we shall consider this more particularly as we notice THE VOW WHICH JACOB
MADE. There are several circumstances in the language of Jacob’s vow which are worthy
of remark.
1. His piety, “If God will be with me.” He does not ask for the advantage of powerful
friends, or connections in life. “He sought first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness,”—counting “the lovingkindness of God better than life”; and the
favour of God more valuable than worldly friends or honours. The love of God is the
essential feature of true piety.
2. Observe his moderation. It is the legitimate effect of true religion, to moderato the
desires of the heart for everything but spiritual blessings. “The land whereupon thou
liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed:” but he simply limited his prayer to this,
“If God will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my
father’s house in peace.” In the face of so extensive a promise, he asked only for food
and clothing, and a return to his father’s house. It is true, that generally in the outset
of life, men’s views and wishes are more moderate than they afterwards become; and
even ambition is limited in its wishes, by the bounds of apparent probability—so
much so, that in looking back upon past life, the moderation of man’s early wishes is
often a matter of surprise to themselves. But the spirit of Jacob was shown in this,
that with the promise of wealth and exaltation before him, he still confined his wish
to the needful supply of his daily wants—to food and raiment, and safe return. How
few are there who are content with Jacob’s portion! I speak of some, of whom there
is reason to hope that they have Jacob’s God for their God, but with whom there still
seems a lingering attachment to the world which they are professing to renounce,
and an unjustifiable managing and contriving to obtain, either for themselves or
their children, a surer hold upon its dignities and its possessions.
3. Observe, again, Jacob’s gratitude. He prayed even for less than God had promised;
but he felt that all that he could ever be possessed of was a merciful gift, and he was
willing to acknowledge that it was due to him from whom it was received. “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 give the tenth unto thee.” A zealous contribution of personal exertion,
and pecuniary aid, to the cause of God and of truth, had always marked the real
servant of the Lord. The worldly man may be benevolent to men, but he is never
liberal for God. Again, fix your attention on the event of Jacob’s life, and consider
how important was the influence which it had upon him. All his life was coloured by
this solemn and interesting transaction. How important it is, then, to begin life with
God—to set out rightly. Lastly, let the whole tenour of Jacob’s conduct on this
occasion show you, in illustration of the remark with which we set out, the legitimate
effect of Divine mercy. It leads directly to holiness of life. (E. Craig.)

134. Lessons
1. God’s promises and appearance to His may well require their vows to Him.
2. Vows to God must follow His promises, not precede by conditioning with Him.
3. God’s presence, provision, protection, and safeguarding His own, is just ground of
vowing souls to Him.
4. It is just to vow man’s self in inward worship to God, as the Lord promiseth
Himself to him.
5. It is righteous to vow outward worship to God in time and place, as He desireth.
6. It is man’s duty to vow and pay the tenth of all his estate to God for the uses He
hath appointed (Gen_28:22). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Jacob’s contract with God
This vow has been sneered at—a bargain of Jacob’s it is said. And in truth it is not in the
highest spirit. But at least there is no affection of superfine piety in the Bible. That is
something. What it is, it is. But what is this? Perhaps not a shrewd bargain, but a solemn
and creditable contract with God, namely, that Jacob will be faithful to God if God will
be faithful to him. Not the highest, certainly—not Job’s “Though He slay me, yet will I
trust in Him.” Jacob would have stood on a far nobler height had he said, “I will worship
this adorable God, who has shown me His glory as He stooped to my low estate. I will
trust and obey Him though He desert me and strip me.” Yes; but when shall we have
done thinking that our refinements and perfections of view were theirs? An occasional
spirit like Abraham’s went higher than Jacob’s. A spirit like Job’s shot far higher, yet, I
think, and anticipated the whole possibility of man. These were splendid anomalies; but
Jacob was the true representative of the good man of his time. Remembering this, the
contrast was not as bad as it seems, but was natural and even beautiful. He does not ask
God for riches, but simply, like a child (for these primitive men were but children), he
asks only for protection and support: “If the Lord,” &c. This, although it has a child’s
religious inferiority, yet seems so artless and heartless that I think it was, even to the ear
of God, a very pleasing speech. And I wish that we would go as far. Suppose now, we
say—which of us is ready?—“If the Lord will keep me alive for this year, and give me food
and raiment, He shall be my God.” Let no man sneer at Jacob until he is Jacob’s equal.
(A. G. Mercer, D. D.)
Of all that Thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto Thee.
Tithes at the start
The two important matters of notice, in this text, are the early purpose of this young
patriarch to give a portion of his wealth to religious ends, and the establishment of a
fixed system in presenting it. It seems to be in Scripture history the exact beginning of all
that custom of tithing the people which meets us everywhere in the Old Testament. It
has arrested my attention, because it is the act of a young man just starting in the new
life. It furnishes me with this for a topic—Systematic beneficence: its principle and its
measure.

135. I. THE PRINCIPLE may be stated in one compact sentence: A Christian is to contribute,
not on impulse, but by plan. Jacob seems to have understood in the outset that this was
to be the practical side of his life.
1. This duty should be taken up early by every young Christian as a matter of study.
2. It will not do to discharge this work all at once. A settled habit of giving is
promoted only by a settled exercise of giving.
3. It will not do to leave this duty to a mere impulse of excitement. Christians ought
never to wait for fervid appeals or ardent addresses to sympathy,
4. It will not do to perform this duty as a mere mechanical form. We are told, in one
familiar verse of the New Testament, that “he which soweth sparingly, shall reap also
sparingly.” This singular word “sparingly” occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures. It
means grievingly, regretfully; holding back after the gift, if such an expression may
be allowed.
5. This duty is to be discharged only with a diligent comparison of means with ends.
System in giving is the secret of all success.
II. THE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE.
1. Give tithes to start with.
2. Tithes, just to start with, will in many cases force a Christian on to increase as he
grows in fortune. When life grows easier, and gains more plentiful, the good Lord,
whose stewards we are, raises His rates of loan, and expects more liberal returns.
III. CONSIDERATIONS WHICH ENTER INTO THE RECKONING.
1. Think of what has been done in our behalf by God, our Maker and Redeemer. We
should measure our gifts in money by our receipts in grace.
2. Remember whence the prosperity came, out of which we give money. God seeks
where He has given.
3. Consider the extent of the work which is to be accomplished.
4. Think of the promises which reward the free-giver. “The liberal soul shall be made
fat.”
5. Think of the exigencies arising under the favouring providences of God.
6. Think of the listlessness of others.
Conclusion: He who gives tithes at the start will grow himself as his fortune grows. He
that delays will harden. And it should never be forgotten that money is only the measure
of manhood when consecrated to Christ. It is ourselves we give to Him, ourselves He
demands. (C. S.Robinson, D. D.)
The tenth is God’s
The late Bishop Selwyn used often to quote that motto of John Wesley’s, “Save all you
can and give all you save,” and he did not think that charity began until after a tithe had
been paid to God. “Whatever your income,” he wrote once to his son, “remember that
only nine-tenths of it are at your disposal.” (Old Testament Anecdotes.)

136. Giving a tenth
Heathen nations used to give a tenth for religious objects. Oberlin, a poor French
minister, did this in giving his tenth of income, and then God so blessed him in his
circumstances, that he used to say he “abounded in wealth.” One day Oberlin was
reading in the Old Testament where God told the Jews that He expected them to give a
tithe of all their property to Him, said he to himself, “Well, I am sure that I, as a
Christian, have three times as many blessings as the Jews had. If it was right for a Jew to
give one tenth of his property to God, surely I ought to give at least three times as much
as that.” So he made up his mind to do this. The Jews called giving “the hedge of riches.”
“Perhaps there was never a man more generous than Mr. Wesley.” For years, when his
yearly income was between £30 and £120, he lived upon £28 a year, and gave away the
remainder. It is supposed that during his life he gave away £30,000, and when he died
he left little more than was necessary to bury him, and to pay his debts.
A tenth of all
"Take it quick, quick,” said a merchant who had promised, like Jacob, to return to the
Lord a tenth of all that he should give him, and found that it amounted to so large a sum,
that he said, “I cannot give so much,” and set aside a smaller amount. Then his
conscience smote him, and, coming to himself, he said, “What I can I be so mean?
Because God has thus blessed me that I have this large profit, shall I now rob Him of His
portion?” And fearing his own selfish nature, he made haste to place it beyond his reach
in the treasury of the Lord, coming almost breathless to the pastor’s house, and holding
the money in his outstretched hand.
Helping on the work of God
A widow found pardon and peace in her Saviour in her sixty-ninth year. Her gratitude
and love overflowed and often refreshed the hearts of Christians of long experience. The
house of God became very dear to her, and she was often seen to drop a gift in the
church door box though her income was only 2s. 6d. per week. A fall in her seventy-
second year prevented her ever coming out again. A little boy being seen to drop
something into the box, was asked what it was. He said, “It is Mrs. W—‘s penny..” He
was told to take it back to her, and to say that her good intention was prized, but that her
friends could not let her thus reduce her small means, especially as she could not come
out to worship. She replied, “Boy, why did you let them see you give it? Take it again and
put it in when no one sees you.” Then weeping, she said, “What, and am I not to be
allowed to help in the work of God any more because I can’t get out?”
Substance consecrated to God
John Crossley, the founder of the firm of the Crossleys of Halifax, married a Yorkshire
farmer’s daughter, a woman of genuine piety and strong common sense. Crossley was
frugal and thrifty. He got on well, laid by his earnings, and at length was able to rent a
wool-mill and dwelling-house. When the couple were about entering their new quarters
a holy purpose of consecration took possession of the young wife. On the day of entering
the house she rose at four o’clock in the morning and went into the door-yard. There in
the early twilight, before entering the house, she kneeled on the ground and gave her life
anew to God. She vowed most solemnly in these words, “If the Lord does bless me at this
place the poor shall have a share of it.” That grand act of consecration was the germ of a
life of marvellous nobility. (F. G.Clarke, D. D.).

137. 21
so that I return safely to my father's house, then the
LORD [7] will be my God
This sounds like Jacob is making another deal, but with God this time. If you
treat me right, I will let you be my God. It does not sound like a good thing he is
doing here. It sounds a lot like Lord get me out of this foxhole alive and I will go
to church every Sunday and worship you.
1. Gill, “So that I come again to my father's house in peace,.... In safety from
Esau, and all other enemies, as God promised him he should:
then the Lord shall be my God; not as if he should not be his God if he did not do all
this for him; which would savour not only of a mercenary spirit, but of great impiety;
neither of which were to be found in Jacob: but the meaning is, that he should not only
continue to own him as his God, and to worship him, but having fresh obligations upon
him, should be stirred up more eagerly and devoutly to serve him in a very singular way
and manner, and particularly by doing what is expressed in Gen_28:22. Some think he
has respect to the Messiah, owning him to be the true God with the Father and the
blessed Spirit, who had appeared to Abraham, and was the fear of Isaac, and whom
Jacob now owned as his God: this receives some confirmation from the Targum of
Jonathan, which begins the paragraph thus,"if the Word of the Lord will be my help, &c.
then the Lord shall be my God.''
2. Henry, “In what he designed. His resolution is, [1.] In general, to cleave to the Lord,
as his God in covenant: Then shall the Lord be my God. Not as if he would disown him
and cast him off if he should want food and raiment; no, though he slay us, we must
cleave to him; but “then I will rejoice in him as my God; then I will more strongly engage
myself to abide with him.” Note, Every mercy we receive from God should be improved
as an additional obligation upon us to walk closely with him as our God.
3. Calvin, “21.Then shall the Lord be my God. In these words Jacob binds himself
never to apostatize from the pure worship of the One God; for there is no doubt that
he here comprises the sum of piety. But he may seem to promise what far exceeds
his strength; for newness of life, spiritual righteousness, integrity of heart, and a

138. holy regulation of the whole life, were not in his own power. I answer, when holy
men vow those things which God requires of them, and which are due from them as
acts of piety; they, at the same time, embrace what God promises concerning the
remission of sins by the help of his Holy Spirit. Hence it follows that they ascribe
nothing to their own strength; and also, that whatever falls short of entire perfection
does not vitiate their worship, because God, mercifully and with paternal
indulgence, pardons them.
4. PI K, "How true to life this is! It was not only characteristic of Jacob personally, but
typical of us representatively. Jacob/ailed to rise to the level of God’s grace and was
filled with fear instead of peace, and expressed human legality by speaking of what he
will do. Oh, how often we follow in his steps! Instead of resting in the goodness of God
and appropriating His free grace, like Jacob, we bargain and enter into conditions and
stipulations. May the God of Grace enlarge our hearts to receive His grace, and may He
empower us to magnify His grace by refusing to defile it with any of our own wretched
additions.
Jacob's response to the Lord the next morning is also telling of his early character. God
had just promised Jacob, unconditionally I might add, six separate things but Jacob for
some strange reason still feels that he needs to make his own vow with the Lord: "If God
will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking so that I return safely
to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God" (28:20-21). There are several things
wrong with Jacob's vow. First off, it is laughable at best and arrogant at worst to think
that a finite man can set the perimeters of anything with an infinite God. Man is in no
position to bargain with God for the simple reason that he has nothing to bring to the
bargaining table! (Those that God can never use fail to realize this.) When man tries to
make a deal with God in essence what he is trying to do is make God the servant instead
of him. Jacob had it backwards, God does not bless us and then we serve Him but rather
we serve Him and that puts us in the position to be blessed. God is not so in need of us
that we can set the rules of the game. It is also interesting to note that the things Jacob
wants God to do for him as a reward for his service have already been promised to him in
the first place. Therefore, Jacob's vow was unnecessary. Many people even today try to
tell the Lord that they will serve Him if He does such and such. Man says to God, "show
me and then I will do it" while God says, "do it and you will see."
5. DON FORTNER, "This is the first time we read of a vow being made to
God. It is worthy of our notice. This vow of consecration was made by
Jacob in response to what he had seen, heard and experienced in his soul of
God’s sovereign, saving grace in Christ. The best parallel I can think of is
that which the believer does in baptism. Symbolically, when we rise up from
the watery grace, we consecrate ourselves to walk with Christ in the
newness of life (Rom. 6:4-6).
OTE: The word "if" is poorly translated in verse 20. Jacob is not here
laying down mercenary, legal conditions upon which he is consecrating
himself to God. The word should be translated "since". It is an argumentive

139. word. He is saying, "Since God has promised such grace to me, I’ll live for
him" (! Cor. 6:19-20).
22
and [8] this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be
God's house, and of all that you give me I will give
you a tenth."
1. Clarke, “This stone shall be God’s house - That is, (as far as this matter refers
to Jacob alone), should I be preserved to return in safety, I shall worship God in this
place. And this purpose he fulfilled, for there he built an altar, anointed it with oil, and
poured a drink-offering thereon.
For a practical use of Jacob’s vision, see note on Gen_28:12.
On the doctrine of tithes, or an adequate support for the ministers of the Gospel, I
shall here register my opinion. Perhaps a word may be borne from one who never
received any, and has none in prospect. Tithes in their origin appear to have been a sort
of eucharistic offering made unto God, and probably were something similar to the
minchah, which we learn from Genesis 4 was in use almost from the foundation of the
world. When God established a regular, and we may add an expensive worship, it was
necessary that proper provision should be made for the support of those who were
obliged to devote their whole time to it, and consequently were deprived of the
opportunity of providing for themselves in any secular way. It was soon found that a
tenth part of the produce of the whole land was necessary for this purpose, as a whole
tribe, that of Levi, was devoted to the public service of God; and when the land was
divided, this tribe received no inheritance among their brethren. Hence, for their
support, the law of tithes was enacted; and by these the priests and Levites were not only
supported as the ministers of God, but as the teachers and intercessors of the people,
performing a great variety of religious duties for them which otherwise they themselves
were bound to perform. As this mode of supporting the ministers of God was instituted
by himself, so we may rest assured it was rational and just. Nothing can be more
reasonable than to devote a portion of the earthly good which we receive from the free
mercy of God, to his own service; especially when by doing it we are essentially serving
ourselves. If the ministers of God give up their whole time, talents, and strength, to
watch over, labor for, and instruct the people in spiritual things, justice requires that
they shall receive their support from the work. How worthless and wicked must that
man be, who is continually receiving good from the Lord’s hands without restoring any
part for the support of true religion, and for charitable purposes! To such God says,
Their table shall become a snare to them, and that he will curse their blessings. God
expects returns of gratitude in this way from every man; he that has much should give

140. plenteously, he that has little should do his diligence to give of that little.
It is not the business of these notes to dispute on the article of tithes; certainly it
would be well could a proper substitute be found for them, and the clergy paid by some
other method, as this appears in the present state of things to be very objectionable; and
the mode of levying them is vexatious in the extreme, and serves to sow dissensions
between the clergyman and his parishioners, by which many are not only alienated from
the Church, but also from the power as well as the form of godliness. But still the laborer
is worthy of his hire; and the maintenance of the public ministry of the word of God
should not be left to the caprices of men. He who is only supported for his work, will be
probably abandoned when he is no longer capable of public service. I have seen many
aged and worn-out ministers reduced to great necessity, and almost literally obliged to
beg their bread among those whose opulence and salvation were, under God, the fruits
of their ministry! Such persons may think they do God service by disputing against
“tithes, as legal institutions long since abrogated,” while they permit their worn-out
ministers to starve: - but how shall they appear in that day when Jesus shall say, I was
hungry, and ye gave me no meat; thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; naked, and ye clothed
me not? It is true, that where a provision is established on a certain order of priesthood
by the law, it may be sometimes claimed and consumed by the worthless and the
profane; but this is no necessary consequence of such establishment, as there are laws
which, if put in action, have sufficient energy to expel every wicked and slothful servant
from the vineyard of Christ. This however is seldom done. At all events, this is no reason
why those who have served God and their generation should not be comfortably
supported during that service; and when incapable of it, be furnished at least with the
necessaries of life. Though many ministers have reason to complain of this neglect, who
have no claims on a legal ecclesiastical establishment, yet none have cause for louder
complaint than the generality of those called curates, or unbeneficed ministers, in the
Church of England: their employers clothe themselves with the wool, and feed
themselves with the fat; they tend not the flock, and their substitutes that perform the
labor and do the drudgery of the office, are permitted at least to half starve on an
inadequate remuneration. Let a national worship be supported, but let the support be
derived from a less objectionable source than tithes; for as the law now stands relative to
them, no one purpose of moral instruction or piety can be promoted by the system. On
their present plan tithes are oppressive and unjust; the clergyman has a right by law to
the tenth of the produce of the soil, and to the tenth of all that is supported by it. He
claims even the tenth egg, as well as the tenth apple; the tenth of all grain, of all hay, and
even of all the produce of the kitchen garden; but he contributes nothing to the
cultivation of the soil. A comparatively poor man rents a farm; it is entirely out of heart,
for it has been exhausted; it yields very little, and the tenth is not much; at the expense
of all he has, he dresses and manures this ungrateful soil; to repay him and keep up the
cultivation would require three years’ produce. It begins to yield well, and the clergyman
takes the tenth which is now in quantity and quality more in value than a pound, where
before it was not a shilling. But the whole crop would not repay the farmer’s expenses. In
proportion to the farmer’s improvement is the clergyman’s tithe, who has never
contributed one shilling to aid in this extra produce! Here then not only the soil pays
tithes, but the man’s property brought upon the soil pays tithes: his skill and industry
also are tithed; or if he have been obliged to borrow cash, he not only has to pay tithes on
the produce of this borrowed money, but five per cent interest for the money itself. All
this is oppressive and cruelly unjust. I say again, let there be a national religion, and a
national clergy supported by the state; but let them be supported by a tax, not by tithes,
or rather let them be paid out of the general taxation; or, if the tithe system must be
continued, let the poor-rates be abolished, and the clergy, out of the tithes, support the

141. poor in their respective parishes, as was the original custom.
2. Gill, “And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house,....
Building an altar of it with some others, and sacrificing to God on it; and wherever God
is worshipped, that place is his house, be it what or where it will; and Jacob did as he
promised to do, see Gen_35:3,
and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee; for
the support of his worship; for the maintenance of such that were employed in it; for the
provision of sacrifice, and for the relief of the poor, or for any use or service in which
God might be glorified: this was imitated by the Heathens in later times, who gave the
tenth of their substance to their gods, Jupiter, Hercules, and others (w).
3. HAWKER, “God’s house, means a spot made sacred to God’s worship. Gen_35:7;
Gen_35:14.
REFLECTIONS
Reader! may you and I learn, from this interesting account of Jacob’s pilgrimage, that
when the providences of our God seem most to frown, the gracious tendencies of God
are perhaps most smiling. And let the truly awakened soul say, whether the sweetest
seasons have not been those, when, like the Patriarch, tribulations from the world have
been most powerful. But I must not close this Chapter of Jacob’s mercies, when the
visions of God began with him, without first requesting the Reader not to overlook the
precious outlines which are here drawn by the Holy Ghost of Jesus’s manifestations to
all his people. Is it not by him that a channel of communication is opened to our souls
for access to God, when like Jacob, we have left our father’s house, and are as wanderers
on the earth? Is He not the way, and the truth, and the life, by which all mercies come
down, and all praises and prayers go up, through his divine mediations. And is it not by
him alone, that we humbly hope, when all the pilgrimage of this life is over, to come
again to our Father’s house which is in heaven: to which hope we are begotten by his
glorious undertaking, and his accomplishment of our redemption? Precious, precious
Jesus! be thou with me, and keep me in the way that I go; and give me food and raiment
convenient for me: fill my soul with the bread of life, and clothe me with the garment of
thy salvation; then wilt thou be indeed the Lord my God; and I shall be thine, in an
everlasting covenant, not to be broken.
4. Calvin, “22.And this stone which I have set for a pillar. This ceremony was an
appendage to divine worship; for external rites do not make men true worshippers
of God, but are only aids to piety. But because the holy fathers were then at liberty
to erect altars wherever they pleased, Jacob poured a libation upon the stone,
because he had then no other sacrifice to offer; not that he worshipped God
according to his own will, (for the direction of the Spirit was instead of the written
law,) but he erected in that place a stone — as he was permitted to do by the

142. kindness and permission of God, which should be a testimony of the vision.
Moreover, this form of speech, that the stone shall be Beth-el, is metonymical; as we
are sanctioned, by common usage, to transfer to external signs what properly
belongs to the things represented. I have lately shown how ignorantly POSTERITY
has abused this holy exercise of piety. What next follows respecting the offering of
tithes, is not a simple ceremony, but has a duty of charity annexed; for Jacob
enumerates, in a threefold order, first, the spiritual worship of God; then the
external rite, by which he both assists his own piety, and makes profession of it
before men; in the third place, an oblation, by which he exercises himself in giving
friendly aid to his brethren; for there is no doubt that tithes were applied to that
use.
Jacob is committed to tithing right off the bat. If you bless me God, I will share a
tenth with you in return. Let’s be partners, is what he is saying, and it does seem
rather materialistic to us, but maybe that was the way it was then, and it was seen as
a great commitment.
5. COKE, "Genesis 28:22. This stone, &c.— ot that he intended, as Le Clerc
observes, to erect any building in the place, but only that by coming and
worshipping there, he would appropriate this stone to the service of God, and
probably build an altar there; for in these early times they adored God under the
open canopy of heaven, and groves or mountains were all their temples. And we
may observe, as we have already intimated, that it has been usual in all the early
ages of the world to consider such sacred scenes, or theatres of devotion, as peculiar
habitations of the Divinity, on account of that Divine Presence, or intercourse with
God, which truly pious minds enjoyed in acts of worship there. Superstition at
length abused this relative sanctity into a notion of the Divine Presence being
confined to statues, temples, groves, and consecrated houses.
I will surely give the tenth unto thee— This is the second place in which we find
mention of the tenth, or tythes, solemnly consecrated to God. Jacob promises to give
them in return for his prosperous journey, as his grandfather Abraham had given
them in return for his victory. To what use these tythes were immediately
appropriated is not quite clear. Upon our hypothesis, that a regular priest-hood, as
well as sacrifices, was appointed from the beginning, there will be no great doubt
about the matter. Bp. Patrick observes very judiciously upon the subject, that it may
certainly be hence concluded, that Jacob was induced to vow a tenth by the custom
which was then among religious people. How they came to pitch upon this portion,
rather than a fifth, twentieth, or any other, is not so easily to be resolved. But they
seem to speak with much reason who observe, that in the number ten all nations in a
manner end their account, (Aristotle in his Problems, Genesis 50:3 : § 15.) and then
begin again with compound numbers; or, as others phrase it, this is the end of less
numbers, and the beginning of greater; so that it was looked upon as the most
perfect of all other, and accordingly had in great regard. But, after all, it seems most

143. likely to me that they had some divine direction for it, as they had for sacrificing.
REFLECTIO S.—Jacob had a blessed night's rest: he probably wished rather still
thus to sleep than to awake. Observe,
1. How he was affected when he awoke. Struck with surprize and reverential awe,
he cries, How dreadful is this place! God was there, and he knew it not. ote; (1.)
God is nearer us than we are always aware. (2.) His comfortable presence is the joy
of heaven: we are at the gate, when in his ordinances he manifests himself to us, as
he doth not to the world. (3.) Whenever we are conscious of his nearness, it will ever
humble us in the dust under the view of our own vileness.
2. What he did to preserve the memory of such a visit. He set up his pillow for a
pillar, and pouring out his oil upon it, called it by a new name, Beth-el, the house of
God. ote; The time and place where God first appeared to us in mercy deserve a
perpetual memorial.
3. His vow thereupon. If God bring him back in peace, and during his exile supply
him with food and raiment, (he asks no more,) then, (1.) The Lord shall be his God.
(2.) Whatever God bestows on him, the tenth shall be dedicated to him. ote; [1.] To
bind our souls to God by solemn engagements is a grateful return we owe to his love.
[2.] We should learn with Jacob to be content with food and raiment. [3.] To have
the Lord for our God is not more our duty than our privilege.
[4.] We must make conscience in dedicating part of our worldly goods to the use of
the poor, and the service of God's cause, according to our ability.
We may observe on this whole chapter, that the regard which the Lord paid to
Jacob shews, that HE is present with his children wherever they are, and that he
employs his angels for their SECURITY and defence. While from Jacob we may
observe, that a believer is never alone; he finds his God every where, in the silence of
the night, in the hurry of travelling, in the noise of the most busy towns, in the
solitude of the most frightful desarts. And from Jacob we may learn, to moderate
our desires, and to devote to God part of our substance, in a peculiar sense, as a
proof of our piety and gratitude.

144. Reflections on Jacob's vision as typical of the mediatorial office of the Messiah.
We have already shewn how this vision, in its immediate and primary sense, was
representative of the providence of God. And we shall not perhaps think amiss, if we
consider the emblematical ladder as a figure of the Messiah himself, who is the
blessed Medium of communication between heaven and earth; the way without
whom no one comes to the Father, and the one Mediator between God and man. We
cannot perhaps find a better explication of what Christ himself promised to
athanael, that Israelite indeed, "Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the
angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man," John 1:51 than by
comparing it with this wonderful ladder, which he seems to compare to himself. And
there is no contemptible analogy; for, first, whereas the foot of this ladder was on
earth, and the top reached to heaven, this may represent both what is the
constitution of his person, and what are the blessed fruits of his mediatorial
interposition. As the ladder seemed to unite the heaven and earth, the most distant
extremes, so the Person of Immanuel unites the Human ature and the Divine,
though the distance between them is infinitely great: and as the ladder opened a
path from God to man, and from man to God, by reaching from heaven to earth, so
the mediation of Jesus Christ has paved a way both for the approach of the Deity to
sinners, that he may dwell with them; and for the access of sinners unto God, that
they may dwell with him, and have their conversation in heaven. O merciful and
faithful High-Priest, by thy incarnation and satisfaction a friendly correspondence
is established between heaven and earth; for thou hast laid thy hand upon us both,
and art thyself our new and living way to everlasting bliss, and the channel of
conveyance to every spiritual blessing!—Whereas the angels of God were seen to
ascend and descend upon the ladder: this may both signify, that in Jesus Christ
angels and men shall be united in one society; and that by Jesus Christ those angelic
HOSTS are upheld from falling, and supported in their happy state. Were not they
the friends of men, why should they be represented as running upon our errands?
Were they not confirmed and supported by Jesus our Mediator, why should
spiritual beings and winged messengers be said to ascend and descend upon the Son
of Man as on a ladder?—Whereas the Lord stood above this ladder, and from its
top spoke good and comfortable words to his servant Jacob, confirming the gracious
covenant made with his fathers: is not this an intimation, that God is in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, confirming his covenant, and uttering his
gracious promise, as well pleased in his Beloved Son?—Whereas, in the vision,
Jacob alone was at the foot of the ladder, on whose top the Lord seemed to stand:
might not this have been considered by the adoring patriarch, after he awoke, as a
comfortable intimation, that the glorious Person who was signified by the vision
should spring out of his loins, and be made of his seed according to the flesh, as the
true possessor of the birth-right, and inheritor of the patriarchal blessing? And,
lastly, Whereas he saw but one ladder, Jesus Christ is the alone Mediator, without
whom the Father comes to no man, and no man comes to the Father.

145. 1. [1] Or greeted
2. [2] That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also in verses 5, 6 and 7
3. [3] Hebrew El-Shaddai
4. [12] Or ladder
5. [13] Or There beside him
6. [19] Bethel means house of God.
7. [20,21] Or Since God... father's house, the LORD
8. [21,22] Or house, and the LORD will be my God, [22] then