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Welcome to Psalms!

No book has the power to encourage, motivate, challenge or uplift as does Psalms. As I read and study passages from Psalms each day, golden nuggets of truth and inspiration bless me deeply. The purpose of this blog is to have a means of sharing those insights with you...so you too can be blessed...and encouraged, motivated, challenged and lifted high!

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Friday, September 2, 2011

God of Jacob

Psalm 146:5

If you believe the Bible is inspired by God; then you must believe that every word and/or phrase is important…that nothing is included accidently.  I do believe the Bible is inspired and that each word matters.  This belief led me to an interesting question when reading in Psalms recently.1

A phrase caught my attention.  Why is it phrased this way?” I thought.  Why say this?  Read the verse and see if you are puzzled as well:

Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God. (Psalm 146:5)

I understand the verse.  I get that the psalmist is telling his readers all who trust in God for help will be happy (synonym for blessed).  This is easy to understand.  The question is, why use the phrase: “God of Jacob?”  Why not just end with “God?” 

What is it about the phrase “God of Jacob” that is important?  What is the writer communicating?  Remember, every word and phrase matters; so for some reason, this one matters as well.

One way to answer this puzzle would be to go through the Scriptures and read other verses where this same phrase is used.  By reading it in other contexts, one might be able to better understand its usage here.  This is a good way to study words and phrases.

But there is another way.  Perhaps this phrase can be understood (as well as the reasons for its usage here) by looking at the relationship between God and Jacob.  Peering into Jacob’s life, and his dealings with God, maybe we learn something important about the “God of Jacob.”

The story of Jacob is related in Genesis, beginning with his birth in chapter 25.  In chapter 28, Jacob is sent back to the land of his relatives (Haran) to find a wife.  On the road, he encountered God and was given the same promise God had made with his grandfather, Abraham (Genesis 28:13-15).  The covenant included the promise of many offspring, a wonderful land to possess, and they would be a blessing to all peoples.  God promised to never leave nor forsake Jacob.

So the first thing we learn about God in this relationship with Jacob is that He is the…

I.       God of Promise

God can not lie.  He will never break a promise.  So when God enters into a covenant with someone, that is more sure to happen than the sun rising tomorrow (that is not promised!).  The God of Jacob is One who enters our lives and covenants with us.  We can trust His promise to be true and to happen in our lives.

During Jacob’s time in Haran he works 14 years to marry Rachel and Leah; tends flocks (very successfully) for his father-in-law; and eventually heads back to the land of the promise (Canaan).  The events during this time are recorded in chapters 29-31.  Jacob has 12 sons (who become the leaders of the 12 Tribes of Israel).  One of his sons he loved more than the others: Joseph. 

Joseph is the son hated by his brothers and sold into slavery.  He ends up in Egypt; interprets some dreams; proves himself and ends up second in command over all of Pharaoh’s land.  During the famine he is able to move Jacob to Egypt and the whole family survives the famine.

As we observe God’s relationship with Jacob during all of these years, we learn He is the…

II.    God of Provision

God provided a wife.  God provided success in Jacob’s shepherding of the flocks.  He provided sons.  He provided land in Canaan and rescue from the famine.  When the family moved to Egypt, God moved Pharaoh’s heart and provided some of the choicest land where Jacob settled.

Throughout his life, at every important point, God provided; often providing much more than just the essentials or immediate needs.  And God does the same with His children – with all believers in Jesus – because His is the God of Provision.

One part of Jacob’s life we have not mentioned is his deceptive and cunning years.  You might remember that he traded his brother Esau a bowl of soup for Esau’s birthright.  He later tricked his aged father into giving him the blessing that should have been Esau’s.  Esau hated Jacob, perhaps rightfully so, and wanted to kill him.  Jacob has not forgotten this when he leaves Haran and heads back to Canaan, where Esau still lives.

In chapters 32 and 33, Jacob prepares for and finally meets again with Esau.  Surprisingly, there is peace between them.  Had Esau forgotten after all these years?  Would you?  No, he had not forgotten; so what did happen?  We learn that God is the…

III. God of Protection

God protected Jacob when he traveled to Haran; while he was there; and when he returned to Canaan and faced his brother.  God protected him as he settled and raised a large family in the land of Canaan, among strangers.  And God protected him from the famine and as he lived among the Egyptians.  God does the same for all His children.  He protects.

You might remember another interesting event in Jacob’s life that we have not mentioned.  Children hear about it in Sunday School: Jacob’s night of wrestling with an angel at a place called Bethel.2  The event is related in Genesis 32:24ff.

As the night of wrestling ended, God changed Jacob’s name.  His name was changed from Jacob, which means “deceiver;” to Israel, which means “one who wrestles/struggles with God.”  God also reaffirmed the covenant He had made with Jacob (now Israel).  So we end where we started; with the…

IV. God of Promise

It is fitting that the promise of God to Jacob would sort of book-end their relationship during these critical years of Jacob’s life.  After all that Jacob had done – both good and bad – God still keeps His promise.  And He will in our lives as well.

So it is no accident that the psalm writer used the phrase “God of Jacob.”  He knew exactly what he was saying.  Do you understand what he was communicating?  Let me put it together for you.

Happy/blessed in the person who’s help comes from the…

God of Promise, who always fulfills His promise; the…
God of Provision, who always provides our needs and blessings in abundance; the…
God of Protection, who always watches over us to intervene and save us as necessary; and the…
God of Promise, who – despite our failures and shortcomings – always fulfills His promises!

Happy/blessed indeed!


1 See “Reading The Psalms Regularly” page on this blog for a reading plan that takes you through Psalms each month.

2 On his trip to Haran, Jacob had slept at Bethel (known then as Luz) and had a vision of angels ascending and descending on a ladder or stairway, from heaven to earth and back.  This is where the term “Jacob’s Ladder” came from.