Story 48 Jacob’s Flight
Esau was a bitter man. He had been foolish enough to let his brother trick him out of his birthright, and now Jacob had taken his father’s blessing, too. In his seething anger, he began to plot and scheme. As soon as Isaac died, he would get his revenge. He would murder Jacob and take back his birthright. Esau’s heart was following the ways of the Serpent. Though he was the son of Isaac, he was showing himself to be the spiritual heir of Caan and Lamech.
News of Esau’s vicious plan reached Rebekah. Now she had to live with the fear that her oldest son might murder her youngest. The consequences of her manipulation were catching up to her, just as the sin of Adam and Eve had caught up with them. She went to Jacob and told him that he had to leave. She wanted him to go to the home of Laban, her brother, where it would be safe. Jacob could stay with his uncle until Esau’s wrath calmed down. Then Rebekah could send for Jacob to return home.
Once again, Rebekah went to her husband to deceive him. She covered up the true reason for sending Jacob away. She told Isaac that she wanted Jacob to go to her brother’s home to find a wife. She complained about Esau’s Canaanite wives who made their lives so difficult. Laban had inherited the home where Rebekah grew up, and Abraham’s servant had found her there for Isaac. Perhaps the LORD would do the same for Jacob.
Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he gave him a command;
“‘Do not marry a Canaanite woman. Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s father…take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of people. 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.’”
The words of this blessing had binding power. From this point on, though he was leaving on a long journey, Jacob was the true heir of Abraham. It was like a public, legal record with official status. Now it was all the more important that Jacob marry within the family line. With these great and promising blessings, Jacob left for a trek of many miles to his uncle’s home.
When Esau learned what Isaac said in his blessings to Jacob, he realized how unhappy his own pagan wives had made his father. He tried to solve it by taking another wife, this time from the daughters of Ishmael, the son of Abraham. Perhaps by marrying a woman from the family, he could please his father, too. How tragic Esau is! He tried to fix everything in all the wrong ways, ignoring the path that God set before the family.
Jacob fled his home and made his way to the land of an uncle he had never met. Alone and exiled, he went out into the wilderness until the sun had set. How utterly dark it would become with only the moon and stars to give sight. Jacob realized he needed to make a place for himself to sleep for the night. He picked out a stone to be his pillow. What a harsh rest it must have been for this princely heir on the run.
As he slept, a dream came to him. It was a vision of something that was true and real and very near to him. There was a great, brilliantly shining stairway that stretched all the way from Heaven down to the ground below. As Jacob looked on, he could see the angels of God ascending up to Heaven and coming down to earth on the glorious pathway between the two worlds. They were coming and going as they served the Lord! They delivered his sacred his messages and gave protection to the saints of God on earth!
Above the stairs was the greatest vision of all. The Most High God, the King of the Universe was there, appearing in a grand theophany. The dark, stony night was filled with the bright, holy presence of the Living Lord! He had come to speak to his servant Jacob. It was not enough for Jacob to receive the inheritance of Abraham’s covenant through Isaac. God came to seal the promises to Jacob with a formal, everlasting commitment. 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. 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. 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.’”
Wow. The great and mighty promises that God had given to his forefathers were now spoken to Jacob himself. No longer did he know them because of what he was told by his parents. Now he knew it from the Lord. Now the covenant and his precious salvation belonged to him in a special, personal way. The God of the universe bound himself and his plan for humanity to this rascally man sleeping in the wilderness alone. He would protect this untrustworthy son, and he would bring him back home again.
This amazing vision of God certainly wasn’t something Jacob had earned. In fact, it came at his most desperate hour when he was least deserving. He couldn’t manipulate or deceive God like he had done to his father and brother. It was the pure mercy and grace of the Lord that flowed lavishly to Jacob on that dark night of spectacular vision. Now Jacob had a choice. Here was a new way. He could continue in the ways of deception, or he could put his faith in God to provide.
Jacob awoke from his vision in the depth of night. He was filled with awareness that he was sleeping in a sacred and mighty place. He exclaimed, “‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.’” It was no mistake that he had stopped there. He was led by the hand of God.
Early the next morning, in the crisp cool before the sunrise, he took the stone where he had laid his head and anointed it with oil. He took a vow and said:
“‘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 so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God and 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.’”
Genesis 28:20-22
Do you hear the fear in Jacob’s appeal to God? Do you see how terrifying his future had become to him? He was the grandson of a mighty prince, yet here he was, fearful about having food to eat and clothes to wear. In the midst of all of God’s grand promises, Jacob was so spiritually weak that he had no power to glory in the vast gifts he was being given. He was scratching and scrambling to survive! His only hope was in making it out alive, and his only reason for clinging to this God over any other was if God gave him what he needed.
The only thing Jacob valued were earthly things. He had no energy to rise and give praise to God! Instead of honoring the Lord with pure obedience, he bargained with him and gave God conditions! In the face of the Most High God’s unspeakably great gift, he was still acting like a swindler who wanted to take advantage of everyone he knew. Would this sleazy trickster ever learn? Surely he seemed more like a son of Caan than child of Abraham’s glorious faith! But God’s vision for Jacob was far more wonderful than anything Jacob would have wanted for himself.
In spite of all the sin and manipulation of Isaac’s family, the will of God was still going forward. He used even their sin and deceit to get his purposes done. Jacob was the son of God’s blessing. Jacob would be the father of the LORD’s holy nation. Yet Rebekah’s favorite son was gone. Little did she know that he would not return for another twenty years. And we will see that the beautiful story that God was able to grant Rebekah and Isaac would not be the love story that Jacob would enjoy. The dignified tale of Abraham sending his highest servant to search out God’s carefully purposed will for Isaac’s marriage was nowhere in sight. The grand, royal gifts of gold and jewelry that Abraham’s servant bestowed on Rebekah would not be Jacob’s to give to the woman the Lord had prepared for him.
Jacob was on the run, and he when he arrived at his uncle’s house, he would be needy and alone. He would be at the mercy of his uncle Laban, who was every bit as sneaky as Rebekah. But by God’s mercy, Jacob’s journey was now filled with purpose. He had witnessed God in the heavenly realms and knew that he was appointed. His life and all he did was moving with the meaning of his call.