And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
Jacob left his father's home at Beer-sheba for Haran as a fugitive with only his staff, beginning a lonely exile of hundreds of miles through desolate country to escape Esau's wrath after wrongfully taking the birthright and blessing. He traveled discouraged and alone, grieving home and mother, weary and homeless by the second evening, burdened with remorse and fearing he had forfeited divine protection, yet confessing his sin and pleading not to be utterly forsaken, until he slept outdoors with stones for his pillow under the open sky. That night on the hillside at Bethel the merciful God met him with a vision of a shining ladder reaching from earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending, showing heaven joined to earth and revealing Christ as the ladder by whom alone humanity is lifted to God and every blessing comes. God gave him personal assurance of presence, mercy, protection and future blessing, which brought him comfort and new birth as a child of God and led him to vow that the Lord should be his God. Those promises later became the ground of his prevailing prayer for deliverance on his return, proving that God meets and blesses His seeking servants in lowly places and not only in splendid buildings, and sending him forward with a heart overflowing with love and a sense of angels as companions.
Jacob's Lonely Journey
Genesis 28:10 records Jacob leaving his father's tent at Beer-sheba and going toward Haran, beginning his exile as a fugitive with only his staff in his hand to travel hundreds of miles through desolate country and dreary wilderness. His departure marks the start of a lonely wandering toward Haran in a discouraged state, on his first visit toward the place that would become Bethel.
He was fleeing for his life from the wrath of Esau after sinning in obtaining the promised blessing and birthright through lack of faith in God's power to carry out His purposes and by defrauding his brother of what belonged to him. He knew the wrong he had committed lay behind his flight, and that flight made him an exile and fugitive from home.
He went as a lonely, discouraged wanderer, the petted son of his mother now alone, grieving the loss of home and his mother, avoiding men lest he be traced, with his courage gone. His fears and troubles on the way weighed on him because he knew they followed from his sins, and though repentant he still feared what lay ahead. On the second day of the journey as evening drew to a close he was weary, hungry, homeless, lonely and outcast, with daylight gone and darkness over him.
He was burdened by remorse and timidity, without the peace of God, harassed by the thought that he had forfeited divine protection and feeling forsaken of God by his own wrong course. He had lost all confidence in himself and feared the God of his fathers had cast him off, enclosed by dark clouds of despair and nameless terror so he hardly dared to pray. Yet feeling his need of protection as never before, he wept and confessed his sin and entreated for evidence that he was not utterly forsaken, finding no relief in his burdened heart.
After sunset he stopped for the night and slept outdoors, gathering stones for his pillow with only the canopy of heaven for covering, resting his head on a stone.
Vision and Promise at Bethel
That night the merciful God pitied the lonely fugitive and met him on the hillside at Bethel on his first visit there. After sunset he had stopped to rest with a stone for his pillow, and the Lord gave him a glorious night vision of a ladder of shining brightness with its base resting firmly on the earth and its top reaching to the very heavens. God stood at the top with His glory streaming from heaven to earth, and angels ascended and descended upon it. God sent the angels to show the connection between heaven and earth, that heaven's light is given to the inhabitants of earth. In that night vision the Lord appeared to him with promises of mercy, answering him in the day of his distress and being with him in the way he went, with angelic instruction, comfort, and protection.
The ladder is a symbol of the plan of salvation and of heaven's gift to humanity. Christ is that ladder connecting humanity with divinity, through whom alone people joined to His divinity are drawn upward by God's love to reach heaven. Every blessing comes through Him. It is the ladder which all who love God ascend round after round heavenward.
In the vision God gave Jacob personal promises in addition to the covenant made with his fathers, promising His presence and care, mercy, protection and future blessing. Those promises, together with the covenant made with his fathers and the promises later given in the land of his exile, became the ground he would plead in his later crisis. The vision gave him confidence and comfort in God in his repentant fear of what lay ahead. That night he experienced the new birth and became a child of God, and the light that came to him in his discouragement was most precious to him, so that the hard stone on which his head rested became the most desirable pillow on which his head had ever rested. There he made his solemn vow that the Lord should be his God, in response to the renewing voice of mercy, protection and future blessing.
The dream illustrates that God's presence is real and holy and is to be approached with awe rather than presumption.
Later Prayer and Application
The promises given to Jacob in the night vision at Bethel, together with the covenant made with his fathers, became the ground he pleaded when his crisis came on returning to his native country. The promises given to him in the vision and those later given to him in the land of his exile were what he fastened upon in prayer for deliverance. Left alone in darkness and solitude he confessed his sin with deep humiliation and grateful acknowledgment of mercy. He humbled himself in prayer and with trembling grasp held to those promises, urging his plea until he had assurance that his sin was pardoned.
His humble resting place, consecrated by a manifestation of divine glory on the way from Beer-sheba toward Haran, proves that God's presence is not confined to a splendid edifice. He meets and blesses servants who seek truth, peace and righteousness in hillside, cave, forest, barn or tent. The grandest cathedral enclosing pride, dead forms and hollow hypocrisy is repulsive to Him. Jacob went forward on his journey with a heart overflowing with love to God and with melody in harmony with the birds. He felt the presence of the Unseen with him and angels as his companions, and he felt that God's claims and special tokens of favor demanded tangible return in time, talents and property.
Even in that exiled condition, with daylight gone and darkness over him and a stone for rest, his dreams kept him nearer to God and his waking thoughts turned bright with praise. He raised Bethel out of stony griefs, so that the cross and woes of exile became what lifted him nearer to God. In the same way a home shaped by a mother's loving Christian ministry can become a Bethel, a place where God is brought into family life and Christ works with the mother.
Jacob left his father's home at Beer-sheba for Haran as a fugitive with only his staff, beginning a lonely exile of hundreds of miles through desolate country to escape Esau's wrath after wrongfully taking the birthright and blessing. He traveled discouraged and alone, grieving home and mother, weary and homeless by the second evening, burdened with remorse and fearing he had forfeited divine protection, yet confessing his sin and pleading not to be utterly forsaken, until he slept outdoors with stones for his pillow under the open sky. That night on the hillside at Bethel the merciful God met him with a vision of a shining ladder reaching from earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending, showing heaven joined to earth and revealing Christ as the ladder by whom alone humanity is lifted to God and every blessing comes. God gave him personal assurance of presence, mercy, protection and future blessing, which brought him comfort and new birth as a child of God and led him to vow that the Lord should be his God. Those promises later became the ground of his prevailing prayer for deliverance on his return, proving that God meets and blesses His seeking servants in lowly places and not only in splendid buildings, and sending him forward with a heart overflowing with love and a sense of angels as companions.
Jacob's Lonely Journey
Genesis 28:10 records Jacob leaving his father's tent at Beer-sheba and going toward Haran, beginning his exile as a fugitive with only his staff in his hand to travel hundreds of miles through desolate country and dreary wilderness. His departure marks the start of a lonely wandering toward Haran in a discouraged state, on his first visit toward the place that would become Bethel.
He was fleeing for his life from the wrath of Esau after sinning in obtaining the promised blessing and birthright through lack of faith in God's power to carry out His purposes and by defrauding his brother of what belonged to him. He knew the wrong he had committed lay behind his flight, and that flight made him an exile and fugitive from home.
He went as a lonely, discouraged wanderer, the petted son of his mother now alone, grieving the loss of home and his mother, avoiding men lest he be traced, with his courage gone. His fears and troubles on the way weighed on him because he knew they followed from his sins, and though repentant he still feared what lay ahead. On the second day of the journey as evening drew to a close he was weary, hungry, homeless, lonely and outcast, with daylight gone and darkness over him.
He was burdened by remorse and timidity, without the peace of God, harassed by the thought that he had forfeited divine protection and feeling forsaken of God by his own wrong course. He had lost all confidence in himself and feared the God of his fathers had cast him off, enclosed by dark clouds of despair and nameless terror so he hardly dared to pray. Yet feeling his need of protection as never before, he wept and confessed his sin and entreated for evidence that he was not utterly forsaken, finding no relief in his burdened heart.
After sunset he stopped for the night and slept outdoors, gathering stones for his pillow with only the canopy of heaven for covering, resting his head on a stone.
Vision and Promise at Bethel
That night the merciful God pitied the lonely fugitive and met him on the hillside at Bethel on his first visit there. After sunset he had stopped to rest with a stone for his pillow, and the Lord gave him a glorious night vision of a ladder of shining brightness with its base resting firmly on the earth and its top reaching to the very heavens. God stood at the top with His glory streaming from heaven to earth, and angels ascended and descended upon it. God sent the angels to show the connection between heaven and earth, that heaven's light is given to the inhabitants of earth. In that night vision the Lord appeared to him with promises of mercy, answering him in the day of his distress and being with him in the way he went, with angelic instruction, comfort, and protection.
The ladder is a symbol of the plan of salvation and of heaven's gift to humanity. Christ is that ladder connecting humanity with divinity, through whom alone people joined to His divinity are drawn upward by God's love to reach heaven. Every blessing comes through Him. It is the ladder which all who love God ascend round after round heavenward.
In the vision God gave Jacob personal promises in addition to the covenant made with his fathers, promising His presence and care, mercy, protection and future blessing. Those promises, together with the covenant made with his fathers and the promises later given in the land of his exile, became the ground he would plead in his later crisis. The vision gave him confidence and comfort in God in his repentant fear of what lay ahead. That night he experienced the new birth and became a child of God, and the light that came to him in his discouragement was most precious to him, so that the hard stone on which his head rested became the most desirable pillow on which his head had ever rested. There he made his solemn vow that the Lord should be his God, in response to the renewing voice of mercy, protection and future blessing.
The dream illustrates that God's presence is real and holy and is to be approached with awe rather than presumption.
Later Prayer and Application
The promises given to Jacob in the night vision at Bethel, together with the covenant made with his fathers, became the ground he pleaded when his crisis came on returning to his native country. The promises given to him in the vision and those later given to him in the land of his exile were what he fastened upon in prayer for deliverance. Left alone in darkness and solitude he confessed his sin with deep humiliation and grateful acknowledgment of mercy. He humbled himself in prayer and with trembling grasp held to those promises, urging his plea until he had assurance that his sin was pardoned.
His humble resting place, consecrated by a manifestation of divine glory on the way from Beer-sheba toward Haran, proves that God's presence is not confined to a splendid edifice. He meets and blesses servants who seek truth, peace and righteousness in hillside, cave, forest, barn or tent. The grandest cathedral enclosing pride, dead forms and hollow hypocrisy is repulsive to Him. Jacob went forward on his journey with a heart overflowing with love to God and with melody in harmony with the birds. He felt the presence of the Unseen with him and angels as his companions, and he felt that God's claims and special tokens of favor demanded tangible return in time, talents and property.
Even in that exiled condition, with daylight gone and darkness over him and a stone for rest, his dreams kept him nearer to God and his waking thoughts turned bright with praise. He raised Bethel out of stony griefs, so that the cross and woes of exile became what lifted him nearer to God. In the same way a home shaped by a mother's loving Christian ministry can become a Bethel, a place where God is brought into family life and Christ works with the mother.