Jacob The Unlikely Choice, Part 3

Esau made a vow to kill Jacob for stealing his birthright. He didn’t take personal responsibility for his foolish choice, but blamed his younger brother. Of course, Jacob’s scheming to personally receive his father’s blessing with his mother’s assistance wasn’t much better. So the deceiver ran for his life, never to see his mother again.

On his run to Padan Aram (where his mother’s family lived) Jacob stopped at Bethel to rest for the night. Lying down on the ground to sleep, he rested his head on a stone. During the night he had a vision of a ladder (or staircase, the Hebrew is unclear) that stretched from earth to heaven upon which angels ascended and descended. Then he heard God say to him, “I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you” (Genesis 28:15).

We should be as surprised as Jacob in hearing this promise made to the one who grasped at his brother’s heel—the one who convinced short-sighted Esau to part with the firstborn’s birthright, the one who deceived his own father, and the one who fled from his enraged older brother.

Jacob, the unlikely choice, was promised great things by God. “Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (v. 14).

It was at Bethel that Jacob had his conversion experience: “‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’” (vv. 16, 17).

The next morning, Jacob set up an altar, vowing to return to this spot and make the anointed stone “God’s house” (v. 22). Now, with a stronger faith and a divine blessing, God’s chosen one continued his journey.

Reflect: Have you ever sensed God speaking directly to your heart? Did you experience His love and blessing flowing over you?

Key Bible Texts

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 thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; (Genesis 28:13 KJV)