The video version is available at: https://youtu.be/rCFXKz3PqYA
The scripture reading is Genesis
28:10-22
This Torah portion tells the story of
Jacob’s exile from the Promised Land. It begins with Jacob leaving the Promised
Land and ends just as he is about to reenter the Land. As it begins Jacob is fleeing
from Esau, and the portion ends Just before Jacob prepares to meet with Esau.
It also begins and ends with a heavenly visitation. These events are like
bookends of Jacob’s time outside of the Promised Land, the land of his
inheritance. The events in between Jacob’s encounters are about more than just
Jacob’s exile; they are about the coming of Messiah.
Jacob was born and grew up with Esau
in Be’er Sheva, in the same place where Isaac was living when Rebecca came to
him as a bride. As Jacob prepared to leave the Land and go to Haran to claim a
bride from his mother’s relatives, Isaac sends him out with a blessing.
Genesis 28:3-4 NKJV 3 "May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples; 4 And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham."
Isaac passed on the promise that God
had given to Abraham, who had passed it on to him. Now this promise was passed
on to Jacob, but he was leaving the Promised Land!
Genesis 28:5 NKJV 5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
As Jacob journeys from the land, he
would travel north from Be’er Sheva, past Hebron, Salem (that is Jerusalem),
and Shechem, most likely following the reverse of the route that Abraham took
when he entered the Land. Unlike Eleazar, Abraham’s servant who traveled with a
large entourage when he went to Haran to find a wife for Isaac, Jacob traveled
alone, with only his staff for company. Jacob reflects on this Journey when he
returns to the land.
Genesis 32:10 NKJV 10 "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies.
As Jacob traveled north, the day ended
with Jacob still within the borders of the Promised Land. It probably took
Jacob several days of travel before he left the Promised Land.
Genesis 28:10-11 NKJV 10 Now Jacob
went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place
and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the
stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to
sleep.
The phrasing here is interesting, he
arrived at a “certain place.” The Hebrew word for place is “makome”, number
4725 in the Strong’s Concordance meaning a standing, a spot, or place. But this
was a “certain place”, or the literal in the Hebrew is “ha makome”, the place. This
is the same phrase used for “the place” that Abraham looked up and saw when he
was taking Isaac to be sacrificed. First Fruits of Zion in Torah Club Volume
One: Unrolling the Scroll explains the connection.
Where was this place? Rashi identifies
it with Mount Moriah, the place where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac. In that
story, Genesis 22:4 says, “On the third day Abraham raised up his eyes saw the
place (HaMakom) from a distance.” Therefore, according to Rashi and traditional
Jewish interpretation, the place where Jacob spent the night was on top of
Mount Moriah, the future location of the holy Temple in Jerusalem. This is an
exciting idea because it allows us to see the site of the holy Temple as an
intersection between heaven and earth.[i]
When Jacob arrived at “the place,” the
day was ending, and he settled in for the night. The narrative here tells us
the sun had set. It seems like a strange thing to say. Why would the scriptures
point out that the sun had set? It’s night, of course the sun sets at night. By
pointing this out, we see that Jacob is not only entering a time or place of
physical darkness, but a time or place of spiritual darkness as well. In the
next Torah Portion, when Jacob returns to the land, we see that it is as the
sun rises.
Genesis 32:31 NKJV 31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.
Yeshua warned his disciples that the
night was coming; a time of spiritual darkness during which no one can work the
works of the Father.
John 9:4-5 NKJV 4 "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
At Yeshua’s crucifixion and later,
when the Jewish leaders rejected Yeshua and were exiled from the land, they
entered a time of spiritual darkness and separation from their inheritance
which continues to this day. At Yeshua’s crucifixion, He faced the ultimate
spiritual darkness of death and was victorious. This is emphasized in the
account of Jacob’s exile when we are told that Jacob lay down in “the place” to
sleep. Sleep is often a metaphor for death in the Biblical narrative. Yeshua
rose from the dead to begin to form His Kingdom. Jacob will wake up from his
sleep in “the place,” travel to Haran, and begin to build his family.
As Jacob is sleeping with his head
resting on a rock, we can imagine that Jacob was feeling uncertain about the
future. Perhaps anxious about his reception by his family in Haran. While
sleeping, Jacob had a dream. The central object in the dream was a ladder.
Genesis 28:12 NKJV 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
There at “the place,” where Isaac was
willing to give up his life to God, and where Jacob laid his head on a rock to
sleep for the night, Jacob dreamed about a ladder joining heaven to earth. The
word “ladder” is the Hebrew word “sool-lawm’,” number 5551 in Strong’s
Concordance meaning staircase or ladder. This is the only place in the Bible
that this word is used. It comes from the word “saw-lal’,” number 5549 meaning
to mound up. So perhaps rather than a ladder as we would think of it, maybe it
would be more like a series of terraces built up like a staircase. This reminds
me of the tower of Babel which was probably a ziggurat built up of terraces
with staircases reaching up to the sky.
At the Tower of Babel, the inhabitants
of the earth wanted to build a tower that reached to the heavens! God saw what
they were doing and prevented them from finishing it by confusing their
language. What man tried to do and could not, God now showed Jacob that only
God could do. God reached down from Heaven and connected with the earth.
Isaiah uses a derivation of the word
“saw-lal’,” meaning to mound up in his description of a path or a highway to
Jerusalem.
Isaiah 35:8 MKJV 8 And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called, The Way of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. But He shall be with them; the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err in it.
The Hebrew word Isaiah uses here is
“mas-lool’” number 4547 which is translated as highway. Like “sool-lawm” it is
used only once in the entire Bible.
God showed Jacob a staircase leading
to heaven. Those who ascended and descended on it were angels. In Hebrew, there
is no gender-neutral pronoun for the word “it.” The pronoun used for ascending
and descending on the ladder is the masculine form “him.” The text of Genesis
28:12 could read that “the angels of God were ascending and descending on him
or because of him.” By translating the verse in this way, we can now understand
that the staircase between heaven and earth is the Messiah! Yeshua referred to
this understanding of this verse in Genesis in his discussion with Nathaniel.
John 1:51 NKJV 51 And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."
Nathaniel would see the way to heaven
open and angels ascending and descending because of Yeshua! It is through or
because of Messiah that the angels came to bring news of Yeshua’s birth to Zacharias,
Mary, and the shepherds. The angels descended to Joseph to warn him of the
danger from Herod. And they descended to strengthen Yeshua in the garden of
Gethsemane. The Psalmist tells us that the angels were with Yeshua at all
times.
Psalms 91:11-12 NKJV 11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. 12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
Yeshua could have called a legion of
angels to protect Him from arrest and death on the cross. Peter wanted to
protect Yeshua from arrest while in the Garden of Gethsemane, Yeshua rebuked
Peter with the words that He could call on legions of angels.
Matthew 26:53 NKJV 53 "Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?
In Jacob’s vision, he saw God at the
top of the staircase.
Genesis 28:13-14 NKJV 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: "I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 "Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
In this passage, we can again read the
pronoun “it” as “him” and understand this verse as saying that God stood above
Him. God stands above Jacob as confirmation of the covenant promise given to
Abraham and passed down to Jacob through Isaac. Jacob would inherit the
Promised Land!
In the case of Yeshua, we see God
again standing above Yeshua as He enters Jerusalem and cries out that God sent
Him for the purpose of glorifying the Father.
John 12:27-28 NKJV 27 "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose, I came to this hour. 28 "Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."
After Yeshua’s resurrection, the
Father waited at the gates of heaven for Yeshua to ascend.
John 20:17 NKJV 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.'"
Now, as Jacob is leaving the Promised
Land, God has confirmed that the covenant He made with Abraham has been passed
to Jacob. God tells Jacob that He will be with him during his time out of the
land.
Genesis 28:15 NKJV 15 "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you."
The word “keep” is the Hebrew word
“shaw-mar’,” number 8104 meaning to hedge about as with thorns, to guard and
protect. God promised Jacob that He would guard and protect him while he was
out of the land and out from under the protection of Isaac! As Jacob left the
land seemingly alone, he had much more than simply his staff for protection!
When Jacob woke up, he acknowledged
the presence of God in the place where he laid down to sleep.
Genesis 28:16-17 NKJV 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." 17 And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!"
This encounter with God was beyond
anything that Jacob had experienced in the past. Jacob certainly was in awe! He
immediately anointed the stone that he had laid upon and set it up as a
memorial.
Genesis 28:18-19 NKJV 18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.
Jacob anointed the stone. This is the
first anointing ceremony mentioned in the Bible. Jacob called the place where
he anointed the stone Bethel which means house of God. We can also see this
anointing at the place where Abraham offered up Isaac as the anointing of
Messiah who was the stone the builders rejected! Jacob symbolically built a
house of God at the place that God revealed a staircase connecting Heaven and
earth!
Jacob also states this place was
called luz. There seems to be a confusion of places here. The sages clearly
equate “the place” with Jerusalem and Mount Moriah. The International Standard
Bible Encyclopedia gives a possible explanation for the name confusion.
We find that the name Bethel was given
to “the place,” ha- makome, i.e. “the sanctuary,” probably “the place”
associated with the sacrifice of Abraham, which lay to the east of Bethel. The
name of the city as distinguished from “the place” was Luz. As the fame of the
sanctuary grew, we may suppose, its name overshadowed, and finally superseded,
that of the neighboring town.[ii]
Before Jacob left the place, he made a
vow to God. Jacob would return to the place and give a tithe of all that God
would bless him with during his exile.
Genesis 28:20-22 YLT 20 And Jacob voweth a vow, saying, `Seeing God is with me, and hath kept me in this way which I am going, and hath given to me bread to eat, and a garment to put on-- 21 when I have turned back in peace unto the house of my father, and Jehovah hath become my God, 22 then this stone which I have made a standing pillar is a house of God, and all that Thou dost give to me--tithing I tithe to Thee.'
As Jacob leaves the Promised Land, he
goes with renewed confidence that God is going with him, will prosper him, and
bring him back to the land! Jacob arrives safely in Padan-Aram where his uncle
Laban lives. He marries both Leah and Rachel and eleven of his twelve sons are
born there. As promised, God blessed Jacob and prospered him. Jacob prospered
so much that the sons of Laban become jealous and accuse him of stealing their
birthright.
Genesis 30:43 - 31:2 NKJV 43 Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys. 1 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has acquired all this wealth." 2 And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not favorable toward him as before.
At that time, the LORD spoke to Jacob
telling him it was time to return home.
Genesis 31:3 NKJV 3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you."
If we look at Jacob leaving the
Promised Land as being a foreshadow of Yeshua’s first coming, then Jacob
leaving Padan-Aram and returning to the Promised Land is a foreshadow of
Yeshua’s return.
Jacob had lived peacefully with Laban
and Laban’s family for twenty years. In the twenty-first year, Laban and his
sons turn against him. Jacob again listens to God, gathers up his household and
all of the livestock that he painstakingly worked for even though Laban
constantly changed the terms of their agreement. Then, in spite of Laban’s
opposition, Jacob arrives safely back at the entrance of the Promised Land.
Genesis 32:1-2 NKJV 1 So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is God's camp." And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
The name “Mahanaim,” number 4266 means
double camp. It was a camp for both the family and livestock of Jacob, and the
encampment of the heavenly angels. As Jacob readies to go into the Promised
Land, he is met with a company of angels. When Yeshua returns to the Promised
Land, He will be accompanied by a host of angels.
Matthew 25:31-32 NKJV 31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
Jacob began and ended his journey
outside of the Promised Land with a visitation by heavenly messengers and the
promise of God’s presence to be with him. Yeshua began His ministry on Earth
with a heavenly visitation. The Spirit of God came and rested on Him at His
baptism.
Matthew 3:16 NKJV 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.
We can see that the Holy Spirit was
with Jacob the entire time he was outside the Promised land. Jacob returned
with the multitude of blessings he received while in exile outside the Promised
Land.
The Holy Spirit was with Yeshua
throughout His ministry on earth, and He sent the Holy Spirit to be with us as
we are charged with building His kingdom here on earth in his absence. When
Yeshua returns it will be with the accompaniment of His family, that is those
who have cleaved themselves to him, and with the heavenly messengers.
Study Questions:
How does physical exile represent or is a metaphor for spiritual darkness? How has this concept played out in the Biblical narrative?
What was the assurance that God gave to Jacob as he left the Promised Land for Padan-Aram? How are we given a similar assurance today?
General Portion Questions
The Hebrew word for ladder in Genesis 28:12 is sool-lawm’, #5551 from the root word saw-lal’ #5549. How is saw-lal’ used in the scriptures, and how does it reflect the concept of a ladder or staircase connecting heaven to earth?
Identify the two stones mentioned in this Torah Portion. What are they and how do they reflect Messiah Yeshua?
What other insights did you gain from this teaching? What indicators are there in this Torah Portion that point to Messiah Yeshua?
[i] Torah
Club. Volume One Unrolling the Scroll.
D. Thomas Lancaster. First Fruits of Zion. 800.775.4807. www.ffoz.org. Page 110.
[ii]
Power Bible. International Bible Encyclopedia entry on Luz.
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