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Now, will you notice, I begin reading at

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verse 10.

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And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and he

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went toward Haran.

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Now he's traveling north.

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He lighted upon a certain place, and tarried

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there all night, because the sun was set.

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And he took the stones of that place,

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and put them for his pillars, and lay

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down in that place to sleep.

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Now, the place he's come to, we'll see

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in a moment, the name of it is

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Bethel, the house of God.

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I want to say a word about it,

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but before I say a word about it,

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you will notice that he's traveled quite a

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distance.

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Actually, Bethel, where he came the first night,

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is 12 miles north of Jerusalem.

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And he was, I would say, a good

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20 miles south of Jerusalem, and probably more

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than 20 miles south, probably 25 or 30

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miles south.

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Well, that means that he covered at least

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40 miles that day.

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You can see that he's really hot-footing

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it away from Esau.

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He wants to get as far from him

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as he can.

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But the farther he gets from Esau, the

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farther he gets away from home.

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And this is Jacob's first night away from

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home.

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What do you think his feeling was that

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night?

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Well, he was very lonely, that is for

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sure.

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He also was homesick.

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This is his first night, as far as

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the record is concerned, that he was away

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from home.

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Do you remember the first night that you

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were away from home?

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Do you recall that?

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I certainly remember the first night I went

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away from home, and it was just down

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the road.

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We lived in a country, in a little

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place called Springer, Oklahoma.

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And they tell me it hasn't done any

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springing since then, that it's still a small

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place, wide place in the road.

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And we had some neighbors and some very

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wonderful friends that lived down the road.

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I don't suppose it seemed to me like

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in that day it was five miles.

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It couldn't have been over a mile, I'm

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sure.

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I was amazed when I went back there

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later on to find out how close things

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were together.

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I thought it was pretty well spread out,

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but it wasn't.

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Very close together.

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And so this must not have been over

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a mile.

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But it seemed like five miles to me

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in that day.

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And I never shall forget these people invited

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me to come down and spend the night.

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They had a boy about my age, and

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I don't know how old I was, nine,

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ten maybe.

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And so I went down with him.

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He'd come up to get me, and we

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went down.

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I never shall forget we had a delicious

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dinner, and I enjoyed it that evening with

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these folks.

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It was in the country, good country dinner.

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And then we played hide-and-seek.

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And it got dark, and I didn't pay

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too much attention, but every now and then

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I looked into the darkness, and I began

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to get just a little homesick.

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But it wasn't until somebody said it's time

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to go to bed, and they put a

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pallet down in the front room.

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There was no living room in that day.

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Just put a pallet down.

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And I had brought my little night shirt

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under my arm, and I put it on,

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and I lay down on that pallet.

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Friends, I have never been as lonely in

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my life as I was then and homesick.

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Oh, how I wanted to go home.

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And you know what happened?

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I rolled and tossed there for a long

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time.

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I finally dozed off, and I slept for

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a while, but I waked up very early

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in the morning.

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And you know what I did?

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I took my night shirt off, put on

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my clothes, put my night shirt under my

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arm, and I started running home.

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And I didn't stop till I got there.

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Nobody was up, but I sure was glad

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to get home.

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First night away from home.

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And after that, I went a long ways

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from home, but I never was any more

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homesick than I was that first night.

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I've always thought that Jacob, he's a pretty

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big boy at this time.

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He's a man, but he's homesick.

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This is the first time he'd been away

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from Rebecca.

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He'd been tied to his mama's apron string

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all of his life, and now it's untied,

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and he's out on his own.

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And this is the first night away from

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home.

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Now, will you notice what happens?

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He lies down, and he puts stones for

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pillars.

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And this is a pretty dreary place.

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I'd like to give you a description of

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it that's given by another.

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It's been described as a bleak moorland, large

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bare rocks that are exposed 1,200 feet

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above sea level in the hills.

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And I suppose that there are many places

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out on the desert here in California that

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would correspond to it.

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In fact, the matter is, I know it.

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I remember going up through that country in

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a bus, and that was the disadvantage of

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being with a bus tour.

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I wanted to go up there.

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The others wanted to go to other places

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that to me were not nearly as important

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as Beth-El.

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I wanted to see it.

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And all we got in, I suppose, a

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half a mile of it, the bus driver

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pointed it out, and I said, I'd like

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to walk up there.

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He said, well, we don't have time.

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And so I didn't get up there, but

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I could see it in the distance.

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And this certainly is an apt description of

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it.

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It's a bleak and forbidding place as far

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as the topography is concerned.

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But it was the high point spiritually in

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the life of Jacob, not only here but

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later on.

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And this is the place that he came

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to.