Lesson 9
May 21-27
Jacob the Supplanter
- Jacob steals the blessing.
- Esau and Jacob were born the same day, but their characters were different. Esau was an active hunter, and Jacob was a calm shepherd (Genesis 25:27).
- Esau only cared for today, but Jacob went beyond it. Jacob longed for the birthright and its blessing (i.e. being the link to the promised Seed).
- Jacob acquired the birthright as his brother disregarded it (Genesis 25:29-34).
- When Isaac wanted to bless Esau, Jacob tricked his father and got the blessing fraudulently (Genesis 27:1-27).
- God blesses Jacob (1).
- After being tricked by Jacob, Esau promised that he would kill him after their father died (Genesis 27:41). Rebekah encouraged Isaac to send Jacob far away to find a wife among their relatives (Genesis 27:42-28:5).
- God blessed Jacob in his journey. He introduced Himself from the top of a large ladder that reached to heaven (Genesis 28:11-15; Gn. 11:4). Jacob had tried to get the blessing himself, but only God can give it by grace.
- Jacob reacted to God’s blessing by promising two things (a spiritual one and a physical one): to make that place God’s house, and to give back the tithe of everything to God
(Genesis 28:22).
- Jacob is tricked.
- Jacob didn’t have anything to give Laban as a dowry, so he suggested he would work seven years to marry his daughter.
- However, Laban tricked his son-in-law by giving him Leah instead of Rachel
(Genesis 29:20-23). - The next morning, Jacob realized he had been tricked. He had suffered the Law of Talion (Exodus 21:24). Now he could better understand his sin and what his father and his brother had felt.
- God blesses Jacob (2).
- God blessed Jacob during the following years. He had 11 sons (Benjamin, the twelfth, would be born later).
- The names of his children reflect the feelings of Leah and Rachel. Despite of their dispute, God blessed them (Genesis 29:31-30:24).
- Jacob is a blessing.
- Jacob was a blessing for Laban and his family. However, Jacob had nothing. Now he had to begin working for himself and his family.
- Laban tried to trick his son-in-law again, but God didn’t let him (Genesis 31:7). On the contrary, God used dreams to tell Jacob to use genetics (which he didn’t know about) to evade Laban’s tricks (Genesis 31:9-13).
- Jacob didn’t argue, revolt, or tried to find his own solutions. He waited on God. He left Laban’s house for Canaan only when God told him to do so (Genesis 31:3).