Genesis 28:1 ¶
And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto
him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padanaram, 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. 3 And God
Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou
mayest be a multitude of people; 4 And
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. 5 And Isaac sent away Jacob:
and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of
Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
Amazingly, to us
anyway, Isaac, knowing now of Jacob’s deception is not only tricking Esau out
of his birthright as the eldest son and his blessing as a sign of his authority
in the family, blesses him again. Perhaps he was relieved that Jacob would be
going away. Is Esau a type of carnal Israel and Jacob a type of the true
Christian church? Types are edifying but all break down at some point. In any
event, Isaac commands Jacob to go to his Uncle Laban’s house and take a wife
from his own people. Genetic deterioration would not have been significant in
those early days of man’s history as it is now in our degenerated state.
Marrying a cousin would not necessarily have been unhealthy but, even if it
was, it was a practice not uncommon.
Isaac blesses
Jacob in that he may be multiplied and a great many people will come from him.
Remember the blessing Rebekah received?
Genesis
24:60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said
unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and
let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
Isaac passed on
the blessing given by God to Abraham regarding the land grant, and to his
posterity. Clearly, Jacob did not physically receive this inheritance but it is
for his posterity. Many prophecies in the Bible are for a future time, not the
time in which they are given.
Hebrews
11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance,
obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise,
as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the
heirs with him of the same promise: 10
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker
is God. 11 Through faith also Sara
herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when
she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him
as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand
which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Always keep in
mind how God’s plan of reconciling mankind to Himself is playing out in this
history.
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