Font Size
Rebekah, at the risk of losing her son, secures a future for him through clever diplomacy. She appeals to the dangers in syncretism (27-46) and thereby succeeds in prompting Isaac to send Jacob to the land of his own kinsfolk. So the next phase of Jacob’s life begins as he journeys to the plain of Aram in northwestern Mesopotamia.
The significance of the journey to Haran is marked by a surprise theophany. God reveals himself to the deceitful fugitive. There is no word of reproach for Jacob. God simply takes the initiative in extending grace to this schemer. Jacob’s dream conveys the presence of God both visually (28-12) and audibly (vv.13-15). The stairway signifies uninterrupted fellowship between God and humankind. The messengers inform God on matters of human need. But it is God’s speech that is most crucial. It is an unqualified promise of constancy and commitment to Jacob. God meets Jacob in his solitary barrenness and assures him of his place in the covenant, allotting him land and progeny (similar, as one would expect, to the covenants of Abraham and Isaac). But this covenant contains the particular promises to Jacob of God’s presence and protection and of Jacob’s safe return (v.15).
The theophany leads Jacob to acknowledge the reality of the divine encounter and to make an appropriate response. Jacob elects to trust this God of Abraham and Isaac. He becomes Jacob’s God (28-21). Bethel is legitimized as a cultic center (v.19), and Jacob, who has come a considerable distance in his understanding of God, makes a conditional vow (vv.20-21). He still has a way to go.