Suffering Loneliness and Homelessness 
in the Journey to His Uncle

Jacob suffered loneliness and homelessness in the journey to his uncle (vv. 10-11). While he was on his journey, he had to sleep in the open air. No doubt, he was lonely and even fearful of being attacked by wild beasts or robbers. In that situation God appeared to him to comfort him (vv. 12-19).

God promised Jacob that He, as the God of Abraham his father and the God of Isaac, would give to him and his seed the land on which he lay (v. 13). He also promised Jacob at Bethel that his seed would be multiplied as the dust of the earth, spreading to the west, east, north, and south. He told Jacob that all the families of the earth would be blessed in him and in his seed (v. 14). In Jacob’s seed, Christ, the whole earth would be blessed. Finally, God promised Jacob that He would be with him, keep him wherever he went, cause him to return to his father’s land, and not leave him until He had done what He had promised him (v. 15).

Jacob’s response to God’s comforting promise was to vow a vow to God as his terms to this promise. Jacob made God’s promise a kind of business transaction with terms. In his vow he said, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and garments to put on, so that I return to my father’s house in peace, then Jehovah will be my God, and 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 one tenth to You” (vv. 20-22). These were Jacob’s terms. If Jehovah did not fulfill them, Jacob would not take Him as his God. This transaction was absolutely according to the nature of Jacob. He was born this way. Jacob is a full type of us. We are today’s Jacobs.

Arriving at His Uncle Laban’s Home 
by Suffering a Long, Lonely Journey

Jacob eventually arrived at his uncle Laban’s home by suffering a long, lonely journey, indicated by his weeping to his cousin Rachel (29:1-14). When he reached his uncle’s land, his uncle’s daughter Rachel met him. He wept before her, indicating that his journey was very unpleasant. He surely suffered through his long journey to Laban’s home.