 |  |
When Jacob awoke, he said, "surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not", and
he was afraid and said, "how dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of
God, and this is the gate of heaven". These words sound sincere; were they? Some
commentators reckon that the bargaining cheating spirit of Jacob is manifest in the vow
that follows; we however believe that here we have, in the opening chapter of this
pilgrimage, the dawn of a new life, not by any means perfected, for he has much to learn
of the weakness and failure of the flesh, before he shall halt upon his thigh, a cripple of
grace. Some say, hark at his bargainings, with his ifs. "If God will be with me.......then
shall the Lord be my God." In the first place a true translation transposes the "then" of
verse 21, and the "and" of verse 22, making the verses read thus:--
"If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me
bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's home in peace,
and the Lord be my God, THEN, this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be
God's house: and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee."
Here is no bargaining spirit. Jacob, overwhelmed with grace, can only say, if this be
so it demands of me nothing less than the devotion I now offer. The tenth or the tithe
became a Divine institution, and appears to have been accepted of Jacob. The one whose
stolen blessing included PLENTY of corn and wine is grateful to acknowledge "bread to
eat". Here is Jacob's first meeting with God, and here is seen the effect of grace. Any
one less than God would have felt it becoming and right, nay righteous, yea a moral
necessity, to have prefaced the blessing with reminders, with censure, with warning, with
upbraiding. Blessed be God! He knows best. Here, Jacob is more deeply moved by
unsullied grace than ever he would have been by perfect law. Censure, rebuke, warning,
would have called forth the depths of Jacob's duplicity; unmitigated grace finds its echo
in unsophisticated gratitude. Surely a fundamental here, not only of dispensational truth,
but of private conduct too, especially in the dispensation of the grace of God.
The first act of Jacob was symbolical of supplanting and gave him his name Jacob
(Gen. 25: 26). His next recorded act shows him cheating his brother of his birthright
and blessing, then comes the crime and the commencement of his pilgrimage. Here,
possibly for the first time, Jacob comes into personal touch with God, and that God of his
father becomes his God. His next recorded act is not one of selfishness, but of chivalry:--
"And it came to pass that when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's
brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the
stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother, and
Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept" (Gen. 29: 10, 11).
The repeated reference to his mother's brother seems to indicate Jacob's affection for
his mother, and also carries an intimation that possibly Laban will have some of the
cunning of his sister in his character, which forebodes trouble for Jacob. However, at the
beginning Jacob is received with warm welcome, and with a kinsman's affection. The
last sentence of verse 13 suggests much, "and he told Laban all these things". How much
did Jacob tell his "mother's brother"? Whatever it was, Laban said to him, "surely thou
art my bone and my flesh, and he abode with him the space of a month". At the end of