The surprising nature of God’s grace (Gen 28:10-22)

When he was encouraged to confess his sins on his deathbed, Voltaire, the famous French philosopher, allegedly said, ‘God will forgive me, that’s his job’. Many today imagine God this way and are outraged by the idea that He may judge them. Sadly, in our effort to be appealing to non-Christians, the Church has often overemphasised grace at the detriment of acknowledging the problem of sin.[1] Inside and outside the Church, grace for many is no longer surprising or undeserved but expected, indeed one’s right. As Christians, we still talk of undeserved grace, but when we are less aware of our sinfulness, God’s judgment may seem harsh (think of all who stumble over the OT for this reason), and the wonder of grace can be lost. It also follows that when God’s forgiveness and blessings are taken for granted, there is no longer the motivation to live life for God in response to His generous grace.

The surprising nature of grace

Unlike Esau who took his birthright lightly,[2] Jacob understood its full value, even if he tried to grasp it by human effort. His willing obedience to his parents in the matter of finding a wife among his mother’s family (Gen 28:7) suggests a subdued Jacob and one who understands his obligations (not to intermarry with the Canaanites). Although we hear nothing of his emotions, he must have felt stricken as he faced the loss of family and home – he, a man who loved home rather than the unshackled wandering life (Gen 25:27). In fact, he would later describe this as a time of distress (Gen 35:3). Exile in the OT is symbolic of death and is the result of sin (e.g. Adam and Eve expelled from Eden, Cain a wanderer away from human habitation, Israel’s later exile in Babylon). Jacob cannot even find lodging with people as he travels towards Haran and must sleep under the stars, penniless and vulnerable (Gen 28:11). Yet, at this moment of ‘death’, when he has lost it all, God meets him with grace re-affirming the promises to Abraham (Gen 28:13-15). It is when we come face-to-face with the consequences of our sins that we are ready to hear from God and wonder at his grace to us.

Jacob’s response

Some see Jacob’s response of a vow as bargaining with God, but this is a misunderstanding of vows whose format is always conditional (‘if God… then I…). Vows assume faith in God and promise gratitude (typically expressed in sacrifices) in anticipation of His help. Jacob’s commitment that ‘the LORD will be my God’ (Gen 28:21) is about worshipping Him.[3] In the ancient world, this was rather more circumscribed than it is today: it involved offering animal sacrifices in a shrine. In Jacob’s dream, the staircase with angels ascending and descending point to a sacred location, a kind of portal where earth meets and connects to heaven (Gen 28:12). Since God appeared to Jacob here, it indicates where He wants to be worshipped (cf. Gen 35:1). However, Jacob has no animals to offer and must leave the land, so he can only promise to build a shrine for God at Bethel and offer a tithe (animal sacrifices from his future wealth) to worship – God willing – when he returns (Gen 28:22).[4] By marking the place with a pillar and pouring oil on it (symbolic of consecration), he expresses his determination to return (and not settle in Haran permanently; cf. Gen 24:5-6).

The key to a wholly committed life

Jacob’s story demonstrates that God’s grace comes to us not when we feel entitled to it (as Esau did) nor when we try to grasp it (like Jacob), nor when we become perfect and godly (Jacob wasn’t), but when we recognise our own destitution and that we deserve God’s disapproval and judgement. It is in fact only when we discover our poverty, our undeserving state that we can appreciate God’s grace and wonder at His willingness to extend it to us. It is when grace surprises us that our hearts open to true thankfulness expressed in a commitment to follow Him. May we truly become people of grace and live fully for Him.

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[1] I am not suggesting the fire-and-brimstone approach of earlier centuries but note that we struggle to articulate what sin is in a way that connects to people’s lives today. This is partly because what have traditionally been recognised as sins by societies are now up for grabs, each person deciding whether they consider something wrong or not. What we are left with as unacceptable are what can be prosecuted in a court of law (theft, murder, sexual harassment, etc.). Yet, without helping people recognise they are lost and condemned in God’s sight, grace becomes meaningless, an indulgence for minor misdemeanours.

[2] Esau is a good example of a person who takes God’s grace for granted. He was born with the privileges of his birthright but exchanged it for the immediate satisfaction of a meal, yet still wanted to benefit from what he had given away (the blessing that went with it). Neither was he motivated to live in line with the covenant expectations of his heritage, so that he intermarried with local Canaanite women. Even his attempt to remedy things by marrying a daughter of Ishmael was misguided, since the latter’s line was not part of God’s people (Gen 28:8-9). It is not that God barred him willy-nilly, but he let go of what would have distinguished him as a member of God’s chosen. In some respects, he was like the Jewish religious leadership in the NT, who did not see their need of God’s grace or value it. By rejecting what Jesus offered, they excluded themselves. Conversely, the tax-collectors and sinners were not more deserving or worthy, but they recognised their need and gladly accepted the salvation Jesus brought. Similarly, Jacob desired the right things and valued them above all even if he went about getting them the wrong way.

[3]  I suspect that we are troubled by Jacob’s formulation because we think of this as a personal relationship with God in a Christian sense, where that allegiance to God may be expressed in a variety of activities (prayer, Bible reading, church service), which are not connected to one particular physical place. Thus, for us, there seems to be no reason why Jacob must make his promise in the future tense (‘You will be my God’).

[4] Since there was no specific priesthood at this time, Jacob could not have given a tithe of grain, money or similar to the priests, so the tithe would have been given directly to God, a tenth of the animals from his future flocks and herds as sacrifices to God.

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