We find Jacob on his way to meet Esau in person. All the preparations have been made and a plan has been put into motion. The herds and flocks had been sent ahead and now Jacob sees Esau, his brother, and four hundred men coming. He had each of his maid servants take their own children and put them in the front of the procession. Then Leah and her children. Finally, Rachel and Joseph, in the back of the parade. Jacob went on ahead. I thinking he went first to try to spare his family from Esau’s supposed wrath.
Category: Bible Discussion
LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE
This is where we find Jacob. He is returning home to his father. He knows that Esau is probably still there and, for all he knows, Esau may still want to kill him. It’s been twenty years since he left in a panic, fleeing to Laban for sanctuary. What is Esau going to do when he sees Jacob? Jacob has 12 children, 11 sons and 1 daughter, 2 wives, huge flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, camels and donkeys and possibly hundreds of servants, shepherds and herdsmen. He can’t sneak back home. The huge mass of life that he is travelling with is impossible to hide. Jacob is shaking in his sandals. How can he protect his family and possessions?
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AND THE RACE IS ON
Jacob packed up all he had, put his wives and children on camels and drove all his livestock away from Laban and his home without even telling him they were leaving. Laban was not even at home when he left. Laban didn’t know that Jacob and his family had left until three days after the fact. He gathered his clansmen and took off after them. It took them another seven days to catch up to them.
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MORE KIDS, MORE TRICKS
Laban profited quite well with the marriage of his sister, Rebekah, to Isaac. Then, he used his daughters as bargaining chips when Jacob wanted to marry Rachel. He defrauded Jacob by giving him Leah as wife when he thought he had been working 7 years for Rachel. Laban received another 7 years of service for the hand of Rachel. And all this time, because of Jacob, he was blessed by God. Laban tried to make sure that the amount livestock that Jacob requested from him as wages was as little as possible.
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TURNABOUT’S FAIR PLAY
The wedding plans were made. People were invited to celebrate. A feast was had by all. As was custom, Laban brought the heavily veiled bride to Jacob and they retired to their tent for the wedding night. In the morning, the fur hit the fan. Jacob found Leah in his bed instead of Rachel. Immediately he went to Laban and called him out on the deception. “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?” (Genesis 29:25b). He was outraged. He had worked for 7 years just to be able to marry Rachel, but he married Leah instead.
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ROCKS MAKE HARD PILLOWS
The first stop on Jacob’s journey was a place that would be called Bethel, which is about 10 miles north of Jerusalem and 60 miles from Beersheba. Jacob stopped because night was coming. Now here is where I would have had to have a soft pillow. But Jacob took a stone . . . yes . . . a stone and used it for a pillow. And he actually went to sleep! With rock pillow!! And he dreamed. We have all heard the story of Jacob’s ladder, his dream. There was a stairway reaching into heaven, with angels were moving up and down the stairway.
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GOD GETS ANOTHER HELPING HAND
When Isaac told Esau that he was going to bless him, he asked Esau to hunt wild game and fix it form him the way he liked it. So, Esau followed Isaac’s request and went hunting. Rebekah had heard Isaac’s request. To me, it seems obvious that she knew what Jacob had done to Esau regarding Esau’s birthright. Jacob wanted that blessing and Jacob was going to get that blessing if she had anything to do with it. She told Jacob what they were going to do to ensure that Jacob was blessed as if he were the first born. He hesitated at first, fearful of being caught tricking his father. But Rebekah took on herself any consequences for the deception.
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JUST DIG ANOTHER WELL ALREADY
Now, the area around Gerar was arid, desert land. So, water was a precious commodity. To stop up someone’s well was a serious crime and could well start a war. But Isaac moved everything and everyone he had to the Valley of Gerar. He reopened the wells that his father had dug but moved again because Philistine shepherds continued to dispute his ownership of them, not once but twice. Isaac and his men dug a new well. The Philistines again claimed it. So, he moved again and dug another well with the same result. Finally, he moved again and dug a third well. When that third well was dug there were no disputes. Isaac knew that God had given them room to grow and flourish. He named it Rehoboth: “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish.”
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WATCH WHAT YOU’RE GRABBING
The story of Jacob and Esau is one of a third generation on the road to creating the nation of Abraham’s descendants that was promised. It shows us how God works in spite of one’s life choices. Let’s face it, Jacob was a jerk. He took advantage of his brother’s hunger to steal his brother’s birthright as the eldest son. He tricked his father into giving him the blessing that should have been given to the first born, Esau. He had been so devious that he had to run for his life. The story of the relationship between Jacob and Esau reads almost like a soap opera. It is full jealousy, favoritism, greed, deception and hostility between brothers.
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OOOH! IS THAT A NOSE RING?
Abraham was nearing the end of his life and Isaac didn’t have a wife yet. Abraham did not want his son to marry a Canaanite woman. It was customary for parents chose the spouses for their children and Isaac had waited patiently but he was nearly forty years old. While it was common practice to marry within a family group, it was an added advantage for Abraham as Isaac would not be marrying a pagan. Abraham wanted to be obedient to God, not only in who Isaac married but in where she came from. Abraham did not want Isaac to leave to go search for wife himself. He needed Isaac to stay where he was. So, Abraham entrusted the task to Eliezer, a life-long servant of Abraham’s.
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FINALLY, A PLACE OF MY OWN, SORT OF
Abraham was in a foreign land, looking for a place to bury his wife. The Hittites knew Abraham. To them he was a great and wealthy prince, a prince of God. They had a lot of respect for him. They offered any of their choicest burial spots to him. While Hittites didn’t share Abraham’s belief or values but they appreciated that he lived by those values.
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THIS IS A TEST, THIS IS ONLY A TEST
I don’t know how many of you have watched Star Trek. But one episode is about the Kobiashi Maru. It is training exercise for Starfleet cadets to see how they manage a crisis aboard a Starfleet vessel. The good thing is that it weeds out the weak leaders from the strong. The bad thing is that it is a no-win situation. Fortunately, for the cadets, it was only a test. A real-life situation like this would have been catastrophic. But that is often what some of us face. A real-life, no-win situation. But I have to say, nothing in life is really no-win if you have Jesus in your life.
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OH, I REMEMBER THAT PLACE
We can have a place like Beersheba, either in our hearts or even a particular place special to your heart. It is the place where your burden of sin was lifted. It is a place where you can call on the Name of the Lord and He will be there. Where we can go for peace, for healing, for help or just to be with the Lord. Jesus had a place. It was in the mountains. There are a number of places in the Scripture where Jesus went into the mountains to be by Himself to pray. Our place can be ours alone or shared with others.
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TWO SONS, TWO NATIONS
It’s been a year since Lord told Abraham and Sarah that Sarah have a son. Who would have ever imagined that a man of 100 and a woman of 91 years would have a baby together? But God had promised a child to Sarah and Abraham. You can just imagine the celebration. The promised child had finally arrived. Just as He had promised, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. She laughed again, this time with joy. Isaac’s name reflected her joy. But even in this time of joy, there was one who did not rejoice. Ishmael.
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OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN
Abraham moved from the mountains overlooking the destroyed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, staying for a time in different places. Then, he pitched his tents in Gerar, the land of the Philistines. Word got around about the beautiful woman in Abraham’s company and the king asked about her. Obviously, Abraham forgot what he learned in Egypt, and he lied again about Sarah’s relationship to himself. And Sarah was taken, again, into the harem of a king.
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FINDING HOPE IN TRAGEDY
What can I say? This is a very disturbing portion of scripture. I said that I wouldn’t gloss over the bad stuff, so I’m not. It’s a tragic sin that ultimately was the result of wrong choices. Lot chose to live in the city of Sodom. He took the easy way, the greener grass and the prosperous city. But apparently, he did not take the time to teach his daughters just how sinful the culture of the Sodom was. He did not teach them that the actions of the people of Sodom was sin the eyes of God. And that God hated sin. Sin brings trouble and has consequences that can only bring sorrow and pain; not only to the ones who have sinned but it will affect generations to come. Only God can take a tragedy and make something good out of it.
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RUN FOR YOUR LIVES
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a very sad story but it is one that reminds us of just how much God hates sin. The Lord and two angels had visited Abraham and told him of the destruction that was going to fall on the cities. Abraham pleaded with God to spare the city if as few as ten righteous men could be found. Abraham knew Lot lived in Sodom. The Lord knew just how bad the cities were. How corrupt and what an abomination they were. The immorality, the sexual perverseness and the absolute abandonment of any sense of right and wrong.
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Let’s Make a Deal
Bargaining with God is pretty risky. But God was patient with Abraham. God showed him that asking for anything is allowed. We may not always get what we ask for but we can ask knowing that answers come from God’s perspective and not ours. We often don’t even see God’s answer to our prayers because what we get is not what we expected. Sometimes we don’t realize what we are asking for. And then sometimes, God does give us what we ask for, much to our regret
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REALLY I DIDN’T LAUGH
Have you ever overheard other people talk and heard something so preposterous that you just wanted to laugh out loud? Then you had to try to keep from laughing too loud because you didn’t want anyone to know that you were eavesdropping. Or have you ever gotten the giggles in church? That is the worst. You have to keep your mouth shut and try not to let anyone know you’re laughing.
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ANGELS AMONG US
I had gotten into line at the self-checkout and remembered another item I had wanted to get. I left the line, got it and came back. This time I lined up behind a little lady that had to be 90 years old if she was a day. She looked back at me, smiled and asked me how I was doing. To tell you the truth I was exhausted. This was my first solo anything since leaving the hospital. She offered to let me go ahead of her and to scan my groceries, what little they were. We discussed it and I said ok. My first thought was that God had sent an angel to help.
