THE K I N G ’ S B US I NE S S
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NOVEMBER 17, 1918 JACOB FLEEING FROM HIS ANGRY BROTHER Golden Text.— “ He hath not dealt with us after our sins; according to our iniquities.” Ps. 103:10. nor rewarded us LESSON TEXT Gen. 28:10-22. (Additional material, Gen. 27:46-28:9).
(10) And Jacob went out from Beeiv sheba, and went toward Haran. (11) And he. lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep. (12) And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top o f it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. (13) And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God o f Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee w ill I give it, and to thy seed; (4) And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the fam ilies of the earth be blessed. (15) And, behold, I am with thee, and w ill keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and w ill bring thee again into this land; for I w ill not leave thee, until I I. Esau’s Angry Threat. Had Esau been honest with himself and Jacob he would not have forgotten that if he had lost the birthright, he himself was wholly to blame for it. Had he been angry LESSON with himself instead EXPOSITION of with his brother, some good might Instead of that he brooded over the matter, and the longer he brooded the worse it seemed, until he announced his determination to murder his brother. What a sad place for such a good-natured man as Esau to put himself in! Then again, if Esau had considered the whole matter and remembered God’s declared purpose when he and Jacob were born, he would have seen that his dwn unwillingness to fall in with God’s plan was wrong. He ought to have prayed, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” II. Jacob Leaving Home. The family were living at Beer-sheba at this time. Paddan-aram, to which fie have resulted.
have done that which I have spoken to thee of. (16) And Jacob awaked mm his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is . in this nlacev and I knew it not. (17) And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place: tins ns none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven. Uo) And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up tor a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. (19) And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. (20) And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God w ill be with me, and w ill keep me in this way that I go and w ill give me bread,to eat, and raiment to put on. (21) So that I come again to my father’s house in shall the LORD be mv o o d : (22) And this stone, which I have set up .fo r a pillar, shall be G ods house; and of all that thou shalt give me I w ill surely g ive1the tenth unto thee. was sent, was about 400 miles away. While Rebekah urged that Jacob might be sent away to secure a wife, who was not an idolatress, the real reason was her fear that Esau would carry out his threat. The desire that Jacob have a wife of her own family was perfectly right and proper. In his parting bless ing Isaac shows very plainly his con sciousness of the value of the birth right, and that the blessing that he was passing on to Jacob was something worth while. What a blessing the Christian parent has the privilege of passing on to his child. The father’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ cannot save his child, but his faith in Christ’s promises can claim that his child shall have saving faith for himself. I believe that Christian parents have a far greater responsibility and privilege in this matter than the patriarchs, or par ents, of the old dispensation. Notice Jacob s outfit as he left home: a cruse of oil, a staff, and his father’s blessing. Every child of God can have the same.
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