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It all started when…

10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

dreams and visions, what’s the difference? had to look this up and here’s an explanation from Logos.com - What Do Dreams in the Bible Mean?:

In the Bible, dreams are sources of divine revelation that indicate what someone should do, reveal what is going to happen, or explain current events

What is Vision? from Dennis McCallum of Dwell Community Church

In the Bible, the word vision is more often used as an encounter with God where he imparts special revelation, often intuitively, in dreams, or "in dark sayings." (Num. 12:6) Sometimes visions can be theophanies, where God speaks directly to the visionary (Numbers 12:8).

for more about dreams and visions, please listen to this podcast from The Bible Project with jon collins and tim mackie, released 05/04/2020.

what an encounter jacob had with The Lord, that he was told the same promises his grandfather, abraham, had (genesis 12 & 17) would be the same for him. i suppose it would be easy to say it was a continuation of the same promise, which it is technically, and what was cool to me is that jacob got the message personally. all this was from him seeking after God, wanting a relationship with Him like abraham, and from that He heard from The Lord.

i don’t know who wouldn’t want verse 15 to happen to and for them - that The Lord would always watch over until what He promised would come true; i know absolutely that i want that for myself, my family and everyone i love. and for that, jacob declared that He, The Lord, would be his God alone, where he laid the stone would be God’s house (foundation), and give back through tithing. the first part is what joshua did (joshua 24:15), declaring his devotion and commitment to follow God, including his family; what came next is recognizing that all jacob has and had been blessed with came from God and giving back the first fruits, this would lay the foundation for his family to follow. i choose to do the same for mine.

dear Heavenly Father, may i continue to work on my relationship with you. that as jacob and joshua did, that my family and i would be committed to you alone Lord. that the dreams and visions you shared with me will be fulfilled as promised; may it be so to bring you all the glory and praise Father God. in Jesus’ name i pray, amen!