Today has been very exciting to read. Not only was there huge conflict and betrayal between brothers, repeated behavior, and more marriages; but I made another connection. Turns out, Jacob’s Ladder is more than just an old country song by Mark Wills.
So, it starts out with another famine, different than that of the days of Abraham. Isaac was going to go visit Abimelech, king of the Philistines.
“And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to you your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my status, and my laws.”
-Genesis 26: 2-5
When it talks of Isaac and Abimelech, it is an entire repetition of what Abraham did with Sarah. Isaac said his wife was his sister. Like father like son I guess.
“When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance.”
-Genesis 26:7-8
When they had been there a while, Isaac was caught laughing (Hebrew may suggest an intimate relationship) with his wife, and was called out by Abimelech.
“So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, “She is my sister?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.” Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
-Genesis 26:9-11
Isaac stayed there and sowed in the land until he became very wealthy and the Philistines envied him. Abimelech told him to go away because he was so much mightier than them.
There was also a section about how the Philistines had filled in the wells that were dug in the days of Abraham, and Isaac was now digging new wells.
“And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.”
-Genesis 26:18
From there he went to Beersheba and the Lord appeared to him. He built an alter there and called upon the name of the Lord. The servants dug a well there.
Abimelech came to visit Isaac to make a truce since he had sent him away.
“Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now blessed of the Lord.”
-Genesis 26:27-29
So they made up, and had a feast. The next morning they exchanged oaths. One of the servant’s said that they had found water in a well that they had dug. They named it Shibah, meaning oath.
At forty, Isaac’s son Esau took two wives. One named Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. This made life bitter for Isaac and Rebakah. I’m pretty sure Rebekah had a problem with him marrying from the Hittites.
The entire story of “Isaac Blesses Jacob” was exciting in the sense it made me want to read more just to find out what would happen next, because it was so devious.
In a nutshell, Isaac was old and could barely see anymore. He told his oldest and favorite son Esau to go out hunting and prepare a meal for him, and he would bless him before he died. Rebekah was listening to all of this, and favoring Jacob, she told him what she had heard. This devious bitch decided to make a plan for Jacob to trick her husband!
She tells Jacob to go to the flock and get two goats (heaven forbid her baby go hunting and put forth the effort), and that she would prepare them. Of course, she would be the one to cook. Did Jacob actually have to do anything? Rebakah coached him through the entire thing! They covered his body with animal skins so Jacob would appear to be as hairy as Esau, and dressed him in his brother’s clothes.
So he went to his father and pretended to be his brother. This trick worked, even though Isaac knew he sounded like Jacob, but he smelled of Esau because of his clothes, and felt the hair on his hands, so he believed him. Isaac blessed Jacob.
“See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed! May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. Let people serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”
-Genesis 27:27-29
Well, as soon as Isaac finished blessing Jacob, that’s when Esau showed up. He asked to still be blessed, but Isaac said how his brother had taken his blessing.
“Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.”
-Genesis 27:36
Esau pleaded for his father to bless him. I’m not sure if Isaac actually gave him “permission” or the thought to kill his brother, or Esau was that angry. His blessing was much simpler.
“Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you get restless you shall break the yoke from your neck.”
-Genesis 27:39-40
Rebekah had Jacob go to Laban to hide from Esau and his anger, because he was planing on killing him. Once he “gets over it,” she would bring Jacob back. He may be waiting a while!
Rebekah also told Isaac how much she loathed her life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob married one, she wouldn’t know what good her life would be. Isaac told Jacob that he could not marry from the Canaanite women and to take a wife from the house of his mother. “Back to the homeland” theory again?
Since Esau found out that Canaanite women did not please his father, even though he had already married two, he went to Ishmael and took a wife named Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. So he married his distant cousin?
How are people allowed to have more than one wife? I thought that was the purpose of marriage through Adam and Eve. Can women have more than one husband. Seems like to me though, that’d just be a lot of work!
When Jacob was on his journey, he used a stone as a pillow and went to sleep and dreamed.
“And he dreamed, behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it…Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you…Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it…” This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
-Genesis 28:12-13, 15-17
Jacob used the stone he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called the name of the place Bethel (house of God).
“Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a tenth to you.”
-Genesis 28:20-22
Whoa! Was this the creation of the first church!?
I love when I can make connections. It really helps me understand the material better. Today’s reading about Jacob’s Ladder was an absolute “ah-ha” moment for me!
Years ago, my Daddy picked up some CDs in a truck stop and brought them home to us kids. One of the songs on there was “Jacob’s Ladder” by Mark Wills. It may be a little far fetched to connect the two, but that’s where I took it, and I love that song. This has been a good day!
“Heaven was waiting at the top of Jacob’s Ladder.”
👍 Enjoying this daily passages