And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew [it] not.
16. in this place ] Jacob’s words express astonishment that Jehovah should have manifested Himself ( a) in a place remote from his father’s home; ( b) to himself a solitary wanderer.
this place ] Compare Exo 3:5, “the place whereon thou standest is holy ground”; Jos 5:15, “the place whereon thou standest is holy.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 28:16
Surely the Lord is In this place, and I knew it not
The sense of Gods presence
I.
This living sense of Gods presence with us is a leading feature of the character of all His saints under every dispensation. This is the purpose of all Gods dealings with every child of Adam–to reveal Himself to them and in them. He kindles desires after Himself; He helps and strengthens the wayward will; He broods with a loving energy over the soul; He will save us if we will be saved. All Gods saints learn how near He is to them, and they rejoice to learn it. They learn to delight themselves in the Lord–He gives them their hearts desire.
II. Notice, secondly, how this blessing is bestowed on us. For around us, as around David, only far more abundantly, are appointed outward means, whereby God intends to reveal Himself to the soul. This is the true character of every ordinance of the Church: all are living means of His appointment, whereby He reveals Himself to those who thirst after Him. We use these means aright when through them we seek after God. Their abuse consists either in carelessly neglecting these outward things or ill prizing them for themselves and so resting in them, by which abuse they are turned into especial curses. (Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
Unconscious providences
You cannot understand the annals of the race, unless you employ the doctrine of special providence for your key. We need celestial observations, said Coleridge, whenever we attempt to mark out terrestial chalets. It was reported as great wisdom, though uninspired, when somebody remarked, Man proposes, God disposes. But wisdom inspired had said long before that: There are many devices in a mans heart; nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.
I. Let us look, for a moment, through the familiar incidents of the Scriptural story, for the sake of some quiet illustrations they furnish The only way to look upon Scripture characters is to contemplate them on the heaven side, to just look up straight at them. In our conceit, we are sometimes wont to estimate these worthies of the Old and New Testaments as being altogether such as ourselves, wilfulest and most blind, moving self-impelled in orbits of earthly history. Just as a child contemplates the stars it sees far down in a placid lake, over the surface of which it sails. They do seem mere points of fire under the water, and an infant mind may well wonder what is their errand there. It ought, however, to need no more than a mature instructors voice to remind the mistaken boy that these are but images; the true stars are circling overhead, where the creating Hand first placed them in a system. So these orbs of human existence, distinct, rounded, inclusive, must be judged, not as they appear down here in the confused depths of a merely human career, but aloft, where they belong, orbited in their settled and honourable place in the counsels of God;–
For ever singing, as they shine, The hand that made us is Divine.
II. Nor is the case otherwise, when we enter the field of secular history for a new series of illustrations. The Almighty, in building up His architectures of purpose, seems to have been pleased to use light and easy strokes, slender instruments, and dedicate took He uses the hands less, the horns coming out of His hands more, for there is the hiding of His power. He has employed the least things to further the execution of His widest plans, sometimes bringing them into startling prominence, and investing them with critical, and to all appearance incommensurate, importance. What we call accidents are parts of His ordinary, and even profound, counsels, lie chooses the weakest things of this world to confound the mighty. Two college students by a haystack began the Foreign Mission work. An old marine on ship-board commenced the Association for Sailors. The tears of a desolate Welsh girl, crying for a Testament, led to the first society for distributing Bibles. Were these events accidents? No; nor these lives either. God reached the events through the lives. The Lord was in that place. He established those lives, nameless or named, like sentinels at posts. They did their office when the time came. They may not have understood it, but the Lord did. And even they understood it afterwards.
III. We might arrest the argument here. I choose to push it on one step further, and enter the field of individual biography. In our every-day existence we sometimes run along the verge of the strangest possibilities, any one of which would make or mar the history. And nobody ever seems to know it but God. I feel quite sure most of us could mention the day and the hour when a certain momentous question was decided for us, the effect of which was to fix our entire future. Our profession, our home, our relationships all grew out of it. No man can ever be satisfied that his life has been mere commonplace. Events seem striking, when we contemplate the influence they have had on ourselves. A journey, a fit of sickness, a windfall of fortune, the defection of a friend–any such incident is most remarkable when all after-life feels it. We never appreciate these things at the time. Yet at this moment you can point your finger to a page in the unchangeable Book, and say honestly: The Lord was in that place, and I knew it not. We are ready, now, I should suppose, to search out the use to which this principle may be applied in ordering our lives.
1. In the beginning, we learn here at once, who are the heroes and heroines of the worlds history. They are the people who have most of the moulding care, and gracious presence of God. It may be quite true they know it not. But they will know it in the end.
2. Our next lesson has to do with what may be considered the sleeps and stirs of experience. The soul is beginning to battle with its human belongings, and to struggle after peace under the pressure of high purposes, the sway of which it neither wills to receive, nor dares to resist. The Lord is in that place, and the man knows it not. Now what needs to be done, when Christian charity deals with him? You see he is asleep; yet the ladder of Divine grace out in the air over him makes him stir. He dreams.
He is sure to see the passing and repassing angels soon, if you treat him rightly. He must be carefully taught and tenderly admonished.
3. We may learn likewise a third lesson; the text teaches something as to blights in life. The world is full of cowed individuals; of men and women broken in spirit, yet still trying to hold on. Some catastrophe took them down. They cannot right up again. Many a man knows that a single event, lasting hardly a day or a night, has changed his entire career. He questions now, in all candour, whether he might not as well slip quietly out under the eaves, and take his abrupt chances of a better hereafter. If a blight results from ones own will and intelligent sin, he deserves a scar and a limp. Pray God to forgive the past, and try to work the robustness of what remains into new results. But if we were only sinned against, or were unfortunate, that goes for nothing. If we only suffered, and no sinew is wrung, we may well have done with thinking discontentedly of it. While the world stands, all Adams sons must work, and all Eves daughters must wail. No life is now, or is going to be, blighted, that can still take a new start. Begin again. These periods of reversal will all sweep by and by into the system of purposes. We shall sing songs of praise about them in heaven.
4. Hence our best lesson is the last; it tells us how to estimate final results. The true valuation of any human life can be made only when the entire account shall come in. Oh, how fine it is for any one to be told, as Jacob was: I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee oil How it magnifies and glorifies a human life to understand that God himself is urging it on to its ultimate reckoning! (C. S.Robinson, D. D.)
Jacob at Bethel
I. The first circumstance we must notice, is THE TIME WHEN THIS DISCOVERY OF GOD TO JACOB WAS MADE.
1. It was in a season of distress.
2. It was just after he had fallen into a grievous sin.
II. CONSIDER THE ENDS TO BE ANSWERED BY IT.
1. One design, then, of this vision certainly was to give Jacob at this time a lively impression of the presence and providence of God, His universal presence and ever active providence.
2. But God had another design in this vision. It was intended to renew and confirm to Jacob the promises He had given him.
III. But let us go on to notice THE EFFECTS PRODUCED ON JACOB BY THIS HEAVENLY VISION.
1. The first of these was just what we might have expected–a sense of Gods presence; a new, startling sense of it.
2. This vision produced fear also in Jacob. He was afraid, we read. How dreadful, he said, is this place! And yet why should Jacob fear? No spectacle of terror has been presented to him. No words of wrath have been addressed to him. There has appeared no visionary mount Sinai flaming and shaking before him. All he has seen and heard has spoken to him of peace. We might have expected him as he waked to have sung with joy. What a change since he laid himself down on these stones to sleep! The evils he most dreaded, all averted; the mercies he mourned over as lost, all restored. Happy must his sleep have been, and happy now his waking! But not one word do we read here of happiness. The Holy Spirit tells us only of Jacobs fear. And why? To impress this truth on our minds, that the man who sees God never trifles with Him; that the soul He visits and gladdens with His mercy, He always fills with an awe of His majesty.
3. Notice yet one effect more of this scene–a desire in Jacob to render something to the God who had so visited him. And this seems to have risen up in his mind as soon as he awoke, and to have been an exceedingly strong desire. There is nothing he can do now for God, but he sets up a memorial of Gods loving kindness to him, and binds himself by a solemn purpose and vow to show in the days that are to come his thankfulness for it. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
Jacobs waking exclamation
I. First, THE DOCTRINE OF GODS OMNIPRESENCE. He is everywhere. In the early Christian Church there was a wicked heresy, which for a long while caused great disturbance, and exceeding much controversy. There were some who taught that Satan, the representative of evil, was of co-equal power with God, the representative of good. These men found it necessary to impugn the doctrine of Gods universal power. Their doctrine denied the all-pervading presence of God in the present world, and they seemed to imagine that we should of necessity have to get out of the world of nature altogether, before we could be in the presence of God. Their preachers seemed to teach that there was a great distance between God and His great universe; they always preached of Him as the King who dwelt in the land that was very far off; nay, they almost seemed to go as far as though they had said, Between us and Him there is a great gulf fixed, so that neither can our prayers reach Him, nor can the thoughts of His mercy come down to us. Blessed be God that error has long ago been exploded, and we as Christian men, without exception, believe that God is as much in the lowest hell as in the highest heaven, and as truly among the sinful hosts of mortals, as among the blissful choir of immaculate immortals, who day without night praise His name. He is everywhere in the fields of nature. Ye shall go where ye will; ye shall look to the most magnificent of Gods works, and ye shall say–God is here, upon thine awful summit, O hoary Alp! in thy dark bosom, O tempest-cloud! and in thy angry breath, O devastating hurricane! He makes the clouds His chariot and rides upon the wings of the wind. God is here. And so in the most minute–in the blossom of the apple, in the bloom of the tiny field flower, in the sea-shell which has been washed up from its mother-deep, in the sparkling of the mineral brought up from darkest mines, in the highest star or in yon comet that startles the nations and in its fiery chariot soon drives afar from mortal ken–great God, Thou art here, Thou art everywhere, From the minute to the magnificent, in the beautiful and in the terrible, in the fleeting and in the lasting, Thou art here, though sometimes we know it not.
2. Let us enter now the kingdom of Providence, again to rejoice that God is there. My brethren, let us walk the centuries, and at one stride of thought let us traverse the earliest times when man first came out of Eden, driven from it by the fall. Then this earth had no human population, and the wild tribes of animals roamed at their will. We know not what this island was then, save that we may suspect it to have been covered with dense forests, and perhaps inhabited by ferocious beasts; but God was here, as much here as He is to-day; as truly was He here then, when no ear heard His foot fall as He walked in the cool of the day in this great garden–as truly here as when to-day the songs of ten thousand rise up to heaven, blessing and magnifying His name. And then when our history began–turn over its pages and you will read of cruel invasions and wars which stained the soil with blood, and crimsoned it a foot deep with clotted gore; you will read of civil wars and intestine strifes between brother and brother, and you will say–How is this? How was this permitted? But if you read on and see how by tumult and bloody strife Liberty was served, and the best interests of man, you will say, Verily, God was here. History will conduct you to awful battle-fields; she will bid you behold the garment rolled in blood; she will cover you with the thick darkness of her fire and vapour of smoke; and as you hear the clash of arms, and see the bodies of your fellow-men, you say, The devil is here; but truth will say, No, though evil be here, yet surely God was in this place though we knew it not; all this was needful after all–these calamities are but revolutions of the mighty wheels of Providence, which are too high to be understood, but are as sure in their action as though we could predict their results. Turn if you will to what is perhaps a worse feature in history still, and more dreary far–I mean the story of persecutions. Read how the men of God were stoned and were sawn asunder; let your imaginations revive the burnings of Smithfield, and the old dungeons of the Lollards Tower; think how with fire and sword, and instruments of torture, the fiends of hell seemed determined to extirpate the chosen seed. But remember as you read the bloodiest tragedy; as your very soul grows sick at some awful picture of poor tortured human flesh, that verily God was in that place, scattering with rough hands, it may be, the eternal seed, bidding persecution be as the blast which carries seed away from some fruit-bearing tree that it may take root in distant islets which it had never reached unless it had been carried on the wings of the storm. Thou art, O God, even where man is most in his sin and blasphemy; Thou art reigning over rebels themselves, and over those who seem to defy and to overturn Thy will. Remember, always, that in history, however dreadful may seem the circumstance of the narrative, surely God is in that place.
3. But we now come to the third great kingdom of which the truth holds good in a yet more evident manner–the kingdom of grace. In yonder province of conviction, where hard-hearted ones are weeping penitential tears, where proud ones who said they would never haw this Man to reign over them are bowing their knees to kiss the Son lest He be angry; where rocky, adamantine consciences have at last begun to feel; where obdurate, determined, incorrigible sinners have at last turned from the error of their ways-God is there, for were He not there, none of these holy feelings would ever have arisen, and the cry would never have been heard–I will arise and go unto my Father. And in yonder providence which shines under a brighter sun, where penitents with joy look to a bleeding Saviour, where sinners leap to lose their chains, sad oppressed ones sing because their burdens have rolled away; where they who were just now sitting in darkness and in the valley of the shadow of death have seen the great light–God is in that place, or faith had never come and hope had never arisen.And there in yonder province, brighter still, where Christians lay their bodies upon the altar as living sacrifices, where men with self-denying zeal think themselves to be nothing and Christ to be all in all; where the missionary leaves his kindred that he may die among the swarthy heathen; where the young man renounces brilliant prospects that he may be the humble servant of Jesus; where yonder work-girl toils night and day to earn her bread rather than sell her soul; where yonder toiling labourer stands up for the rights of conscience against the demands of the mighty; where yonder struggling believer still holds to God in all his troubles, saying–Though He slay me yet will I trust in Him. God is in that place, and he that has eyes to see will soon perceive His presence there. Where the sigh is heaving, where the tear is falling, where the song is rising, where the desire is mounting, where love is burning, hope anticipating, faith abiding, joy oerflowing, patience suffering, and zeal abounding, God is surely present.
II. BUT HOW ARE WE TO RECOGNIZE THIS PRESENCE OF GOD? What is the spirit which shall enable us constantly to feel it?
1. If you would feel Gods presence, you must have an affinity to His nature. Your soul must have the spirit of adoption, and it will soon find out its Father. Your spirit must have a desire after holiness, and it will soon discover the presence of Him who is holiness itself. Your mind must be heavenly, and you will soon detect that the God of Heaven is here. The more nearly we become like God, the more Sure shall we be that God is where we are.
2. Next, there must be a calmness of spirit. God was in the place when Jacob came there that night, but he did not know it, for he was alarmed about his brother Esau; he was troubled, and vexed, and disturbed. He fell asleep, and his dream calmed him; he awoke refreshed; the noise of his troubled thoughts was gone and he heard the voice of God. More quiet we want, more quiet, more calm retirement, before we shall well be able, even with spiritual minds, to discover the sensible presence of God.
3. But then, next, Jacob had in addition to this calm of mind, a revelation of Christ. That ladder, as I have said in the exposition, was a picture of Christ, the way of access between man and God. You will never perceive God in nature, until you have learned to see God in grace.
4. More than this, no man will perceive God, wherever he may be, unless he knows that God has made a promise to be with him and is able by faith to look to the fulfilment of it. In Jacobs case God said, I will be with thee whithersoever thou goest, and I will not leave thee. Christian, have you heard the same?
III. THE PRACTICAL RESULTS OF A FULL RECOGNITION IN THE SOUL OF THIS DOCTRINE OF GODS OMNIPRESENCE. One of the first things would be to check our inordinate levity. Cheerfulness is a virtue: levity a vice. How much foolish talking, how much jesting which is not convenient, would at once end if we said, Surely God is in this place. And you, if you are called to enter a den such as Bunyan called his dungeon, can say, Surely God is in this place, and you make it a palace at once. Some of you, too, are in very deep affliction. You are driven to such straits that you do not know where things will end, and you are in great despondency to-day. Surely God is in that place. As certain as there was one like unto the Son of God in the midst of the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, so surely on the glowing coals of your affliction the heavenly footprints may be seen, for surely God is in this place. You are called to-day to some extraordinary duty, and you do not feel strong enough for it. Go to it, for Surely God is in this place. You have to address an assembly this afternoon for the first time. Surely God is in that place. He will help you. The arm will not be far off on which you have to lean, the Divine strength will not be remote to which you have to look. Surely God is in this place. And, lastly, if we always remembered that God was where we are, what reverence would it inspire when we are in His house, in the place particularly and specially set apart for His service! Oh, may we remember Surely God is in this place, and it will give us awe when we come into His immediate presence! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. The Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.] That is, God has made this place his peculiar residence; it is a place in which he meets with and reveals himself to his followers. Jacob might have supposed that this place had been consecrated to God. And it has already been supposed that, his mind having been brought into a humble frame, he was prepared to hold communion with his Maker.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Surely the Lord is in this place, by his special and gracious presence, and the manifestation of his mind and will to me; and I little expected to meet with such a revelation out of my fathers house, much less in this desert and doleful state and place, when I thought myself rejected by God, as well as abandoned by men.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. Jacob awaked out of hissleepHis language and his conduct were alike that of a manwhose mind was pervaded by sentiments of solemn awe, of ferventpiety, and lively gratitude (Jer31:36).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep,…. Which had been sweet unto him, and out of his dream, it being now over; and it having left such a weight upon his mind, and such an awe upon his spirits, it might tend the sooner to awaken him; what time it was is not said, perhaps it was in the middle of the night or towards morning, since after this it is said that he rose early in the morning:
and he said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew [it] not; God is everywhere, in a general way, upholding all things by his power, as he is immense and omnipresent; but here he was in a special sense, by some signal token of his presence; by a stream of light and glory darting from the heavens, hence Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it,
“the glory of the Lord, and the glory of the majesty of the Lord;”
and by the appearance of angels, and by the communications of his mind and will, and grace to Jacob, and that communion he had with him in his dream, of which he was very sensible: for, when he says, “I knew it not”, the meaning is, he did not think or expect to meet with God in such a place; he did not know that God ever appeared anywhere but in the houses of his people, such as his father’s house; and in the congregation of the faithful, or where the saints met for public worship, or where an altar was erected for God: though sometimes God is present with his people, and they are not sensible of it; as the church in Isa 41:10; and as Mary, when Christ was at her elbow, and she knew him not, Joh 20:13.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jacob gave utterance to the impression made by this vision as soon as he awoke from sleep, in the words, “ Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew it not.” Not that the omnipresence of God was unknown to him; but that Jehovah in His condescending mercy should be near to him even here, far away from his father’s house and from the places consecrated to His worship-it was this which he did not know or imagine. The revelation was intended not only to stamp the blessing, with which Isaac had dismissed him from his home, with the seal of divine approval, but also to impress upon Jacob’s mind the fact, that although Jehovah would be near to protect and guide him even in a foreign land, the land of promise was the holy ground on which the God of his fathers would set up the covenant of His grace. On his departure from that land, he was to carry with him a sacred awe of the gracious presence of Jehovah there. To that end the Lord proved to him that He was near, in such a way that the place appeared “ dreadful,” inasmuch as the nearness of the holy God makes an alarming impression upon unholy man, and the consciousness of sin grows into the fear of death. But in spite of this alarm, the place was none other than “ the house of God and the gate of heaven, ” i.e., a place where God dwelt, and a way that opened to Him in heaven.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Jacob’s Vow. | B. C. 1760. |
16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 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. 18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for 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 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, 21 So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: 22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
God manifested himself and his favour to Jacob when he was asleep and purely passive; for the spirit, like the wind, blows when and where he listeth, and God’s grace, like the dew, tarrieth not for the sons of men, Mic. v. 7. But Jacob applied himself to the improvement of the visit God had made him when he was awake; and we may well think he awaked, as the prophet did (Jer. xxxi. 26), and behold his sleep was sweet to him. Here is much of Jacob’s devotion on this occasion.
I. He expressed a great surprise at the tokens he had of God’s special presence with him in that place: Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not, v. 16. Note, 1. God’s manifestations of himself to his people carry their own evidence along with them. God can give undeniable demonstrations of his presence, such as give abundant satisfaction to the souls of the faithful that God is with them of a truth, satisfaction not communicable to others, but convincing to themselves. 2. We sometimes meet with God where we little thought of meeting with him. He is where we did not think he had been, is found where we asked not for him. No place excludes divine visits (ch. xvi. 13, here also); wherever we are, in the city or in the desert, in the house or in the field, in the shop or in the street, we may keep up our intercourse with Heaven if it be not our own fault.
II. It struck an awe upon him (v. 17): He was afraid; so far was he from being puffed up, and exalted above measure, with the abundance of the revelations (2 Cor. xii. 7), that he was afraid. Note, The more we see of God the more cause we see for holy trembling and blushing before him. Those to whom God is pleased to manifest himself are thereby laid, and kept, very low in their own eyes, and see cause to fear even the Lord and his goodness, Hos. iii. 5. He said, How dreadful is this place! that is, “The appearance of God in this place is never to be thought of, but with a holy awe and reverence. I shall have a respect for this place, and remember it by this token, as long as I live:” not that he thought the place itself any nearer the divine visions than other places; but what he saw there at this time was, as it were, the house of God, the residence of the divine Majesty, and the gate of heaven, that is, the general rendezvous of the inhabitants of the upper world, as the meetings of a city were in their gates; or the angels ascending and descending were like travellers passing and re-passing through the gates of a city. Note, 1. God is in a special manner present where his grace is revealed and where his covenants are published and sealed, as of old by the ministry of angels, so now by instituted ordinances, Matt. xxviii. 20. 2. Where God meets us with his special presence we ought to meet him with the most humble reverence, remembering his justice and holiness, and our own meanness and vileness.
III. He took care to preserve the memorial of it two ways: 1. He set up the stone for a pillar (v. 18); not as if he thought the visions of his head were any way owing to the stone on which it lay, but thus he would mark the place against he came back, and erect a lasting monument of God’s favour to him, and because he had not time now to build an altar here, as Abraham did in the places where God appeared to him, ch. xii. 7. He therefore poured oil on the top of this stone, which probably was the ceremony then used in dedicating their altars, as an earnest of his building an altar when he should have conveniences for it, as afterwards he did, in gratitude to God for this vision, ch. xxxv. 7. Note, Grants of mercy call for returns of duty, and the sweet communion we have with God ought ever to be remembered. 2. He gave a new name to the place, v. 19. It had been called Luz, an almond-tree; but he will have it henceforward called Beth-el, the house of God. This gracious appearance of God to him put a greater honour upon it, and made it more remarkable, than all the almond-trees that flourished there. This is that Beth-el where, long after, it is said, God found Jacob, and there (in what he said to him) he spoke with us, Hos. xii. 4. In process of time, this Beth-el, the house of God, became Beth-aven, a house of vanity and iniquity, when Jeroboam set up one of his calves there.
IV. He made a solemn vow upon this occasion, v. 20-22. By religious vows we give glory to God, own our dependence upon him, and lay a bond upon our own souls to engage and quicken our obedience to him. Jacob was now in fear and distress; and it is seasonable to make vows in times of trouble, or when we are in pursuit of any special mercy, Jon 1:16; Psa 66:13; Psa 66:14; 1Sa 1:11; Num 21:1-3. Jacob had now had a gracious visit from heaven. God had renewed his covenant with him, and the covenant is mutual. When God ratifies his promises to us, it is proper for us to repeat our promises to him. Now in this vow observe, 1. Jacob’s faith. God had said (v. 15), I am with thee, and will keep thee. Jacob takes hold of this, and infers, “Seeing God will be with me, and will keep me, as he hath said, and (which is implied in that promise) will provide comfortably for me,–and seeing he has promised to bring me again to this land, that is, to the house of my father, whom I hope to find alive at my return in peace” (so unlike was he to Esau who longed for the days of mourning for his father),–“I depend upon it.” Note, God’s promises are to be the guide and measure of our desires and expectations. 2. Jacob’s modesty and great moderation in his desires. He will cheerfully content himself with bread to eat, and raiment to put on; and, though God’s promise had now made him heir to a very great estate, yet he indents not for soft clothing and dainty meat. Agur’s wish is his, Feed me with food convenient for me; and see 1 Tim. vi. 8. Nature is content with a little, and grace with less. Those that have most have, in effect, no more for themselves than food and raiment; of the overplus they have only either the keeping or the giving, not the enjoyment: if God give us more, we are bound to be thankful, and to use it for him; if he give us but this, we are bound to be content, and cheerfully to enjoy him in it. 3. Jacob’s piety, and his regard to God, which appear here, (1.) In what he desired, that God would be with him and keep him. Note, We need desire no more to make us easy and happy, wherever we are, than to have God’s presence with us and to be under his protection. It is comfortable, in a journey, to have a guide in an unknown way, a guard in a dangerous way, to be well carried, well provided for, and to have good company in any way; and those that have God with them have all this in the best manner. (2.) In what he designed. His resolution is, [1.] In general, to cleave to the Lord, as his God in covenant: Then shall the Lord be my God. Not as if he would disown him and cast him off if he should want food and raiment; no, though he slay us, we must cleave to him; but “then I will rejoice in him as my God; then I will more strongly engage myself to abide with him.” Note, Every mercy we receive from God should be improved as an additional obligation upon us to walk closely with him as our God. [2.] In particular, that he would perform some special acts of devotion, in token of his gratitude. First, “This pillar shall keep possession here till I come back in peace, and then it shall be God’s house,” that is, “an altar shall be erected here to the honour of God.” Secondly, “The house of god shall not be unfurnished, nor his altar without a sacrifice: Of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee, to be spent either upon God’s altars or upon his poor,” both which are his receivers in the world. Probably it was according to some general instructions received from heaven that Abraham and Jacob offered the tenth of their acquisitions to God. Note, 1. God must be honoured with our estates, and must have his dues out of them. When we receive more than ordinary mercy from God we should study to give some signal instances of gratitude to him. 2. The tenth is a very fit proportion to be devoted to God and employed for him, though, as circumstances vary, it may be more or less, as God prospers us, 1Co 16:2; 2Co 9:7.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 16-22:
Verse 16: This is Jacob’s discovery that Jehovah reveals Himself in many different places, Jacob thought himself alone, but Jehovah was with him, even in his solitary camp. Jacob experienced a reverential fear in the presence of Jehovah, as did others after him, see Ex 20:18, 19; Job 42:5, 6; Isa 6:5; Lu 5:8; Re 1:17, 18.
Verse 17: “Dreadful” is yare, not terror but reverence and awe. The term occurs in Da 9:4; Hab 1:7; Mal 1:14;4:5. This was figuratively the “house of God,” the “gate of heaven.”
Verses 18-22: Jacob took the stone that had served as his pillow and made of it an altar. This was not as an object of worship, but as a memorial of a remarkable experience with Jehovah God. The oil with which he anointed the stone symbolizes recognition of special service. Worship of sacred stones was common among ancient peoples, as the Greeks, Romans, Hindus, Arabs, and certain Teutonic peoples; but it .was expressly forbidden in the Law (Ex 23:24; 24:13; Le 26:1, et.al). Such was not Jacob’s intention, however, oil poured on the stone enabled him to identify it years later.
“Beth-el” is literally, “house of God.” Here Jacob vowed a vow to Jehovah. He vowed that if the Lord would give him life’s necessities, and would return him to his father’s house, he would acknowledge Jehovah as Elohim, his own personal God. He further promised to return to this site and once more worship Jehovah there. Finally, he promised to recognize Jehovah’s sovereignty and ownership by returning to Him a tithe. This tithe was to be one-tenth of all Jacob had. The practice of tithing pre-dates the giving of the Mosaic Law.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
16. And Jacob awaked. Moses again affirms that this was no common dream; for when any one awakes he immediately perceives that he had been under a delusions in dreaming. But God impressed a sign on the mind of his servant, by which, when he awoke, he might recognize the heavenly oracle which he had heard in his sleep. Moreover, Jacob, in express terms, accuses himself, and extols the goodness of God, who deigned to present himself to one who sought him not; for Jacob thought that he was there alone: but now, after the Lord appeared, he wonders, and exclaims that he had obtained more than he could have dared to hope for. It is not, however, to be doubted that Jacob had called upon God, and had trusted that he would be the guide of his journey; but, because his faith had not availed to persuade him that God was thus near unto him, he justly extols this act of grace. So, whenever God anticipates our wishes, and grants us more than our minds have conceived; let us learn, after the example of this patriarch, to wonder that God should have been present with us. Now, if each of us would reflect how feeble his faith is, this mode of speaking would appear always proper for us all; for who can comprehend, in his scanty measure, the immense multitude of gifts which God is perpetually heaping upon us?
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) Surely the Lord (Jehovah) is in this place.Jacob was not unaware of the omnipresence of the Deity: what astonished him was that Jehovah should thus reveal Himself far away from the shrines where He was worshipped. Rebekah had gone to one of these to inquire of Jehovah (Gen. 25:22), and probably to a shrine in the very neighbourhood of the place where Jacob was sleeping (Gen. 12:8). But first Abraham, and then Isaac, had for so long made Beer-sheba their home, that Jacob probably knew little about the sanctity of the spot, and felt himself far away from all the religious associations of his youth, and from that presence of Jehovah which in antediluvian times had also been supposed to be confined to certain localities (Gen. 4:16). But one great object of the dream was to show that Jehovah watches over the whole earth, and that messengers to and fro come from Him and return unto Him.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Surely the Lord is in this place The vision awakened a new life, and a new world of thought and emotion within him . He had been, comparatively, a stranger to Jehovah .
I knew it not Jacob had gone to sleep without any thought that there, alone and sorrowful and anxious, he was specially cared for and watched by Abraham’s God . No such open revelation had ever come to him before, and he was taken by surprise .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jacob’s Vow
v. 16. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. v. 17. And he was afraid, v. 18. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. v. 19. And he called the name of that place Bethel v. 20. And Jacob vowed 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 raiment to put on, v. 21. so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God; v. 22. and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house; and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Gen 28:16. Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not Jacob knew very well that the Lord was in every place; nor can his words be fairly understood to contradict this fundamental knowledge. But though the Lord is in every place, yet, he was pleased, of old times, to vouchsafe his presence to manifest his glory, in some places peculiarly; to this Jacob refers: “This is a place consecrated to, and in which the Lord manifests himself; and I knew not that it was a place of such a nature: I did not know that it was any other than a common spot; I understood not that Jehovah peculiarly manifested his presence here.” In the primitive ages, when God vouchsafed to exhibit symbols and tokens of his presence in particular places, it was natural and just to affix a notion of relative sanctity to these places. In this view, all objections concerning the patriarch’s imperfect notions of the Deity vanish: and the next words follow with great propriety, This is none other but a house of God, (which I conceived to be an ordinary place,) and this is the gate of heaven! the door of entrance into those celestial regions, which this Divine vision hath represented to me. Some think that these words allude to the custom of those times, of kings and judges keeping their courts in the gates of cities, attended with their guards and officers; as if Jacob had said, “Here God keeps his court, attended by his angels.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 45
JACOBS PILLAR AT BETH-EL
Gen 28:16-19. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep; and 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. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. [Note: Preached at the chapel erected and endowed by the Rev. Lewis Way, in Stansted Park (Sussex), on the day previous to the consecration of it by the Right Rev. Lord Bishop of St. Davids, and the Hon. and Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Gloucester, on January 24th, 1819: the day on which is annually commemorated the Conversion of St. Paul.] ON whatever side we look, we see abundant evidence that Gods ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts. With us, there are laws of equity prescribed for the regulation of our conduct in the whole of our intercourse with men; and on our strict observance of them the welfare of society depends. But God is not restrained by any such rules in his government of the world: men having no claims whatever upon him, he has a right to dispose of them, and of all that pertains unto them, according to his own sovereign will and pleasure. This right too he exercises in a way, which, though inexplicable to us, is manifest to all. In the conversion of St. Paul we see this in as striking a point of view as it can possibly be placed. St. Paul, even to the very moment of his conversion, was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of our Lord, having voluntarily enlisted himself in the service of the high-priest to execute against them his cruel decrees. He was, as he himself tells us, a blasphemer, and injurious, and a persecutor; nor had so much as one penitential pang, till he was arrested by the grace of God, and favoured with a sight of that very Jesus, whose interests he was labouring to destroy. Somewhat of a similar display of Gods grace may be seen in the history before us. Jacob had been guilty of base deceit in relation to his brothers birthright. He had even represented God himself as confederate with him in that wicked act, and as facilitating by an extraordinary exercise of divine power the attainment of his object. By this treacherous conduct he had greatly incensed his brother against him, and rendered any longer continuance under his fathers roof unsafe. Rebekah, who had instigated him to this wickedness, recommended him to flee: and, to reconcile Isaac to his departure, proposed that he should go to his uncle Laban, and take a wife from amongst his own relatives, and not connect himself with any of the daughters of Canaan, as his brother Esau had done. This however was a mere pretext: the true reason of his departure was, that he feared the wrath of Esau, and fled to avoid the effects of his merited indignation. Thus circumstanced, it could not fail but that he must at this time be in a state of much disquietude, not only as being driven from his family at the very time that his pious and aged father was supposed to be dying, but as having brought this evil on himself by his own base and treacherous conduct, and as having provoked God to anger, as well as man, by his impiety. Wearied with fatigue of body and anxiety of mind, he laid himself down to rest under the open canopy of heaven, with nothing but the bare ground for his bed, and a stone for his pillow. If it be asked, why he did not go into the adjacent city to seek a more comfortable lodging there; I answer, that it was altogether owing to the state of his mind: and his conduct in this respect was perfectly natural; the pain of a guilty conscience uniformly indisposing men, not only for society, but even for any corporeal indulgence.
Who would have thought that under such circumstances he should so speedily be honoured with one of the most wonderful manifestations of Gods love that ever were vouchsafed to mortal man? Yet on this very night did God draw nigh to him as a reconciled God, and pour into his bosom all the consolations which his soul could desire.
Well might Jacob express surprise at this marvellous display of Gods love and mercy: and I pray God that somewhat of the same holy feelings may be engendered in us, whilst we consider,
I.
His unexpected discovery, and
II.
The grateful acknowledgments which it drew from him.
I.
We notice his unexpected discovery
There were two things with which Jacob was favoured on this occasion; a vision, and a voice. In the vision, he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and angels ascending and descending upon it, whilst God himself stood above it to regulate their motions. This imported, that, however destitute Jacob at this time was, there was a God, who ordered every thing both in heaven and earth, and who by means of ministering angels would effect in behalf of his believing people whatsoever their diversified necessities might require. By the voice, he was informed, that all which had been promised to Abraham and to Isaac, respecting the possession of Canaan by their posterity, and the salvation of the world by the promised Seed, should be fulfilled, partially in his own person, and completely in his posterity. Thus did God exhibit himself to him on this occasion as a God of providence and of grace, and, under both characters, as his God for ever and ever. Such a revelation, at such a time, and such a place, a place where the grossest idolatry prevailed to the utter exclusion of the only true God, astonished him beyond measure, and constrained him to exclaim, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not He now saw that God was not confined to any place or country; and that wherever he should reveal himself to man, there was the house of God, and there the gate of heaven, through which the vilest sinner in the universe might gain access to him.
To prosecute this subject further in reference to Jacob is unnecessary. It is of more importance to consider its bearing on ourselves. Know ye then, that, though the vision and the voice had a special respect to Jacob, and the circumstances in which he was more immediately interested, they are eminently instructive to us also, and that, not merely as prophecies that have been fulfilled, but as illustrations of the way in which God will yet magnify the riches of his grace towards his believing people.
How wonderful on many occasions have been the dispensations of his providence! Circumstances as much unlocked for as Jacobs possession of the land of Canaan, have not unfrequently occurred; and, though perhaps small in themselves, have led to results, which have been of the utmost importance through our whole lives. Had we been more observant of the leadings of providence, and marked with more precision the time and the manner in which the different events of our lives have occurred, we should be no less struck with wonder and amazement than Jacob himself. And how extraordinary have been the communications of his grace! Perhaps when we have been surrounded on every side by men immersed in the cares and vanities of this world, ourselves also destitute of all holy principles, and under the guilt of all our past sins, we have been brought to hear the word of God, and to feel its power, yea and to taste its sweetness also, through the manifestations of the Saviours love to our souls. Possibly, even the enormity of some particular sin has, as in the case of Onesimus, been the very means which God has made use of for bringing us to repentance, and for converting our souls to him. It may be that, like Zaccheus, we have gone to some place, where we contemplated nothing but the gratification of our curiosity; and have been penetrated beyond all expectation by a voice from heaven, saying, Come down, Zaccheus; for this day is salvation come to thy soul. Perhaps some heavy affliction has been made the means of awakening us to a sense of our lost estate; and through a manifestation of Christ to our souls we have found a heaven, where we anticipated nothing but accumulated and augmented sorrow. Yes verily, there are witnesses without number, at this present day, that God still acts in a sovereign way in dispensing blessings to mankind; and that those words are yet verified as much as ever, I am found of them that sought me not; I am made manifest to them that asked not after me [Note: Rom 10:20.] !
And now let me ask, Whether the effect of such manifestations be not the same as ever? Have we not on such occasions been ready to exclaim, This is the house of God! this is the gate of heaven? Yes: it is not in the power of outward circumstances, however calamitous, to counterbalance such joys as these. Even the terrors of a guilty conscience are dissipated in a moment; and peace flows in upon the soul like a river.
The practical effects upon the life which will result from this experience may be seen in,
II.
The grateful acknowledgments which it drew from Jacob.
He rose up early in the morning, and took the stone which he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Beth-el; but the name of the city was called Luz at the first. He determined to erect a memorial of the stupendous mercy that had been vouchsafed to him, and to serve his God in that very place which had been so commended to him by the providence and grace of God. Accordingly he took the stone on which he had reclined his head, and erected it for a pillar, and poured oil upon it, in order to consecrate it to the special service of his God. We have no account of any express command from God that oil should be applied to this purpose by him: but in after-ages it was particularly enjoined to Moses to be used in consecrating the tabernacle, together with all the holy vessels and instruments that were employed in Gods service [Note: Num 7:1.] ; as also to be used in all the peace-offerings that were presented to the Lord: This is the law of the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he shall offer unto the Lord. If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried [Note: Lev 7:11-12.]. Thus not only under the law, but long before the law, we behold the solemn rite of consecration performed by one of Gods most highly-favoured servants; and a place that was common before, rendered holy to the Lord by the administration of this ordinance. And how acceptable to God this service was, may be judged from hence, that, twenty years afterwards, God again appeared to Jacob, and reminded him of this very circumstance, saying, I am the God of Beth-el, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me [Note: Gen 31:13.]. Arise, and go up to Beth-el, and dwell there; and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother [Note: Gen 35:1.]. And in obedience to this command, we are told, Jacob came to Luz, that is, Beth-el, and built an altar there, and called the place El-beth-el, because God there appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother [Note: Gen 35:6-7.].
Do we not then see in this record how we also should mark the interpositions of God in our behalf? Does it not become us to remember them, and to perpetuate the remembrance of them for the instruction and encouragement of others? Should not the honour of God be dear to us; and, if the place which God has signalized in so remarkable a way, have hitherto been distinguished by the name of Luz (a place of almonds, and of carnal delights), should we not labour to convert it to a Beth-el, and to render it to all future generations a house of God, and, if possible, the very gate of heaven? Let the idea be derided as it may by them that know not God, this is an action worthy of a child of Abraham, a service acceptable and well-pleasing unto God.
In the verses following my text we have the vow of Jacob respecting this place recorded: This stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be Gods house; and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Thus, whilst he consecrated here an altar to the Lord, he provided for the service of that altar by an actual endowment. What might be his circumstances, or the circumstances of his family, in future life, he knew not: yet he bound himself by this solemn and irrevocable vow. What any ignorant and ungodly man might think of this, it is easy to imagine: but I find not in all the inspired volume one single word that discountenances such a conduct. I find, on the contrary, the whole people of Israel contributing according to their power towards the erection of the tabernacle, and stripping themselves of their ornaments in order to furnish it with vessels for the service of their GodI find David, the man after Gods own heart, even when not permitted to build the temple himself, devoting not less than eighteen millions of money to the preparing of materials for itI find similar exertions made by others, at a subsequent period, for the rebuilding of the templeand I find a poor widow, who had but one farthing in the world, commended for casting it into the treasury, to be expended for the Lord. In whatever light then the lovers of this world may view such an appropriation of wealth, I have no hesitation in saying, that it will never be condemned by our God. What if, by means of it, Gods salvation be made known, and his name be glorified? What if many who have immortal souls, now sunk in ignorance and sin, be turned by means of it from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God? What if, by the erection of an altar here, there be in this place somewhat effected towards the accomplishment of that promise, In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord: and it shall be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a Saviour, and a Great One, and he shall deliver them [Note: Isa 19:19-20.] ? Should God so honour this place, and so testify his acceptance of the sacrifices that shall here be offered, how will they bless him, who have been born to God in this place! and how will they bless him, who have been his honoured instruments of erecting an altar here, and of consecrating it to his service!
What now remains, but that I endeavour to improve this joyful occasion for the benefit of those who hear me?
Are there any here who are bowed down under a sense of sin? Peradventure, though you may have come hither only to witness a novelty, God has brought you hither to speak peace unto your souls, and to anoint you to the possession of a kingdom, when you have no more contemplated such an event than Saul did, when he was in the pursuit of his fathers asses. Know ye of a truth, that God is in this place, though ye may not be aware of it. Know, that he is a God of love and mercy, as much as ever he was in the days of old. Know that he has still the same right to dispense his blessings to whomsoever he will, even to the very chief of sinners. Know that he has not only the same communication with men as ever through the instrumentality of angels, but that he has access to the souls of men by his Holy Spirit, who is ready to impart unto you all the blessings of grace and glory. Know that the Seed promised to Jacob has come into the world, even the Lord Jesus Christ; and that he has fulfilled all that is necessary for our salvation. He has expiated our guilt by his own blood upon the cross; and has made reconciliation for us with our offended God; so that through Him all manner of sin shall be forgiven unto men, and all who believe in him shall be justified from all things. O Beloved, only look unto Him, and whatever were the load of guilt under which you groaned, you should find rest and peace unto your souls: Where sin had abounded, His grace should much more abound: and though your sins were as scarlet, they should be as wool; though they were red like crimson, they should be white as snow.
It may be that some one may have come hither, who, though not particularly bowed down with a sense of guilt, is oppressed with a weight of personal or domestic troubles. Who can tell? God may have brought such an one hither this day, in order to fill his soul with heavenly consolations. O that, if such an one be here, God may now appear unto him as a reconciled God, and say unto him, I am thy salvation! O that by the word now spoken in Gods name, there may this day be given unto him beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that he may become a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and that God may be glorified! You have done well that you have come hither; for it is in the house of prayer that God pours out more abundantly upon men the blessings of grace and peace: He loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Thousands and millions of afflicted souls have found in Gods house such discoveries of his love, and such communications of his grace, as they before had no conception of: and you at this hour, if you will lift up your soul to God in earnest prayer, and cast all your burthens upon him, shall say before you go hence, This is the house of God: this is the gate of heaven. Know of a truth, that one ray of the Sun of Righteousness is sufficient to dispel all the gloom and darkness of the most afflicted soul: and, if only you will direct your eyes to Him, however your afflictions may have abounded, your consolations shall much more abound.
I trust there are not wanting here some who can bear testimony to the truth of these things by their own experience; and who, from the discoveries which they have received of the Saviours love, are filled with peace and joy in believing. To such then will I say, Bless and magnify your God with all the powers of your souls: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King; let them rejoice in the Lord alway; let them rejoice in Him with joy unspeakable and full of glory. At the same time, even whilst they are, as it were, at the very gate of heaven, let me particularly caution them against that kind of joy which is tumultuous, and that kind of confidence which borders on presumption. There is a holy fear, which is rather increased than dissipated by heavenly joy; and a solemn awe, that always accompanies the manifestations of God to the soul. Observe the state of Jacobs mind on this occasion: He was afraid; and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God; this is the gate of heaven. Thus blended in its nature, thus tempered in its exercise, thus chastised in all its actings, should our joy be. It is of great importance that we should all remember this: for there is amongst the professors of religion much joy that is spurious, much confidence that is unhallowed. We may have great enlargement of heart; but we must fear and be enlarged: we may possess much joy; but we must rejoice with trembling. Even in heaven itself the glorified saints, yea, and the angels too, though they have never sinned, fall upon their faces before the throne, whilst they sing praises to God and to the Lamb. Let such then be your joy, and such your sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving.
But let not all your gratitude evaporate in unsubstantial, though acceptable, emotions. Think with yourselves what you can do for Him, who has done so much for you. Say with yourselves, What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? Think how you may improve your mercies for the good of your fellow-creatures, and the honour of your God. Of Jacob it is said, He rose up early in the morning, and took the stone and raised it for a pillar. Let it be thus with you also: lose no time in honouring your God to the utmost of your power. Account all you have, whether of wealth or influence, as given to you for that end. Determine that those who are around you shall have before them the evidences of true piety, and such memorials as shall, if possible, lead them to the knowledge of the true God. Jacob had it not in his power at that time to do all that his heart desired: but he did what he could; and twenty years afterwards, when his means of honouring God were enlarged, he executed all his projects, and performed the vows which he had made. Thus let your desires be expanded to the uttermost; and then fulfil them according to your ability. So shall you have within yourselves an evidence that God is with you of a truth; and having been faithful in a few things, you shall be rulers over many things in the kingdom of your God.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
What gracious effects divine manifestations leave on the mind! Reader! would you know whether the Lord hath revealed himself to your heart? Look within. See what hath God wrought! What traces hath the Holy Spirit left behind. Jacob felt surprise, holy fear, gracious assurance, devout meltings of the heart towards God, solemn dedications of the soul, and the warmest thanksgivings.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 28:16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew [it] not.
Ver. 16. And I knew it not, ] viz., That God is graciously present in one place, as well as in another. Our ignorance and unbelief is freely to be confessed and acknowledged. Thus David; Psa 73:22 Agur. Pro 30:2 Pray for me, saith Father Latimer to his friend; pray for me, I say: for I am sometimes so fearful, that I would creep into a mouse hole. a And in a certain sermon; b I myself, saith he, have used, in mine earnest matters, to say, “Yea, by St Mary”; which indeed is naught.
a In his letter to Ridley, Act. and Mon., 1565.
b Sermon in 3d Sunday in Advent.
Surely. Figure of speech Ecphonesis. App-6.
this place. See on the word “above”, Gen 28:13.
Jacobs Vision
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and 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.Gen 28:16-17.
At two periods of his life Jacob passed through crises of spiritual experience, both of which received symbolical expression, here at Bethel, and later at Peniel. Though, if we take the indications of time literally, it was in his manhood rather than in his youth that he left his fathers house from fear of his brother Esau and went into the long exile at Padan-aram, we can scarcely, if we set the narratives side by side, avoid the conclusion that the one is intended to represent the conceptions which may come to youth, immaturity, inexperience, while the other reveals the tried and battered warrior in lifes battle, humbled, disappointed, somewhat embittered, and altogether perplexed.
The vision at Bethel is comparatively simple. Jacob had hitherto lived, in the shelter of his fathers home, a peaceful and industrious life, with little trouble, danger, or anxiety. But now, not without his own grievous fault, the peace was broken up, and he had become a wanderer. Yet though the wrench may have been great, and he could not have been without apprehension as he set forth on his lonely journey, he could have little actual knowledge of what might lie before him. The optimism of youth was not dead; life had hitherto presented no difficult or insuperable problem; his present undertaking might even lead to unexpected heights of success. So in a desert place, apparently near the Canaanite city of Luz, he lay down to rest, and in the night had a dream.1 [Note: Principal A. Stewart.]
He was in the central thoroughfare, on the hard backbone of the mountains of Palestine; the ground was strewn with wide sheets of bare rock; here and there stood up isolated fragments like ancient Druidical monuments. On the hard ground he lay down to rest, and in the visions of the night the rough stones formed themselves into a vast staircase, reaching into the depth of the wide and open sky, which, without any interruption of tent or tree, was stretched above the sleepers head. On the staircase were seen ascending and descending the messengers of God; and from above there came the Divine voice which told the houseless wanderer that, little as he thought it, he had a Protector there and everywhere; that even in this bare and open thoroughfare, in no consecrated grove or cave, the Lord was in this place, though he knew it not. This was Bethel, the House of God, and this was the gate of heaven.1 [Note: Dean Stanley.]
I
The Presence of the Lord
And Jacob waked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
1. What Jacob saw in his dream was only the glorified presentment of the thoughts with which his mind had been filled during the day. The ladder, which was the scenic framework of his vision, may have been but the terraced hillside on which he had been gazing ere he fell asleep. All day long, as he had pursued his journey, the glorious expanse of an Oriental sky, one quivering, trembling mass of blue, had been above him, and as he had looked up with wonder and awe into its silent depths, deep questionings had beset him. Then as the twilight stole over the scene, and the stars peeped forth, the sense of mystery deepened, and the questions which had been urging themselves redoubled their solemnity and intensity. And so there rose within his heart strong yearnings; and those yearnings half articulated themselves into prayers. The vision was evidently a surprise. But he would have had no spiritual vision if he had had no spiritual desires. We see in the universe only what our moral earnestness prepares and disposes us to see. It is the pure in heart alone who behold the face of God. The spiritual revelations that we receive are but the sublimation and the fruition of our own spiritual struggles. Had there been none of those yearnings and longings in his heart towards a higher and a worthier existence, Jacob would have seen no angels. He already carried in his heart the key to that heaven through whose opened portals he was permitted to lookSpiritual things are spiritually discerned.
Thou hast been with me in the dark and cold,
And all the night I thought I was alone;
The chariots of Thy glory round me rolled,
On me attending, yet by me unknown.
Clouds were Thy chariots, and I knew them not;
They came in solemn thunders to my ear;
I thought that far away Thou hadst forgot,
But Thou wert by my side, and heaven was near.
Why did I murmur underneath the night,
When night was spanned by golden steps to Thee?
Why did I cry disconsolate for light,
When all Thy stars were bending over me?
The darkness of my night has been Thy day;
My stony pillow was Thy ladders rest;
And all Thine angels watched my couch of clay
To bless the soul, unconscious it was blest.1 [Note: G. Matheson, Sacred Songs, 53.]
2. We are apt to cling to the old superstitious notion that in order to draw near to God it is needful to sever ourselves from lifes common duties and surroundings. But the Bible lends little favour to any such idea. Jacobs vision was not granted to him at a spot that had previously been accounted holy. He was at Luzan obscure locality to which he had chanced to come. He lighted, we read, upon a certain place. Nor was he engaged in any sacred observances. On the contrary, he was travelling on foot through a desolate regiona very prosaic and secular occupation. But it was in that place, and while he was thus engaged, that God drew near to speak to Jacob.
The same lesson comes again and again from the Divine revelations of which we read in Scripture. Moses was tending his sheep amidst the rocks and furze of Horeb, when God appeared to him in the burning bush and taught him that that mountain-side was holy ground. The disciples were standing half-naked in their fishing-boat, worn out with the long nights fruitless toil, when they discerned some one standing on the beach; and the disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, It is the Lord. Saul of Tarsus was riding on horseback through the fierce sunshine of the Syrian noonday, when that brighter light from heaven shone round about him.1 [Note: J. C. Lambert.]
When He appoints to meet thee, go thou forth
It matters not
If South or North,
Bleak waste or sunny plot.
Nor think, if haply He thou seekst be late,
He does thee wrong.
To stile or gate
Lean thou thy head, and long!
It may be that to spy thee He is mounting
Upon a tower,
Or in thy counting
Thou hast mistaen the hour.
But, if He come not, neither do thou go
Till Vesper chime,
Belike thou then shalt know
He hath been with thee all the time.2 [Note: T. E. Brown.]
II
A Sense of Sin
And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place!
1. Fear was inherent in Jacobs character.It spoilt him in his early days, but he had manly stuff in him and he subdued it, and afterwards it was lifted into veneration of God. His present fear was caused partly by the sense of sin, partly by realizing the presence of the Invisible. No one who does not know God can feel himself touched by God without fear. If he feels Him only as a dreadful power the result will be superstition, but if he knows and loves Him the result is veneration. From that hour the love that casts out fear began to stir in Jacobs heart. He began to realize, not an angry Being, but One who loved him and would care for him.
2. Jacob had sinned grievously.He was fresh from an act of shameful deceit, seconded by several deliberate lies, and aggravated by the fact that his victims were his only brother and his aged father, now smitten with blindness and infirmity. Was a man, upon whose soul such sins lay hot and unrepented of, a possible subject for such a revelation of God as we read of in this chapter? Not unless all the laws of mans relation to God were completely disregarded in the case of Jacob. From the very fact that God appeared to the patriarch with this gracious manifestation of Himself and promise of His favour, we conclude that Jacob must have had some contrition for his sin, that he must at that very time have been passing through the painful struggles of an awakened conscience. Jacob had sinned deeply; but he would have been a callous sinner indeed if he had had no pangs of compunction when he heard his fathers reproachful voice and his brothers exceeding bitter cry. And now all the afflictions that had befallen himhis enforced night, his banishment from home, his lonely journey, the dangers by which he was besetthese afflictions had engraven deep upon his mind the solemn lesson that the devils wages are always very hard, and had worked in him that godly sorrow which leads to true repentance. Jacob, we might say, had been wrestling with God in the secret places of his soul, even as Nathanael had been kneeling before God under the fig tree when Jesus promised that he too, like Jacob, should see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending.
There is nothing that makes us seem farther away from God than a heartfelt sense of sin and self-abasement. But it is when a man is in the very depths of self-condemnation that the light of Gods countenance breaks upon him like the day-dawn following the night. Look at the Penitential Psalms. What a consciousness of sin is there; what a depth of genuine humiliation! And yet it is just when these psalmists are crying out of the depths that the assurance of Jehovahs pardoning mercy and love springs up within them. For it is when hearts are broken and contrite that the High and Lofty One stoops down to visit them. Contrition and humility are the true foundation-stones of godliness, and the lower these foundations are sunk, the higher will the towers and pinnacles of the Divine Temple rise within the soul. Tennyson has taught us to say that men may rise on stepping-stones of their dead selves to higher things. And in the gracious counsels of our God there is a blessed provision whereby the very sins of the past, if truly repented of, may become stepping-stones to heavenanother Jacobs Ladder, by which His children are raised above their sin and selfishness up the steep heights of holiness and into the very presence of the Father.1 [Note: J. C. Lambert.]
3. If ever a man needed a little merciful handling, this solitary and troubled soul needed it then. God is ever near to the souls that need Him most; and a man never needs Him so much as when he has sinned, for he is never so surely imperilled as then. So, through this man who has sinned, to all men who have sinned this incident speaks, and tells us that God appears in grace to a man who has done wrong, to prevent his doing further wrong, to show that he is not cast off, that from the sin into which he has fallen there is a way to God, and that heavenly influences descend even on the head of the transgressor. Not that his sin is condoned, not that he deserves the bright vision. Who of us would have any but a dark and terrifying vision if we had what we deserve? It is a vision of Gods grace that comes to this wanderera vision to assure him that Gods mercy persists in spite of mans sin, and wills to save him from a further fall.
The thing that we dread is often the thing that brings God near. He is sometimes a theory and His comfort a poem, until darkness and solitude cause the soul to call out for Him. And I am giving the experience of some also when I say it was in the trouble into which sin plunged us that God first became a reality. It was then that we sought, and cried passionately, and found. There comes a shadow that no earthly light can pierce, and into it comes the light of God; and we have to bless the solitude and the darkness and the bitter penalty and consequence, because then, for the first time, God became real and near.2 [Note: C. Brown.]
III
The House of God and the Gate of Heaven
This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
Let us pass at once from the story of Jacob and consider what lessons these words can bring us when they are used of a sacred building, a church. The vision of the patriarch reveals to us that the whole earth is the House of God, while particular places are chosen to emphasize the truth that there is now a continuous intercourse between earth and heaven, that already we are living in a spiritual world. Three lessons each Church presses upon us, and our life is hallowed and strengthened by remembering them.
1. A Church witnesses to the universal presence of God.This universal presence of God is a most certain truth; yet for the most part our eyes are holden that we should not know it. We are unable to grasp the fulness of the fact. And therefore God meets our infirmity. In His love He gives us signs. He has been pleased from the earliest times to set His name here and there, in a stone, as at Beth-el, in a tent, in a temple, and now in a Church. Through the visible He helps us to see the invisible. A Church, then, does not bring to us anything new or exceptional. It witnesses to the unseen, the spiritual, the eternal, which is about us on every side. It shows God to us here because He is everywhere. It helps us to see what lies beyond the shadows on which we look. It encourages us to pierce beneath the surface to that which is abiding.
So sometimes comes to soul and sense
The feeling which is evidence
That very near about us lies
The realm of spiritual mysteries.
The sphere of the supernal powers
Impinges on this world of ours.
The low and dark horizon lifts,
To light the scenic terror shifts;
The breath of a diviner air
Blows down the answer of a prayer:
That all our sorrow, pain, and doubt
A great compassion clasps about,
And law and goodness, love and force,
Are wedded fast beyond divorce.
Then duty leaves to love its task,
The beggar Self forgets to ask;
With smile of trust and folded hands,
The passive soul in waiting stands
To feel, as flowers the sun and dew,
The One true Life its own renew.1 [Note: J. G. Whittier, The Meeting.]
2. A Church witnesses also to the reality of mans intercourse with God.It is, like Jacobs Beth-el, the gate of heaven. And so from very early times the words Behold a ladder set up on earth, and the top of it reached to heaven were recited at the consecration of Churches, and the first recorded promise of the Lord gives a permanent force to the vision of the patriarch when He said to the disciples, amazed that He had read the secret thoughts of Nathanael: Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye shall see the heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. A Church, in other words, answers to the title which was given to the first appointed House of God, the Tent of Meeting. It is the meeting-place of God with man and of man with God. The thought is overwhelming. We are tempted to cry out with Jacob, when we realize what it means, How dreadful is this place. We recall the words spoken to Moses, No man shall see my face and live, or the confession of Isaiah, Woe is me, for I am undone for mine eyes have seen the King in his beauty. But the incarnation has changed our relation to God. In the Son of Man the glory of God is tempered to our vision. It is true that no man hath seen God at any time: that He dwelleth in light unapproachable, Whom no man hath seen nor can see, yet we have also for our assurance the Lords own words: He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, not indeed seen God as God in His most awful majesty, but God revealed through the love of His Son.
Reviews of Miss Yonges life, and even of Mr. Kebles, spoke as though their country lives must have been quiet to dullness, or at least that they produced no incidents useful for biographical purposes. To those who at that time were their nearest neighbours, their lives were wonderful examples of the self-controlled vivacity of high spiritual existence. The eyes of our elders were fixed on the holiest realities of Spirit, and in the services of the English Church they found the atmosphere in which they breathed most freely. Theology was to them a thrilling interest, and they moved and spoke and thought with unseen presences round them, not psychical or fancy-spiritual, but as realizing the angels round about the Throne and the solemn awe of the Throne.1 [Note: C. A. E. Moberly, Dulce Domum, 7.]
3. A Church assures us that we are even now living in a spiritual order.This is implied in the record of the Patriarchs Vision. The angels are represented as ascending and descending. Ascending first: earth, that is mans home, is the habitual scene of their ministry. And again, St. Paul tells us in direct words: God has made us to sit with Christ in heavenly places. And again we read: We have come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels in festal assembly and to the spirits of just men made perfect. Heaven is not distant and future, but here and now. And we habitually claim, in our Communion office, fellowship with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven. Life, in a word, is shown within our Churches under its spiritual aspect in all its critical vicissitudes. Powers of heaven are seen to mingle at each point with faculties of earth. We are impressively reminded of the greatness of life. If life is on one side the vision of God, it is on the other side the welcome of Gods gifts that they may be used in His service. It is from first to last a personal Divine companionship. The Church with its services is the sign and pledge of blessings answering to all our need, but then we are ourselves the living sanctuary: we live as knowing that the Lord is with us all the days.
Faiths ladder pales not, Angels yet are found
All beauteous in calm and holy light;
Their silver robes have skirted many a cloud
Thronging the purple night.
Swift from the golden gates they come and go,
And glad fulfil their Masters high behest,
Bringing celestial balms for human woe,
Blessing and being blessed.
And have not we sore need the faith to hold
Of the surrounding of the Angel bands;
Mid all earths dust to trace their steps of gold,
And feel the uplifting hands?
Ah! yes, I think so, then with firm believing,
With reverence, hail each souls celestial guest;
Till they shall come, Gods final will revealing,
To fold us into rest.1 [Note: Lyra Anglicana, 136 (Gods Angels).]
Literature
Austin (G. B.), The Beauty of Goodness, 74.
Barton (G. A.), Christian Teaching as found in the Old Testament, 112.
Brown (C.), The Birth of a Nation, 66.
Davies (E. C.), in Congregational Preachers, i. 21.
Hart (H. G.), Sedbergh School Chapel Sermons, 81.
Hiley (R. W.), A Years Sermons, iii. 94.
Hook (W. F.), Sermons on Various Subjects, 152.
Krause (W. H.), Sermons in Bethesda Chapel, Dublin, ii. 108.
Lambert (J. C.), in Great Texts of the Old Testament, 1.
Lightfoot (J. B.), Cambridge Sermons, 300.
Lightfoot (J. B.), Contemporary Pulpit Library, Gen 28:1.
Macgregor (W. M.), Some of Gods Ministries, 22.
Macmillan (H.), Gleanings in Holy Fields, 198.
Mozley (J. B.), Sermons Parochial and Occasional, 28.
Parker (J.), Studies in Texts, iii. 177.
Percival (J.), Sermons at Rugby, 96.
Rankin (J.), Character Studies in the Old Testament, 30.
Selby (T. G.), The God of the Patriarchs, 125.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vii. No. 401.
Stewart (A.), Opening Services, University Chapel, St. Andrews, 13.
Thomson (W.), Life in the Light of Gods Word, 94.
Westcott (B. F.), Words of Faith and Hope, 185.
Christian World Pulpit, 268 (Roberts); li. 104 (Macmillan).
Churchmans Pulpit (Second Sunday in Lent), 445 (Bonney).
Homiletic Review, xvi. 357 (Sherwood).
Preachers Magazine, xiv. (1903) 36 (Carter).
and I: Exo 3:5, Exo 15:11, Jos 5:15, 1Sa 3:4-7, Job 9:11, Job 33:14, Psa 68:35, Isa 8:13
Reciprocal: Lev 19:30 – reverence Jdg 13:6 – terrible Ecc 5:1 – thy foot Hos 12:5 – Even 2Pe 1:18 – the holy
THE PILGRIMS VISION
And Jacob said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
Gen 28:16
At Bethel Jacob gained the knowledge for himself of the real presence of a personal God. He felt that he a person, he a true living being, he a reasonable soul, stood indeed before an infinite but still a true personal beingbefore the Lord Almighty. Then it was that the patriarch entered into the greatness of his calling, and felt for himself the true blessedness of his inheritance.
I. This living sense of Gods presence with us is a leading feature of the character of all His saints under every dispensation. This is the purpose of all Gods dealings with every child of Adamto reveal Himself to them and in them. He kindles desires after Himself; He helps and strengthens the wayward will; He broods with a loving energy over the soul; He will save us if we will be saved. All Gods saints learn how near He is to them, and they rejoice to learn it. They learn to delight themselves in the LordHe gives them their hearts desire.
II. Notice, secondly, how this blessing is bestowed on us. For around us, as around David, only far more abundantly, are appointed outward means, whereby God intends to reveal Himself to the soul. This is the true character of every ordinance of the Church: all are living means of His appointment, whereby He reveals Himself to those who thirst after Him. We use these means aright when through them we seek after God. Their abuse consists either in carelessly neglecting these outward things or in prizing them for themselves and so resting in them, by which abuse they are turned into especial curses.
Bishop S. Wilberforce.
Illustration
(1) It was worth while to light on such a place, to get such a dream! My soul, never talk of the accidents of thy life. Never say that any spot, however desertedthat any pillow, however stonyhas come to thee by chance. The stone thou rejectest, may become the head of the corner. The stray moment which thou despisest, may be the pivot on which thy fate revolves. The sleep which thou callest weakness, may be the origin of thy princely strengththy prevailing power with God and man. Tread solemnly the trifling paths of existence. Walk reverently through the days that seem to thee without meaning. Uncover thy head in the presence of things which the world calls commonplace, for the steps of the commonplace way may be thy ladder from earth to heaven.
(2) This is the hour of Jacobs conversion. God comes to him at Bethel in grace, and makes him a new man. Cheat and supplanter as he was, fugitive from his fathers house, God sees his value and enrols him among the children of His family.
The whole history of His Church is filled with similar instances of His clearsightedness and mercy.
In the midsummer of 1648, a Royalist soldier, who had been captured by the men of the Parliament after a fierce fight in the streets of Maid-stone, was doomed to die on the gallows. By a kind of miracle he succeeded in making his escape. But he abode still very vile and debauched in his life, being a great drinker and gamester and swearer. Yet John Gifford, for that was his name, having had first himself and then his Saviour revealed to him, became by-and-by a preacher of the Gospel in the town of Bedford. He it is who lives in the literature of the world as the Evangelist of The Pilgrims Progress. He it was who pointed Bunyan himself, when he was weeping and breaking out with a lamentable cry, to the Interpreters House and the place where the Cross of Jesus stands.
The Love which saved Jacob and John Gifford is eager to seek and save me. Has it broken down my rebellion? Has it scattered my suspicious thoughts? Has it kindled in me an answering response of love?
Gen 28:16. Surely the Lord is in this place; I knew it not Gods manifestations of himself to his people carry their own evidence along with them. God can give undeniable demonstrations of his presence, such as give abundant satisfaction to the souls of the faithful, that God is with them of a truth; satisfaction not communicable to others, but convincing to themselves. We sometimes meet with God there, where we little thought of meeting with him. He is there where we did not think he had been; is found there where we asked not for him.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments