Today we're going to talk about Jacob... who's just swindled his twin brother, Esau.
The entirety of Genesis 27 documents this saga, but I’ll give you the abridged version:
With the help of his mother (Rebekah), Jacob fools his elderly father (Isaac) into giving him the blessing reserved for the firstborn (Esau).
As you can probably imagine, this plan has some major consequences...
With a murderous Esau out for revenge, Jacob’s forced to flee from their home, hoping to find refuge (and a bride, but that’s another story for another chapter) at his uncle’s household.
It is here, on this harrowing journey (we’re in chapter 28 now, just fyi), that Jacob feels fear… but the good kind, this time.
Simply put, Jacob has a dream. A dream of heaven and earth, and of a ladder (or staircase, depending on the translation) allowing angels to travel between the two realms (Gen 28: 12).
That dream is also accompanied by God’s booming voice, reiterating His promise of provision, a plethora of descendants, and of course, the comforting I am with you reminder (Gen 28:13-15).
And Jacob? Well, he wakes up terrified:
“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.’ 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’” (Gen 28:16-17, emphasis mine).
But, dear readers, like I have not-so-subtly alluded to, this is a good fear.
In fact (I have to go into a linguistic tangent for a second, but it’s worth it, I promise), the Old Testament has one main word for fear.
In our alphabet, we’d read it as yahray.
Of the 541 times I’ve seen fear or afraid appear in the Bible, yahray makes up 329 of those. When you consider the fact that yahray is only in the Old Testament (because the New Testament is written in Greek, not Hebrew), that stat becomes even more impressive.
And this one word—yahray—can mean all of this…
To fear, to revere, to be afraid, to stand in awe, to be awed, reverence, honor, respect, to be fearful, to be dreadful, to be feared, to cause astonishment, to cause awe, to be held in awe, to inspire reverence, to inspire godly fear, to inspire awe, to make afraid, to terrify, to shoot, and (finally) to pour.
Twenty-one different interpretations.
Besides proving how important context is to Scriptural study, yahray reminds us that, when we see the word fear pop up, we need to look beyond our current connotation of the word; it is as much a beneficial, humbling, awe-inspiring word as it is a harmful one.
So, when we look at Jacob’s reaction—the Lord is in this place, how awesome is this—the meaning of his fear becomes quite clear.
Jacob is in awe of the Lord. Over the One who has immeasurable power… and Who has just blessed a small, sinful, mortal man with a glimpse of it.
He has seen heaven and earth, and if that isn’t amazing enough, a hope-filled foreshadowing of the coming Messiah—in the New Testament, Jesus states that “you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1:51). He is the Son of Man, the ladder connecting us to God… dreamed by Jacob hundreds of years before (how cool is that?!).
All this to be said, it makes total sense why Jacob is overwhelmed, terrified in the best way possible. With full awareness of his recent swindling sins, Jacob can’t help but be humbled, astonished by the sheer magnitude (and mercy) of the Maker before him.
Inspired by this holy fear, Jacob commits his life to the Lord (Gen 28:20-22). And oh, how our God wants us to do the same.
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CREATION SPOTLIGHT
The Smallest Seed Can Produce the Biggest Blooms
Created to instill hope and inspiration, this sticker design encourages us to persevere... because we could be moments away from blooming.
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