Major Places: Beersheba, Bethel, Haran
Major Characters: God, Jacob, Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, Laban, Rachel, Leah
Biblical Text: Genesis 25:19-35:29
"And the LORD told her, 'The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son.'" (Genesis 25:23)
(Genesis 25:19-34)
Three years later, Isaac and Rebekah finally marry and soon attempt to have children, but like Sarah before her, Rebekah is barren as well. However, unlike Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah are patient with the Lord's timing and are eventually blessed with twins. Rebekah soon feels the twins fighting with each other, and asks why this is happening to her. God then tells her (presumably with Isaac listening) that "The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son" (Genesis 25:23). In time, the twins are born. First comes a very red boy who is apparently covered in thick hair. Isaac and Rebekah name their first child Esau, because it sounds like a Hebrew word meaning "hair." Holding onto Esau's heel is another boy. He is named Jacob, which sounds like the Hebrew word for "heel" and "deceiver."
As the boys grow up, they seem to become polar opposites. While Esau is a very hairy man who is a skillful hunter and enjoys the outdoors, Jacob is a bit smoother skinned and prefers to stay at home. In addition, Esau becomes Isaac's favorite child, while Rebekah favors Jacob. One day, Jacob is cooking stew when Esau arrives famished from a hunting trip. Esau demands some stew, but Jacob says he will only give it to Esau if he swears that his birthright (double-portion of their father's inheritance) belongs to Jacob. Esau seems confused at first (probably wondering what the birthright has to do with some stew), but answers that the birthright will be of no use to him if he dies of starvation now. Jacob insists, and an impatient Esau swears the birthright to him. The is the first of many times we will see Jacob live up to his name, using deception to get what he wants.
Episode II: Deception for a Blessing
(Genesis 27:1-28:5)
Sometime later, when Isaac is very old and nearly blind, he calls for Esau and says that he plans to give him his blessing. This blessing was more of a spiritual blessing, whereas the birthright was more of a material blessing. This spiritual blessing presumably also includes the passing on of the covenant, meaning that Isaac is directly disobey God's commandment. Remember, God said that the older son will serve the younger. Jacob, although not the firstborn, is meant to be the one the covenant continues through. Isaac asks Esau to go out and hunt some wild animals and make him his favorite dish with them. Esau leaves to go out hunting, but Rebekah has overheard everything.
Rebekah hatches a plan to get Isaac to bless Jacob instead of Esau. She relays all that she has heard to Jacob and tells him to bring two goats from their flock. She will use them to make Isaac's favorite dish. Then, Jacob will pretend to be Esau and give Isaac the meal, and Isaac will bless him. Although Isaac is almost entirely blind, Jacob will still get found out if Isaac touches him, as he lacks the abnormal amounts of body hair Esau has. Rebekah accounts for this by covering his hands, arms, and neck with goat's fur (apparently Esau had that much hair). Rebekah and Jacob then proceed to enact their plan.
Isaac is successfully tricked, and Jacob receives his blessing. It was the Lord's will that Jacob receive the blessing, but it was not supposed to happen this way. Everyone involved has done something wrong here. Esau didn't value spiritual things like his birthright and he had married two pagan Hittite wives. Isaac favored Esau over Jacob, disobeyed the Lord by choosing him, and completely excluded Jacob from his blessing. Rebekah favored Jacob and instead of waiting for God's solution to the problem, instigated deception in order to ensure the blessing to Jacob. Jacob himself enacted the deception. As a result of all these things, this family would be torn apart.
When Esau returns to receive the blessing from Isaac, they both realize that Jacob has tricked them. Esau is furious with his brother and plans to kill him. Rebekah again overhears this and tells Jacob to flee to her brother Laban's house in Haran, find a wife there, and live there until Esau forgets what Jacob has done to him. Though Isaac is probably angry with Jacob, he agrees with Rebekah that Jacob must not marry a Canaanite woman and sends him off to Haran to marry one of Laban's daughters. The story ends here, with a furious Esau, a frustrated Isaac, a worried Rebekah, and a fleeing Jacob.
Episode III: Stairway to Heaven
(Genesis 28:10-22)
Jacob then travels toward Haran. At sundown, he finds a large stone and decides to set up camp there for the night. While he sleeps, God blesses him with a vision of a stairway rising up to heaven, with angels going up and down it. At the top of the stairway stands the Lord Himself, Who reinstates the covenant of Abraham to Jacob, saying his descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth, and that they will spread all over the world.
Jacob wakes from his dream and exclaims his amazement at the Lord's presence. The next morning, he builds an altar from some nearby stones, including the one he slept on, and pours oil on them. He names the place Bethel, which means "house of God." Jacob then proclaims his faith in God's promises by saying that if God is with him, provides for him, and keeps him safe, he will worship God there at Bethel.
Episode IV: Laban's Deception
(Genesis 29:1-30)
When Jacob arrives outside Haran, he is greeted by shepherds. After he asks if they know anyone named Laban, they point out Laban's daughter Rachel to him. Rachel is out with her family's flocks. Similarly to the servant's meeting with Rebekah, Jacob tells Rachel who he is and asks to see Laban. Jacob is welcomed into Laban's house with joy.
He serves Laban for about a month, and afterwards Laban tells him that he shouldn't work for Laban for free just because they are related. Laban asks what Jacob thinks his wages should be, and Jacob, deeply in love with Rachel, proposes that he will work for Laban for seven years if Laban will then give him Rachel as a wife, to which Laban agrees. Jacob then serves Laban for seven years, but it seems like just days to him because of his love for Rachel.
Once the work is done, Laban throws a wedding feast for Jacob. In the dark of night, Laban then leads Rachel's sister, Leah to Jacob, substituting her for Rachel, just as Jacob had substituted himself for Esau earlier in his life. The two sleep together (Jacob can't see and Leah is probably mimicking Rachel), and when Jacob wakes up in the morning, he becomes extremely angry at Laban. Laban explains that he married off Leah first because she was the firstborn, and that Jacob can marry Rachel next week as long as he agrees to work for Laban another seven years. Of course, this is really just a ploy to get more work out of Jacob. Jacob agrees and marries Rachel a week after.
Episode V: Jacob is Blessed
(Genesis 29:31-31:55)
Jacob, not learning from how favoritism tore his own family apart, favors Rachel over Leah. Over the next few years, Jacob's wives fight for his love by each attempting to have more children with him than the other. Since Leah is unloved, God blesses her with children first. From her, Jacob gets his first four sons-- Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Continuing the trend of the wives of the patriarchs, Rachel finds herself completely unable to bear children. When she expresses her frustration to Jacob, he says it must be God who has prevented her from having children. Taking a page from her grandmother-in-law Sarah, Rachel decides to have her servant Bilhah be a surrogate mother for her child. From Bilhah, Jacob receives two more sons, whom Rachel names Dan and Naphtali. Leah, who now fins herself unable to bear children, has her servant Zilpah act as a surrogate mother. From Zilpah, Jacob receives two more sons, Gad and Asher.
One day, Reuben finds mandrakes growing in Laban's wheat fields and brings them to Leah. When Rachel begs Leah for some of the mandrakes, Leah angrily replies "Wasn't it enough that you stole my husband? Now will you steal my son's mandrakes, too?" (Genesis 30:15). They compromise by Rachel letting Leah sleep with Jacob if Leah will give her the mandrakes. God blesses Leah by allowing her to bear two more sons (Issachar and Zebulun) and a daughter (Dinah) with Jacob. However, God also blesses Rachel by allowing her to finally bear her own son with Jacob. They name him Joseph, which means "may he add" because Rachel says "May the Lord add yet another son to my family" (Genesis 30:24). Through all of his work for Laban, Jacob became very wealthy, eventually having many male and female servants, flocks, and his wives and children. In this way, he became much like Abraham.
Sometime later, God appears to Jacob and tells him to take his family and all that he owns and to return to his homeland in Canaan. Jacob fears that the deceitful Laban will attempt to stop him if he knows he is leaving, so he takes his family, flocks, and servants and leaves will Laban is away shearing sheep. Three days later, Laban is informed that Jacob has left and chases after him, catching up with him a week later. Laban confronts Jacob about his leaving as well as accuses him of stealing his household idols. What none of them know is that Rachel is the one who stole them before leaving. Laban searches all of Jacob's tents but finds nothing. Afterwards, Laban decides to let this whole incident pass by making a covenant with Jacob. The next morning, Laban wakes up, kisses and blesses his daughters and his grandchildren and returns home. Now free from Laban's deceit and oppression, Jacob and his family depart for Canaan.
Episode VI: Esau and Israel
(Genesis 32-33)
Once he begins nearing his home, Jacob sends messengers ahead to attempt to appease the presumably angry Esau. In his message, Jacob refers to himself as Esau's humble servant and to Esau as his lord. The messengers return saying that Esau is already on his way to meet Jacob with a small army of 400 men. Jacob, fearing his brother is on his way to destroy him, his family, and all he owns, divides his camp in two. That way, if Esau comes for one camp, the other can escape.
He then prays one of the greatest examples of a prayer in the entire Bible: "O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac-- O LORD, you told me, 'Return to your own land and to your relatives.' And you promised me, 'I will treat you kindly.' I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps! O LORD, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children. But you promised me, 'I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore--too many to count.'" (Genesis 32:9-12) Simply, Jacob humbles himself before God, acknowledges the amazing things God has done for him, and asks for the safety of him and his family.
After this, Jacob attempts to further appease Esau by sending him a substantial gift of 500 animals from his own flocks. That night, Jacob camped out by himself near the Jabbok River. An unknown man then came and wrestled with Jacob throughout the night. Eventually, he saw that he would not win the fight with Jacob, so he touched Jacob's hip, somehow causing the hip to dislocate. Tenaciously, Jacob grabs the man before he can escape and says that he will not let the man leave unless he blesses him. The man then asks Jacob his name. Jacob answers, and the man says that from now on, he will be called Israel (which means "God fights"), for "you have fought with God and with men and have won" (Genesis 32:28). The man, now clearly an angel of God Himself, blesses Jacob and disappears. This shows that God values His servants' desire for blessing.
The next day, Jacob sees Esau and his 400 men approaching, and marches forward to meet him, with his four wives and twelve children following close behind. Jacob begins to bow low to Esau seven times, but is surprised when Esau rushes to him and hugs him instead. Jacob hugs him back and the two share an emotional reunion. Jacob's prayer had been answered. Esau asks about the people with Jacob, and Jacob explains that they are his wives and children. Esau then asks about the flocks he saw on the way, and Jacob explains that they are his gift to his brother. Esau kindly declines, but Jacob insists he accept the gift. Esau then offers to lead Jacob to Seir. Jacob insists that he and his group follow more slowly behind Esau's group because Jacob has children and sensitive flocks. They begin their march to Seir, but once Jacob's group is far enough from Esau's, they take a detour and head toward Succoth, then continuing past Paddan-aram and into Shechem. This unnecessary lie shows that, although Jacob is now named Israel, he still has a long way to go to live up to that name and to not be a deceiver, as the name Jacob implies.
Episode VII: Defilement from the Pagans
(Genesis 34)
Jacob lingers too long in Shechem however, as his daughter Dinah is soon raped by the prince of the area, who is also named Shechem, while visiting with the local women of the town. Jacob soon hears of this and is surprisingly passive about it. His sons, however, are shocked to learn the news. Especially furious are Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah's full brothers. Shechem and his father Hamor come to see Jacob and arrange a deal. If Shechem can have Dinah as his wife, Hamor will give his daughters to Jacob's sons as wives. In addition, Jacob's family will be treated as full civilians in Shechem, allowing to live and trade freely.
Simeon and Levi will not let Shechem off the hook so easily, though. Deception seems to run in the family, as Simeon and Levi say that they will accept the deal only if all the males in the city of Shechem are circumcised. Prince Shechem wastes no time and every male in the town is circumcised within three days. At that time, while the men of the city are still very sore from their circumcision, Simeon and Levi, later joined by their brothers, take the city by storm, slaughtering the men and plundering their riches. Jacob, rather than scolding them for their violent and deceitful actions, responds with self-absorbed fear, saying that he will be destroyed by the larger nations of the land for this. Overall, this short, disappointing story is a lesson not to linger around evil people like the pagan Shechemites.
Episode VIII: Return to Bethel
(Genesis 35)
After the massacre at Shechem, Jacob and his family continue on toward Bethel, where Jacob had his dream of the stairway to heaven. Now, he fulfills his promise to the Lord by worshiping him there with the family that God blessed him with. He anoints a pillar with oil and once again names the place Bethel. Similarly, the Lord once again restates His promise of descendants to Jacob and again renames him Israel.
Sometime after leaving Bethel, Rachel goes into labor. Her labor pains are very intense, but she pushes through and is blessed with a second baby boy. With her last breath, she calls the boy Ben-oni ("son of my sorrow," referring to her pain), but Jacob names the boy Benjamin ("son of my right hand," referring to Rachel). Jacob now has twelve sons and a daughter.
After Benjamin's birth, Jacob and his camp move toward Mamre, where Isaac is now living. Isaac too, passes away, living to the age of 180 years. Jacob and his brother Esau bury Isaac together, representing their reconciliation. The story ends on this solemn note.
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