May the mumbling commence!
When we choose to follow the Lord, there will be bumps
in the road… but there will also be divine appointments. Jacob was on the run from his brother
Esau. Jacob was using a rock for a
pillow, and he feared for his life. It’s
no wonder that he couldn’t sleep very well and had quite active dreams. Read from Peterson’s The Message:
Jacob
left Beersheba and went to Haran. He came to a certain place
and camped for the
night since the sun had set. He took one of the stones
there, set it
under his head and lay down to sleep.
And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the
ground and it reached all the way to the sky; angels
of God were going up and down on it.
Then God was right before him, saying, “I am God, the
God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I’m giving the ground on which you are
sleeping to you and
to your descendants. Your descendants
will be as the
dust of the Earth; they’ll stretch from west to east and from north to south. All the families of
the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants. Yes. I’ll stay with you, I’ll protect you wherever you go, and I’ll bring you back to this
very ground.
I’ll stick
with you until I’ve done everything I promised
you.”
Jacob
woke up from his
sleep. He said, “God is in this place – truly. And I didn’t even know it!” He was terrified. He whispered in awe,
“Incredible. Wonderful. Holy.
This is God’s House. This is the Gate of Heaven.”
Jacob
was up first thing in the morning. He took
the stone he had used for his pillow and stood it up as a memorial
pillar and poured oil over it. He christened
the place Bethel (God’s House). The
name of the town had been Luz until then.
Jacob
vowed a vow: “If God
stands by me on this
journey on which I’m setting out, keeps me in
food and clothing, and brings me back in one piece to my father’s house, this God will be my God. This
stone that I have set up as a memorial pillar will mark this as a
place where God lives. And everything you give me, I’ll return
a tenth to you.” (Genesis 28:
10-22)
Now read the same passage from the NIV translation:
Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached
a certain place, he
stopped for the night because the sun had
set. Taking one
of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream
in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven,
and the angels of God were ascending and descending on
it. There
above it stood the Lord, and 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."
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought,
"Surely the Lord
is in this place, and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than
the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."
Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and
set it up as a
pillar and poured oil on top of it. He
called that place
Bethel, though the city used to be called
Luz.
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "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 28:10-22)
There seems to me to be a significant difference between
the Lord giving and the Lord will give.
So far Jacob and his fathers have not received the covenant promise of
the land… nor of the many descendants.
It takes faith to keep on believing in spite of all the circumstantial
evidence. I like the NIV better than
Peterson’s work in this case.
There’s also a significant difference between families
of the earth blessing themselves in Jacob’s descendants (Peterson) and the
peoples of the earth being blessed through them (NIV). The NIV, once again, hits the Spirit and
heart of the passage much better, in my opinion.
The other differences do not strike me as significant.
But when we are on the run like Jacob, we do not expect
the Lord to be in this harrowing time.
Even if the presence of the Lord is there (and it is), we are not aware
of it. We are concentrating on staying
alive.
It takes a wonderful dream to confirm to Jacob and to us
that God is still there. It’s in this
passage that Jacob receives the true covenantal blessing from the Lord. Jacob is acknowledged as a son of Abraham,
who actually is his grandfather. But his
faith makes him closely resemble his grandfather.
Though Jacob wants to intimately know God’s
presence in his life through being protected, Jacob believes strongly in God’s
blessing. He believes even though he’s
running for his life.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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