GENESIS: In Spite of Our Mistakes, God Keeps His Covenants, and We Can Be Blessed; Jacob made a vow saying, "If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” (Genesis 27:41)

We studied in the previous lesson that Isaac's youngest twin son, Jacob deceived his brother Esau and then his father. And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” (Genesis 27:36) And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran. And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away, until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?” (Genesis 27:42-45)

And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?” (Genesis 27:46) Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. “May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples; 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.” 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. (Genesis 28:1-5)

This is very similar to how Abraham found a wife for Isaac. So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” (Genesis 24:2-4) Remember, the problem wasn't that the women of Canaan were from another country or race, the problem was that they didn't believe in the same God.  

That's why Esau's first two wives were such a problem for his parents. When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah. (Genesis 26:34-35) Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. ...what part has a believer with an unbeliever? (II Corinthians 6:14-15) 

Also, God commanded, Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24) Marriage was only supposed to be between one man and one woman; yet, because of being exposed to the customs and practices of the Gentile nations, Esau had taken two wives. Abraham was married to Sarah, and then married Keturah after Sarah had died. Isaac was only married to Rebekah. But now, their children would start this practice of having multiple wives for whatever reason, but this was not according to the Will of God.

Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram. Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had. (Genesis 28:6-9) 

Not only is Esau taking another wife, which would make his third, but he's choosing a woman from the family of Ishmael, Isaac's brother, whom their father, Abraham sent away with his mother after Isaac was born, and Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” (Genesis 21:9-10)

Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 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. 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. (Genesis 28:10-12)

The only other time a reference of the angels of God ascending and descending between heaven and earth is when Christ Jesus called his first four disciples. Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 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.” (John 1:49-51)

Later the angels of God would ascend and descend upon the Son of Man, but now the Son of Man, the Lord God, Christ Jesus Himself would ascend and descend to speak with Jacob. 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. 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. 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.” (Genesis 28:13-15)

God promised Abraham, "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:17-18) Then God promised Abraham's son Isaac, "...to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” (Genesis 26:3-5)

And now, even though Jacob had received the blessing from Isaac deceitfully, he still had received the blessing, and so the Lord God was confirming His same covenant with him as with his father and grandfather, that he would inherit the land of the Canaanites, his descendants would be innumerable, and that in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed, that "seed" being Christ Jesus. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 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!” (Genesis 28:16-17) How awesome a place indeed, the area where the "seed", the Lord God, Christ Jesus would descend from heaven to be born (Matthew 2; Luke 2); where He would be crucified and buried (Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 19); where He would ascend back to heaven (Acts 1); and where He will return to judge the earth (Revelations 14-20).

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. And he called the name of that place Bethel [future Bethlehem]; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” (Genesis 28:18-22)

Just as Abraham gave a tithe or a tenth to the priest of God (Genesis 14:18-20), so Jacob was establishing the necessity of honoring God by giving Him back a tenth of all that He gives us. "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10) We know that God is faithful and He keeps His promises, so we should be obedient in this area of our lives also. “Render...to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21; Mark 12:17) AMEN!