(Genesis) Genesis 28:10-11

Now, will you notice, I begin reading at verse 10. And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and he went toward Haran. Now he's traveling north.

He lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set. And he took the stones of that place, and put them for his pillars, and lay down in that place to sleep. Now, the place he's come to, we'll see in a moment, the name of it is Bethel, the house of God.

I want to say a word about it, but before I say a word about it, you will notice that he's traveled quite a distance. Actually, Bethel, where he came the first night, is 12 miles north of Jerusalem. And he was, I would say, a good 20 miles south of Jerusalem, and probably more than 20 miles south, probably 25 or 30 miles south.

Well, that means that he covered at least 40 miles that day. You can see that he's really hot-footing it away from Esau. He wants to get as far from him as he can.

But the farther he gets from Esau, the farther he gets away from home. And this is Jacob's first night away from home. What do you think his feeling was that night? Well, he was very lonely, that is for sure.

He also was homesick. This is his first night, as far as the record is concerned, that he was away from home. Do you remember the first night that you were away from home? Do you recall that? I certainly remember the first night I went away from home, and it was just down the road.

We lived in a country, in a little place called Springer, Oklahoma. And they tell me it hasn't done any springing since then, that it's still a small place, wide place in the road. And we had some neighbors and some very wonderful friends that lived down the road.

I don't suppose it seemed to me like in that day it was five miles. It couldn't have been over a mile, I'm sure. I was amazed when I went back there later on to find out how close things were together.

I thought it was pretty well spread out, but it wasn't. Very close together. And so this must not have been over a mile.

But it seemed like five miles to me in that day. And I never shall forget these people invited me to come down and spend the night. They had a boy about my age, and I don't know how old I was, nine, ten maybe.

And so I went down with him. He'd come up to get me, and we went down. I never shall forget we had a delicious dinner, and I enjoyed it that evening with these folks.

It was in the country, good country dinner. And then we played hide-and-seek. And it got dark, and I didn't pay too much attention, but every now and then I looked into the darkness, and I began to get just a little homesick.

But it wasn't until somebody said it's time to go to bed, and they put a pallet down in the front room. There was no living room in that day. Just put a pallet down.

And I had brought my little night shirt under my arm, and I put it on, and I lay down on that pallet. Friends, I have never been as lonely in my life as I was then and homesick. Oh, how I wanted to go home.

And you know what happened? I rolled and tossed there for a long time. I finally dozed off, and I slept for a while, but I waked up very early in the morning. And you know what I did? I took my night shirt off, put on my clothes, put my night shirt under my arm, and I started running home.

And I didn't stop till I got there. Nobody was up, but I sure was glad to get home. First night away from home.

And after that, I went a long ways from home, but I never was any more homesick than I was that first night. I've always thought that Jacob, he's a pretty big boy at this time. He's a man, but he's homesick.

This is the first time he'd been away from Rebecca. He'd been tied to his mama's apron string all of his life, and now it's untied, and he's out on his own. And this is the first night away from home.

Now, will you notice what happens? He lies down, and he puts stones for pillars. And this is a pretty dreary place. I'd like to give you a description of it that's given by another.

It's been described as a bleak moorland, large bare rocks that are exposed 1,200 feet above sea level in the hills. And I suppose that there are many places out on the desert here in California that would correspond to it. In fact, the matter is, I know it.

I remember going up through that country in a bus, and that was the disadvantage of being with a bus tour. I wanted to go up there. The others wanted to go to other places that to me were not nearly as important as Beth-El.

I wanted to see it. And all we got in, I suppose, a half a mile of it, the bus driver pointed it out, and I said, I'd like to walk up there. He said, well, we don't have time.

And so I didn't get up there, but I could see it in the distance. And this certainly is an apt description of it. It's a bleak and forbidding place as far as the topography is concerned.

But it was the high point spiritually in the life of Jacob, not only here but later on. And this is the place that he came to.