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1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3 May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples; 4 And give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham." ~ Genesis 28:1-4
In today's study there is a switch in the narrative from Isaac to Jacob. As we look back to Genesis 12 when Abraham first met the God of the Bible, he reflected God the Father, especially after Isaac was born. Isaac predominantly represented God the Son. These two great men of faith learned over time to walk with God, although their walk with the Lord never was perfect. Of course, this is why God sent us the Lord Jesus because we could not save ourselves. In today's passage, we hear the last words of Isaac in the Scriptures.
In v.1-2 of today's passage we read, "1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother."
Again, Isaac, blessed his 77 year old son, but this time it was different than before when Jacob had deceived his dad. Here, Isaac charged Jacob to go to Padan Aram to find a wife. Isaac knew that if Jacob did not keep his most key alliance faithful to his faith in the God of the Bible, the will of God could have been jeopardized in his life. The primary motivation in the mind of Isaac as he gave this charge to Jacob was to keep the Messianic line in tact.
Isaac took the same care of Jacob that Abraham did for him so many years earlier. However, unlike Isaac, who stayed in the land of Canaan while a wife was chosen for him by Abraham’s servant, Jacob was sent to Mesopotamia to find a wife for himself. Whereas the story of Abraham’s servant finding a bride for Isaac pointed us to the role the Holy Spirit plays in leading us into God's will, when Jacob left the Promised Land to find a wife, he pictured the Lord Jesus Christ who came to this earth to find a bride for Himself.
Padan Aram was the name of a city in Mesopotamia which to this day has a profound meaning to those who entertain the serious questions about life and truth and meaning. Aram comes from a word that means "to be high" or "to rise up." Padan means "to rescue" or "to ransom." Padan Aram means "Elevated Ransom." Only the Lord Jesus Christ could pay the high wages that our sin earned for us. In fact, it was the Apostle Paul who told us that "the wages of sin is death." The Lord Jesus was the only one who could ever measure up to the truth because He was the only one without sin. The price for our sin was a high price indeed. It was truly an elevated ransom, just as the name Padan Aram subtly spells out for us. Padan Aram points us to the one who procured His bride by paying our ransom on His cross nearly 2000 years ago. His calling involved Him leaving heaven similar to how Jacob left the Promised Land to go to Mesopotamia. The Lord Jesus came to earth to live among us to win our hearts to Himself, just as Jacob went to Padan Aram to take unto himself a wife from the house of Bethuel.
Interestingly, Bethuel means "daughter of God." What a picture that was painted for us by God through this narrative. When the Lord Jesus paid our ransom, He made the willing and the believing His Bride. Notice that Jacob was told to take a wife from the daughters of Laban whose name means "white" which in the Bible is a symbol of purity. In procuring a bride from this family, Isaac pictured for us those who are purified and who become a part of God’s people for eternity.
In John 4:35 we read, "Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest?' Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"
There has been a harvest being gathered throughout time from among the people of the world and this harvest is still coming in right now. Those who call on the Lord Jesus will be purified and made spotless and as white as the snow in the eyes of God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In v.3-4 of today's passage we read, "3 May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples; 4 And give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham."
You will remember that back in Genesis 17 Abraham saw the Lord who revealed Himself as El Shaddai, the Almighty God. In today's passage, Isaac invoked the same name of God in order to bless Jacob. Isaac called for El Shaddai to deliver His blessing upon his son Jacob because El Shaddai is the eternal, absolute, all powerful God. Isaac prayed for the very same blessing that Abraham had prayed upon him, that He would bless him, and make him fruitful and multiply him, that he would be an assembly of peoples.
The Hebrew words translated "assembly of peoples" has a Greek counterpart which is ecclesia which means "the called out ones." This is the Greek word used in the New Testament to describe those who come to faith in the Lord Jesus. This blessing then points us to those who have heard and will hear the call of God the Father to place our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and our God. This message is the central point of all of the Bible and it was procured for all willing enough and humble enough to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and God.
