“If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” Genesis 28:20-21

The other day while doing some biblical reading and study, I came across the story of Jacob as he fled from the murderous rage of his brother Esau. Growing up in the church, I was always taught that bargaining with God was wrong. I still believe this is wrong today. However, like so many other things I was raised to believe, I decided to examine this more closely to understand it for myself, no longer believing this just because I was told to in my youth. Out of curiosity I went online to see what other’s views were on this story and found some who of the opinion that it is acceptable to make a bargain with God.

If you have read all my other articles on this site, then you know my main focus is on the nature of God. I use the nature of God as the standard for understanding truth. When it comes to interpreting biblical stories, I look to His characteristics as a guide to better understand what I am reading and seeing what these stories have to teach us. I find it helps to weed out my own selfish and subjective views and see God more clearly within the writings that He inspired. The scriptures teach us of God’s nature, and understanding His nature increases our understanding of the scriptures. Thus, we are enabled to continuously go deeper in His ways. Lets look at the story of Jacob with God’s nature in mind and see what we find.

Jacob was a young man and at the beginning of his relationship with God. One could say this was the beginning of his relationship with God. After all, God introduces Himself to Jacob in verse 13 as, “I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac”. And Jacob says in verse 20, “then the LORD shall be my God”. Suggesting that the relationship of the LORD being the God of Jacob and Jacob being His faithful servant had yet to take root. So, he was both youthful and a bit inexperienced in the ways of God. It is entirely understandable if he were to say or do things that were unwise or blatantly wrong. As a patriarch of Israel and a major faith figure in the bible, it is easy for us to understand everything he says or does as being acceptable. But just because scripture doesn’t say in plain letters: “what he did was wrong”, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t.

So let us look at what he said to determine if he spoke wisely or not. We will look at it in two pieces. The first part is: “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God.” Another way of wording this is: “If God will be faithful to me and fulfill what He promised me, then I will His disciple.” As I said above, Jacob was inexperienced in the ways of God. By studying the nature of God, we can see that God is faithful. Not merely by choice but by His very essence. If He makes a promise, He keeps it. Period. His bargain or vow opens up with the question of whether God will be faithful. But faith in God results in knowing that He will be faithful and knowing that it is not within His power to lie or to contradict Himself. Who He is and how He operates never changes. And there is no other force in all of creation that can stop or thwart His plans.

Jacob did not speak out of understanding born of faith, but out of his own ignorance and doubt. This shouldn’t be too difficult for us to understand however. How many of us have had similar moments in our lives? In the early days of our faith, facing dangers and difficulties, uncertain as to what will happen, we ask God for His help and we bargain with Him, as if He could be fooled by us into thinking that it is He who must prove Himself and not us. He is faithful, always has been faithful, and will continue to be faithful forever, even as man is faithless time and time again.

This brings me to the second part of Jacob’s bargain. “And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” As if it wasn’t enough to call into questions God’s faithfulness, Jacob vows his own faithfulness in response. Mankind, Jacob included, is changing, sinful, and inconsistent, even on a good day. And yet, here is Jacob promising his own faithfulness as if it were something that he could guarantee. He promises to give a tenth of everything that God will give him despite having never proven himself faithful to God first. He expects God to prove Himself, while thinking that his own faithfulness is guaranteed.

Only God is faithful in His very nature. Man is unable to fulfill his promises like this. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful – for He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13) Sure, we may set out to be faithful and fully intend to be so. But our own shortcomings and sinfulness get in the way. We cannot offer perfect, unfailing faithfulness to God. It is not the nature that we have. It is not within our capacity to perform as such. To offer this up in a vow to the Faithful God is deceptive and blasphemous. We cannot offer to God that which we do not have to give. And on that same subject, Jacob offered God a tenth of what he was expecting God to give him. It is always easier to offer something that you do not currently possess, and always harder to give it away once you have it. His forefather Abraham gave a tenth of what he had to God in the form of Melchizedek. He gave of what he had in his possession, did so freely without being commanded, did it without having to think about it, and without regret. His sense of security was in who God was for Him. He had already learned that God was faithful. Jacob instead seemed to have his mind on worldly things, namely his current situation – lack of food, water, or clothing, and future expectations – land, offspring, and wealth. His sense of security was in himself. In faith, Abraham looked to heaven and valued the presence of God more than the physical possessions he had received. Jacob looked down at what he didn’t have and saw God as a way out of his situation, which was ultimately his main concern. He had yet to learn to trust in God’s faithful nature. This was probably due to the fact that he was too reliant upon his own cleverness in getting what he wanted or getting out of tough situations, such as tricking his brother out of his birthright. Hence his brother’s declaration: “Is he not rightly named Jacob ? For he has cheated me these two times?” (For he was using Jacob’s name in the context of a supplanter or usurper.)

Fortunately for Jacob, and us, God is understanding when we are ignorant and foolish. We speak words that we believe are wise and flowing out of our faith, but are truly saying things that are wrong and born out of doubt, ignorance, and pride. God is merciful with us as we say worthless words with no meaning. Instead He tries to teach us of His truth so that we weigh our words, consider His ways, and speak more wisely.

So, we see that bargaining with God this way does not work. It is not an act of faith but of doubt. Jacob’s words question God’s character and ability, while exalting man’s. It is understandable for a young Christ follower to make this mistake. But let us move past this blind bargaining, and enter into a deeper understanding of and a more mature relationship with God. A relationship where we think, speak, and act out of the truth of who He is. And know where we truly stand: a sinner who is unable to be faithful and righteous without the intervention of God, in the form of the man Jesus who died for us and made us righteous in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:21)