Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
back to:
Genesis
Book: Genesis
Chapter: 28
Overview:
Isaac sends
Jacob to
Padan-Aram.
(1-5) Esau marries the
Daughter of
Ishmael.
(6-9) Jacob's
Vision.
(10-15) The
Stone of
Beth-el.
(16-19) Jacob's vow.
(20-22)
1-5 Jacob had blessings promised both as to this world and that
which is to come; yet goes out to a hard service. This corrected
him for the fraud
On his
Father. The blessing shall be conferred
On him, yet he shall smart for the indirect course taken to
obtain it.
Jacob is dismissed
By his
Father with a solemn
charge. He must not take a
Wife of the daughters of
Canaan:
those who profess religion, should not marry with those that
care not for religion. Also with a solemn blessing.
Isaac had
before blessed him unwittingly; now he does it designedly. This
blessing is more full than the former; it is a
Gospel blessing.
This promise looks as high as
Heaven, of which
Canaan was a
Type. That was the better country which
Jacob and the other
patriarchs had in view.
6-9 Good examples impress even the profane and malicious. But
Esau thought,
By pleasing his parents in one thing, to atone for
other wrong doings.
Carnal hearts are apt to think themselves as
good as they should be, because in some one matter they are not
So bad as they have been.
10-15 Jacob's conduct hitherto, as recorded, was not that of
one who simply feared and trusted in
God. But now in trouble,
obliged to flee, he looked only to
God to make him to
Dwell in
safety, and he could
Lie down and sleep in the open
Air with his
head upon a
Stone. Any true believer would be willing to take up
with
Jacob's pillow, provided he might have
Jacob's
Vision.
God's time to visit his people with his comforts, is, when they
are most destitute of other comforts, and other comforters.
Jacob saw a
Ladder which reached from
Earth to
Heaven, the
angels going up and coming down, and
God himself at the head of
it. This represents, 1. The
Providence of
God,
By which there is
a constant intercourse kept up between
Heaven and
Earth. This
let
Jacob know that he had both a good guide and a good
Guard.
2. The mediation of
Christ. He is this
Ladder; the foot
On Earth
in his human nature, the top in
Heaven in his Divine nature.
Christ is the Way; all
God's favours come to us, and all our
services go to him,
By Christ, Joh 1:51.
By this way, sinners
draw near to the
Throne of
Grace with acceptance.
By Faith we
perceive this way, and in
Prayer we approach
By it. In answer to
Prayer we receive all needful blessings of
Providence and
Grace.
We have
No way of getting to
Heaven but
By Christ. And when the
soul,
By Faith, can see these things, then every place will
become pleasant, and every prospect joyful. He will never leave
us, until his last promise is accomplished in our
Everlasting
happiness.
God now spake comfortably to
Jacob. He spake from the
head of the
Ladder. All the glad tidings we receive from
Heaven
come through
Jesus Christ. The
Messiah should come from
Jacob.
Christ is the great blessing of the world. All that are blessed,
are blessed in him, and none of any family are shut out from
blessedness in him, but those that shut out themselves.
Jacob
had to fear danger from his
Brother Esau; but
God promises to
keep him. He had a long
Journey before him; to an unknown
country; but, Behold, I am with thee, and
God promises to bring
him back again to this land. He seemed to be forsaken of all his
friends; but
God gives him this
Assurance, I will not leave
thee. Whom
God loves, he never leaves.
16-19 God manifested himself and his favour, to
Jacob, when he
was asleep. The
Spirit, like the wind, blows when and where it
listeth, and
God's
Grace, like the
Dew, tarrieth not for the
sons of men.
Jacob sought to improve the visit
God had made him.
Wherever we are, in the
City or in the
Desert, in the
House or
in the
Field, in the shop or in the
Street, we may keep up our
intercourse with
Heaven, if it is not our own fault. But the
more we see of
God, the more cause we see for holy trembling
before him.
20-22 Jacob made a solemn vow
On this occasion. In this
observe, 1.
Jacob's
Faith. He trusts that
God will be with him,
and will keep him; he depends upon it. 2.
Jacob's moderation in
his desires. He asks not for soft clothing and dainty meat. If
God give us much, we are bound to be thankful, and to use it for
him; if he gives us but little, we are bound to be content, and
cheerfully to enjoy him in it. 3.
Jacob's
Piety, and his regard
to
God, appear in what he desired, that
God would be with him,
and keep him. We need desire
No more to make us easy and happy.
Also his resolution is, to cleave to the
Lord, as his
God in
Covenant. When we receive more than common
Mercy from
God, we
should abound in gratitude to him. The tenth is a fit proportion
to be devoted to
God, and employed for him; though it may be
more or less, as
God prospers us, 1Co 16:2. Let us then
remember our Bethels, how we stand engaged
By solemn
Vows to
yield ourselves to the
Lord, to take him for our
God, and to
devote all we have and are to his
Glory!