Genesis 28:1 - Meaning and Application

Jacob had barely received the blessing when he was forced to flee his country. He had lived there as a stranger and foreigner, and now he had to become even more of an exile in another land. Jacob fled to Syria (Hosea 12:12). He had been blessed with plenty of grain and wine, yet he left poor. He had been blessed with rule, yet he went out as a servant, and under hard service.

This may have been a correction for the fraud he used with his father. The blessing would stand, but he would still feel the pain of the crooked path he had taken to get it. As long as there is any sin mixed into our duties, we should expect some trouble mixed into our comforts. More than that, this teaches us that those who receive the blessing must expect persecution. Those who have peace in Christ will have trouble in the world (John 16:33). Since we were told this ahead of time, we should not be shocked by it. And since we are promised a reward later, we should not think it is too hard.

We should also notice that God’s providence often seems to go against his promises. Yet when God’s plan is fully complete, we will see that everything worked for the best. What looked like a setback only made the promises, and their fulfillment, shine more brightly.

Jacob is now sent away by his father. Isaac does this in two ways, with a serious charge and a serious blessing. Those who have the blessing must also keep the charge that goes with it. We must not try to separate what God has joined together. The warning is like this: "Do not be unevenly tied together with unbelievers" (2 Corinthians 6:14). Anyone who receives the promise of forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit must also obey the call to "save yourselves from this crooked generation" (Acts 2:38-40). Those who are given special favors should live as a special people. If Jacob is an heir of promise, he must not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. In the same way, those who claim faith should not marry those who reject God.

Isaac also sends him away with a solemn blessing. He had once blessed Jacob without knowing it, but now he does it on purpose, to strengthen Jacob in the sad condition he was entering. This blessing is fuller and clearer than the earlier one. It passes on the blessing of Abraham, that rich blessing that was poured on Abraham and then passed down to his chosen line. It is a gospel blessing, the blessing of church privileges, the blessing that came to the Gentiles through faith (Galatians 3:14). It is a blessing from God Almighty, the name by which God appeared to the patriarchs (Exodus 6:3). Those are truly blessed whom God Almighty blesses, because he both commands the blessing and brings it about.

Abraham received two great promises, and Isaac now passes both of them to Jacob. First is the promise of descendants: "May God make you fruitful and increase your numbers" (Genesis 28:3). Through Jacob would come that people from Abraham who would be as many as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. They would grow into a great assembly of people, as the margin notes say. Israel was often gathered together as a great assembly, especially in the wilderness and later on. Through Jacob would also come that one person in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed, and to whom the peoples would gather. Jacob had many people in him in this way, because everything in heaven and on earth is brought together in Christ (Ephesians 1:10). All things center in him, like a grain of wheat that falls into the ground and then produces much fruit (John 12:24).

The second promise is an inheritance for those descendants: "May you take possession of the land where you now live as a stranger" (Genesis 28:4). This fixed Canaan on Jacob’s line and left Esau’s line out. Isaac was sending Jacob to a far country for a time, and this might have looked like he was being cut off from the land. So Isaac makes it clear that Jacob’s absence would not cancel his right. He would inherit the land where he was only a sojourner.

Those who are strangers now will be heirs forever. Even now, the people who most truly inherit the earth are often the ones who live in it most loosely. Those who hold present things with a light grip enjoy them best. This promise also points upward to heaven, of which Canaan was a picture. That was the better country, the one Jacob and the other patriarchs had in view when they said they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Hebrews 11:13).

After Jacob took leave of his father, he was hurried away at once, so Esau would not get a chance to harm him. He went to Padan-aram (Genesis 28:5). His journey there to find a wife was very unlike his father’s. Isaac had servants and camels sent to bring his wife, but Jacob had to go himself. He had to go alone, on foot, and in fear, leaving his father’s house not knowing when he would return. If God’s providence lowers us, we should be content, even if we cannot keep the outward greatness of our ancestors. We should care more to keep their godliness than their rank, and to be as good as they were, rather than as great.

Rebekah is here called the mother of Jacob and Esau. Jacob is named first, not only because she favored him, but because he was now his father’s heir, while Esau was, in this sense, set aside. The time will come when godliness will have the place of honor, no matter what place it has now.