October 18 2026

Havasu Christian Church        

October 18, 2026

Character Studies in Genesis

“Brothers on different paths”    

Genesis 28:1-22

INTRO: Last week, we looked at two men. Esau, who didn’t seem to care about his responsibilities, and Jacob, who apparently was only concerned with getting everything he could get, no matter what it took to get it. 

        We saw Jacob “buy” the right of the firstborn, from his brother, who apparently cared nothing for it in the moment.

We saw Jacob, willingly, with the help of his mother, steal the blessing of his father from his brother.

        We saw these two men clash, and Esau plans to kill Jacob, once their father dies.

        Today, we see them in the aftermath of all of this chaos.

1. Esau and Jacob take very different paths.

Genesis 28:1–5 (NASB95) So 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 Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 

     3   “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. 

     4   “May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.” 

     5   Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

1. Jacob, with all his faults, listens to his father.
2. Listening to his mother got him in trouble.
3. His mother was a conniving woman!!
4. His father has sound advice.
5. Don’t marry a woman of Canaan.
6. This isn’t about race.
7. There isn’t much difference, and even if there was, that isn’t the reason.
8. The Canaanite people were not the folks you wanted for in-laws.
9. They are only a step behind Sodom and Gomorrah! They are Pagan with a capitol P!
10. Family like this is only going to bring you down. It will not bring you closer to God!
11. Instead, go back to where our family lives and find a wife there!
12. “Go find a cousin and marry her” sounds a bit weird to us!
13. These guys are not that far removed from Noah’s flood.
14. It’s still normal to marry relatives, and biologically, it’s still safe.
15. The Gene Pool hasn’t gotten messed up yet.
16. Jacob agrees to follow the wishes of his father (and his mother.)
17. Before he goes, Isaac gives him another blessing.
18. I don’t know that this carries the same authority as the previous one, or if it is just “wishful thinking.”
19. “May God give you lots of kids.”
20. “May God give you this land as He promised it to Abraham.
21. Jacob leaves and heads for Paddam-aram.
22. Esau takes a very different path!

Genesis 28:6-9 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” 

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

     8   So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac; 

     9   and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.

1. Esau sees the good being done to his brother, because Jacob listened to their father, and apparently, he is jealous.
2. Esau sees that marrying one of the Canaanite women would displease his father.
3. So he immediately goes out and consults with Ishmael.
4. He marries one of Ishmael’s daughters.
5. Here we find out that he already has at least two wives.
6. He is setting himself up for an unhappy household.
7. Again, he does this just to spite his father, Isaac.

1. Jacob’s path leads to an encounter with God.

Genesis 28:10–12 (NASB95) Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 

     11   He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place.

1. Jacob hits the road, and travels till nightfall.
2. When he’s ready to sleep, he lays down with a rock for a pillow.

(Not my pick for a pillow, but apparently, it worked for him.)

1. Jacob has a strange dream!

     12   He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

1. The first thing Jacob sees in the dream, is an evidently wide ladder, that goes from earth to heaven.
2. He sees angels going up the ladder.
3. He sees angels going down the ladder.
4. Jacob also sees that God stands above the ladder. He hears God speaking to him.

     13   And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. 

     14   “Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 

     15   “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

1. God identifies Himself. Just in case there is any doubt… I am the LORD!
2. Lord… “He is,” or “He causes to be,”
3. God is the One who IS and CAUSES everything else to be in existence!
4. I am the God of your Grandfather.
5. I am the God of your Father!
6. God makes some promises to Jacob.
7. These are unsolicited… It’s just God choosing to bless someone who doesn’t deserve it… Like usual…
8. “I’m going to give you the land you are lying on!”
9. To you and your descendants.
10. You’ll have so many descendants, they will be numerous… like dust!
11. “All the families of the world will be blessed through your family.
12. He’s talking about Jesus here!
13. God also promises to look after Jacob.
14. He will bring him back to this land.
15. God also promises not to leave Jacob.
16. God’s going to be there with him for the long haul.
17. Jacob is “blown away” by his encounter with God!

Genesis 28:16-17 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” 

     17   He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

1. Jacob expresses some ideas that aren’t so accurate.
2. “The Lord is in this place…
3. Actually, God is Everywhere!
4. “This is the house of God.
5. Again, God is everywhere!
6. This is the gate of heaven.
7. Angels come and go wherever God chooses for them to be.
8. But Jacob has every right to be excited!
9. When Jacob wakes up, he does some things to show just how much this dream has affected him. 

     18   So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. 

     19   He called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz.

1. Jacob wakes up early.
2. Maybe this is usual, maybe it’s because he couldn’t really sleep after his dream.
3. Jacob uses his rock/pillow as a pillar.
4. He sets it up as a reminder to him.
5. He pours oil on it as a way to “set it apart as a holy thing.”
6. He names the place Bethel.
7. Beth = house
8. El = Elohim… God
9. Apparently, he is near the city of Luz.
10. The people who live there will undoubtedly continue to call it Luz.
11. But Jacob will call it Bethel, and later, so will his descendants!

1. Jacob, the schemer, decides he can “Run a Con” on God to get a blessing.

     20   Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, 

     21   and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the LORD will be my God. 

     22   “This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

1. IF God does for me, I’ll do for Him.
2. IF God gives me a safe journey…
3. If God gives me food to eat…
4. If God gives me clothes to wear…
5. If God brings me back safely to my home…
6. I will make this “God’s house.”
7. I will give You God, a 10th!
8. Not a lot of Faith as of yet… just bargaining!

1. God doesn’t blast Jacob with a lightning bolt, or open up the ground and swallow him up!
2. God is going to give Jacob a chance to grow in his faith.
3. God is going to give Jacob the chance to realize that when God makes promises, He keeps them!
4. God is going to give Jacob the chance to know that God is always there for him!
5. God will even allow Jacob to make some really dumb mistakes, and to learn what it is like to have his trust betrayed…
6. But that’s going to have to wait for next week!

Conclusion: What is there for us to learn from this week?

First let’s learn a couple of things from Esau.

• Hating someone, even someone who richly deserves it, hurts you more than it does them!
• It eats at you from the inside.
• It causes you to do stupid things!
• Doing things to “spite” someone else isn’t a very smart thing to do either.
• “I’m mad at them, they don’t like this, so I’ll do it, even though it hurts me!”
• Not very smart!

Now, let’s learn a few things from Jacob.

• Listen to those who love you!
• They won’t always be right, but give them a chance.
• This can be family, it can be your church family.
• Having a mentor as you grow in your faith is very helpful!
• It’s also really good for them!
• Use God’s Word to evaluate their advice.
• Don’t assume that even a trusted person knows everything… Check things out for yourself!
• When you make up your mind to do something, get it done!
• Don’t spend your whole life planning to do something that you never do!
• Do it! Especially if the Lord has called you to serve Him in some way!
• When you have an encounter with God, let it “blow you away!”
• When God works in your life, it is appropriate to be excited!
• Be humble about it.
• It’s not that “God loves me more.”
• Be willing to do what the Lord has for you to do!
• Don’t argue! Don’t be disappointed that it isn’t something “bigger.”
• When we encounter God, we aren’t going to “know everything” we need to know.
• We will certainly have some mistaken notions, but we can grow past them.
• From Jacob’s encounter with God, we learn that God takes people where they are at, and grows them to be where He wants them to be!
• In his heart of hearts, Jacob is still a con man.
• I got my brother’s birthright.
• I got my brother’s blessing. (Thanks mom!)
• Now, I’ll talk God into giving me what I want!
• But God had already promised what He was going to do for Jacob.
• I don’t think Jacob had it in him to understand that you didn’t have to “convince” God to do for you!
• God’s going to work on Jacob and help him become the man he should be.
• Some of his learning will be through hardship.
• We shouldn’t expect people to come to Jesus already clean!
• We should expect that God will take a “dirty” person, and make them clean.
• He will change them from the inside out!
• He’ll do the same for you if you let Him!
• We don’t need to “buy off” God to have His blessings!
• I can’t be “good enough” and neither can you!
• It’s all about Jesus!
• His sacrifice!
• His resurrection!
• His love for us!
• “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!”