Genesis 28:10-22

Jacob's Dream at Bethel

10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And the LORD stood beside him and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; 14 and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. 15 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." 16 Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place–and I did not know it!" 17 And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20 Then Jacob made 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 clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you." (Genesis 28:10-22, NRSV)

On January 3, 2007 (Wednesday in the Week of the First Sunday after Christmas, References for January 3, Year One), comments were repeated with revision and supplement from January 3, 2005 (Monday in the week of the First Sunday after Christmas, with the reference listed for January 3, Year One):

Jacob has purchased Esau’s birthright (Gen. 25:29-34) and tricked him out of Isaac’s blessing (26:34-28:5), and now he is fleeing Esau’s wrath (27:41-45). On his journey he stops at a place he would call Bethel (lx2-tyB2, bêth-’ē l, 28:19) which is explained as “house of God” (v. 17). But at the beginning of the account, it is only called “a certain place” (v. 11a). Jacob uses one of the stones found there as a pillow (v. 11b), sleeps, and dreams. “There was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (v. 12). The experience becomes a divine revelation, an epiphany, if you will, for the LORD appears to him, repeating the promise first made to Abraham, "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen. 12:2-3). To Jacob, the LORD says, "all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring" (Gen 28:14, cf. vv. 13-15). The promise of numerous offspring, “like the dust of the earth” (v. 15) is implied by “great nation” (Gen. 12:2), but explicit in Gen. 15:5, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. . . . So shall your descendants be" (cf. 17:2, 3; 22:17). The promise of "land" to Jacob (Gen. 28:13) also reflects repeated promises to Abraham (Gen. 12:1; 15:7, 18-21; 17:8; cf. "your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies," 22:17). These promises were first repeated to Isaac (Gen. 26:3-5, 24). Frederick Buechner has written this about Jacob:

The Book of Genesis makes no attempt to conceal the fact that Jacob was, among other things, a crook. What's more, you get the feeling that whoever wrote up his seamy adventures got a real kick out of them. (Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures, New York: Harper and Row, 1979, p. 56; cited by Lynnette Davidson, on the Internet at http://ldavidson.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_ldavidson_archive.html, accessed again December 31, 2008),

In his sermon on Jacob, Buechner points out that spiritual experiences such as Jacob's dream at Bethel are not necessarily withheld from those whose previous lives have not been totally upright. We may marvel at the way God's grace works in the life of a man like Jacob, but we cannot forget that he eventually spent the night wrestling with “a man” (Gen 32:24) who told him, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed” (v. 28). And Jacob named the place “Peniel” (lx2yn9P4, p^enî’ēl, ‘the face of God,’ NRSV v. 30, text note n) and said, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved” (v. 30). Jacob's dream of the ladder to heaven (Gen. 28:12) is reflected in Jesus' words to Nathanael, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (Jn. 1:51). Jesus’ first description of Nathanael, “an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” (Jn. 1:47), also refers to Jacob when, according to Donald G. Miller and Bruce M. Metzger, he says Nathanael has “no deceit, no qualities of Jacob before he became Israel (Gen. 27:35; 32:28)” (NOAB, 2^nd ed., 1994, on Jn. 1:47).

Jacob recognizes the experience at Bethel for what it is. “Surely the LORD is in this place–and I did not know it!” he says (v. 16). And continuing with some fear, he adds, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God (Myh9lox$ tyB2, bêth ’ ^elōhîm), and this is the gate of heaven” (v. 17). In the morning, as he departs, he names the place Bethel (lx2-tyB2, bêth-’ē l, v. 19, as noted above). He closes his experience at Bethel with a vow: “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you” (vv. 20b-22).

Hebrews 11:13-22

13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, 14 for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

17 By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, 18 of whom he had been told, “It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.” 19 He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead-and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20 By faith Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, “bowing in worship over the top of his staff.” 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial. (Hebrews 11:13-22, NRSV)

On January 3, 2007 (Wednesday in the Week of the First Sunday after Christmas, References for January 3, Year One), were repeated with some adaptation from January 3, 2005 (Monday of the week of the Second Sunday after Christmas, Year One). The following comments are revised with reference to the earlier comments.

Yesterday’s reading from Hebrews included a paragraph on the faith of Abraham, and probably also that of Sarah, as they came to Canaan, “a foreign land, living in tents” (Heb. 11:8-9, and, miraculously, had a child in old age (vv. 11-12). Today’s reading begins with a summary paragraph (vv. 13-16), before returning to Abraham’s faith and obedience in response to God’s command to sacrifice Isaac (vv. 17-22, cf. Gen 22:1-19)

“All of these,” says the writer, with reference to Abel (Heb. 11:4), Enoch (v. 5), Noah (v. 7), Abraham (vv. 8-12), and, with preliminary reference to Isaac (v. 9, cf. v. 20) and Jacob (v. 9, cf. v. 21), “died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them” (v. 13a). This statement probably anticipates those to be mentioned later, Joseph (v. 22), Moses (vv. 23-28) and the others down to and including the Maccabean martyrs (v. 36, cf. 2 Macc. 7:9, 14). As the writer continues, he (or she) stresses the way these heroes of faith from the Hebrew Bible and the Apocrypha anticipated but did not receive “the promises.” “They confessed that the were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland” (vv. 13b, 14). To this we may compare what was said earlier about Abraham, who “looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (v. 10). According to Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, “the city [is] the heavenly Jerusalem” [cf. the heavenly sanctuary, 9:11, in ‘the heavenly Jerusalem,’ 12:22] and the “foundations [are] contrasted with tents (v. 9)” NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Heb. 11:10). According to Harold W. Attridge, “the city with divine foundations was traditionally Jerusalem; see Ps. 87:1; Isa. 54:11. Hebrews reinterprets such language in terms of a ‘heavenly’ reality; see 12:22)” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Heb. 11:10).

Hebrews offers proof that the people of faith in ancient Israel were looking forward to a heavenly homeland. The primary reference appears to be to Abraham. “If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind [i.e., ‘Ur of the Chaldeans,’ and Haran, Gen. 11:31; 12:1], they would have had opportunity to return” (v. 15). Returning to Mesopotamia as captives of the Babylonian empire in the 6^th century B.C. would of course not count–rather that would be totally foreign to what the writer to the Hebrews is thinking. The writer infers that these ancient Israelites of faith desired “a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore,” he concludes, “God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them” (v. 16).

Hebrews turns next to the Sacrifice of Isaac (Gen 22:1-19), which Jon D. Levenson calls “Abraham’s last and greatest test” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Gen. 22:1-19). “This magnificently told story, known in Judaism as the “‘Akedah” (‘binding’),” he adds, “is one of the gems of the biblical narrative” (ibid.). “By faith (Pivstei, Pistei, dative case of pivstovV, pistos, ‘faith,’ used as a dative of means or instrument; cf. vv. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31; cf. dia; pivstewV, dia pisteōs, ‘through faith,’ v. 33),” says the writer to the Hebrews, “Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac” (v. 17a). We know that Abraham went “to the land of Moriah” as directed by God, to “offer him [i.e., Isaac] as a burnt offering” (Gen. 22:2). When they come near the intended place of the sacrifice, “on the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away” (v. 4). “Stay here with the donkey,” says Abraham to the “two of his young men” who have come with him; “the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you” (v. 5). Later, in answer to Isaac’s question (v. 7), Abraham says, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (v. 8). According to David M. Carr, “Abraham’s promise that he and Isaac will return may suggest a faith that God will work out an alternative sacrifice (see v. 8)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Gen. 22:5). Abraham and Isaac come “to the place that God had shown him, Abraham [builds] an altar there and [lays] the wood in order” (v. 9a). At that point “he bound (dqof3y01 v1, wayya ‘ ^aqōd) his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood” (v. 9b). The verb translated “bound” here means “tie up (feet of sacrificial victim),” and appears only here in the Hebrew Bible (William L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1971, 10^th corrected impression 1988, s.v. dqf, ‘-q-d). Compare hd!yq2f3 (‘ ^aqêdāh, Heb.) and xT!d4yq2f3 (‘ ^aqêd^etā’, Aramaic), the noun “tying the sacrifice before slaughtering . . . especially . . . the attempted offering up of Isaac” (Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, vol. II, 1050, s.v. hd!yq2f3, ‘ ^aqêdāh, and xT!d4yq2f3, ‘ ^aqêd^etā’; cf. the quotation from Levenson, above).

Hebrews continues to describe Abraham’s actions on this occasion. “He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom he had been told, ‘It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you’ ” (Heb. 11:17b, 18, citing Gen. 21:12; cf. Rom. 9:7). And the writer defines Abraham’s faith, so to speak, saying, “He [i.e., Abraham] considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead–and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (v. 19). Compare Paul’s view of Abraham’s faith in the miracle of birth by aged parents (Rom. 4:19-20), “when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead . . . or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb” (v. 19).

In the next three verses, Hebrews moves on to Isaac (v. 20), Jacob (v. 21), and Joseph (v. 22). “By faith (Pivstei, Pistei, see above) Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau” (v. 20, with ref. to Gen. 27:27-29, 39-40). “By faith” says Hebrews, “Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph [cf. Gen. 48:15-16l], ‘bowing in worship over the top of his staff [Gen. 47:31 LXX]’ ” (v. 21). In conclusion of today’s reading, the writer says, “By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial (peri; tw:n ojstevwn, peri tōn osteōn, lit. ‘about the [= his] bones’)” (v. 22, with ref to Gen. 50:24-25; Exod. 13:19). In the case of the last three, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, Hebrews appears to relate their “faith” to the “promises” (v. 17); made first to Abraham. Compare “blessings” (v. 20), Jacob’s blessing his sons (v. 21), and Joseph’s reference to the exodus (v. 22). Compare the discussion of the promises in comments on the reading from Genesis above.

John 10:7-17

7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away-and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. (John 10:7-17, NRSV)

On September 6, 2008 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two), when the Gospel reading was John 10:1-18, comments were repeated from March 28, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year One), when comments were combined with revision and adaptation from January 3, 2005, (Monday in the week of the First Sunday after Christmas, with the reference listed for January 3, Year One), from March 16, 2005 (Wednesday of the week of the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year One) that were used and adapted on February 15, 2006 (Wednesday in the week of the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two), and from January 3, 2007, again with the reference listed for January 3, Year One). The combined comments are repeated here:

In his blessing of Joseph's sons, Jacob refers to “the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day” (Gen. 48:15). We all know how David's “Shepherd Psalm” begins, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Ps. 23:1). In Moses' concern about who would lead Israel when he is gone, he asks God to appoint a leader “who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead then out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep without a shepherd” (Num. 27:17), before the LORD names Joshua (v. 18). But the shepherd metaphor can be turned against bad shepherds. A passage in Jeremiah pronounces severe judgment on the “shepherds,” the “lords of the flock” (Jer. 25:34-37). This includes the rulers of many nations. Another passage in Jeremiah 23 begins with “Woe” to the shepherds. “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD” (Jer. 23:1). Judah’s leaders had proved to be bad “shepherds” who “scattered my [i.e. the LORD’s] flock” (Jer. 23:2). After a similar denunciation of Judah’s bad “shepherds” who feed themselves and not the sheep, and otherwise abuse the sheep (Ezek. 34:2-20), the LORD says, “I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out” (Ezek. 34:11). “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD” (Ezek. 34:15; cf. Ps. 23). So when Jesus talks about the shepherd pretender, “a thief and a bandit” (Jn. 10:1), the stranger whom the sheep will not follow (v. 5), and when he sets that picture in contrast with the “gatekeeper” whose voice the sheep hear, who “calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (vv. 3, 4), both he and his audience–still the Pharisees (9:40) or “the Jews” (10:19)–understand his imagery in terms of its biblical background. “Jesus uses a figure of speech [paroimivan, paroimian = ‘proverb, dark saying, figure of speech,’ F. Wilbur Gingrich Shorter Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, 1965, s.v. paroimiva, paroimia] (v. 6) to describe his own role and the role of his opponents, the religious hierarchy” (Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., NOAB, 3rd ed., 2001, on Jn. 10:1-6). His opponents are “thieves” and “bandits.”

But there is more. Jesus is “the gate for the sheep” (vv. 7, 9), which one enters to “be saved” (v. 9) and to “have life, and have it abundantly” (v 10). He is “the good shepherd” who “lays down his life for the sheep” (v. 11). In light of the prophetic uses of the “shepherd” imagery, and the twenty-third Psalm, for example, Jesus’ claim, “I am the good shepherd” (v. 11) amounts to a claim of divinity (cf. 5:18; 8:58; 10:30; 17:11; 1:1). According to Hendricks, “I am is emphatic [and] contrasts with ‘hired hand’ (v. 12)” (ibid., on v. 11). “I am” translates ejgwv eijmi (egō eimi, v. 11, cf. vv. 9, 14), the phrase that introduces Jesus’ claims to be the Messiah (4:26, cf. v. 25), “the bread of life” (6:35, 48, cf. vv. 41, 51), “the light of the world” (8:12; 9:5), “from above” (8:23), “the resurrection and the life” (11:25), “the way, the truth and the life” (14:6), and “the true vine” (15:1), all claims in various ways to divinity as he emphasizes in 8:58, “before Abraham was, I am” (cf. recent comments of Sept. 3, 2008).

On the other hand, according to Hendricks, the reference to the “hired hand” who “sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and runs away” (v. 12), is “another attack on the leadership of Israel” (ibid., on vv. 12-13). As the good shepherd, Jesus knows his “own” (v. 14) and “lay[s] down [his] life for the sheep” (v. 15), including “other sheep” as a part of “one flock” with “one shepherd” (v. 16). Jesus’ knows what lies ahead for him: “I lay down my life for the sheep” (v. 15), “in order to take it up again” (v. 17). The crucifixion is not a defeat for Jesus, nor a victory for his opponents. “No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father” (v. 18). Very soon, Jesus will say, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23). He was not referring to the ascension, for at the Last Supper, after Judas “had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him” (13:31). We affirm Christ’s divinity when we confess that Jesus is Lord (1 Cor. 12:3). Let us live our lives in ways that bring honor to his name.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net