Jacob’s pillars bring before us the need to raise reminders of God’s dealings with us. The Lord called Israel to remember: the day they were brought out of Egypt, Exod. 13. 3; all the commandments of the Lord, Num. 15. 39; that they had been slaves, Deut. 5. 15; the way the Lord led them, 8. 2; and His marvellous works, 1 Chr. 16. 12. We in this age are also called to remember, 1 Cor. 11. 24; 2 Pet. 1. 12-15.
Jacob’s first pillar. Jacob, fleeing for his life, travelled north along the ridge road from Beersheba. When the sun set, he was north of old Salem. So exhausted he could use a stone for a pillow, he had a night he would never forget. There at Bethel, he learned the one true link between heaven and earth, which our Lord said was He Himself, John 1. 51. That morning, Jacob raised up his pillow as a pillar, and declared, ‘If God will … and will … and will … then shall the Lord be my God’, Gen. 28. 20-21.
His second pillar. After decades in Haran, during which time Jacob raised a family and grew wealthy, he attempted to leave unnoticed! Laban, with a posse, chased Jacob (who had a three-day lead) before catching him in the wilds of Gilead. After a heated argument, a non-aggression pact was sealed. Jacob set up a pillar for his remembrance, 31. 45, and the men raised a public cairn to memorialize the deed. Jacob called it Galeed, a heap of witness, and Mizpah, the watch.
His third pillar. After wrestling with the Angel near Peniel, being reconciled to Esau at Jabbok, and enduring the debacle at Shechem, Jacob returned to Bethel, 35. 1. But he had learned a thing or two in the intervening years. Setting up another pillar, this time he poured out a drink offering upon it, as if to say, ‘God is not in heaven to do my will; I am on earth to do His’. We also have a Bethel, 1 Tim. 3. 16.
His fourth pillar. Near Bethlehem, his beloved Rachel died in childbirth, Gen. 35. 16-20. Jacob raised a pillar upon her grave. There are some things we cannot afford to forget: the revelations of God to us, our responsibility to deal well with our brethren (no matter how they have dealt with us), our re-commitments to the Lord, and the relationships He has given us for our enrichment.
