Gen 28:1
Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.: Isaac realized the blessing was of God, and agrees with Rebekah that Isaac should go to Laban to find a wife. Just as Abraham had charged Isaac, Isaac now charges Jacob. He's not to take a wife of from the Canaanites. Esau had done so, but he wasn't the son of promise. Somehow, this relationship between Jacob and Esau reminds me of Cain and Able. Murderous jealousy of God's favor is common between these two stories. Thankfully, parents separate the two before Esau can take action against Jacob.
Gen 28:2
Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.: Jacob takes the advice of Rebekah and tells Jacob to go to Laban's house and take a wife from there.
Gen 28:3
"May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples;: Isaac repeats God's promise and knows that the promise will be fulfilled by God. He doesn't say to Jacob to go and make himself a great nation, but rather that God will bless him and make him fruitful.
Gen 28:4
And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham.": It's totally clear here that Isaac realized the promises of God that were given to Jacob. God will make Jacob prosperous, and his descendants. God will give Jacob's descendants the land. And I want to make sure that we keep in mind that these promises were not dependent on anything Isaac or Jacob did. God made the promise in response to Abraham's faith, and the promises are all on God to keep. If there's anything we know about God, it's that he's faithful and doesn't lie. We can count on God to fulfill His side of the promise. Actually, it's the only side of the promise. If the promise was reliant on our side in any way, there may as well have not been any promise at all!
Gen 28:5
So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.: Jacob was sent to Laban's house. Isaac didn't go there, but Abraham sent his servant Eliezar there to get a wife for Isaac. Eliezar returned with Rebekah. Now, we'll get to know Laban much better, and he's still as greedy as ever.
Gen 28:6
Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,": Esau was watching what Jacob was doing. This is stalker behavior. It's good that Jacob was sent away. This wouldn't have ended well.
Gen 28:7
and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram.: Esau was keeping track of where Jacob went too. Again, not good. He was fixated on Jacob. That seed of hatred had grown to the point of obsession.
Gen 28:8
Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac.: He's deliberately looking for ways to displease Isaac. Esau probably feels betrayed, and is looking for revenge.
Gen 28:9
So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.: Esau's anger doesn't just hurt Isaac and Rebekah, but think of what it's doing to the wives he already had, and this new wife. It can't be good for anyone. This obsession had no bounds, and caused him to do these dispicable things. We humans are capable of such inhumanity that it's mind-boggling.
Gen 28:10
Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran.: Jacob did the smart thing and fled to let Esau's anger cool down.
Gen 28:11
So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.: Weird way to word it, but this is saying that when the sun went down, Jacob found a place to stay for the night and used a rock as a pillow. It's very possible that this stone Jacob used as a pillow is one of the stones that Abraham used to build his altar (Gen 12:8). There's something special about this place, Bethel, which means, "House of God."
Gen 28:12
Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.: Fascinating that Jesus clearly quoted this in Joh 1:51. For those claiming that Genesis is just a book of fables, tell that to Jesus. Jacob was most likely despondent because he was fleeing from Esau and wasn't in the greatest of spirits. It's not specifically said, but who wouldn't be? I think we can understand that there was a change in the relationship of angels and man somehow. In Jacob's vision, the angels are ascending and descending between the earth and Heaven, but Jesus says that they will be "ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." This vision Jacob had was a representation of the idea that God was reaching out to man. Jesus changed this to show that God had come, as opposed to God announcing that he would come. Jesus is the connection to Heaven, our go-between. But however symbolic this vision was, we do know that Angels come and go from Heaven, so this could have been a real look into angelic action. Who knows?
Gen 28:13
And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: "I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.: The LORD is standing in Heaven, looking down, and speaks to Jacob. Again, we can see the contrast between this and Joh 1:51. Jesus is standing in Heaven looking down the stairs, but this vision is reversed after Jesus came. Jesus is with us, and in us as the Holy Spirit. So this vision can have many meanings. It could show that somehow the relationship between man and angels changed, but also that Jesus came and is with us as our intercessor. Jesus doesn't stand in Heaven reaching out to us. Jesus is with us. In this vision, we see the difference between all other religions in the world and the one true religion: God is calling out to us. God is seeking us. God wants us to respond and wants a relationship with us. All fake religions lay out a way to earn some kind of path to God. Fake religions say you can work your way to eternal life in Heaven. The true religion says that there is no way to earn your way to eternity, but that only God can grant entrance. God stands in Heaven reaching out to humanity and the way to Heaven has always been clear: Respond to God's desire for a relationship with Him. This is why we can read about people like David, the murdering king, who God says is a man after his own heart (1Sa 13:14), or Paul the Christian murderer who becomes the greatest apostle to the gentiles.
Gen 28:14
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.: Jesus again repeats the promises He gave to Abraham. Jesus Himself is the blessing, which will come from Jacob's seed.
Gen 28:15
Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.": I find it fascinating that there are Christians today that say God has abandoned Israel. Jacob is literally Israel. And we have this verse stating that God will not leave Israel until He has fulfilled His promises. Absurdity of absurdities!
Gen 28:16
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.": I'm sure that in those days, people had no concept of omnipotence, or omnipresense. We Christians know that God is everywhere and is everything. We are in God, and God is in us. When Jacob realized that God was there with him, it must have been so reassuring. God always meets us where we need, and provides reassurance when we need it. This is simply a beautiful example of God's reassurance in a time of need.
Gen 28:17
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!": Seeing God would scare me too. I'm sure I'd reflect on my life and know that I am inadequate. I'm not sure if that's what happened here with Jacob, but I totally understand the fear. As for God being in this place, Jacob says this because he had no concept of omnipresense, which means that God is everywhere. However, seeing the angels ascending and descending could have been accurate. We do know that they come and go from and to Heaven somehow.
Gen 28:18
Early in the morning Jacob took the stone he had placed near his head and set it up as a sacred stone. Then he poured oil on top of it.: Jacob took the vision to mean that the place was sacred, so he took the rock he used for a pillow and built an alter. Interesting that he annointed it. Jesus appeared in Heaven, spoke to Jacob, and when Jacob woke up, he built an altar and annointed it. Isa 61:1 is a prophecy of the Messiah, the annointed one. I do not think that this is a coincidence.
Gen 28:19
And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.: Bethel means the house of God. Luz means almond tree. The progression on how fast the name Bethel is disputed. It appears that both names were used until Luz was conquered.
Gen 28:20
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,: Notice the order of events here. God first reiterated His promises, with no prompting from Jacob. This is because God's promises are reliable because He made the promises. The promise to Jacob wasn't relying on anything Jacob had to do. God had promised Abraham that he'd bless Jacob. Jesus repeating the promise to Jacob prompted this response from Jacob. And what was the response? Worldly goods. Jacob wasn't even focused on Godly things, yet God's promise stood. From this, we can know that the promises of God are faithful, and are not reliant on anything we do. We just have to believe them. For the Christian, we believe that Jesus died for our sins, and was resurrected.
Gen 28:21
so that I come back to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God.: God didn't require anything from Jacob, but here we see Jacob making demands of God. God didn't ask this of Jacob. Whatever burden Jacob lays here, didn't come from God. But remember, if you tell God you'll do something, God will expect you to do it. Don't make idle promises. Don't promise something you can't keep. We lay all kinds of burdens upon ourselves that God doesn't ask of us. Be careful of this! Most often, people get angry about these burdens that weren't even laid upon them by God, but by themselves.
Gen 28:22
And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.": I'm sure this is following Abraham's example in Gen 14:20. Why 10%? There was no mention of a percentage in Abraham's account. I can find nothing in the scriptures or commentaries, so I can only assume that this is a number that Jacob came up with himself.
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