Jacob was a man who had dealings with God. There is a great need in our day and age for us to be men and women who boldly lay hold on God and develop a habit of close intimacy and worship. We have so much available to us to support our spiritual life (especially in the West) but knowing about him is not the same as knowing him.
This aspect of Jacob’s experience is unusually called out in Hebrews 11:21, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.”
Leaning on his staff would have become a necessary evil for Jacob ever since the momentous day when God touched the hollow of his thigh (Gen 32:35). It was an outward picture of his inward brokenness.
Despite his brokenness he summons his strength to undertaken the important task of blessing Josephs lads. His sight is failing, his strength is waning, death is looming but the wrestling seems a thing of the past, he is fairly at ease with the whole situation. In amongst it all he makes request for his bones to be carried back to Canaan (no matter how comfortable Eygpt may have seemed at the time), he blesses Josephs boys (evidencing his faith in the convenent promises) and dictates blessing upon his own sons in clear-sighted understanding of God’s future purposes for the nation as a whole.
These heart felt words evidenced a life-long learning process of knowing God. The following points summarise some of the key milestones in Jacobs communion and worship, notice the progression:
- Gen 28:16 – Jacob has an experience of the presence of God and sets up pillar at Bethel. He does most of the talking – vowing to give God his portion.
- Gen 32:1-2 & Gen 32:9-12 – while God speaks to Jacob, evidence of their communion whilst in Haran is scarce. It is only after he leaves, or as he leaves that God meets with him again and we see Jacob trying to recognise God’s presence and preeminence in the circumstances (“this is God’s camp!”). In the struggle there is a prayer of thankfulness for God’s steadfast love and faithfulness and a laying hold of God’s promises to him. These statements of faith are overshadowed by the ensuing actions of Jacob to orchestrate his own deliverance. It would be unfair of us to imply Jacobs prayer was academic or conceited. It comes about through genuine fear and so we should give Jacob the benefit of the doubt that it was genuine prayer. But it is a lesson to us of the lay hold on God not just in word but in deed.
- Gen 32:26-30 – The details of Jacobs experience at Peniel are somewhat mysterious. But what we see is a man who is jealous of God’s blessing. This was Jacobs heart, always desiring God, his blessings, promises and provision. But God knew that Jacob was not yet ready for a full revelation of His person. There were lessons still to be learnt. And so Jacob leaves the scene weakened and still short of having God’s revelation. So it is with our communion with God – there are no quick and easy fixes for getting to know Him. But for sure, trials are only a reason to be cast upon Him the more. If anything accelerates the process of knowing Him it will be experiences that expose our weaknesses that require His strength.
- Gen 33:20 – The altar erected at Shechem would appear to evidence progress but God had asked Jacob to return to the land of his kindred and specifically detailed Bethel as the place of his name (Gen. 31:13). So we would take from this that Jacob’s actions are lacking in faith, this is not worship in spirit and in truth. How very possible it is that our worship, private but especially public, is just a charade. Though we cannot broad-brush contemporary worship, the intensely sensory nature of that which is popular today actually militates against true worship. To be balanced we would have to admit however that the other extreme, asceticism is no-less empty and void of spirituality. May God help us to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
- Gen 35:1-7 – After the awful tragedy of ch34 God intervenes, calling Jacob back to Bethel. It is there we learn a further weight that needed to be laid aside before true communion with God could be enjoyed, the presence of foreign gods. No wonder Jacob had not returned to Bethel as yet – all was not well.
These dealt with, Jacob enjoys God’s protection, God’s promise and God’s communion. Finally, God reveals fully to Jacob, “I am God Almighty” and re-states the covenant blessings told to Abraham and Isaac. Jacob appears more-or-less silent in this discourse and indeed, there was little for him to say, the covenantal blessings required nothing of him. However what he enacted, the drink offering, is very clear indication that Jacob knew he had finally arrived where God had wanted him to be. The drink offering signifies pleasure from a completed work. It is possible that this event casts a shadow in which can be seen the nation of Israel’s ‘time of Jacobs trouble’ followed by their eventual repentance and return to God. Both Jacob and Israel are characterised by the desire to lay hold on God’s blessings through their own efforts but when they are finally broken, it is God who ultimately effects it. - Gen 46:1-4 – Jacobs spiritual life appears to be in limbo whilst Joseph is in Eygpt. Perhaps this foreshadows Israel’s own laying aside whilst the resurrected Christ is not believed on. But Jacob’s spirit is revived in Gen 45:27 and it is during the subsequent journey to Eygpt that God appears to him for a final time. God re-assures him that he himself ‘will do gown with you to Egypt’, he would not be repeating the mistake of his grandfather in seeking refuge outside the promised land.
And so Jacob comes to Eygpt and passes on the blessings to Ephraim, Josephs younger son. Ephraim never acted as family head per-se but his preeminence is clearly seen throughout the remainder of the old testament with the divided Kingdom being referred to as ‘Judah and Ephraim.’
May this study encourage us to walk with God, claim God’s promises and come to know Him more fully each and every day.
