Jacob

JACOB

Genesis 28-36

Key Verses

28:10-22   Jacob then departed Beersheba for the city of Haran. As night approached, he set up camp in a particular spot that looked comfortable and safe. Using a stone he found for a pillow, Jacob drifted off to sleep and had a dream about steps spanning from heaven to earth. Angels were walking up and down the stairway to heaven and God himself stood at the very top. In his dream God spoke to Jacob: “I am the Lord, God of your father Isaac and your grandfather Abraham. …This ground upon which you now rest will be my gift to you and your descendants, who will be too numerous to even count. …No matter where your journeys in life take you, I will be with you to protect you from harm.”  …The next morning Jacob named the spot Bethel (“House of God”). He took the stone he had slept on and built a pillar, vowing, “If God will keep me safe on this journey to my father’s homeland, then I will make him my own personal God. And I will see to it that one day the house of my God will be built on the spot of this sacred stone pillar…”29:1-14    Then Jacob continued his fateful journey to the region inhabited by the peoples of the East. …After his arrival in Paddan Aram, Jacob first saw Laban’s daughter Rachel as she sheparded the family’s sheep to water. …Jacob watered her sheep himself and afterwards kissed her on the cheek, weeping at the sight of his own cousin. When Rachel learned that Jacob was her relative, she hurried back home to tell her father Laban about it. …Once he heard who had come…Laban himself hurried to the well to greet Jacob. …He threw his arms around Jacob, kissed him affectionately, and ushered him back to his house, saying, “My boy, you are part of me—my very own flesh and blood.”

29:14-20   A month past when Laban said to Jacob, “You’ve been working around here for nothing because you are my nephew. But I want to pay you something. Tell me what you think is fair. …By that time Jacob had come to love Rachel, but she was the youngest daughter. The older daughter, Leah, would have by rights been the first to be given in marriage. Boldly, Jacob answered Laban, "For your daughter Rachel I will give you seven years of labor.” …And Jacob did just that—he worked faithfully for seven full years. However, because Jacob was so madly in love with Rachel, the time seemed to pass as quickly as if it were but a few days.

29:21-30   When the seven years was complete, Jacob asked for Rachael’s hand, saying, “Now I have earned the right to marry Rachel and I am ready to consummate my marriage with her.” Agreeable to the request, Laban planned a huge celebration and invited all his neighbors to attend. However, in the darkness after the feasting and drinking was finished, Laban deceivingly brought Leah to Jacob to sleep with. Unknowingly, Jacob did so. …When the new day dawned, Jacob was shocked to see Leah lying beside him. He jumped up and went straight to Laban, angrily complaining, “Why in the world did you trick me? Did my seven years of work for Rachael mean nothing to you?” But Laban had prepared a cunning reply: “I thought you knew that in our culture the oldest daughter must always be married first. Try to calm down now. Why not make the most of the customary week of honeymooning and then you can have Rachel to marry as well. But you will have to promise me another seven years of service to compensate for her hand.” Still smitten with love for Rachel, Jacob agreed to do so. After the week had passed, Laban followed through on his promise and gave his daughter Rachel to Jacob as his second wife. Finally, Jacob consummated his love for Rachel, who he loved so much more than Leah. And true to his word, Jacob began another seven years of work for Laban.

[For a total of 20 years Jacob worked for Laban and prospered greatly. Between Rachael, Leah, and their two handmaidens, 12 sons were born to Jacob. The sisters were jealous of one another and bore sons in competition for Jacob’s love.]

31:2-18   Well after the seven years had passed, Jacob realized that Laban had grown cold and distant toward him. That's when God told Jacob, "Now is the time to return to your family and your homeland in Canaan. You can be certain I will be with you all the way.” Concerned about making a scene, Jacob arranged for Rachel and Leah to meet him secretly in the fields where his flocks grazed.  After they had gathered together Jacob said to them, “It is obvious that your father no longer likes me and now treats me like a stranger. Though your father’s attitude has changed, the God whom I serve is still with me in all my endeavors.” ...The wives replied to Jacob, “We are no longer heirs to our father’s estate and he has come to see us as outsiders too, …so whatever God is leading you to do is fine with us. With their vote of confidence, Jacob gathered his wives and children, herds and flocks, and all the possessions he could pack onto his camels and set off for his father’s home in Canaan.

32:3-12   Along the route Jacob sent messengers ahead to find his brother Esau, who was living in the land of Edom. …Upon their return, they reported to Jacob the following: “We found your brother, spoke to him about your coming, and he has decided to travel this way to meet you. But you should know that he is bringing with him some four hundred men.” …Hearing the news, Jacob was terrified. …He prayed fervently, “Oh, God of my father Isaac and my grandfather Abraham, you clearly instructed me, ‘Return to your family and your homeland in Canaan and I will be with you to prosper you.’ I certainly am not worthy of your continued faithfulness and lovingkindness. …But I beg you now to rescue me from the wrath of my brother. I am so scared he will kill me, my wives, and all my children. And then how can my descendants ever multiply beyond counting as you have promised?”

32:13-31   Nervous about the situation, Jacob decided to prepare a gift to send ahead to his brother. He hand-picked hundreds of goats, rams, camels, bulls and donkeys…thinking, “With all these gifts I am sending surely his anger will subside and he will no longer think ill of me. Then when we finally meet in person, maybe he will actually feel happy to see me again.” And Jacob sent his gifts of animals ahead to Esau. …However, as darkness fell Jacob’s fears returned and he could not sleep. He arose from bed and sent his wives, their maids, all his children, and his remaining livestock safely across the Jabbok River. Jacob remained alone in the camp. All during that night he wrestled with an angel of the Lord who appeared in the form of a man. …Toward daybreak the man wrenched Jacob’s hip out of place…but Jacob refused to stop wrestling, insisting that the angel first give him God’s blessing. The man-angel replied with a demand of his own: “First tell me your name!” When Jacob told him, the man-angel said, “That was in the past. From this day forward I am renaming you Israel (“the one who wrestles with God”), for you have persevered in your struggle with both God and man.” And the angel gave his blessing. …As the sun rose in the east, Jacob limped about camp from his injured hip.

33:1-17   Before long Jacob saw a company of men approaching and recognized his brother Esau in the lead. …Tentatively venturing toward his brother, Jacob showed deference and respect by bowing seven times before him. Quite unexpectedly, Esau raced up to Jacob and hugged him with a warm embrace, kissing him repeatedly with brotherly affection. The moment brought them both to tears of joy. [After their reconciliation] Esau departed that same day to return to Seir in Edom, expecting Jacob to follow with his caravan. But still leery, Jacob made his way to a different location where he built shelters for his family and livestock.  The place has ever since been called Succoth, or “shelters”.

35:1-19   Then the Lord told Jacob, “I want you to return to Bethel, settle down there, and build an altar to commemorate the time I revealed myself to you during your flight from Esau.” …There Jacob celebrated God’s revelation to him that he would father many nations and know God’s blessing and presence with him always. He also told Jacob this: “Kings will be born from your loins and this sacred land I’ve given to your father Isaac and grandfather Abraham is now yours and your descendants.” …After the dedication at Bethel, Jacob and his family were moving southward when Rachael went into labor. …She experienced a problem during childbirth and died. …But the child, a son, survived, and Israel gave him the name Benjamin (“son of my consolation”). There Israel buried Rachael and erected a pillar for a gravestone. The site would later become the town of Bethlehem.

35:23-29    Altogether Jacob had twelve sons. The sons of Leah were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Leah’s maidservant’s son’s were Gad an Asher. Rachel had two sons of her own, Joseph and Benjamin, while Rachel’s maidservant gave birth to two sons, Dan and Naphtali.  At long last Jacob returned to Isaac’s home in modern-day Hebron. It was the patriachial homeland, for Abraham too had lived there. Jacob found his father quite elderly by this time but Isaac lived on to be one hundred and eighty years of age before he died. Together Jacob and Esau buried their father in the land God had promised him.

36:6-37:1   Soon after Isaac’s death, Esau set out with his extensive family, livestock, and belongings …and headed toward the southeast to the land of Seir. He did so because between the two brothers the land simply could not support them both, given their need for extensive gazing land for their large herds of livestock. … That left Jacob to settle down in Canaan in the homeland established by his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham. 

Basic Message

Jacob left to find a wife in the land of his ancestors and had an encounter with God on the way. When he arrived in Haran, his mother's brother, Laban, welcomed him and eventually offered Jacob his younger daughter Rachel to marry. Jacob agreed to work for Laban for seven years for permission to marry Rachael, whom he loved very much. But on the wedding night, Laban switched Rachel for his oldest daughter Leah, with whom Jacob inadvertently slept. Jacob was angry at having been tricked but agreed to work another seven years for Rachel's hand if he could also marry her at that time. Laban agreed and Jacob settled down there with his wives and prospered greatly in his work for Laban.

After 20 years and the birth of 11 sons, God told Jacob to return to Canaan. He took all of his wives and children and the livestock he owned and left. Remembering his brother Esau had a vendetta against him, Jacob sent messengers ahead to tell Esau he was coming. The messengers brought back the frightening news that Esau and 400 of his men were coming to meet Jacob. Scared out of his wits, Jacob prayed to God for protection, yet also began to do everything he could to protect his family and belongings in case Esau meant him harm. During the night Jacob wrestled with an angel who gave him God's blessing and conferred upon him the new name of Israel. But in the struggle Jacob’s hip was displaced, leaving him vulnerable to his approaching brother.

Esau, it turns out, was quite happy to meet Jacob again and apparently held no malice toward him. The brothers were reconciled and returned separately to Canaan and their father Isaac. Before his death, Isaac sent Esau with all his family and possessions to live at a safe distance east of Jacob who stayed in Canaan. Then Isaac died and Jacob settled down in the land that God had promised to all three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Comments

*   When Jacob had an encounter with God in Haran, God became personal to him. No longer was the God of Abraham and Isaac just a family tradition for Jacob, he had a first-hand encounter with the Living God and he would thereafter be forever changed. The God of his Fathers became his God. It is said that God has no grandchildren. The experience of a personal encounter with God was a necessity for Jacob for the role he would play in God’s purposes for humanity. That personal encounter is also a necessity for all of Abraham’s decedents—whether biological or spiritual—who are part of his family and plan for the world.

*   Jacob sought, by his own efforts and cunning, to make Esau well-disposed toward him. Jacob sent out emissaries with gifts and hid his wife Rachael and her children during Esau’s approach. But there was no need. God had already softened Esau’s heart toward Jacob. Jacob’s wrestling match with God was Jacob’s struggle to accept, by faith, God’s promised protection and blessing instead of relying upon himself and his own devices to make things work out well. Jacob wouldn’t give up the struggle until he was certain God would bless and be with him, which is to say, until he had the assurance that God intended to fulfill his promises to Jacob. The wound, a painfully displaced hip, insured that Jacob could no longer rely upon on his own strength before Esau’s possible anger and revenge. He could not even run away. Jacob was forced to trust God wholly—to live out the faith he had acquired at Haran.

*   God uses humans, with all our inherent follies and jealousies, to do his will. That is wonderful news. We need not be perfect, just perfectly committed; and God will enfold us in his plans and purposes, using even our failings to do his bidding in this world. Laban’s devious schemes, Rachael and Leah’s jealousies, and even Jacob’s elaborate efforts at self-preservation—though wholly unnecessary—were used of God to bring about his will. How much easier to simply trust him from the start.

Biblical Themes