An Atheistic Bible Study Of Genesis Chapter Twenty Eight Jacob Runs Away

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With Esau angry enough to want to kill him in vengeance for stealing his birth right and blessing, Jacob plans to hide in Paddan Aram. Isaac, his father, makes no effort to dissuade him. He instructs Isaac to avoid marrying a Canaanite woman, in keeping with his wife (Rebekah’s) prejudices. He tells Jacob to move in with Rebekah’s father, Bethuel, and marry one of the daughter of his mother’s brother, Laban. Esau overhears this and knowing his mother hates Canaanites, he purposely marries a Canaanite woman, Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, on top of his many established wives. It’s a marriage based on sheer spite rather than love. On route to Paddam Aram, Jacob has one of the most famous dream visions in the Bible, Jacob’s Ladder, a vision of a giant step-ladder stairway going from Earth to Heaven. Angels go up and down on it. (I thought they had wings. Why do they need a ladder? Why doesn’t God create the elevator or escalator?). God is on top of the ladder, promising to make Jacob’s descendent outnumber the dust of the Earth. (something of an exaggeration given that dust is mostly accumulated flaked human skin). God promises never to leave Jacob’s people until this is achieved, implying that God will dump humanity once we over-populate the planet. Jacob is disturbed that God spoke with him, and he turns the rock that he used as a bed and pillow (ouch) during the dream into an altar-stone by pouring oil over it. He calls the place where he envisaged the ladder Bethel, though it was already named as Luz. To rename a place is a way of siezing control of it from whoever owned it and lived there previously. Jacob vows that if God protects and feeds him throughout his trip to Paddan Aram and his eventual return home to reunite with Isaac and Rebekah, he will believe in, and worship God and offer back a tenth of whatever God gives him. This is a sort of self-imposed tithe. If God gives him ten sheep, Jacob will sacrifice on back to God, so God might as well just offer him nine in the first place and keep one to cook and eat himself. It’s like giving someone a birthday present but only on the understanding that they give it right back to you. This suggests Jacob has no belief in God unless God meets his terms. The vision is clearly just a dream. We know Jacob is asleep when it happens. The ladder for angels seems utterly pointless. Arthur Chappell