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.
Genesis 28:11 NASB
The rock Ya’akob (Jacob) put under his head as a place of rest. A rock doesn’t provide comfort in this lesson because it’s soft and cushioning but because it’s strong. We read about another rock that also became a source of rest when we read in the book of Exodus of Aharon and Khur provided a rock for Moshe to sit upon while Yehoshua was leading Yisrael in the battle against Amalek (Ex. 17:12).
Just as the battle against Amalek reminded Israel that the LORD was the real source of their victory, so too the support for Ya’akov’s head became a reminder of the support he would have from Heaven. God was the one who fought all of Jacob’s battles, whether against Esau or Laban. Laban changed Jacob’s wages 10 times (Gen. 31:41), yet he didn’t complain. Jacob was content as he left Laban’s home because Jacob learned that God was his real inheritance.
The same can’t be said for the later descendants of Israel, who left the “house of bondage” in Egypt yet complained 10 times (Num. 14:22). Like Laban, they didn’t want their “fair wage”: the Promised Land and communion with God. They didn’t see a relationship with God as a wonderful inheritance to be received with gratitude and actively nurtured from one generation to the next.
Son of God = King of Israel = Messiah (John 1:45–51)
Yeshua (Jesus) connected Ya’akov’s vision of the ladder between Heaven and Earth and the term “Son of Man” to Himself.
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
John 1:45–51 NASB
Commentaries often note that Natan’el was studying Torah under the tree. That idea comes from the rabbinical idiom “gathering figs.” In the Mishna, the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” in Genesis 3 is described as a fig tree:
Fig tree, associated with abundance, as well as with the eschaton; “gathering figs” was an expression that in later sources means “studying,” apparently because the tree of knowledge in Gen 3 was believed to be a fig tree (b.Berakhot 40a).
Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, eds. The Jewish Annotated New Testament. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
According to the Jewish Annotated New Testament, the phrases Son of God and King of Israel are synonymous expressions in Psa. 2:6-7:
But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain. I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You
Psalm 2:6–7 NASB
However, The term son of man is used to refer to a human in all but one or two of the nearly 200 times it appears in the TaNaKh1Hebrew acronym for Torah, Nevi’im (Prophets), Ketuvim (Writings). Many of the uses are God’s nickname for Yetziq’el (Ezekiel) and once for Dani’el. But one striking use of the phrase in Dan. 7:13–14 gave rise to this term becoming a nickname for the Mashiakh (Messiah).
Son of Man, “Bar Enosh” in Aramaic (cf. Dan. 7:13), a cosmic messianic figure associated strongly with apocalyptic eschatology (views of the end of times as including a violent battle).
The Jewish Annotated New Testament
I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.
Dan. 7:13–14 NASB
Yeshua is telling Nathaniel that the Son of Man is not just a Messiah in the physical or military sense, but His most important mission is as the connector between Heaven and Earth.
Lifetime of choosing to be on God’s team (Hosea 12:13–14:10)
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, And the righteous will walk in them, But transgressors will stumble in them.
Hosea 14:9 NASB
A companion verse is found in 2Peter 1:2-11, where Peter expounds on Hosea’s message. As we see, both Hosea and Peter tell us that “partakers of the divine nature,” is about being on God’s team.
The struggle between Jacob and Laban regarding the frequent changes in his wages over the 20 years that he lived in Laban’s house.
Ways that lead to life, ways that lead to death
Why is antisemitism so endemic in the world? It doesn’t seem fair that God goes out of his way to bless the Jewish people. It’s because the world is jealous and envious of how God has blessed them.
We see this in Laban’s and his sons’ slurs against Ya’akov’s rapidly increasing wealth while there. God warns Laban later that he has no say in how God blesses Jacob.
Paul tells us that the “fruit of the Spirit” is the result of the building of our character (Gal. 5:22–23; Rom. 5:1–5; 1Cor. 13:4–13; Col. 3:12–15). There’s a way that is good and a way that is bad. There’s is a path that leads to life and a path that leads to death. We make decisions, big and small, on a daily basis that will either keep us on the path of life or the path of death. As we walk in the fruits of the spirit, our inner self and our outer self will be come the same. We will grow in integrity and good character.
Ephraim knew the path that leads to life but actively disregarded it and tried to forge their own path, which lead to their death as a people. Ephraim waled away from the worship of God and chose to chase after idols, which corrupted the people of Ephraim completely.
When we walk the path Peter encourages us to walk, we may not end up where we want to be, but we will end up where God wants us to be. Our brothers and sisters in Messiah who live in places like Canada, Australia, North Korea, China and Nigeria are facing serious hardship as their government forbids them from meeting together in worship. We didn’t chose what generation or what nation we have been born into, but God has sent us to this country, to this time “for such a time as this.”
The question we must ask ourselves is this: Am I going to shrink back and be silent? Or am I going to step up and proclaim His message? Esther didn’t ask to be made Queen of Persia. She didn’t ask to live in a generation in which she and her people were threatened with literal genocide, but she, with Mordechai’s encouragement, she stood up, faced death in the eye and saved her people from certain death. The path toward true life is not easy.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Matthew 16:24–25 NASB
Our old person — who we were before the Kingdom of God — has to die, while our new person — our new creation — needs to be allowed to live and thrive (Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 36:25–26; 2Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10, 15; 4:24; Col. 3:10). We must choose daily to walk the path of life and reject the path of death. We can’t renew our minds and walk the path of life if we don’t read the Bible daily and communicate with God in prayer daily (Rom. 12:1–2).
Summary: Tammy