1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, "You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women.
2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.
3 God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.
4 May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your descendants with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings which Gods gave to Abraham!"
A man's marrying a wife symbolizes the union of the Ego with certain ideals. If these ideals are spiritual, then spiritual character is developed with all its qualities. If the union is with inferior ideals, like that of Esau, the fruit may be large in quantity, but it will be of inferior quality.
5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away; and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
Jacob was admonished to go to Paddan-Aram ("tableland"), to the house of Bethuel ("Dweller in God"), and to take a wife from among the daughters of Laban ("shining," "pure"). Paddan-aram represents levelheadedness, poise in Spirit; and Laban, with whom Jacob (the unfolding Ego) seeks association, represents a clear state of mind in which higher understanding is dominant. Thus the way is pointed to a unification with the Love Principle in its higher aspects. Jacob had exalted ideals, divine aspirations, and now it was necessary that love should become one of his attributes. High ideals, spiritual aspirations, and pure motives are necessary to the union that the Divine Mind makes with the Soul.
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he charged him, "You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women,"
7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.
8 So, when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac, his father,
9 Esau went to Ishmael and took to wife, besides the wives he had: Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.
Esau took Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife. The Ishmaelites represent the offspring of the natural, unilluminated races (states of mind). Nebaioth denotes the outer, or material consciousness. Mahalath symbolizes a peaceful, harmonious, tuneful attitude of the soul, found in expression on the carnal and also on a higher plane.
10 Jacob left Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
11 And he came to a certain place, and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.
On his journey to Haran--which had a double purpose: to escape the wrath of the disappointed Esau, and "to take him a wife"--Jacob came to a certain place where he tarried all night, "because the sun was set." He took one of the stones that abounded in the place for use as a pillow and lay down to sleep. This incident illustrates the fact that when we are going through an emotional experience that is leading us upward to a higher spiritual consciousness we may not understand what is happening, may have no light on it ("the sun was set"), but if, like Jacob, we tarry there in the darkness in meditation, the messengers of God--ideas of Truth--will come to us in the subconscious (dreams).
Jacob's act of placing a stone under his head symbolizes the effort to understand the meaning of matter and material conditions.
12 And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the Angels of Gods were ascending and descending on it!
In the very midst of seeming physicality and darkened understanding the visions of the night reveal the ladder reaching from earth to heaven and the Angels of God (spiritual thoughts) ascending it and descending it. The ladder represents the step-by-step realization by means of which man assimilates the divine ideas of Truth that come to him from YHVH.
13 And behold, YHVH stood above it and said, "I am YHVH, God of Abraham, your father, and God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants;
14 and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves.
15 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 that of which I have spoken to you."
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely, YHVH is in this place; and I did not know it."
YHVH is right here in our midst. Understanding, when turned toward the omnipresent light of Spirit, opens its eyes to the astonishing fact that the seemingly material bodies and temporal surroundings conceal the immanent God.
17 And he was afraid, and said, "How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of Gods, and this is the gate of the heavens."
When divine wisdom reveals to us that our seemingly physical body is "none other than the house of Gods," we are at first afraid. It seems "dreadful" that we have made the Father's house a "den of robbers."
18 So, Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone which he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
In the morning of this new understanding even the temporal surroundings become holy in our sight. Like Jacob, we set up the common things, the stones upon which we slept in ignorance, and pour the oil of joy and gladness upon them.
19 He called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
Then we name the place (our body temple and its affairs) Bethel, the "house of God." Jacob took the stone that he had used for a pillow and made a pillar of it. Instead of whining over the hardness of his experience, he blessed it and made it a sustaining point in his mind.
20 Then, Jacob made a vow, saying, "If Gods will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then YHVH shall be my Gods,
22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be house of Gods; and of all that thou givest me I will give the tenth to thee."
Jacob was awestruck by the tremendous thought of omnipresence: what seems so commonplace may be the very house of God, and thinking some true thought or doing some loving act may be the gate of the heavens. Jacob's vow to be more faithful to YHVH and to give Him one tenth of all he received is a recognition of God as the source of all that man requires and also of the need of a constant reminder of this fact; hence the agreement to give back the tithe. Those who practice tithing testify that it leads them into a greater understanding of the relationship of God to material affairs that they can get in no other way. When a person feels that he has God for a partner in all their financial affairs, he or she is never afraid of failure or lack. The basic point is to release worry about material things and learn to focus the mind on your being financially secure. This can be done using Tithing as an aid, or simply by demonstrating to yourself the power of the mind to govern reality. Realizing the power of the Mind, when Spirit is acknowledged, sets up an exchange of energy between God and Man that improves all areas of life, including finances.
In his inner consciousness, man can make an agreement of this kind with the Mind of Spirit and can keep it in his everyday affairs. Many metaphysicians write out such contracts and put them away in the full assurance that the terms will be carried out by both contracting parties, God and Man. It is found by nearly everyone who tries this plan that the agreement is fulfilled. If you would have your material affairs prosper, agree with YHVH to give one tenth of your income to some work dedicated to God. If you keep your part of the agreement, you may rest assured that YHVH will keep His and abundantly prosper you, that your financial affairs will be taken care of without worry or strain on your part, and that you will come into a land where peace and plenty go hand in hand.
When there is recognition in fact by the mental (Jacob) of the true nature of the body's essence and of the spiritual nature of all life, then we begin the ascent from self to selflessness. We are then willing to give of our personal energy and attention to God, and the house of God (the body) bears witness to the sincerity of our vow.