Genesis 28:10-15 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.… I. THE PICTURE. 1. A solitary man. 2. A guilty man. Sin pierced his hand more than his staff did. 3. An injured man. "A child may have more of his mother than her blessing." 4. A fugitive man. "He had, like a maltreated animal, the fear of man habitually before his eyes." He cringes one moment, and dodges the next; deprecating the blow he invites, expects, and gets. 5. He is a weary man. There he lies. Now look at him. Mark these — the nameless spot, the shelterless couch, the comfortless pillow, the restless slumber. II. THE LESSON. 1. In this world wicked success is real failure. No security after sin save in repenting of it. 2. In this world God pays in kind, but blesses sovereignly. That is to say, retribution is often like crime, but grace is a surprise. 3. Turning over a new leaf does not always show a fresh page. It does no good to take up a journey from Beer-sheba to Padan-aram when one means to do the same thing right along. God demands a change in the heart, not in the habit; not so much in the record and show of the life as in the life itself. 4. Sometimes unhappiness is our chief felicity. Jacob has one good, valuable characteristic — he cannot sleep soundly when the angels of covenant grace are coming for him. It was a grand thing for this fugitive that he was restless while the ladder of love was unfolding over him. 5. Retribution is lifted only by redemption. God's mercy gave Jacob chance of becoming a new man that night. It would have saved him Penuel and a forty years' wreck had he accepted it. He might have beckoned an ascending angel to his side, and sent by him a prayer up the ladder; and then an angel descending along the shining rounds would have instantly brought him a message of pardon. Surely any man can show some sign of a penitent heart. We can be sorry we do not sorrow. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. |
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