King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 12 notes
1And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
2Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother.
3And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
4And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.
Here is where Jacob got not just the blessing but that of Abraham with the covenant of nations.
5And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
6When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-aram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;
7And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padan-aram;
8And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;
9Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.
10And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
11And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
Here Jacob was alone.
Man versus nature and he slept, today we are so frail and at variance with nature because of development so called.
12And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
The blessing was provoked and now began to work. Something was on Jacob.. Oh lord bless me indeed and separate me from my brethren and family 👪 to the land you have shown me.
Oh lord help me.
13And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
14And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Here was a very rich man's son yet was hardy and lying in the open rather than as kings and princes.
The descendants of Abraham though rich never settled nor lived an easy life though they could have with their riches.
Yet they chose to dwell in tents till the time appointed by God for them to be a nation then they inherited nations, lands and buildings and riches they did not build nor toil for.
They just kept pace with God.
15And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
This is the first time God was speaking to Jacob, the blessing and covenant was now officially affirmed by God.
After that Isaac had blessed him.
This could have been Esau.
Now Jacob was the blessed of the lord.
God assuring Jacob he was with him so reminds me of the word of the lord to me that he would not leave me...
“Isaiah 41:10 KJV
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
Hm, I renew my vows again oh my father and walk the path you spoke to me of many years ago in my youth.
I know the promise and blessings on my life and ministry still holds.
I would attain and attend to it. I will fulfill my call oh my father.
As I read the entire Isaiah 41 I see that it is talking about Jacob and how God called him and strengthened him.
Indeed, Isaiah 41 is literally the story of my life.
I shall tread upon the nations and mine enemies. With the lord on my side I shall come out tops.
Their molten images and their schemes shall be brought to nought because the lord, the I AM is my maker and keeper.
He would cause me to ride on the high places of the earth 🌎.
He who called him will not fail, he would answer and keep his promise.
This was the blessings Esau wanted but imagine Esau with his character.
How could God work with him...one who could sell his birth right can't be trusted with eternal purposes?
Though he did change and to his credit built a nation - a great nation.
16And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.
17And 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.
18And 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.
19And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
And anybody chancing upon these stones with its shiny lustre from the oil would not touch it but know that some divine 🔮 exchange had taken place here.
I can imagine many people crossing this game path and seeing the stones and staying back in respect of divinity.
And it's same even in our lands today. Many put pots on crossroads with blood of dead animals and such sacrifices and places are held sacred because spirits guard them.
So also we as children of God ought to set up sacred memorials, customs and traditions for the divine encounters we have with our God.
20And 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,
So prior to this Jacob only served God because he was His father's God but now he through this vow was personalizing God as his God. So our gods ought to live worthy of their name and reputation lest they be no gods.
21So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
22And 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.
Who was he going to pay the tithes to, or he was going to offer them as burnt offering.. Or as a goodwill to men.??
In my notes 4 years ago I asked who he was going to pay tithe to but
Remember he said where the pillar was was going to be the house of God. So likely he set up a place of worship of a sort or as I suggested earlier he offered his flocks as burnt offering.