Jacob’s vow: making a deal with God

In times of uncertainty or doubt, many of us have prayed, “Lord, IF You will ___(fill in the blank), THEN I will ___(fill in the blank.)” That’s what Jacob did.

This son of Isaac and twin brother of Esau didn't know if God would be with him the way He had been with Jacob’s grandfather Abraham. He’d undoubtedly heard his family’s stories of faith, but maybe he thought that tricking his brother and his father had put him on the outs with God.

Now on the run from his brother’s wrath, Jacob fled toward his mother’s family many, many miles away. Alone and in new terrain, he made a vow to God in this prayer:

Genesis 28:20-22

from the King James Version of the Bible
and the Book of KJV prayers

And Jacob vowed a vow, saying,

If God will be with me,

and will keep me in this way that I go,

and will give me bread to eat,

and raiment to put on,

So that I come again

to my father's house in peace;

then shall the Lord be my God:

And this stone,

which I have set for a pillar,

shall be God's house:

and of all that thou shalt give me

I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

Genesis 28:20-21

paraphrase of Jacob’s prayer-vow

from the Book of Bible Prayers 

Lord God, if You will be with me

and

watch over me wherever I go

and

provide me with necessities

and

get me safely home,

then

You will be my God.

God did indeed take care of Jacob, whom He later renamed "Israel" and blessed with twelve sons who became the tribal chiefs of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

 

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2019

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