Genesis

THERE is perhaps no character recorded in Scripture about which there has been more controversy than that of Jacob. His very weaknesses seem to attract us because they make him more human, and bring him into closer contact with our own lives. There is an intense reality about the man from the first that impresses every reader, and gives rise to constant discussion as to his merits and demerits. In all ages of the Church people have been attracted and even fascinated with his history, and his individuality will doubtless continue to make him a prominent figure for ages to come.

We need not do more than call attention to the seven periods of his life, during each of which he was being trained and disciplined. He is first seen at home under the influence of his strong-minded and strong-willed mother Rebekah. Then comes the crisis at Bethel, when he came into personal contact with God, perhaps for the first time in his life. This notable event was followed by the years in the service of Laban, that time of intense and prolonged discipline which had so much to do with his later life. Then came Peniel, another turning point in his career, when he became conscious not only of the House of God (Beth-el), but also of the Face of God (El-beth-el), and surrendered to God the control of his life. Peniel was, however, followed by a period of backsliding at Shechem, with all that resulted of trial and sorrow to himself and his household. At length came the return to Bethel, and with it the restoration to Divine favour and fellowship, and an upward advance in the spiritual life from which he never afterward receded. Last of all came those quiet, restful fruitful years in Egypt, when, restored to his beloved son, he lived in happiness and at length died in peace.

In all this history we must not fail to see the importance of the first vision at Bethel, the mysterious struggle at Peniel, and the return to Bethel once more. At this last visit things took a permanent turn for the best. We see this in the usage of the two names, Jacob and Israel. From the moment of the restoration at Bethel (Genesis 35) it is deeply interesting to study carefully and closely the occurrence of these two names. In almost every case Israel is used in connection with his spiritual life and experience as the Prince of God.

What puzzles most readers is the striking contrasts in this remarkable man. Almost all through his life there was a blend of two different and in themselves divergent qualities. There are men brought before us in Scripture like Moses, David, Isaiah, St Paul and St John, who were by no means without their faults and sins, but all these are almost entirely forgotten in the glory of their character and devotion to Christ. It is somehow different with Jacob. There was on the one hand a remarkable quietness and gentleness of disposition, and on the other an intense ambition to be the head of the family and the inheritor of the promises. On the one hand there was a genuine devoutness, a clear perception and full appreciation of the Divine covenant with his fathers, while on the other hand there was an utter self-seeking disposition which stopped at nothing to gain its ends. On the one hand there was a love which centered itself first upon his mother, then upon his wife, and then upon his two boys, while on the other hand there was a caution, a hesitation, a suspiciousness that seemed to distrust everybody but himself.

On the one hand he was a man of high aims working for high ends, while on the other he stooped to the meanest methods and the most contemptible ways of accomplishing his purposes. He was indeed a mixture, a glaring contrast of opposite qualities.

The slow development and progress of his character is also very noteworthy. It would have been far happier for him and for everybody connected with him if the transformation of Jacob into Israel had been made more quickly and more thoroughly, but the old nature was not only never wiped out, it seemed to be strong and vigorous almost to the last. Jacob was still there even though Israel was making his way. The ultimate victory of the Israel nature is very clearly seen. There was a gradual victory of the higher over the lower in him. We cannot help noticing his steadfastness of purpose amidst all difficulties, trials, and opposition, his prudence and forethought as he faced the problems of his life, and, above all, a genuine appreciation of Divine realities and of everything that was best and truest in human life. Whatever appears on the surface, there can be very little doubt that from his earliest days Jacob had set his heart upon the possession of all that was possible in the Covenant of God with his fathers, and as he draws near to the end of his life we can see quite clearly the results of the discipline in the strength and even glory of his character and life.

The one thing of importance in life is the power of making permanent our passing ideas and impressions. Character is only built up gradually as our experiences become part of ourselves. Jacob was brought back to fellowship with God, and enabled to abide in fellowship by training in three schools.

The School of Personal Sorrow. Colours are painted upon earthenware, and then burnt in, in order to be made permanent. So it was with Jacob. Sorrow made and left its permanent mark upon him. The discipline in Haran, his disappointment over Rachel, Rachel’s death, Reuben’s sin, the hatred and loss of Joseph, the famine, the demand for Simeon and Benjamin, are some of the ways in which sorrow dealt with him and trained him for God.

The School of Divine Providence. In his youth he was evidently full of indomitable hardness and self-reliance, and all through his career we find proof after proof of the native force and vigor of his character. He was ever a man of quick initiative, ready resource, and dauntless courage. Up to the end of his life he took the lead, and not even Joseph superseded him in the patriarchal position. It was therefore all the more necessary that he should be dealt with by the discipline of life. God’s providence is man s inheritance, and it was the very best thing that could have happened to Jacob that the roughnesses of his nature were made smooth, and his weaknesses taken away in the hard, stern school of Providence. There is nothing like it to develop character. No chastening seems profitable at the time, but in the retrospect we see and acknowledge that it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness.

The School of Divine Grace. This was the greatest and best training-ground of Jacob’s life, and it enables us to understand the prolonged nature and even the severity of the discipline in the other two schools. From the vision at Bethel to the closing days in Egypt, God’s presence was with Jacob whether he knew it or not. That presence was assured to him, and he never really forgot the wonderful promise, I am with thee, and I will not leave thee, which he received at Bethel. Thence forward the promises of God were his strength and stay. He pleaded them, depended on them, and believed to see their fulfilment. Meanwhile God’s power was at work in his soul, dealing with him now i n severity, now in goodness, until at length he could say, "I have waited for Thy salvation, Lord."

There is scarcely anything more striking in the whole of the Old Testament than the frequency of the title, the God of Jacob, in the Psalms and in Isaiah. We could well understand God being the God of Israel, but to be called the God of Jacob is surely the crowning proof of Divine mercy and grace. What a remarkable point there is in the well-known words, The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge (Psa 46:7). The Lord of Hosts is the God of Providence, protecting against foes, overcoming difficulties, and providing for all emergencies, but "the God of Jacob" is our refuge is very much more than this. It tells of His mercy and grace. The God of Jacob is a God of unwearying love, of unerring wisdom, of unfailing grace. He is our Refuge in spite of our sins, in the face of our failures, in view of our fears. And because He is all this He asks for our unreserved surrender, our unquestioning faith, our unflinching loyalty, our unfailing hope, and whispers in our hearts, "Fear not thou worm Jacob ... I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel." It is because God is the God of Jacob that we have such unbounded confidence in His mercy and grace, in His love and longsuffering. It tells us what grace can do for even the very worst of us. As a man said to a clergyman not long ago, I am cheered when I read the life of Jacob; for if the grace of Almighty God was able to straighten up that man, there must be some hope for me (see a fine Sermon on Jacob, by the late Ian Maclaren Homiletic Review, vol. liv. p. 49).