OBEDIENCE AND EXPERIENCING GOD (Genesis 28:1-19)

So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him: “Do not marry a Canaanite woman. Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. May God Almighty[b] bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.” Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau. Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman,” and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had. Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 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[c] 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.

Esau and Jacob differed not in their temperament or character, but in their obedience. When we seek to obey God's Word, we may experience more unrest than peace. However, it is in those moments of obedience amidst unrest that we encounter God.

The Intention of the Author of Genesis

Genesis is not a book about creation or the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and others. Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel, after King Solomon. The northern kingdom was destroyed by Assyria around 722 B.C., and the southern kingdom of Judah was destroyed by Babylon around 587 B.C. Babylon took the southern kingdom's people into captivity. From that time or 70 years later, when they returned to Jerusalem, the Israelites began to repent. In other words, they thoroughly reflected on why the chosen people of Israel had failed. They repented of ignoring God and living disrespectfully according to the words of the prophets. Israel recorded their repentance and reestablished faith in documents, and the first book of this was Genesis. In Genesis, they confess who their Creator God is and record how their ancestors and their faith were. So, what does the author of Genesis (Israel) want to confess?

Difference between Esau and Jacob, and Obedience

We can see a certain flow through Abraham, his son Isaac, and his son Jacob. We commonly think of this flow as faith. Faith can be expressed in various ways, but this passage refers to faith as obedience. The history of obedience in Jacob's household was exceptional, starting from his grandfather Abraham. Abraham obeyed God's command to leave his homeland and relatives. When God commanded Abraham to offer his son Isaac, whom he had at the age of 100, as a burnt offering, he also obeyed. Jacob's father Isaac was also an obedient person. Isaac remained still when his father raised his knife to offer him as a sacrifice. When a famine came to the land where Isaac lived and he planned to go to Egypt for refuge, he obeyed God's command not to go there.

One day, Jacob's father Isaac tells him to go to Haran to find a wife. Surprisingly, Jacob obeys his father's command, which is the first time we see him showing obedience. Jacob seems different from his grandfather and father, as the text shows him running away from his brother Esau. The story in the text is about Jacob trading his lentil soup for Esau's birthright and then stealing Esau's blessing from their father before fleeing and becoming a wanderer. Jacob's actions seem contradictory as he both runs away and shows obedience. So, why can we interpret this text as an example of obedience?

The author of Genesis inserts the story of Esau's reckless behavior towards his parents between Isaac's command to Jacob and Jacob's departure to Haran. In Genesis 26:6-9, Esau disregards his parents' wishes by marrying a foreign woman twice. This contrasts sharply with Jacob's obedience to his father's command to find a wife.

In Genesis, it is likely that Esau acted out of anger because his father had given Jacob the blessing that he had hoped to receive. However, his reckless behavior of marrying a foreign wife was not an appropriate response as a son who should have been mindful of his father's wishes. The Bible indicates that Esau witnessed Isaac's instructions to Jacob (v. 6), but instead of obeying, he chose to disregard them. The text implies that Esau had observed his father's intentions, but did not comply. In contrast, the Bible states that "Jacob obeyed his parents and went to Paddan Aram” (v. 7), highlighting the difference between Esau and Jacob. Jacob's departure to Haran is not just about avoiding his brother's anger, but also about obedience to his parents.

Jacob's Encounter with God's First Voice

Obeying his father's words, Jacob left his home in Beersheba, but his journey was not an easy one. He had to travel about 850 km to reach his uncle's home in Padan-aram. Despite the hardships that lay ahead, Jacob obeyed and set out on his journey. That night, as he used a stone as a pillow to rest, God came to him.

God spoke to Jacob and 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" (Gen 28:13).

Despite the challenges that lay ahead of him, Jacob was reassured by God's promise. This encounter marked the beginning of Jacob's journey of faith, where he would learn to trust in God's faithfulness and provision.

God fulfills the promise he made to Jacob's grandfather Abraham and father Isaac by promising to give Jacob the land he is lying on, as well as to his descendants. Although Jacob obediently left home, he faces an uneasy and grueling 850km journey to his uncle's home in Paddan-aram. However, on the night he sleeps with a stone for a pillow, God visits him and speaks to him. God promises to be with Jacob throughout his journey and beyond, to bring him back to this land and never to leave him until all that he has promised him is fulfilled. This is the first time Jacob hears God's voice, after setting out obediently but homeless. At that moment, Jacob clearly understands who the God his grandfather and father relied on truly is.

If the first phenomenon that occurs when obeying God's word is facing difficulties, the second is discovering who God truly is. Jacob vividly met the God of his grandfather and father while traveling as a homeless person. He set up the stone he had used as a pillow, poured oil on it, and renamed the place Bethel, which means "house of God." He changed the name because he realized that the place he had thought was only full of anxiety and despair was actually where God was present. The transformation from anxiety to promise, from hardship to hope, and from sadness to joy happened because God had provided a ladder between those extremes. Jacob saw this and renamed the place where he met God as "the place where God is present." Just as his grandfather Abraham had obeyed God's word and faced anxiety, Jacob's anxiety turned into promise and hope as he obeyed his father's words and set out on the journey.

When Israel became captive in Babylon and later returned to Jerusalem, they struggled with where to establish their faith. They looked to Jacob as the cornerstone of their belief. Despite his stubbornness and blindness to his own desires, Israel empathized with Jacob's obedience to his father's urging to leave. The author of Genesis (Israel) sees in Jacob the same obedience to God's word that Abraham exhibited. Israel learned through experience that following God's word may bring pain and hardship, but it also allows for a vivid encounter with him in the midst of those struggles. In the passage where Jacob encounters God in Bethel, while on the run, Genesis' author reestablishes Israel's faith and imparts life wisdom.