< Genesis 28 >

Because of Esau’s threat of murder, and because of his distressing marriage to idolaters of the land, Rebekah suggested that Jacob be sent to Mesopotamia to find a suitable wife among Abraham’s family, as Isaac had done. In this Jacob obeyed Isaac and Rebekah, obedience to parents being a command of God and a characteristic of his people, and journeyed to Padan-aram.

On the way to Padanaram, the LORD gave Jacob the same promise he had made to both his father and grandfather. This is the gospel: the blessing of all nations in the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when they inherit the land of Canaan for ever. Interestingly, Jacob received the promise when he dreamed of angels ascending and descending between heaven and earth, showing that open communication with heaven will be a feature of the kingdom of God, as Jesus declared John 1:51John 1:51XWaiting for response

Jacob called the place “Bethel”, “the house of God”, expressing the LORD’s great purpose - to establish in the earth for ever his house, composed of men and women who are his sons and daughters because they manifested his character in their lives, as did Jacob.

Jacob received God’s blessing and made an oath that if God preserved him in his absence from the land and bought him back, he would serve the LORD faithfully which he did under great tribulation.