Genesis 28:7 - Printer Friendly

ESV: and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

NIV: and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram.

NASB: and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.

CSB: And Jacob listened to his father and mother and went to Paddan-aram.

NLT: He also knew that Jacob had obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan-aram.

KJV: And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;

NKJV: and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram.

This continues a thought begun in the previous verse. Esau learned that Isaac had directed Jacob not to marry from among the local Canaanite women. Esau had already done just that. He had married two women of the Hittite tribe, and those women greatly displeased his parents (Genesis 26:34–35). Esau knew that Jacob, on the other hand, obeyed his parents and had gone off to Paddan-aram to find a wife from their mother's family.

So in spite of Jacob's great and heartbreaking deception of their father Isaac, he seemed to be on a path that was pleasing their parents. Esau was aware that his life choices have caused him to lose some of their approval. He would hatch a plan to fix that.

Genesis 28:6–9 describes Esau's reaction to learning that Isaac instructed Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman. It seems likely that Esau only now realizes how greatly his two Canaanite wives have displeased his father. Apparently to earn Isaac's approval, Esau marries one of the daughters of Isaac's step-brother Ishmael. Her name is Mahalath.

Isaac sends Jacob away from his household to find a wife in Mesopotamia, in Paddan-aram, where Rebekah's brother lives. First, though, he gives to Jacob the full blessing of the promises of Abraham. Esau marries one of the daughters of Ishmael to try to please Isaac. The Lord appears to Jacob in a dream, giving to him the promises of Abraham personally, along with the assurance that He will be with Jacob to Mesopotamia and back again. Jacob vows that if the Lord does this, he will make the Lord his God and will worship Him and tithe to Him.

The previous chapter concluded with Rebekah urging Jacob to run for his life to her brother's household in Mesopotamia to escape the wrath of Esau. Now Isaac, too, sends Jacob to Laban, except to find a non-Canaanite wife. Hearing this, Esau marries one of the daughters of Ishmael. On the road to Mesopotamia, the Lord appears to Jacob in a dream. God personally delivers the covenant promises of Abraham and assurances to be with Jacob. In awe and fear, Jacob renames the place Bethel, ''house of God,'' and vows to worship the Lord as his God. In the next chapter, Jacob will get a taste of his own deceptive medicine, as he seeks a wife.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.

Accessed 5/2/2024 1:52:58 PM