CHAPTER 28

28:1-22 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. 3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; 4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. 5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother. 6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-aram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; 7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padan-aram; 8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; 9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife. 10 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. 11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. 16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. 20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: 22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

AMBROSE OF MILAN. (Verse 12) Nor was that sign without a purpose, the ladder from earth to heaven, wherein was seen the future fellowship between men and angels through the cross of Christ. [On the Death of Satyrus, Book II, 100 NFNP s.2 v.10]

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Gen 28:2) THEY WERE NOT IGNORED BY ISAAC. — Where the Latin manuscripts have these words of Isaac to his son: Go to Mesopotamia, to the house of Bathuel, the father of your mother, and take from there a wife.  The Greek manuscripts do not have the word “go”, but “flee”, that is to say, ἀπόδραθι. It is also seen here that Isaac knew what his son Esau said within himself about his brother. [Question 82]

(Gen 28:16-17) JACOB'S LADDER, FIGURE OF THE TABERNACLE. — And Jacob awoke out of his sleep, and said, The Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How fearful is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. These words contain a prophecy, for there it was to be the tabernacle, which the Lord had set up among men among his first people. We must understand by the word gate of heaven, that the tabernacle is for the men of faith as an avenue that leads them to the kingdom of heaven. [Question 83]

(Verse 18) JACOB'S STONE. — The fact that Jacob erected the stone that had served as the head, and he set it up as a pillar, and pouring oil on it does not mean that he did something like an act of idolatry. For neither at that time nor afterwards did he visit this stone to worship or offer sacrifices to it, but it was the monument of a very significant prophecy concerning the anointing of Christ. We must not forget that the name of Christ comes from chrism (anointing). [Question 84]

(Gen 28:19) HOUSE OF GOD. — And Jacob called the name of that place, the House of God; and the name of the city before was Ulamluz. There is no problem in this text if it is understood that he slept next to the city. But if it is in the city, it seems astonishing that he could erect a monument there. The fact that Jacob made a vow if God helped him in his comings and goings and promised to pay tithing to the House of God that was to be in that place (Cf. Gen. 28:20-22), it is a prophecy about the house of God, where he himself, upon returning, offered sacrifices to God, is the prophetic proclamation of the house of God, where he himself offered a sacrifice to the Lord. He does not call this stone God, but the House of God, to signify that there was to be a house consecrated to the Lord. [Questions on Genesis, 85]

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Gen 28:4) "May God grant you the blessing promised to Abraham your father.” These are the words of Isaac to his son; but in reality Abraham, father of Isaac, was the grandfather of Jacob.

(Gen 28:5) "And he went to Mesopotamia of Syria," as if there was another Mesopotamia than that which is in Syria. But this last word must not come from the Septuagint, because in this version it is marked with an asterisk.

(Gen 28:15) God said to Jacob, "I will not forsake you that I have not fulfilled all that I have promised you;” As if he were to abandon him once the promises were fulfilled; This is certainly not the meaning: it is therefore a phrase.

(Gen 28:16) Surrexit Jacob de sommo suo et dixit: Quia hoc Dominus in loco hoc, ego autem ignorabam (Jacob, having awakened, said: The Lord is truly in this place, and I did not know it). The meaning would be complete without the word quia. These words "the Lord is truly in this place," equivalent to these: "The Lord has manifested himself here; Because the Lord can not be contained in a place. [Locutions]

GREGORY I OF ROME. Hence Jacob, the Lord looking down from above, and oil being poured down on the stone, saw angels ascending and descending; to signify, that true preachers not only aspire in contemplation to the holy head of the Church, that is to the Lord, above, but also descend in commiseration downward to His members. [Pastoral Rule, 2.5, NFNP s.1 v.12]

JEROME OF STRIDON. 28:19 AND JACOB CALLED THE NAME OF THAT PLACE BETHEL; AND ULAMMAUS WAS FORMERLY THE NAME OF THE CITY. Because he had said above: How dreadful is this place: this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven, he now put a name on the place: and be called it Bethel, that is, the house of God. This place was formerly called Luza, which means 'nut' or amugdalon. As a result it is an absurdity that some people suppose the Hebrew word ulam to be the name of the city, since ulam means 'formerly'. So this is the proper arrangement of the text: And be called the name of that place Bethel, and formerly Luza was the name of the city. All the ancient Scriptures are full of the word ulam or elam, which indicates nothing other than 'before', or 'formerly', or 'forecourt', or 'lintel', or 'doorpost'. [Hebrew Questions on Genesis]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. At these words, the patriarch, knowing the malignity of these women: Isaac having therefore called Jacob, blessed him, said the text, and commanded him: Do not take, said he, a woman from among the daughters of Chanaan, but go to Mesopotamia, in the house of your mother's father, and marry one of your mother's brother's daughters. (Gen. 28:1-2) These words are not enough for him: he wants him to undertake his journey with ardor, and he still pours on him his blessings: My God will bless you, he will increase and multiply your race, and you will be the leader of several peoples, and he will give you the blessing of Abraham my father to you and your race after you, and he will give you the land where you abide as a stranger, whom he has promised to Abraham. (Gen. 28:3-4) See this just, predicting all the future; what good provisions of travel he gives him, and what consolations; he predicts his return, the possession of the land, which will be his inheritance; he predicts to him that not only will his race multiply, but that he will be the chief of several nations; that many peoples will come out of him. When he had heard these words, his son fulfilled his orders, and left for Mesopotamia, going to Laban, his mother's brother; and when Esau heard, in his turn, the second blessing given to Jacob by his father, and the order he had received from him not to marry a daughter of the Chananeans, and this trip to Mesopotamia, he wanted to correct his fault and appease his father. He went, says the text, to the house of Ishmael, and besides the women he already had, he married a daughter of Ishmael, son of Abraham.

Have you understood, my beloved, the prudence with which the most affectionate of mothers tears her son Jacob from danger; the address with which she imagines a pretext, for her journey, without revealing the wickedness of Esau, without the father being able to suspect the real cause? And at the same time, as she gives her son a good counsel, so that fear determines him to follow his thought; and, at the same time, the father intends to allege a plausible reason; it follows that the righteous, determined by these words, endows Jacob with his blessing as a viaticum and dismisses him.

Now, if it is pleasing to you, and if you are not tired, let's see how Jacob accomplishes his journey. Let us not despise the fruit that we can collect here from our attention. Indeed, the lives of righteous men are all a teaching of wisdom. See, then, this young man, who has not yet left his father's house, who, until that moment, has not the least idea of ​​a journey, has never been in a foreign country, nor never bore a test; see him, who sets out, and understand the excellence of his wisdom. Jacob having left the Well of the oath, went to Charran, and, having come to a certain place, as he wished to rest, after sunset, he took one of the stones which were there, and put it under his head, and fell asleep in that same place. (Gen. 28:10-11)

Do you see wisdom above all expression? Do you see this way of traveling, in times that are no longer? Here is a man who has not gone out of his house, I want to say it again, used to seeing servants around him in crowds. He was a simple man of morals, says the text, and retired to the house (Gen. 25:27); here he is, at the beginning of a journey, and he needs neither beasts of burden, nor servants, nor luggage: it is an apostle who has a trip at sunset, he sleeps where the night surprised him. He took, said the text, a stone and put it under his head. See the robust nature of the young man; a stone serves him as a pillow, and on the earth he sleeps. But also, as he had a generous soul, a virile spirit, above all the vanities of the century, he deserved to see this admirable vision. It is the habit of our God: when he finds a well-disposed soul, little affected by present things, he likes to show him all the affection he has for her.

See therefore this righteous, lying on the ground, and seeing this famous vision, say better, judged worthy of the vision of God. For, says the text, he fell asleep, and behold, a ladder appeared to him, whose foot was on the earth, and the top touched heaven, and the angels of God ascended and descended along the ladder. ; and the Lord, leaning on the ladder, said to him, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, my father, be without fear." (Gen. 28:12-13) Consider, I conjure you here, the clemency of God. He saw him docile to his mother's advice, and, because he feared his brother, to undertake a long journey; he was, so to speak, wandering, alone, filthy companion, no consolation, waiting for nothing but help from above; and immediately, and from the beginning, jealous of fortifying his courage, God appears to him and says to him: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac your father; it was I who raised the patriarch and your father to. a glory so brilliant; so be not afraid, trust in me, I have fulfilled the promises I made to them, and I will prove to you, too, that my providence watches over you; so be without fear, and take confidence; banish all fear, add faith to my words. This land where you sleep, I will give it to you and your race, and your race will be like the sand of the sea." (Gen. 28:14) Do not imagine, he says, because you are now on the foreign land, that you will be deprived of the land where you were born, where you were raised, where you grew up, because I will give it, this land, to you, and to your race, and I will make your race It increases so as to equal the sand of the sea. And it will spread on the side of the sea, on the south side, towards the north, towards the east, that is to say, it will propagate itself in all directions. meaning, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in you and in your race.

See how God foretold to him from that moment all that will come long after, because it is the custom of the God of the universe to do justice to the righteous; taken in particular, promises whose fulfillment does not follow immediately. He exercises the obedience and patience of the righteous, and he fulfills magnificently the promises he has announced to them. After this prediction of the future, Jacob needed, for the moment, a particular consolation. See how the goodness of Seignur, in declaring the future to him, at the same time revives his confidence; he said to him, "Do not think that I limit myself to the promises I make to you; It's not everything, I'm with you, I'll keep you wherever you go. (Gen. 28:15) Do not imagine, then, he says, that you are alone in your path; you will have me for your traveling companion, you will have me as guardian, some path due you do, making you all light burdens, lowering before you all the obstacles. He then increases consolation; he predicts to him his return among his people: I will bring you back, he tells him, to this country; Do not be afraid, then, as if you were to live in a foreign land. I will bring you back to this land, and I will not leave you until I have fulfilled all that I have told you. I will not lose sight of you, I will not leave you, not in uncertainty, devoid of resources; all that I have promised you, I will do, who can admire the ineffable goodness of God, and the excess of his clemency, see what a wonderful promise he is doing, just as he raises his courage. the recognition of the righteous, after so many promises, he easily endured for Laban, for twenty years, a thousand trials, without complaining, without demanding against the length of time, he bears everything with a generous courage, waiting for the fulfillment of promises believing that the word of God always has its effect, especially when we ardently show the virtues it requires of us, faith and patience, and trust in the promises of the Lord, confidence as strong, as if his promises were already fulfilled, that is true faith, it does not stop at visible things, even though everything seems to contradict the promises, it only trusts you to the power of the one who promised. the recognition of this just. Jacob awoke, said the text, from his sleep, and said: The Lord is truly in this bond, and I did not know it, and he was terrified, and said, How terrible is this place! this is the house of God, and this is the gateway to heaven. (Gen. 28:16-17) The righteous is amazed, says the text, which is an effect of the extreme mercy of God, and he says: This is the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. This place is now called for me, the house of God. Well! since I have been judged worthy of such a vision, since I have seen, so to speak, the gate of heaven, it is just that I offer the Lord thanksgiving for him. is. due. And Jacob arose, and took the stone which he had put under his head, and erected it as a monument, and poured oil on it, and Jacob called this place the house of God. This place had another name before. (Gen. 28:18-19) After having been honored with so magnificent a vision, he consecrates the memory of it in the name given to the place; he wants posterity to look upon this place as a famous place; he raises a stone in the form of a column; on the stone he pours oil (presumably it was the only thing this traveler took with him), and he addresses to the God full of kindness, a prayer inspired by true wisdom.

God had said to him, 'Behold, I am with you, your guardian, wherever you go, and I will multiply your race, and I will bring you back to this land, and I will not leave you until I have accomplished. all my promises. (Gen. 28:15) I want to repeat what I said yesterday; consider the industrious wisdom of God; consider the constancy, the recognition of this just. He rose, having heard these promises, and went to Chanaan; and here he is again a traveler, wandering, but every hour experiencing the effects of divine grace; it is the God of love who prepares for him, everywhere, the way, and fulfills his promise. Indeed, he who said, I am with you; your guardian, wherever you go, he is the one who led the righteous to the well where the shepherds of this country went to fetch the water. He questioned them about Laban, his mother's brother; he learned from them all that concerned him; Then he saw Laban's daughter and her flocks. He saw the inhabitants of the land who could not remove the stone from the well to water their flocks. he ran up; and what these men did not have the strength to do, he did, thanks to the help of above; he foresaw the benefits of Laban, removed the stone, and watered the sheep, which Rachel was grazing. Then he kissed the girl, told him who he was, where he came from, and stayed by the fountain. But as it was God who disposed all things in favor of the righteous, God prompted the girl to run quickly to bring the news to her father, who was the uncle of Jacob, his mother's brother; she told him of the service the traveler had rendered, and to herself and her flock; she informed him that this traveler was neither a stranger nor a stranger, but the son of his sister.

And if you will, let us now listen to the very words of this prayer: And he made this vow, saith the text, saying, If the Lord my God dwell with me, if he protect me in the way by which I walk. You remember that God said: I am with you, and I will keep you in the way you walk. This is why Jacob, in turn, says: If it ever happen to me what you promised me to give me. He now adds his prayer by saying: God give me bread to eat, and a garment to cover me; he does not ask for riches, abundance, luxury, but bread and clothing. This garment, to cover the body; this bread, as a necessary food. Consider the apostolic character that his prayer reveals. such was the love of wisdom that filled the soul of the just man. What Christ said: Do not possess gold or silver, nor two tunics (Matt. 10:9), this patriarch, without any master, of himself, had learned it, from the teacher whom we naturally carry within us; and he asked God for bread to eat, and clothing to cover himself. If I have this, said he, on the foreign land: And if God brings me safely back to my father's house, as he promised me, the Lord will be my God, and this stone that I and I will offer you, Lord, the tithe of all that you have given me. (Gen. 28:21-22) See the wisdom of the righteous; he asked no doubt, but nothing precious, nothing but bread and clothing, and he promised the Lord to give him his own property; it was because he was not ignorant of the fact that God rivals us with munificence, that his rewards exceed our thoughts; And he said, This column shall be to me the house of God; and of all the things which you shall give me, Lord, I will give you tithing. Have you understood this wisdom of a soul who loves God? He has received nothing yet, and he promises to give back to the Lord the tithe of the goods that will be granted him.

Let us beware, my beloved, of passing over, blood stop us on these words; let's all compete with that right; we who live under the law of grace, let us imitate him who lived before the law; and ask nothing of what is temporal to the Lord. Indeed, he does not expect us to warn him; it even prevents our requests, to give us what we need. He makes sunrise rise on the wicked and on the woods; he makes his rain fall on the just and the unjust. (Matt. 5:45) And believe in his warnings and his words: Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be given to you in addition. (Matt. 7:33) Do you understand that he himself has prepared us as a gift to these other goods, that he promises to give them to us as a profit, and moreover? Do not, therefore, ask for what you will receive in addition; proceed with order; Let us seek what he has commanded us to seek, so that we may be allowed to enjoy and the necessary goods, and others. That is why the Lord has set us, in the prayer that he has prescribed for us, the extent to which we must ask for the goods present. These are the words that he tells us to pronounce, words that contain all wisdom: Give us today our daily bread (Matt. 6:41); the food of the day, he says, and such is the prayer of the just, though he had heard nothing of this teaching: If the Lord gives me bread to eat, and a garment to cover me. Do not ask anything else for the present, it is an indignity to ask, so much generosity, so much power, things that are dissipated with the present life. These are the human things, the riches, the power, the glory that comes from man. Let us ask what always remains, the goods that are sufficient, the immutable goods. Informed of the goodness of our Lord, let us despise the things present, and attach all our love to the goods of heaven; for if he makes his sun rise on the good and the bad, if he makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust, all the more will he have glances for those who abstain from the malignity, who are fleeing injustice. He will surround them with all the care of his providence; in all circumstances he will prove to them his solicitude. Instructed of this truth, my beloved ones, do not refuse our faith to the divine promises; do nothing contrary to his orders. In truth, to consider our conduct today, between us and the infidels what difference? When it is God himself who guarantees us the future, and we refuse to trust his words; when we are riveting our thoughts in the present, I ask you, what other mark is there still of our unbelief? Do not the facts themselves speak loud enough? And when Christ invites us to ask nothing of these fragile goods, which have only one time, when he orders us to ask him imperishable goods, we resist his advice. What he does not want us to seek is the object of our research; and what he tells us to ask is precisely what we do not ask. And by following this conduct, by our cowardice, by our indolence, we irritate the God of gentleness and love; and, at the same time, we forget the faults we commit every day; and if he is indignant, we ask why, why he despises us, why he lets us fall into various temptations; and we never think of the greatness of our faults; and we are the first to deceive ourselves. So, I conjure you, break all these obstacles, let's stop putting anything above our salvation. Indeed, what is it for man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? These superfluous riches, let us empty them into the hands of the poor; let us show in all things the ardor of our zeal for wisdom; despise vain glory; let's crush under foot the pomp that seduces men; show one another the ardent zeal of reciprocal charity; let us be worthy and present goods and good things to come, by the grace and the goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs, as to the Father, as to the Holy Spirit, the glory, the empire, the honor, now and forever, and for ever and ever. Amen. [Homilies on Genesis]