Answer:

1. Describe how God made Himself known to Jacob.

In this passage, God revealed Himself to Jacob through a dream.

On his journey to visit his uncle Laban, Jacob stopped for the night. The place he stopped to sleep was a Canaanite city named Luz that was later renamed Bethel (verse 19). He slept, using a stone for a pillow (verses 10-11). During his sleep, Jacob dreamed about a ladder reaching into the heavens. He saw angels ascending and descending on the ladder, a vision of the righteous angels who come and go on the earth and report back to God in heaven (verse 12).

While still dreaming, Jacob heard God speak from the top of the ladder and introduce Himself as the same God that his father and grandfather worshipped. God affirmed His promise that He would give Jacob and his descendants the land of Canaan (verse 13).

God told Jacob that his descendants would spread throughout the world and be innumerable (verse 14). Jacob’s descendants would bring blessings and benefits to the entire world (Genesis 12:3). To learn more about these blessings, read our Dec. 5, 2013, commentary.

2. How did Jacob respond?

The names Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob appear often as a group, because they all received covenantal promises from God and shared the same faith. But Jacob was far different from his grandfather, Abraham. Ever wily, Jacob lived much of his life according to his craftiness and ingenious wit. No stranger to conflict, Jacob was driven by a passion to get what he wanted for himself. This struggle was hard work indeed and eventually led him to the signature point of his existence, a wrestling match with a mysterious man in whom Jacob saw God face to face (Gen. 32:24, 30). Out of his weakness, Jacob called out in faith for God’s blessing and was transformed by grace.

Jacob’s occupational life as a shepherd is of interest to the theology of work. It takes on added significance, however, when set in the larger context of his life that moves in broad stokes from alienation to reconciliation. We have seen with Abraham that the work he did was an inseparable part of his sense of purpose stemming from his relationship with God. The same is true of Jacob, and the lesson holds for us as well.