“And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow:” . . Mark only records this scene of our Lord, the Son of God, securing rest for his physical needs on a ship’s pillow. And yet, we remember an earlier Biblical account where another, the patriarch Jacob, “took the stones of the place and put them for pillows, and lay down .. to sleep.” These are the only references given for that ‘sleep on a pillow’ that we have grown accustomed to in our lives. Is there a message for us in these two incidents that are so greatly’ separated by’ time?
The day had been long as the Master spake from the small ship, teaching in parables the multitudes along the Galilean shoreline. Then at eventide He commanded the 12 disciples who were with Him to “pass over to the other side,” (Mark 4:35). Being tired from the ever pressing throng, “our Lord employed the rowers’ bench or its cushion for a pillow (Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Pg. 867) and went to sleep.
Now this Sea of Galilee about which much of the ministry of Jesus passed would occasionally become quite stormy. The outer perimeter of the Lake extends 14 miles in length and 8 miles in width, going to a maximum depth of 156′ Winds are usually higher at noon, but at night when a storm rises the situation becomes very serious indeed for small craft plying on it. “In such cases fishermen take up their oars, furl their sails and try’ to get out of the path of the storm as quickly as possible.” (Views of the Biblical World, N.T. V. 5, P. 35).
This Sea was not stirring at the Lord’s command to launch forth .. “But as the sailed (he fell asleep) and there came a storm on the lake; and they were filled with water and were in jeopardy.” (Luke 8:23). Mark also says the ship was filled by the waves – -the disciples were afraid and awakened Him. “Carest thou not that we perish,” they cried — and He who was always about His Father’s business arose, rebuked the wind and said, “Peace be still,” unto the sea. And there was a great calm.
Stones were used for pillows in the Genesis record of Jacob’s flight from his fathers house.
Jacob traveled approximately 70 miles that first day, and he stopped near the place called Luz (later renamed Bethel) at sunset. Taking the stones from ‘that place’ he put them under his head for pillows and lay down to sleep; and he dreamed. In this dream the LORD repeated to him the covenants given to Abraham and to Isaac. . . “Thy seed
shall be as the dust of the earth, and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And (said the LORD) behold I am with thee in all places whither thou goest . . (Gen. 28: 13-15). Jacob wakened out of his sleep and he was afraid. “Surely the LORD is in this place,- he said, and I knew it not.”
When we think of those stones forming a pillow for Jacob’s rest that night, we see it as Ebenezer, the Stone of help in 1 Sam. 7:12″ (Expositor: Vol. 2, No. 4). Then we think of the Done of Israel, a tried stone, a precious corner stone (Gen. 49:24, Isa. 28:16) and examine the Hebrew root EBEN, signifying to build; ‘as sons and daughters, to build a family: (Expositor). We, as lively stones are building upon that spiritual house, the holy priesthood (cp. I Peter 2:4).
When the 12 disciples became frightened in the storm tossed ship, they awoke Jesus, and the Son of God cried “Peace.” Jacob slept and God visited him in a dream; he awoke and (for a time) was afraid.
The Psalmist tells us “the LORD will bless his people with peace.” Will the anointed Son of God frighten us at the Judgment of Resurrection Day? Nay, as our lives become stormy, let us seek a resting place like Jacob’s pillow of stones that helps build our position in the soon coming Kingdom of God,
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One