The Covenant of the Torch. Abraham Park

9:11–15; 12:24).

      6. Jacob’s 20 Years of Refuge (Gen 29–31), 1930–1910 BC, 152nd through 172nd Year of the Covenant of the Torch

      Isaac’s age, 136–156; Jacob’s age, 76–96

      Jacob was full of expectation after he had received the great blessing and the covenant at Luz. However, contrary to his expectations, he was treated worse than a servant in his uncle Laban’s house. He entered Laban’s house at the age of 76, labored for Laban for seven years, and was given Leah as wife. Jacob also took Rachel, whom he loved, as wife with the condition that he would work an additional seven years for Laban (Gen 29:18, 27).

      Jacob was 83 years old when he got married in 1923 BC, the one hundred and fifty-ninth year of the covenant of the torch (Gen 29–30; 31:41). According to these calculations, Jacob was married at an old age—after much of his youth had past—43 years later than his brother Esau. Both Isaac and Esau were married at the age of 40 (Gen 25:20; 26:34).

      During the seven years of additional labor, Jacob obtained 11 sons (excluding Benjamin) and one daughter through his wives Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah. During the seven years, Leah gave birth to six sons and one daughter. Thus, assuming that she gave birth to one child each year, she had Dinah on the fourteenth year of Jacob’s stay in Haran (first seven years + second seven years). Since it was not too long after this time that Rachel gave birth to Joseph, it is highly possible that Dinah and Joseph were the same age (Gen 30:21–24).

      Even after the birth of his eleventh son, Joseph, Jacob labored another six years for his uncle Laban’s flock (Gen 30:25–31; 31:41). Genesis 31:40 states, “Thus I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.” The Hebrew word for heat in this verse is , which refers to the ground-cracking heat of a drought, and the word for frost is which refers to water-freezing coldness. Jacob endured such heat and cold without rest in order to watch over Laban’s flock. Yet, Laban, his uncle and father-in-law, changed his wages ten times (Gen 31:7, 41).

      Even at an old age (from the age of 76 to 96), Jacob lived for 20 years in Laban’s house, where he was treated as if he were less than a human being and suffered indignity (Gen 31:40–42). He endured the trials of “the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men” (2 Sam 7:14). It was the Word of God that gave him the strength to endure the 20 years of affliction: “And behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Gen 28:15).

      The angel of the Lord appeared to Jacob to comfort him and to fill him with hope, saying, “For I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth” (Gen 31:12–13).

      The God of Jacob is our God today. He sees all of our sufferings and keeps an account to wipe away our tears and repay us according to our labor.

      Here, God revealed Himself to Jacob as the God of Bethel (Gen 31:13), the same God who gave him the covenant of the ladder 20 years before, promising him descendants like the dust of the earth and guaranteeing his return to Canaan (Gen 28:13–15).

      Through the God of Bethel, Jacob came to realize that the misunderstandings and injustice that he suffered under the hands of Laban and even the length of the period of suffering were part of God’s sovereign will. He realized that the time had come for him to return to the land of Canaan.

      When Jacob left Canaan at the age of 76, he was like a fugitive on the run; but now at the age of 96, he was returning as the head of a large clan that included four wives, 12 sons, and exceedingly great wealth (Gen 30:43; 31:1).

      The flow of God’s work of salvation, which had been passed down from Abraham to Isaac, appeared to have halted with Jacob’s departure from the Promised Land, but this was not the case. In fact, not only did God give Jacob 12 sons so that they might become the foundation for the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel, but He also called Jacob back to Canaan so that the flow of the work of salvation would continue ever so vigorously.

      7. The Birth of Joseph (Gen 30:22–24), 1916 BC, 166th Year of the Covenant of the Torch

      Isaac’s age, 150; Jacob’s age, 90

      Rachel was able to give birth to Joseph wholly because God remembered her. Genesis 30:22 states, “Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb.” Here, the Hebrew word for remembered, , refers not to the mere act of remembering, but to a deep understanding and care (cf. Gen 8:1; 1 Sam 1:19). In Egypt, Joseph became second-in-command at the age of 30 and reunited with his father after the seven years of abundance had passed, on the third year of the famine. Since Joseph was 40 years old at this time and Jacob was 130 years old, we can deduce that Joseph was born to Jacob when he was 90 years old (Gen 45:6, 11; 46–47; 47:9, 28).

      Rachel’s womb, which had been closed for seven years, miraculously opened when God remembered her; all it took was His remembrance. When God remembered Samuel’s mother, Hannah, she gave birth to three sons and two daughters.

      1 Samuel 1:19 Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD, and returned again to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.

      1 Samuel 2:21 And the LORD visited Hannah; and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew before the LORD.

      The precious blessing of God’s remembrance awaits those who believe and wait until the end (Ps 40:1; Isa 30:18; Lam 3:25–26; Heb 3:14).

      8. Jacob Returns to Canaan (Gen 33:18–20), 1910 BC, 172nd Year of the Covenant of the Torch

      Isaac’s age, 156; Jacob’s age, 96; Joseph’s age, 6 (estimated)15

      (1) Israel – Jacob’s new name

      Mahanaim was the first encampment for Jacob’s clan as he was returning to Canaan after fleeing from Esau 20 years earlier (Gen 32:1–2). The name Mahanaim means “two camps”; two armies of the angels of God met Jacob and surrounded his groups on all four sides (Ps 34:7; 91:11).

      Because Jacob feared greatly the revenge that he might suffer at the hands of his brother Esau, the sight of the angels of God surrounding his family brought great comfort so that he could boldly continue his journey back to Canaan. He was now sure that God would lead him safely to the land of Canaan, and that He would continue to protect him in that land.

      Then, messengers told Jacob that his brother Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men (Gen 32:6; 33:1). If Esau had no intention of taking revenge, he would not have needed 400 men. Jacob prepared a present for his brother Esau: “two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys” (Gen 32:13-15). Since this list does not specify the number of the milking camels’ colts, the number of animals was more than 550.

      Realizing the desperate situation he was in and knowing that he could do nothing by his own strength, Jacob remained behind alone, risking his life. He began to pray at the ford of the Jabbok (Gen 32:24). The name Jabbok (Gen 32:22) in Hebrew is meaning “to flow.” While Jacob was experiencing great fear and distress (Gen 32:7), he keenly realized that all of the worldly merits and advantages, on which he depended all along, were useless. He must have prayed with all his trust in God alone, giving up all the human-centered abilities, tactics, and wit that belonged to his old self.

      He prayed with his life on the line until the socket of his thigh became