God of Jacob

“ These people look up to Him in worship just as you do. They have their sacred hours in His presence just as you have. There is nothing you look for to God, that they do not seek, too, from Him. They are not of a different order from you, but the same order. And though you do not love them, God does. Though they are outside of your circle, they are not outside of His. The God of Jacob is their God. And therein lies for them, as it did for Jacob, the hope and promise of better things to come. ”

“ Just to think of what is meant by the "God of Jacob" is to set our sharp and bitter judgments of others over against the infinitely tender compassion and patience and longsuffering of God. All the wonder of the divine grace is hidden in the phrase. And this is the wonder--that God never grows tired even of disagreeable people. He does not give up caring even for the unlovable. ”

“ Here is a use of exhortation, v. 6. "Is this so, that Jacob thy father had this communion with the Lord God of hosts, and is this still his memorial?" Then, [1.] Let those that have gone astray from God be converted to him: Therefore turn thou to thy God. He that was the God of Jacob is the God of Israel, is thy God; from him thou hast unjustly and unkindly revolted; therefore turn thou to him by repentance and faith, turn to him as thine, to love him, obey him, and depend upon him. ”

“ Parsons that he had also been enabled to "put the God of Jacob to the test" with reference to the wants of his soul—that he had been led by divine grace to seek and find salvation; so that he could set to his seal that God was true, and that, "when the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, the Lord will hear them; the God of Jacob will not forsake them." ”

“ It it Jacob's case that is in this prayer spread before the God of Jacob. [2.] Jacob is small, very small already, weakened and brought low by former judgments; and therefore, if these come, he will be quite ruined and brought to nothing. The people are few; the dust of Jacob, which was once innumerable, is now soon counted. Those few are feeble (it is the worm Jacob, Isa. xli. 14) ; they are unable to help themselves or one another. Sin will soon make a great people small, will diminish the numerous, impoverish the plenteous, and weaken the courageous. ”

“ Many that others worship and serve as gods are cruel beings, spirits that seek the ruin of souls; but this is a God that delighteth in mercy; his grace is infinite and endures forever. He is love itself, an infinite fountain and ocean of it.
[Pg 50] Such a God is their God! Such is the excellency of Jacob! Such is the God of them who have forsaken their sins and are converted! They have made a wise choice who have chosen this for their God. They have made a happy exchange indeed, that have exchanged sin and the world for such a God! ”

“ Vows are to be made to God, who is a party as well as a witness. The Lord is the Mighty One of Jacob, Jacob's God, and a mighty one, whose power is engaged for Jacob's defence and deliverance. Jacob is weak, but the God of Jacob is a mighty one. (2.) What he bound himself to do, to find out a place for the Lord, that is, for the ark, the token of his presence. ”

“ His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his earth; * in that day all their thoughts shall perish.
Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God ”

“ To Jacob thou wert a guide most gracious.
Joseph thou savedst from dangerous deadly wrong,
Melchisedec and Job felt thy great goodness strong,
So did good Sarah, Rebecca, and fair Rachel,
With Zephorah my wife, the daughter of Raguel.
To praise thee, sweet Lord, my faith doth me compel,
For thy covenant's sake wherein rests our salvation,
The seed of promise, all other seeds excel,
For therein remaineth our full justification.
From Adam to Noah, in Abraham's generation,
That seed procureth God's mighty grace and power;
For the same seed's sake, I will sing now this hour. ”

“ So God rewarded Jacob by giving him more light: by not leaving him to himself, and his own darkness and meanness, but opening his eyes to understand the wondrous things of God’s law, and showing him how God’s law is everlasting, righteous, not to be escaped by any man; how every action brings forth its appointed fruit; how those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind. Jacob’s first notion was like the notion of the heathen in all times, ‘My God has a special favour for me, therefore I may do what I like. He will prosper me in doing wrong ”

“ The world that had been so bleak and empty to him, is filled with a majestic vital presence. Jacob is no longer a mere fugitive from the results of his own sin, a shepherd in search of employment, a man setting out in the world to try his fortune; he is the partner with God in the [287] fulfilment of a Divine purpose. And such is the change that passes on every man who believes in the Incarnation, who feels himself to be connected with God by Jesus Christ; he recognises the Divine intention to uplift his life, and to fill it with new hopes and purposes. ”

“ As Isaac's days or Abraham's, have been mine;
Not as the days of those that in the field
Walked at the eventide to meditate,
And haply, to the tent returning, found
Angels at nightfall waiting at their door.
They communed, Israel wrestled with the Lord.
No, not as Abraham's or as Isaac's days,
My sons, have been Jacob your father's days,
Evil and few, attaining not to theirs
In number, and in worth inferior much.
As a man with his friend, walked they with God,
In His abiding presence they abode,
And all their acts were open to His face. ”

“ To ask for God’s name, therefore, as Jacob did, is a mistake. For almost every one supposes that when he knows the name of a thing, he knows also its nature. The giving of a name, therefore, tends to discourage enquiry, and to beget an unfounded satisfaction as if, when we know what a thing is called, we know what it is. The craving, therefore, which we all feel in common with Jacob—to have all mystery swept from between us and God, and to see Him face to face, so that we may know Him as we know our friends—is a craving which cannot be satisfied. You cannot ever know God as He is. ”

“ Said Jacob to Jesus: “But, Rabbi, Moses and the olden prophets tell us that Yahweh is a jealous God, a God of great wrath and fierce anger. The prophets say he hates evildoers and takes vengeance on those who obey not his law. You and your disciples teach us that God is a kind and compassionate Father who so loves all men that he would welcome them into this new kingdom of heaven, which you proclaim is so near at hand.” ”

“ Brethren! there is only one way by which, out of the mire and clay of earth, there can be formed a fair image of holiness, and that is, that Jacob's experience, in deeper, more inward, more wonderful form, should be repeated in each one of us; and that thus, penitent and yet hopeful, we should behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and draw from Him our righteousness. That is the path of transformation. The road passes through Peniel, and Jacob must become Israel before he is Jeshurun. He must hold communion with God in Christ before he is clothed with righteousness. ”

“ No model men were the chosen people of ancient times, nor the saints of apostolic days. The one question is, Hast thou faith? "Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief," is substantially the confession of Jacob, of Israel, and of all who in any age form part of the Church of the living God. When Jacob, when the Jews, suffered themselves to forget the Divinity which was with them, which was in them, their superior power revealed itself as simply masterly craft. Jacob, viewed in one light, is just the most accomplished and successful schemer of his times ”

“ Jacob was aware that he had to do with a supernatural being, on which account he asked for his blessing. ↑ Bless me. The mysterious being who appeared to Jacob while he was praying, and wrestled with him, was the “Angel of the Covenant”, i. e. the Son of God, who, assuming a human form, allowed Himself to be apparently overcome by Jacob, as an encouragement to him, and a proof that he need fear nothing from Esau. Therefore the angel said: “If thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men” (Gen. 32, 28) . ”

“ Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. ”

“ It is the ladder of Jacob on which our spirits ascend to commune with God and angels. It is the telescope of faith by which we look on things invisible, survey even the third heavens, and have present to our view what is to be in after-ages. It is the chariot of Elijah in which to ride up the starry way to immortality unhurt of death. It is the channel of the almighty Spirit as it goes forth for the sanctification of the race,—the very gulf-stream of eternal life as it pours out for the resuscitation of our wilted and decaying world. ”

“ And behold, in thy childhood thou hast suffered afflictions and much sorrow, because of the rudeness of thy brethren.
2:2 Nevertheless, Jacob, my first-born in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.
2:3 Wherefore, thy soul shall be blessed, and thou shalt dwell safely with thy brother, Nephi; and thy days shall be spent in the service of thy God. Wherefore, I know that thou art redeemed, because of the righteousness of thy Redeemer; for thou hast beheld that in the fulness of time he cometh to bring salvation unto men. ”

“ For such an one there is absolutely no security but that which is given in the vision of Jacob—in the belief that God will be with you in all places, and that even now on that life which you are perhaps already wishing to seclude from all holy influences, the angels of God are descending to bless and restrain you from sin. Happy the man who, at the outset, can heartily welcome such a connection of his life with God: unhappy he who welcomes whatever blots out the thought of heaven, and who separates himself from all that reminds him of the good influences that throng his path. ”

“ To know our high title in Christ, and by no means to surrender it, even when circumstances may humble us, this is no easy thing. Jacob was under discipline in Padan-aram. He had no altar there. Before God he was rather a penitent than a worshipper. But before Laban he knows himself as a saint, and here, at the Mount Gilead, he has his pillar, his sacrifice, and his feast, and he exercises that faith which emboldens him to act according to his dignity as a saint and priest of God, in the presence of all the claims of flesh and blood. ”

“ Jehovah rewards the industrious servant, the active workman. With his staff in his hand Jacob passed over the Euphrates; but he returned rich in flocks and goods, blessed with wife and child. In his pliancy, his quiet, peaceful trust in God, his wrestling for the blessing of God, Jacob is the genuine warrior of God (Israel) , who is rescued, and gains the victory. Beside these stand realistic traits peculiar to the East and the Hebrew character. Jacob is a cunning man, who knows how to invent clever devices. With the help of his mother he gains from his brother the blessing of the firstborn. ”

“ Of this royal class, who are God's elect ministers to mankind in all their generations, Jacob is a typical representative. We learn from his character and history what God means by callings, birthrights, and blessings, and how much those whom He places in the front rank have to toil and suffer for the world. There is something in Jacob's character and in the development of his life which is significant for all time, which forecasts the course of Jewish and Christian ages, and prophesies in broad outline the method of God's universal culture of our race. ”

“ This being the case, Jacob's prophetic description of the future state and condition of his sons, describes the state and condition of those whom his sons represented. Those who belong to the Lord's Church are the spiritual Israel; and in the prophetic words of Jacob to his sons they may find a description of their own religious character, as revealed by light from heaven. The children of God are of various characters; some are like Issachar to serve, some like Judah to rule. But all are designed by Providence to be useful and happy. The better they become the more happy they are. ”

“ The encouraging words Jacob heard. God now brought him into the wilderness, and spake comfortably to him, spake from the head of the ladder, for all the glad tidings we receive from heaven, come through Jesus Christ.
(1.) The former promises made to his father, are repeated and ratified to him, v. 13, 14. In general, God intimates to him that he would be the same to him, that he had been to Abraham and Isaac. Those that tread in the steps of their godly parents, are interested in their covenant, and entitled to their privileges. ”