Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys. (Genesis 30:43)

The man was Jacob, who left his home with no money, traveled far to the east to the land of his mother’s family, and who by hard work earned a double dowry for marriage. After cheating his brother and his father, Jacob was cheated by his uncle.

Despite it all, Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. According to Leupold, the Hebrew original of this phrase is, “The man burst out exceedingly exceedingly.” Jacob was so prosperous, so blessed by God, that his excess had excess! This was evident in the way wealth was held by most people in his time and place: large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys. All this meant that Jacob, who left home without any money, because a very wealthy man.

This wealth was one expression of God’s blessing in Jacob’s life. God blessed Jacob, but it was not because Jacob was especially good. It was because of the promises God made to Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15) and the covenant made to Abraham.

In a similar way, blessing comes from the LORD to His people not because they are great or good, but because of the covenant God has made with them through Jesus and the promises He has given in His word.

Still, we can learn a few principles for prosperity from Jacob.

Don’t make wealth your goal. Genesis 30:25-26 explains that Jacob would have been content to simply leave Laban and take his family back to Canaan. His original goal wasn’t to become rich, and he escaped the dangerous temptation and trap that comes to those who desire to be rich (1 Timothy 6:9).

Don’t be afraid to work for others and to increase their wealth before or as you work to increase your own wealth. In Genesis 30:27, Jacob’s employer (his father-in-law Laban) declared that God had blessed him because of Jacob’s faithfulness and hard work.

Work hard, dedicating yourself to your employer’s success. Genesis 30:26 and 31:38-42 tell us that Jacob’s path to wealth began by faithfully working for his father-in-law. Jacob could have been dishonorable and focused only on himself and his success. Instead, he also worked to be a blessing to his employer, even when it wasn’t easy.

Trust God. Genesis 30:31-33 describes a strange plan Jacob proposed to separate the herds and the offspring that belonged to him and to Laban. It’s hard to tell if the plan was Jacob’s idea or given by the LORD, but either way Jacob had to trust God – and God blessed Jacob with great prosperity.

God never promises that His people will all be rich in material things in all seasons of life. Yet these are good, everlasting principles. Don’t make wealth your goal. Don’t be afraid to benefit others. Work hard, and trust God. Doing these things honors God and puts us in the place to receive all He wants us to have.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 30

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Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. (Genesis 28:12)

The sins of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, and Jacob all combined to make a big mess, so big that Jacob had to flee from his twin brother who had vowed to kill him. Jacob traveled eastward toward Haran, in the ancestral lands of his grandfather Abraham (Genesis 11:31-32) and his mother Rebekah (Genesis 24:3-4).

Traveling alone through the desolate landscape, Jacob had a significant dream as he used a stone for a pillow. One can only imagine the strange flood of feelings in Jacob at this moment: the fear, the loneliness, the isolation, the excitement, and the anticipation. This was an important time in Jacob’s life.

Jacob’s dream presented an interesting image. He saw a ladder on the earth, one that reached to heaven. Jacob saw in his dream the angels of God going up and down (ascending and descending) on the ladder.

Through this dream, God told Jacob that there was a way to access heaven – that heaven and earth were not permanently and completely separated – there was access to heaven. Jacob now knew God was closer than he had ever before believed and there was real interaction between heaven and earth. Heaven is not shut up, and God concerns Himself with what happens on earth. All this was a life-changing revelation to Jacob, who previously seemed to have litter interest in or regard for God.

In the New Testament, Jesus made specific reference to this dream of Jacob when He said to Nathanael: Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (John 1:51). Here, Jesus said that He was the fulfillment of the ladder that Jacob saw in his dream. Jesus is humanity’s access to heaven, and Jesus is how heaven comes down to people and by which people can go to heaven. Jesus the Messiah is this ladder, the way to heaven.

Remember the great words Jesus spoke to His disciples the night before He went to the cross: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). Jesus didn’t say that He knew the way; Jesus said that He was the way. Jesus didn’t say that He pointed to the way; Jesus said that He was the way.

Jesus is the ladder, the way to God – and there is no other ladder or way. Jesus is the bridge between heaven and earth, and the way was made through His own sacrifice. it is in this sense that Jesus could say in John 1:51 that those angels were ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. He made the way Himself, by His own sacrifice.

In Jesus, you have access to heaven (Romans 5:1-2, Ephesians 2:6).

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 28

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And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them. Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there. (Genesis 26:18-19)

By Genesis 26 Abraham has passed from the scene, succeeded by his son Isaac. This has always been how God’s work goes forward through time: one generation passes, another generation takes its place, and God continues His work. How those generations relate to each other is important, and Isaac’s actions in Genesis 26 give a practical and spiritual example of how a younger generation can act toward an older generation.

We read that Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham. In other words, Isaac returned to the same resources that had sustained his father and all he possessed (Genesis 21:25-31). It took faith, work, and commitment to dig the wells again, but God provided through Isaac’s diligence.

For nomadic herdsmen water was life. In some seasons of the year, human or animal life could not be sustained without water from wells. These wells were a necessity, not a luxury.

This is a powerful illustration of life in the spirit. The spiritual resources that sustained previous generations are available today, if we will seek them with faith, work, and commitment. Using this as a spiritual illustration, we might say that the wells of peace, power, grace, wisdom, and transformation are available for the believer today as they were for previous generations. The question is whether a present generation will have the faith, work, and commitment to dig the wells again.

Especially in our modern age, it’s easy to think that we have or need different, better resources than our spiritual forefathers had. We are easily impressed by the latest and supposedly greatest, by what is new and shines brightly. These are dangerous and self-defeating ideas. There are old paths for us to walk on, old wells for us to dig again.

Dear brother or sister, think it over. The faith that sustained Athanasius, Hus, Wycliffe, Wesley, and Graham is available to you today. It’s like an old, stopped up well that can provide if it is sought and dug out. In this spiritual analogy, we should be like Isaac and dig again the wells.

Then, we see a special bonus: Isaac found a well of running water. It seems that Isaac discovered something that Abraham had not found. Isaac found the best kind of well – one of running water. This was the best kind of provision, and it came to Isaac as he received the resources once enjoyed by his father Abraham.

As you dig again the old wells and walk on the old paths, God will lead you to fresh sources of spiritual provision – an extra gift of His grace!

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 26

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Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren. (Genesis 24:27)

Genesis 24 tells the story of a special servant of Abraham who had the job to travel far, find a bride for his master’s son, and return with the chosen bride. The servant isn’t named in Genesis 24 but was likely Eliezer of Damascus mentioned in Genesis 15:2. We don’t know of any other person who held this position in Abraham’s household.

The servant had a big responsibility. The wife of Isaac, Abraham’s son, would have an important place in the unfolding plan of God’s covenant promises to Abraham and his descendants. It would be natural for Eliezer to think, “I must be led by God to find and choose the right woman, and then God must move on her heart to agree. It must be the woman God chooses.”

Genesis 24 explains that Eliezer did something that everyone must do when they want to discover and live out God’s will: he prayed (Genesis 24:12-14). He surrendered the matter to the LORD, and in faith asked God to guide him and all the circumstances around the finding and choosing of this special woman. God answered his prayers, and he found Rebekah, at a well in the distant land he had traveled to. Rebekah showed a true servant’s heart when she volunteered to do the difficult work of watering the camels of Eliezer, who was a stranger to her. Eliezer also discovered that Rebekah was perfect because she was related to Abraham’s relatives, from the land Abraham came from.

When Eliezer explained this to Rebeka’s family, he used these words: being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren. There is something important in those words. Eliezer made it clear that God led him while being on the way. In other words, Eliezer didn’t just sit back and wait for God to reveal every detail before he moved forward. Instead, the servant of Abraham got busy with what he could do – he went on his way – and that was when the LORD led him.

Dear brother or sister, if you want to see God’s guidance in your life, get on your way. Be active. Take steps forward in some direction, and you will see God lead you being on the way. There may be times when God wants us to stop and wait for Him before we do anything, but that isn’t God’s normal way of leading. Normally, God wants us to get on our way and expect His guidance as we go.

Generally speaking, it’s our duty to get on our way according to what God has revealed and trust He will guide us.

It’s hard to steer a parked car. Get on your way, and let God lead you.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 24

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And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” (Genesis 22:5)

God told Abraham to do something strange: offer his son Isaac, the son of promise, as a sacrifice. Abraham lived as a sojourner, a pilgrim, in the land of Canaan. The priests of many of the Canaanite deities said their gods demanded human sacrifice. The people of Canaan found nothing especially strange about human sacrifice, but Abraham had believed Yahweh was different.

In obedience, Abraham prepared for the journey started out with Isaac and some servants to the appointed place, Mount Moriah. They arrived on the third day, and every day Abraham thought about what God commanded him to do. When they came to the region of Moriah, Abraham told his servants to wait while he and Isaac went further on to worship God.

That’s when Abraham spoke words of triumphant faith: we will come back to you. Abraham believed that both he and Issac would return; that they both would come back, and he said so.

Abraham, the friend of God, fully intended on obeying God’s command to sacrifice Isaac. At the same time, he was confident that they would both return. How could this be?

It wasn’t because Abraham somehow knew this was only a test and God would not really require that he sacrifice Issac. Instead, Abraham’s faith was in understanding that should he kill Isaac, God would raise him from the dead, because God had promised Isaac would carry on the line of blessing and the covenant.

He knew God’s promise: in Isaac your seed shall be called (Genesis 21:12), and Isaac didn’t have any children yet. Abraham understood that God had to let Isaac live at least long enough to have children. If Isaac dies before having children, then Abraham’s covenant lineage is dead, his name is forgotten to history, and God’s promise is proved false.

Hebrews 11:17-19 clearly explains this principle: By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

Abraham knew anything was possible, but it was impossible that God would break His promise. He knew God was not a liar. To this point in Biblical history, we have no record of anyone being raised from the dead, so Abraham had no precedent for this faith, apart from God’s promise. Yet Abraham knew God was able. God could do it.

Ultimately, Genesis 22 shows that God did not want human sacrifice and will never call for it. Yet God does want His people to trust Him and to understand that He can never fail in keeping His promises. You can trust His promises today.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 22

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