Genesis 28:10-17
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
God originally made a covenant with Abram, who became Abraham...We had three Patriarchs who followed God in the earliest of time, with Abram being the first...God was with the three all three Patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob....And we read about these early men in the Bible...And as we read about the three Patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we see each of them had a love for their wives and their families...Each of the three Patriarchs had families and friends that surrounded them...Some had large families, like Abraham and Jacob...And these groups were like today's neighbor, or today's community that was with them...So we learn about God, love, family, and community from the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...
Isaac was the only son of Abraham...Isaac's name means he will laugh...He was named this because Abraham and Sarah, his parents did not think they could have a child in their elderly years....But God said they would and Abraham and Sarah had their only child and named him Isaac...Isaac was the only Patriarch whose name was not changed...Isaac would never leave the land of Israel...Isaac would have only one wife named Rebekah...
Jacob was the son of Isaac...We also learn about the sinful side of ourselves in the Patriarch's different stories...Jacob, could be said to be deceitful, and maybe a little conniving when he takes his older brother's birthright and takes Esau's blessing at his father's death...God takes Jacob as he is and teaches him over time about love, which he shows in his love for Rebekah and Joseph...And Jacob knew about God from his grandfather Abraham, and his father Isaac...It was as God had found Jacob, but Jacob had not found God for some time...But during the process of Jacob learning more about God, he struggles with Him and eventually wrestles with Him and learns of God in Bethel while sleeping in Bethel, while his head was on a rock...And there Jacob feels God's Presence...Surely at Bethel Jacob found God not only in this place of Bethel, but he found God more in his life then...Jacob's name would be changed to Israel...
God seeks us and tries to find us, but sometimes our earthly work and actions do not grasp or find God...God was with the three Patriarchs...God promised them many descendants...God's people would call God the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob..