Genesis 28 – Jacob Sent to Laban

Genesis 28 continues with Isaac sending Jacob to the family of his uncle, Laban (Rebekah’s brother) to choose a wife.  Esau, seeing that his parents were not pleased with his taking Canaanite women as wives, takes another wife from Ishmael’s family – seemingly hoping to please them.  But as verse 9 points out, this was “besides the wives he had.”  So he kept the Canaanite women, and therefore, nothing really changed.  Esau just didn’t “get it.”

Jacob’s Dream

This is the chapter best known for Jacob’s ladder.  The important thing about this dream of Jacob’s is God’s repeat of the promise to Abraham and affirming in it to Jacob that ALL the nations of the earth will be blessed in his offspring (the Messiah to come) in verse 14.  (We “hear” Jesus speaking to Nathanael in John 1:51 of seeing “angels of God ascending and descending.” that reminds us of this dream in verse 12).  And this dream along with the conviction that God was with him increases Jacob’s faith.  After he awakes, he takes the stone he had laid on during that dream and he later called that place Bethel.  Jacob will return there in Genesis 35 at God’s instruction to build an altar.

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Please note: I did not design the reading plan that I am following in my blog.  All of my comments in this blog, however, are solely my responsibility.  When reading ANY commentary, you should ALWAYS refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word. Reading schedules, as well as a link to the site where you can get the reading plan that I’m currently following for yourself can be found on the “Schedules” page of my website at http://graceofourlord.com.  For questions and help, please see the “FAQ” and “Summaries” pages there.
/Robert