Confessional Lutheran Ministerium

Psalm 35:15-28 NKJV

¹⁵ But in my adversity they rejoiced
And gathered together;
Attackers gathered against me,
And I did not know it;
They tore at me and did not cease;
¹⁶ With ungodly mockers at feasts
They gnashed at me with their teeth.

¹⁷ Lord, how long will You look on?
Rescue me from their destructions,
My precious life from the lions.
¹⁸ I will give You thanks in the great assembly;
I will praise You among many people.

¹⁹ Let them not rejoice over me who are wrongfully my enemies;
Nor let them wink with the eye who hate me without a cause.
²⁰ For they do not speak peace,
But they devise deceitful matters
Against the quiet ones in the land.
²¹ They also opened their mouth wide against me,
And said, “Aha, aha!
Our eyes have seen it.”

²² This You have seen, O Lord;
Do not keep silence.
O Lord, do not be far from me.
²³ Stir up Yourself, and awake to my vindication,
To my cause, my God and my Lord.
²⁴ Vindicate me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness;
And let them not rejoice over me.
²⁵ Let them not say in their hearts, “Ah, so we would have it!”
Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”

²⁶ Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who rejoice at my hurt;
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
Who exalt themselves against me.

²⁷ Let them shout for joy and be glad,
Who favor my righteous cause;
And let them say continually,
“Let the Lord be magnified,
Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”
²⁸ And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness
And of Your praise all the day long.

With clarity, this psalm describes the life of the Christian. David cites how our adversaries rejoice in our hurt and plot evil matters against the godly. They mock and hate God’s people without cause.

Luther says, “The 35^th psalm is a psalm of prayer in which David cries out against the shameful people who, for the sake of their enjoyment and profit, put up a pretense and say what rulers would gladly hear. They defame the innocent, embittering the rulers against them and inciting them to violence. They devour the truth and cause great heartache” (Reading the Psalms with Luther, p. 86).

And Luther is right; it’s almost as if he wrote in our day. In this world which keeps getting more and more evil and ungodly, the mocking and ridicule of God’s people is more out in the open than ever. Blatant displays of hatred and blasphemy are all around us. Years ago, it seemed as if most of the blatant persecution of Christians was in other countries, but now we walk among evil more and more.

David teaches us in the psalm to cry out to God and to plead with Him not to wait to rescue us from destruction. O Lord, do not keep silence…Do not be far from me… Stir Yourself up and awake to my vindication” (vv. 22-23). With David we rightly cry out to our good and gracious God that He would not only keep us from harm but ultimately deliver us from the hands of our enemy…

And He has done so already through Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross by which He paid for all sin, and by His resurrection from the dead by which He defeated even death for us. God the Father gave His Son for us and there is ultimately nothing to fear – no enemy can take away our eternal life, for God Himself is for us. With David we now say with confidence, “Let the Lord be magnified Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant” (v. 27). Let us pray: Lord Jesus, grant me your peace and strength, and make my tongue to speak of Your righteousness and Your praise all the day long. Amen.

Psalm 35:1-14 NKJV

35 Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me;
Fight against those who fight against me.
² Take hold of shield and buckler,
And stand up for my help.
³ Also draw out the spear,
And stop those who pursue me.
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation.”

⁴ Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonor
Who seek after my life;
Let those be turned back and brought to confusion
Who plot my hurt.
⁵ Let them be like chaff before the wind,
And let the angel of the Lord chase them.
⁶ Let their way be dark and slippery,
And let the angel of the Lord pursue them.
⁷ For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit,
Which they have dug without cause for my life.
⁸ Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly,
And let his net that he has hidden catch himself;
Into that very destruction let him fall.

⁹ And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord;
It shall rejoice in His salvation.
¹⁰ All my bones shall say,
“Lord, who is like You,
Delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him,
Yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him?”

¹¹ Fierce witnesses rise up;
They ask me things that I do not know.
¹² They reward me evil for good,
To the sorrow of my soul.
¹³ But as for me, when they were sick,
My clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled myself with fasting;
And my prayer would return to my own heart.
¹⁴ I paced about as though he were my friend or brother;
I bowed down heavily, as one who mourns for his mother.

Like Psalm 31 from Sunday, the voice speaking in Psalm 35 is the voice of Christ Himself, and the psalm’s theological context is the drama of His Passion and death. Among the many truths that the Lord taught the fledgling Church on the night of His betrayal, the very sobering truth was that believers would suffer persecution just as He did: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (Jn. 15:18). Thus began the night’s prediction of the coming sufferings of the Church for Jesus’ sake. The Lord went on to say, “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you.” (15:20)

The Passion of Jesus Christ and the subsequent suffering of His Church are not mere historical phenomena. Palms such as these, that have the Church praying in the voice of Jesus and praying as the suffering Church, bring them to be psalms and prayers of anyone who in God’s Word of truth can say: “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith: that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Phil. 3:8-11)

The vindication within this psalm is not some sort of petty revenge. Salvation is attained by God’s vindication of His own righteousness in the resurrection of Christ, “who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised for the sake of our justification” (Rom. 4:25). This truth is the key to the psalm. It is the prayer of those who are in Christ still struggling as they fill up in their flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ Jesus (Col. 1:24).

Let us pray: O Lord, ever-fix our eyes of faith upon Christ’s merits for us and bring us to rejoice in Your vindication. Amen.

  Genesis 31:1-21 NKJV 31 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this wealth.” ² And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not favorable toward him as before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”

⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, ⁵ and said to them, “I see your father’s countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶ And you know that with all my might I have served your father. ⁷ Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. ⁸ If he said thus: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked. ⁹ So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

¹⁰ “And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted. ¹¹ Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’ ”

¹⁴ Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not considered strangers by him? For he has sold us, and also completely consumed our money. ¹⁶ For all these riches which God has taken from our father are really ours and our children’s; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”

¹⁷ Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels. ¹⁸ And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. ¹⁹ Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the household idols that were her father’s. ²⁰ And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee. ²¹ So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river, and headed toward the mountains of Gilead.

Where there is prosperity, there can definitely be pitfalls. Why? Because this is a fallen world, full of sinful men! Jacob prospered and grew rich (albeit in a shrewd fashion), but it made him an object of envy—therein lies the sin of man being displayed. Laban, full of jealousy or covetousness, was embittered against Jacob’s success, so he takes on a prideful attitude, choosing not to give him a good word. Jacob, then, could no longer look to Laban for any good thing.

In this anguishing situation, Jacob turned to His faithful God and cast this cares upon Him. By grace, God promptly answered him and called him to withdraw from the sight of the troublemaker Laban and “return to the land of your fathers and to your family and I will be with you.” Luther writes: “Because God’s Word orders it, he [Jacob] is not fearful but proceeds in the name of the Lord, for these are the words of God, who is liberating Jacob from distress and promising to defend him in the future” (AE 6:11).

Oh, how many who go through hardships in this life would long to hear the Lord say to them, “I will be with you.” But, sadly, those who go by such an understanding are not hearing, reading, or meditating upon enough of God’s Holy Scripture to believe and confess the truth of God’s Word—specifically how God is with us, especially His believing/baptized children.

In biblical theology, God fills the whole universe with His presence (Jer. 23:23) and providential goodness (Mt 5:45; Ac 17:24-28; Rom. 1:20). However, God is especially present with His saving power and grace where He has promised to be present, namely in His Christ-focused Word and Sacraments, which you partake of often. Yes, God is with you, indeed!

Let us pray: O Lord, if You grant me blessings, fend off those who may sinfully try to destroy what You have given. Bring me to rejoice in Your comforting and protecting presence as You keep me in the truth of Your Word and the reception of Your Divine Service toward me. Amen.

Genesis 29:31-35; 30:1-24 NKJV

³¹ When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. ³² So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, “The Lord has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me.” ³³ Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. ³⁴ She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. ³⁵ And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

God ever works through ways that confound human reason (e.g., not through almighty powers, but weak flesh—not through magnificent means, but via lowly means of word, water, bread and wine—not through ease and utopia, but through tension and suffering). Valerius Herberger (an early Lutheran Father from the 16th and 17th centuries) uncovers this understanding within this text as he writes:

“Now Jacob had two wives; let us see which of these two would receive the honor of becoming Jesus Christ’s ancestor. Leah was ugly, squint-eyed, and wrinkle-cheeked. She was despised by her own sister, her husband, and her own servants. She herself frequently thought God in heaven hated her and was angry with her.”

“Rachel, however, was beautiful, rosy, and young—everyone’s favorite child. Jacob loved her like the apple of his eye. The servants waited on her hand and foot. Everyone supposed that she sat in God’s lap. Jacob himself thought that she must be the Messiah’s ancestor; it was Rachel’s honor by rights. Yet observe, dear heart, on whom was Jesus’ heart set? Which of the two did He choose for His ancestor? It was not beautiful and honored Rachel but ugly and undesirable Leah who would bring Judah, Jesus’ ancestor, into the world. Forsaken Leah thus entered the family of Christ; beautiful Rachel was pushed aside.” (The Great Works of God, parts. III & IV, trans. by M. Carver, pg. 198, CPH)

Herberger goes on to pray in the following way based upon this text, so… Let us pray: 

“O Lord, Jesus, how sweet is Your faithful heart! “You help the miserable people, and the haughty eyes You bring down” (Ps. 18:27). You bring down the mighty from their seat and exalt the lowly, as Mary says in her Magnificat [Luke 1:52]. What the world casts off, You exalt. What the world counts trivial, You bring into great honor. Oh, regard my misery and neediness too! Let me also experience this old favor of Yours.” And, thanks to You, I do, through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Genesis 29:15-30 NKJV

¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?” ¹⁶ Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah’s eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance.

¹⁸ Now Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.”

¹⁹ And Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.” ²⁰ So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.

²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.” ²² And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast. ²³ Now it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her. ²⁴ And Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid. ²⁵ So it came to pass in the morning, that behold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why then have you deceived me?”

²⁶ And Laban said, “It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. ²⁷ Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years.”

²⁸ Then Jacob did so and fulfilled her week. So he gave him his daughter Rachel as wife also. ²⁹ And Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as a maid. ³⁰ Then Jacob also went in to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with Laban still another seven years.

When the sinful flesh of man selfishly sets his mind on getting something—oftentimes coveting something so much that they will not give up, or go to any lengths, until they obtain it—the Lord can allow it to take place. There’s a saying that can be applied to such allowances of God: “Don’t mistake God’s providence as permission.” The Lord allows things to take place knowing He is going to use the situation ultimately for His good purpose and also as a teaching opportunity.

Desiring people can be found pleading, “Come on. Lord, I really need this or that thing! Pleeeease, let me I have it.” First of all, it’s usually a want, not a need. And second, it’s usually tainted with vanity (a vain attraction that drives the desire to possess it). At the very least, though, it’s idolatry. Jacob, clearly, had a vain attraction to Rachel’s beauty.

Vain-focused desire (or, better called, covetousness) brings about a vulnerability in which a person can then be swindled. This is displayed in the deceit and craftiness of Laban. As the Lord allows this scenario to play out, look at what such covetousness can lead to—Jacob “loved Rachel more than Leah.” Well, that’s not going to lead to any bad issues, right?

Of course, beauty of the body is not to be despised, but the inward beauty of the heart surpasses all. As you will read in tomorrow’s continuation of this event in history, the Lord uses Jacob’s selfish covetousness for His own good purposes—specifically, it’s for the greatest ‘good’ of all time, for He is continuing the human lineage that will bring about the promised Messiah—and promised seed to Abraham—Christ Jesus!

Let us pray: O Lord, we pray that Your grace may always go before and follow after us, that we may continually be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Genesis 29:1-14 NKJV

29 So Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the East. ² And he looked, and saw a well in the field; and behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks. A large stone was on the well’s mouth. ³ Now all the flocks would be gathered there; and they would roll the stone from the well’s mouth, water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the well’s mouth.

⁴ And Jacob said to them, “My brethren, where are you from?”

And they said, “We are from Haran.”

⁵ Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?”

And they said, “We know him.”

⁶ So he said to them, “Is he well?”

And they said, “He is well. And look, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep.”

⁷ Then he said, “Look, it is still high day; it is not time for the cattle to be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.”

⁸ But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and they have rolled the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.”

⁹ Now while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. ¹⁰ And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. ¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept. ¹² And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. So she ran and told her father.

¹³ Then it came to pass, when Laban heard the report about Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. So he told Laban all these things. ¹⁴ And Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him for a month.

Rachel was the first woman whom Jacob met from Haran (just as, many years before, Rebekah met his father Isaac’s matchmaker at this well), for Rachel was to become Jacob’s wife. Upon reading this perfectly timed event of God’s providential doing in biblical history, Christians could have brought to their remembrance the inspired words of St. Paul to the Roman Church: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! … For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. (Rom. 11:33-34;36)

On this section of Genesis, Valerius Herberger (an early Lutheran Father from the 16th and 17th centuries) wrote: “Travelers who have visited the Promised Land inform us that the water of this well is muddied and pale in color. O Lord Jesus, You also muddied the well of Holy Baptism and colored and consecrated it with the power of Your blood. It is not plain water, but a washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit [Titus 3:5]. It is truly a “fount of blood,” as Ambrose puts it, and all baptized Christians must ready themselves to drink a mirky sip from the cup of the cross. As You Yourself drank from the brook on the way (Ps. 110:7), so all who love You must endure the mirky of the cross. But this shall be followed by the sweet, joyful draught of eternal blessedness.” (The Great Works of God, prts. III & IV, trans. by M. Carver, pg. 194, CPH)

Luther penned similar words regarding the water in his baptism hymn: “All that the mortal eye beholds ~ Is water as we pour it ~ Before the eye of faith unfolds ~ The pow’r of Jesus’ merit ~ For here it sees the crimson flood ~ To all our ills bring healing ~ The wonders of His precious blood The love of God revealing ~ Assuring His own pardon.” (LSB 406)

Let us pray: O Lord, thank You for Your providential care in giving us our needs; grant us continued and strengthened faith as You give us the ultimate need for both our body and soul, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.

Psalm 31:17-24 NKJV

¹⁷ Do not let me be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon You;
Let the wicked be ashamed;
Let them be silent in the grave.
¹⁸ Let the lying lips be put to silence,
Which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

¹⁹ Oh, how great is Your goodness,
Which You have laid up for those who fear You,
Which You have prepared for those who trust in You
In the presence of the sons of men!
²⁰ You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence
From the plots of man;
You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion
From the strife of tongues.

²¹ Blessed be the Lord,
For He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!
²² For I said in my haste,
“I am cut off from before Your eyes”;
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications
When I cried out to You.

²³ Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints!
For the Lord preserves the faithful,
And fully repays the proud person.
²⁴ Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the Lord.

Although not part of the assigned verses for today, the correct sense of Psalm 31 is indicated in verse 5: “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” This verse, according to Luke 23:46, was the final prayer of our Lord from His cross, and it can be taken to indicate the proper “voice” of this whole psalm.

Speaking to His Father in the context of His suffering and death, it is the prayer of “Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.” (Her. 12:2). This Psalm is part of His prayer of faith. In making this psalm our own, we Christians are brought into the voice and prayer of Christ Jesus. We partake of His own relationship to the Father. No one, after all, knows the Father except the Son and the one “to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27).

Our only access to God is through Christ Jesus and the mediation of His atoning blood. Our incorporation into Christ is the foundation of all of our prayer. Only in Christ do we call God our Father. The only prayer that passes beyond the veil to His very throne is prayer saturated with the redeeming blood of Christ. This prayer cries out more so than the blood of Abel.

The reason that the voice of Christ in His Passion must become our own voice is that His Passion itself provides the pattern for our own lives. We are to be baptized with His baptism; the bitter cup that He drinks we too are to taste in our own souls. The prayer of His Passion becomes our own, because “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).

There’s a fancy theological word entitled “proleptic” that means “Now, but not yet,” which is displayed in the psalm—a changing of tenses, back and forth between past and future. So with us, even as we taste the coming enjoyment of God’s eternal presence, hope’s struggle in this world presses on.

Let us pray: O Lord, bring us to pray as Jesus, who is our sure and certain hope amidst the struggles of this world. Amen.

Psalm 25:16-22 NKJV

¹⁶ Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me,
For I am desolate and afflicted.
¹⁷ The troubles of my heart have enlarged;
Bring me out of my distresses!
¹⁸ Look on my affliction and my pain,
And forgive all my sins.
¹⁹ Consider my enemies, for they are many;
And they hate me with cruel hatred.
²⁰ Keep my soul, and deliver me;
Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You.
²¹ Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
For I wait for You.

²² Redeem Israel, O God,
Out of all their troubles!

The final verses of this psalm teach us those things for which we are to pray. We ask God to turn Himself toward us, to look upon us in mercy and favor. In this life we are desolate and afflicted. Even when life is “going well,” we are still under the affliction and desolation that sin brings upon the world. Living in a sinful world with temptations and dangers to our faith, our troubles easily enlarge and occupy our hearts and thoughts.

We are also to pray for the forgiveness of sins. We all have sin in our flesh, and at times we act upon the sin in our flesh. We should sorrow over the sin in our flesh and the sins we commit and pray, “Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins” (18). We ask God to consider our enemies—the wicked world, the devil, and our own sinful flesh—and keep and deliver us from them, lest we fall into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. We pray for integrity and uprightness, that we may live holy lives in thought, word, and behavior. These preserve us from many sins by directing our thoughts toward pleasing God and helping neighbor instead of how to serve the sinful flesh. Finally, we pray that God would redeem Israel—the church—from all its troubles and deliver it from evil.

These petitions are many of the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. We pray that God would look upon us in mercy so that we hallow His name, that His kingdom come among us by the gospel, and that His good and gracious will be done among us. We pray for the forgiveness of sins, strength during temptation, and deliverance from evil for ourselves and all believers.

The saints of the Old and New Testaments pray for the same blessings because they have the same problems and spiritual enemies. For as much technological progress as humanity has made, we cannot progress spiritually without the Lord’s favor, forgiveness, and strength that He gives in the gospel. He teaches us to pray for them again and again, for they are what we truly need.

Let us pray: Look upon us with Your mercy, O Lord, forgive our sins, keep us from temptation, and deliver us from our enemies today, for in You we put our trust. Amen.

Genesis 28:6-22 NKJV

⁶ Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” ⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram. ⁸ Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. ⁹ So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

¹⁰ Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. ¹² Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

¹³ And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. ¹⁴ Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. ¹⁵ Behold, 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 spoken to you.”

¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke 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 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹ And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. ²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, ²¹ so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. ²² And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

While traveling northward, Jacob sleeps and dreams. He sees a ladder set upon the earth that reaches heaven, with angels ascending and descending it. The Lord, standing above the ladder, promises to give the land on which he now sleeps to his numerous descendants. His Seed will bless all families of the earth. The Lord also promises to be with Jacob and keep him wherever he goes and bring him back to this land. The dream comforts Jacob. The ladder showed him how close the Lord was to him at any moment, His holy angels attending him.

Upon waking, Jacob converts his stone pillow into a pillar, anoints it with oil, and makes a vow. While his vow can be read as if he were making a bargain with God—“If You do this, then I will do that”—but it is better to read it as a thanksgiving. It’s as if Jacob were saying, “If God does what He has promised to do—be with me wherever I go—then I will most certainly come back here as He has promised, and when I do, I will offer Him sacrifices here.” Jacob goes forward, confident of God’s promises and presence.

 Dear Christian, you have even clearer promises than the patriarchs. The ladder Jacob saw in a vision was seen by the apostles in the person of Jesus Christ. He told Nathanael in John 1:51, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” Jesus has opened heaven for us with His blood. He is the ladder, or way to heaven, for all who place their trust in Him. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

He also promises to be with all who believe in Him. He says in John 14:23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” God Himself dwells in believers, so that they are houses of God. He dwells within us by faith so that wherever we go or whatever happens to us, we go forward confident of God’s promises and presence. Let us pray: Keep us ever mindful of Your presence, O Lord, that wherever we go and whatever befalls us, we may we shun sinning and confidently rejoice all in Your promises. Amen.