Scripture Daily

Context No. 3233 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 28:6-15: in context

6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;” 7and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan Aram. 8Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn’t please Isaac, his father. 9So Esau went to Ishmael, and took, in addition to the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife. 10Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. 11He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12He dreamed and saw a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13Behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give the land you lie on to you and to your offspring. 14Your offspring will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your offspring, all the families of the earth will be blessed. 15Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.”

Jacob, fleeing his brother's murderous anger, leaves Beersheba and comes at nightfall to a certain place, where he lies down with a stone for a pillow. And there God meets him in a dream: a stairway set on the earth reaching to heaven, with angels ascending and descending, and the LORD standing above it, promising him the land, countless descendants, and blessing to all the families of the earth through him.

Jacob, a fugitive and a deceiver, lies alone on a stone in the wilderness, and there God meets him with staggering grace, not with rebuke for his scheming, but with promise. And above every other promise comes this: behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. God comes to Jacob not because Jacob deserves it, at this low point he plainly does not, but because of grace and covenant. And the promise I am with you is given precisely to the fugitive, in the wilderness, at his lowest.

Do I believe God's promise "I am with you and will keep you wherever you go" reaches me even at my lowest and least deserving, as it reached the fleeing Jacob?

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