Today we are going to look at Jacob, Abraham’s grandson and the father of what became the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob is one of my favorite characters in the Bible, I think because I identify with some of his weaknesses. Now, there are far more passages on Jacob in the Bible than we have time to cover, so we will need to be selective. Let’s start, however, at the beginning:
This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. – Gen. 25:19-21
You probably remember the fascinating story of how it came to be that Isaac married Rebekah – how Abraham’s servant went forth to a distant place to find Isaac a non-Canaanite wife, and how that servant prayed that God would show him who to pick by how she treated him with regards to allowing him to drink from a spring and having his animals watered as well. A woman did this for him, and her name was Rebekah, and she became Isaac’s wife. Abraham has now passed away, but no doubt he has passed on to Isaac the promise he received from the Lord regarding his offspring being the foundation of countless descendants. Isaac, growing up hearing the amazing accounts of God’s faithfulness to Abraham and Sarah regarding his own birth, now is the one praying for his line to continue so that the promise can be fulfilled. And now it is about to come true – as Rebekah is with child.
When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. – Gen. 25:24-26
Esau’s name means “hairy,” and Jacob’s name means “he grasps the heel,” which is an idiom for “he deceives.” It may seem strange to give your children such odd names, but this was the convention at that time, and it is still done in some areas in the world today.
God uses the birth as a foreshadowing of key events in Jacob’s life, as well as a foreshadowing into the nature of Jacob’s personality. What he wants, he will take and grasp. As we will see, he is not shy about doing what it takes to get what he wants.
The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. – Gen. 25:27-28
Don’t you love how the Bible doesn’t sugar-coat things? Let’s be clear: this is a dysfunctional family. Parents are not supposed to show favorites to one child over another. Both Isaac and Rebekah are guilty of this – the “miracle boy” Isaac (recall the age of Abraham and Sarah and the nearly lifelong delayed fulfillment of the promise to have a child, the prediction by the angel, and so much more) and the “miracle wife” Rebekah! I point this out to show that these two, despite all that God is orchestrating in their lives, are still broken vessels. They have “baggage.” They aren’t ideal parents – far from it.
Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."
"Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?" But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. – Gen. 25:29-34
Clearly both Jacob and Esau are doing some dubious things here, but it is interesting to me that in the Bible, the harsh criticism is leveled at Esau.
See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. – Hebrews 12:16-17
If you think about it, though, you can see the seriousness of Esau’s choice. As it says, he despised his birthright, the right not only to material blessings that come of being the first-born, but of the incredible promise to be the father of many nations. He didn’t care – a good meal was deemed as more valuable to him. His was the ultimate example of choosing instant gratification over future fulfillment. Can we live like this? You bet! We are faced with decisions like this all the time – when a father chooses a higher-paying job even though it means he will hardly have any time for his family, it is a similar decision. When someone chooses to cheat on a test, it is a similar decision – between doing what it takes to become a man or woman of character and an immediate good grade (assuming you don’t get caught). When someone chooses substance abuse over dealing with the emotional pain that makes him want to escape, that too is a similar decision. When a single person chooses pornography over purity while waiting for a mate, it is a similar decision. It is harsh – but true – to say that when we make the wrong decisions in these areas, we are despising not our birthright, but our Savior who died so that we could have an eternal future that blows away any birthright. The word Hebrews uses is godless; to make decisions in this way is to live “godlessly”.
What did Esau get as a result of his choice? Some soup! Hopefully, it was really good soup. What did he lose? I think he could have been Jacob – instead of the Bible saying over and over, “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” it might have said, “Abraham, Isaac, and Esau.” Esau could be Israel.
What do we get as the result of our choices? Do we understand that although we live under grace, that we are saved – that we receive salvation by our choice to trust in Christ, there are still tremendous consequences of our bad choices? Esau lost out on a chance to be a central part of God’s work, His plan. We too can lose out in how much God does – or doesn’t do – through us. Although these things do not affect our eternal salvation, they do affect our eternity! The bad choices we make are no less foolish than Esau’s decision to get a bowl of soup.
But what about Jacob? Yes, he gained his birthright, but what did he lose? He lost his relationship with his twin brother. He has no doubt deeply disappointed his father. He has turned his family relationships from somewhat dysfunctional into a full-fledged train wreck. And he must know inside that this was not God’s way – God’s ways are higher, without conniving, without trickery. Of the Bible characters we have looked at so far in this series, the one that Jacob most reminds me of is the serpent. Jacob is the tempter here.
In Genesis 27, we come to the account in which Isaac is on his deathbed and asks for Esau to bring him game and prepare it the way he likes, and then he will give Esau his blessing. Rebekah overheard this, and told Jacob to get goats from the flock (not wild game) and she will prepare it for him so that he can pretend to be Esau. She also covers his hands and neck with the goatskins so his skin will appear rough like Esau’s. The resulting account is given in graphic detail:
He [Jacob] went to his father and said, "My father." "Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?" Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing."
Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" "The Lord your God gave me success," he replied. Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."
Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked. "I am," he replied. – Gen. 27:18-24
So how many times did Jacob lie to his father? Three. In my opinion, this is worse than Peter’s three denials of the Lord right before the crucifixion. His dysfunctional mother is certainly no saint, but such a deception on his own father! Isaac went on to give Jacob the blessing that included the statement that he would be lord over his brothers. A little later, Esau came back with prepared game himself, ready to receive his father’s blessing, but Isaac explained that it was too late.
When Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me—me too, my father!" But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing." Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing!" – Gen. 27:34-36
And so the dysfunctional family became even more dysfunctional. Family relationships were now even more shredded. Some of the fault for this has to go back to both of Jacob’s parents, but Jacob had made things even worse. In both of these acts, Jacob took his future into his own hands, and he most surely lived by the phrase “the ends justify the means.” Again, this is not God’s paradigm.
Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob." – Gen. 27:41
Rebekah learned what Esau had said, and told Jacob to flee to her brother Laban in Haran, staying with him until Esau cools down. She then convinced Isaac to actually send Jacob to Laban on the premise that he would find a good wife there.
On his way to Haran, Jacob stops for the night and dreams about a stairway from earth to heaven with angels going up and down.
There above it stood the Lord, and He said: "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." – Gen. 28:13-15
This is an incredible message of assurance; God says that He will take care of Jacob – he doesn’t need to take his future into his own hands any longer. Isn’t this what you get from this message? God is going to do great things through Jacob, and it is God that is going to do it. But look at Jacob’s response:
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."
Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that You give me I will give You a tenth." – Gen. 28:16-22
I don’t want to be overly critical of this response, but it seems to me like Jacob doesn’t fully get it. First, he ascribes special power to the place. Then he makes this conditional vow to God, saying, if You do all this stuff for me, I’ll do some stuff for You. This is OK, except that we are talking about Yahweh, the Creator of the universe here. He’s not just some local prince that you can make a political deal with. If Jacob really knew who God was, his vow would not be conditional.
But what bothers me most about Jacob’s response is that God’s promise to Jacob was unconditional! All peoples of the earth will be blessed through Jacob! God will be with him and watch over him wherever he will go! This doesn’t merit deal making. It merits worship! It’s almost as if Jacob doesn’t want to acknowledge what has happened here because if he does, he will no longer be the boss of his life, doing things his way. It’s almost like someone who, presented with the truth of the gospel, doesn’t accept the offer of eternal life but instead says that if God helps him to be successful in this life, then he will go to church and give God 10%. As if God needs his 10% or cares whether he, as a non-Christian, goes to church! Jesus has died for this person! God desires a real relationship with the person, one in which the man sees both God and himself as they truly are – the glorious Creator of all, and a wretched worm in desperate need of forgiveness.
Jacob then makes it to Haran, falls in love with Rachel, and finally meets his match in shrewdness when it comes to Laban. He agrees to work for 7 years for Laban in exchange for being able to marry her at the end of this period. But he gets a dose of his own medicine when Laban gives her his daughter Leah instead of Rachel. Tricked, Jacob works 7 more years and finally marries Rachel.
Rachel and Leah don’t get along. Leah has four sons, and Rachel has none. Jealous, Rachel gives Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and she has two sons. Now Leah is jealous, and gives Jacob her servant Zilpah, and she has two sons. Then Leah herself has two sons and a daughter. Then Rachel finally has a child, Joseph, which is a story for another week.
Jacob, now with a large but not very happy family, informs Laban that he wants to leave. Laban wants him to stay, because “through divination” he has learned that God is blessing him through Jacob. He offers to pay Jacob wages, but Jacob instead asks to split the animals with Laban based on their markings. Laban agrees.
In the coming years, Jacob prospered exceedingly, although both he and Laban seemed bent on out-scheming each other to get the best flocks. At some point, Laban became jealous of Jacob’s prosperity. At this point, it has been a full 20 years they have been bent on out-tricking each other! Jacob has prospered, but he has burnt bridges at home with his twin brother, made no friend of the man he has been with for 20 years, and created a large family whose wives all seem to dislike each other.
I have known some people whose lives seem to be a never-ending series of crises, mostly caused by the things these people have done. This to me seems like an apt description of Jacob.
Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father." And Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude toward him was not what it had been. Then the Lord said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you." – Gen. 31:1-3
Jacob discusses this with his wives, and they agree to leave. He did not tell Laban when he left, once again living up to his name of deceiver. In addition, Rachel stole Laban’s household gods when they left. Laban and his men pursued Jacob and caught up to him. Jacob denied stealing the gods and said he would kill anyone found with them. Rachel hid them while Laban searched. Then they made a covenant between them and Laban and his men left.
Jacob is now on his way to Edom, where his brother Esau is. Concerned about how Esau will respond, he decides once again to try to take care of things himself. He sends messengers ahead to apprise Esau of his situation so as to get a sense of how Esau feels.
When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him." – Gen. 32:6
Four hundred men! Jacob thinks he knows exactly how Esau feels – just as Esau should feel – angry and ready for revenge!
In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, "If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape."
Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,' I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, 'I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.' " – Gen. 32:7-12
To his credit, Jacob does pray, and to his credit, he remembers God’s promise to him. But he is still taking things into his own hands. He prepares lavish gifts of herds, each containing many, even hundreds, of animals, and sends then herd by herd as gifts to Esau.
For he thought, "I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me." So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.
That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. – Gen. 32:20-23
Now although the details of what happened next are somewhat uncertain, I believe we come to the climax point, the absolute crisis point, of Jacob’s life. Jacob is alone. Why? He chose to be alone. He is about to face his brother, whom he cheated and tricked. He believes his brother wants to kill him, and who wouldn’t? He was lucky to avoid a similar incident with Laban. It seems like wherever he has gone, he has left a trail of broken relationships – even his family life is a mess. Why in the world would God want to bless him? What kind of sense does that make?
So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." – Gen. 32:24-26
Jacob started by wrestling – true to his nature sense even coming out of the womb. The Hebrew word for wrestling is avak (aleph, vet, koof) which also means to pound, to make small, and dust. It is like our phrase “to grind into the dust.” The command form of the word is vak, which is a onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like what it means. Interestingly, the name of the river is Yabak, very close in sound to the same word.
Who was he wrestling? The passage goes on to say that it was God. I believe it was a manifestation of the pre-incarnate Christ – there are a number of such incidents in the Old Testament.
I believe something profound happened during the wrestling – Jacob went from fighting to clinging. Horribly in pain, all he could do was to hold on. To wrestle is to contend and fight to win; to cling is to know you cannot win but you need help. This became Jacob’s posture. I believe it wasn’t just an external result of his being “touched” in the hip, but a change in his heart.
The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. – Gen. 32:27-29
The word “struggled” is s’rah. His new name is Yisrael; El means God.
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. – Gen. 32:30-31
What about Esau? We come to my favorite part.
Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. – Gen. 33:1-4
This is a different Jacob – a repentant Jacob. Notice how he is not hiding behind gifts now, but he goes on ahead, repentant, respectful, without any tricks at all. He is finally living the promise he has been given by God, instead of trying to live out things his own way, getting along by his own clever efforts. He is now one who clings to God instead of wrestling with Him. His old name, “Heel grasper, Deceiver,” is no longer appropriate. His new name, Israel, means “You have contended with God.” It doesn’t look to Jacob’s past, but to the beginning of his new life where he clings to God.
What would you say to God if He asked you, “What is your name? Who are you really?” If you are honest with yourself, what name would you give yourself? One of these? Failure. Sinner. Liar. Thief. Unlovable. Plain. Untalented. Stupid. These may be what we were. But God has new names for us. God sees in us His new creation. The old is dead, gone, just a lingering shadow.
I believe that Jacob is a powerful picture of… us. Every one of us struggles with God. In various ways, we all work hard at making our lives good and successful apart from God. Why do we do this? I don’t think it is just ignorance, and I don’t think it is just because our past experiences of hurt and disappointment make us want to be independent. We, deep down, don’t really trust God. We would never come out say He isn’t good, or He isn’t wise, but we don’t like the way He seems to run the world. Christian psychologists might say that we have a problem with projection, that is, we tend to project negative attributes to God that are what we really are – things like untrustworthy, selfish, controlling, arbitrary, unforgiving.
Usually we don’t struggle with whether God exists or even whether He has a plan for our lives. It’s just that we are afraid of His plan. We think we won’t like it. Just like Jacob, we want to do things our way. We trust us.
Don’t! Instead, trust Him! We need to hear what Jesus really says to us. Listen to what Peter says about Jesus:
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. – 2 Peter 1:3-4
Do you have any promises of God you cling to? I would encourage you to find promises of God in the Bible and cling to them. Here are a few I have thought about recently:
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. – John 14:27
Spend some time really reflecting on this verse, clinging to it. It’s not our own peace. It’s Jesus’ peace. What kind of peace is that? The peace that sleeps during a violent storm on a lake. The peace that remains calm in the midst of a rigged trial led by evil men. The peace that enables you to think of others while you are in unimaginable pain up on the cross. Do you really believe that Jesus has left this kind of peace with you? That it is there for us at any time?
And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. – Matt. 28:20
What does it mean He is with us? He is with us even when we sin. He is with us even when we completely forget about Him. He is with us even when we try to run away from Him. He is with us even in a severe economic downturn. He is with us even in a pandemic. He is with us even in World War III. He is with us even in the end times. He is with us even if we are dying. He is with us even if we are dead.
Great and precious promises! Let us not be like Jacob, who ignores them, but like Israel, who lives by them.
This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. – Gen. 25:19-21
You probably remember the fascinating story of how it came to be that Isaac married Rebekah – how Abraham’s servant went forth to a distant place to find Isaac a non-Canaanite wife, and how that servant prayed that God would show him who to pick by how she treated him with regards to allowing him to drink from a spring and having his animals watered as well. A woman did this for him, and her name was Rebekah, and she became Isaac’s wife. Abraham has now passed away, but no doubt he has passed on to Isaac the promise he received from the Lord regarding his offspring being the foundation of countless descendants. Isaac, growing up hearing the amazing accounts of God’s faithfulness to Abraham and Sarah regarding his own birth, now is the one praying for his line to continue so that the promise can be fulfilled. And now it is about to come true – as Rebekah is with child.
When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. – Gen. 25:24-26
Esau’s name means “hairy,” and Jacob’s name means “he grasps the heel,” which is an idiom for “he deceives.” It may seem strange to give your children such odd names, but this was the convention at that time, and it is still done in some areas in the world today.
God uses the birth as a foreshadowing of key events in Jacob’s life, as well as a foreshadowing into the nature of Jacob’s personality. What he wants, he will take and grasp. As we will see, he is not shy about doing what it takes to get what he wants.
The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. – Gen. 25:27-28
Don’t you love how the Bible doesn’t sugar-coat things? Let’s be clear: this is a dysfunctional family. Parents are not supposed to show favorites to one child over another. Both Isaac and Rebekah are guilty of this – the “miracle boy” Isaac (recall the age of Abraham and Sarah and the nearly lifelong delayed fulfillment of the promise to have a child, the prediction by the angel, and so much more) and the “miracle wife” Rebekah! I point this out to show that these two, despite all that God is orchestrating in their lives, are still broken vessels. They have “baggage.” They aren’t ideal parents – far from it.
Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom.) Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."
"Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?" But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. – Gen. 25:29-34
Clearly both Jacob and Esau are doing some dubious things here, but it is interesting to me that in the Bible, the harsh criticism is leveled at Esau.
See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. – Hebrews 12:16-17
If you think about it, though, you can see the seriousness of Esau’s choice. As it says, he despised his birthright, the right not only to material blessings that come of being the first-born, but of the incredible promise to be the father of many nations. He didn’t care – a good meal was deemed as more valuable to him. His was the ultimate example of choosing instant gratification over future fulfillment. Can we live like this? You bet! We are faced with decisions like this all the time – when a father chooses a higher-paying job even though it means he will hardly have any time for his family, it is a similar decision. When someone chooses to cheat on a test, it is a similar decision – between doing what it takes to become a man or woman of character and an immediate good grade (assuming you don’t get caught). When someone chooses substance abuse over dealing with the emotional pain that makes him want to escape, that too is a similar decision. When a single person chooses pornography over purity while waiting for a mate, it is a similar decision. It is harsh – but true – to say that when we make the wrong decisions in these areas, we are despising not our birthright, but our Savior who died so that we could have an eternal future that blows away any birthright. The word Hebrews uses is godless; to make decisions in this way is to live “godlessly”.
What did Esau get as a result of his choice? Some soup! Hopefully, it was really good soup. What did he lose? I think he could have been Jacob – instead of the Bible saying over and over, “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” it might have said, “Abraham, Isaac, and Esau.” Esau could be Israel.
What do we get as the result of our choices? Do we understand that although we live under grace, that we are saved – that we receive salvation by our choice to trust in Christ, there are still tremendous consequences of our bad choices? Esau lost out on a chance to be a central part of God’s work, His plan. We too can lose out in how much God does – or doesn’t do – through us. Although these things do not affect our eternal salvation, they do affect our eternity! The bad choices we make are no less foolish than Esau’s decision to get a bowl of soup.
But what about Jacob? Yes, he gained his birthright, but what did he lose? He lost his relationship with his twin brother. He has no doubt deeply disappointed his father. He has turned his family relationships from somewhat dysfunctional into a full-fledged train wreck. And he must know inside that this was not God’s way – God’s ways are higher, without conniving, without trickery. Of the Bible characters we have looked at so far in this series, the one that Jacob most reminds me of is the serpent. Jacob is the tempter here.
In Genesis 27, we come to the account in which Isaac is on his deathbed and asks for Esau to bring him game and prepare it the way he likes, and then he will give Esau his blessing. Rebekah overheard this, and told Jacob to get goats from the flock (not wild game) and she will prepare it for him so that he can pretend to be Esau. She also covers his hands and neck with the goatskins so his skin will appear rough like Esau’s. The resulting account is given in graphic detail:
He [Jacob] went to his father and said, "My father." "Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?" Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing."
Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" "The Lord your God gave me success," he replied. Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."
Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked. "I am," he replied. – Gen. 27:18-24
So how many times did Jacob lie to his father? Three. In my opinion, this is worse than Peter’s three denials of the Lord right before the crucifixion. His dysfunctional mother is certainly no saint, but such a deception on his own father! Isaac went on to give Jacob the blessing that included the statement that he would be lord over his brothers. A little later, Esau came back with prepared game himself, ready to receive his father’s blessing, but Isaac explained that it was too late.
When Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me—me too, my father!" But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing." Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing!" – Gen. 27:34-36
And so the dysfunctional family became even more dysfunctional. Family relationships were now even more shredded. Some of the fault for this has to go back to both of Jacob’s parents, but Jacob had made things even worse. In both of these acts, Jacob took his future into his own hands, and he most surely lived by the phrase “the ends justify the means.” Again, this is not God’s paradigm.
Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob." – Gen. 27:41
Rebekah learned what Esau had said, and told Jacob to flee to her brother Laban in Haran, staying with him until Esau cools down. She then convinced Isaac to actually send Jacob to Laban on the premise that he would find a good wife there.
On his way to Haran, Jacob stops for the night and dreams about a stairway from earth to heaven with angels going up and down.
There above it stood the Lord, and He said: "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." – Gen. 28:13-15
This is an incredible message of assurance; God says that He will take care of Jacob – he doesn’t need to take his future into his own hands any longer. Isn’t this what you get from this message? God is going to do great things through Jacob, and it is God that is going to do it. But look at Jacob’s response:
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."
Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that You give me I will give You a tenth." – Gen. 28:16-22
I don’t want to be overly critical of this response, but it seems to me like Jacob doesn’t fully get it. First, he ascribes special power to the place. Then he makes this conditional vow to God, saying, if You do all this stuff for me, I’ll do some stuff for You. This is OK, except that we are talking about Yahweh, the Creator of the universe here. He’s not just some local prince that you can make a political deal with. If Jacob really knew who God was, his vow would not be conditional.
But what bothers me most about Jacob’s response is that God’s promise to Jacob was unconditional! All peoples of the earth will be blessed through Jacob! God will be with him and watch over him wherever he will go! This doesn’t merit deal making. It merits worship! It’s almost as if Jacob doesn’t want to acknowledge what has happened here because if he does, he will no longer be the boss of his life, doing things his way. It’s almost like someone who, presented with the truth of the gospel, doesn’t accept the offer of eternal life but instead says that if God helps him to be successful in this life, then he will go to church and give God 10%. As if God needs his 10% or cares whether he, as a non-Christian, goes to church! Jesus has died for this person! God desires a real relationship with the person, one in which the man sees both God and himself as they truly are – the glorious Creator of all, and a wretched worm in desperate need of forgiveness.
Jacob then makes it to Haran, falls in love with Rachel, and finally meets his match in shrewdness when it comes to Laban. He agrees to work for 7 years for Laban in exchange for being able to marry her at the end of this period. But he gets a dose of his own medicine when Laban gives her his daughter Leah instead of Rachel. Tricked, Jacob works 7 more years and finally marries Rachel.
Rachel and Leah don’t get along. Leah has four sons, and Rachel has none. Jealous, Rachel gives Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and she has two sons. Now Leah is jealous, and gives Jacob her servant Zilpah, and she has two sons. Then Leah herself has two sons and a daughter. Then Rachel finally has a child, Joseph, which is a story for another week.
Jacob, now with a large but not very happy family, informs Laban that he wants to leave. Laban wants him to stay, because “through divination” he has learned that God is blessing him through Jacob. He offers to pay Jacob wages, but Jacob instead asks to split the animals with Laban based on their markings. Laban agrees.
In the coming years, Jacob prospered exceedingly, although both he and Laban seemed bent on out-scheming each other to get the best flocks. At some point, Laban became jealous of Jacob’s prosperity. At this point, it has been a full 20 years they have been bent on out-tricking each other! Jacob has prospered, but he has burnt bridges at home with his twin brother, made no friend of the man he has been with for 20 years, and created a large family whose wives all seem to dislike each other.
I have known some people whose lives seem to be a never-ending series of crises, mostly caused by the things these people have done. This to me seems like an apt description of Jacob.
Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father." And Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude toward him was not what it had been. Then the Lord said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you." – Gen. 31:1-3
Jacob discusses this with his wives, and they agree to leave. He did not tell Laban when he left, once again living up to his name of deceiver. In addition, Rachel stole Laban’s household gods when they left. Laban and his men pursued Jacob and caught up to him. Jacob denied stealing the gods and said he would kill anyone found with them. Rachel hid them while Laban searched. Then they made a covenant between them and Laban and his men left.
Jacob is now on his way to Edom, where his brother Esau is. Concerned about how Esau will respond, he decides once again to try to take care of things himself. He sends messengers ahead to apprise Esau of his situation so as to get a sense of how Esau feels.
When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him." – Gen. 32:6
Four hundred men! Jacob thinks he knows exactly how Esau feels – just as Esau should feel – angry and ready for revenge!
In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, "If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape."
Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,' I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.
Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, 'I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.' " – Gen. 32:7-12
To his credit, Jacob does pray, and to his credit, he remembers God’s promise to him. But he is still taking things into his own hands. He prepares lavish gifts of herds, each containing many, even hundreds, of animals, and sends then herd by herd as gifts to Esau.
For he thought, "I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me." So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.
That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. – Gen. 32:20-23
Now although the details of what happened next are somewhat uncertain, I believe we come to the climax point, the absolute crisis point, of Jacob’s life. Jacob is alone. Why? He chose to be alone. He is about to face his brother, whom he cheated and tricked. He believes his brother wants to kill him, and who wouldn’t? He was lucky to avoid a similar incident with Laban. It seems like wherever he has gone, he has left a trail of broken relationships – even his family life is a mess. Why in the world would God want to bless him? What kind of sense does that make?
So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." – Gen. 32:24-26
Jacob started by wrestling – true to his nature sense even coming out of the womb. The Hebrew word for wrestling is avak (aleph, vet, koof) which also means to pound, to make small, and dust. It is like our phrase “to grind into the dust.” The command form of the word is vak, which is a onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like what it means. Interestingly, the name of the river is Yabak, very close in sound to the same word.
Who was he wrestling? The passage goes on to say that it was God. I believe it was a manifestation of the pre-incarnate Christ – there are a number of such incidents in the Old Testament.
I believe something profound happened during the wrestling – Jacob went from fighting to clinging. Horribly in pain, all he could do was to hold on. To wrestle is to contend and fight to win; to cling is to know you cannot win but you need help. This became Jacob’s posture. I believe it wasn’t just an external result of his being “touched” in the hip, but a change in his heart.
The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. – Gen. 32:27-29
The word “struggled” is s’rah. His new name is Yisrael; El means God.
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. – Gen. 32:30-31
What about Esau? We come to my favorite part.
Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. – Gen. 33:1-4
This is a different Jacob – a repentant Jacob. Notice how he is not hiding behind gifts now, but he goes on ahead, repentant, respectful, without any tricks at all. He is finally living the promise he has been given by God, instead of trying to live out things his own way, getting along by his own clever efforts. He is now one who clings to God instead of wrestling with Him. His old name, “Heel grasper, Deceiver,” is no longer appropriate. His new name, Israel, means “You have contended with God.” It doesn’t look to Jacob’s past, but to the beginning of his new life where he clings to God.
What would you say to God if He asked you, “What is your name? Who are you really?” If you are honest with yourself, what name would you give yourself? One of these? Failure. Sinner. Liar. Thief. Unlovable. Plain. Untalented. Stupid. These may be what we were. But God has new names for us. God sees in us His new creation. The old is dead, gone, just a lingering shadow.
I believe that Jacob is a powerful picture of… us. Every one of us struggles with God. In various ways, we all work hard at making our lives good and successful apart from God. Why do we do this? I don’t think it is just ignorance, and I don’t think it is just because our past experiences of hurt and disappointment make us want to be independent. We, deep down, don’t really trust God. We would never come out say He isn’t good, or He isn’t wise, but we don’t like the way He seems to run the world. Christian psychologists might say that we have a problem with projection, that is, we tend to project negative attributes to God that are what we really are – things like untrustworthy, selfish, controlling, arbitrary, unforgiving.
Usually we don’t struggle with whether God exists or even whether He has a plan for our lives. It’s just that we are afraid of His plan. We think we won’t like it. Just like Jacob, we want to do things our way. We trust us.
Don’t! Instead, trust Him! We need to hear what Jesus really says to us. Listen to what Peter says about Jesus:
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. – 2 Peter 1:3-4
Do you have any promises of God you cling to? I would encourage you to find promises of God in the Bible and cling to them. Here are a few I have thought about recently:
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. – John 14:27
Spend some time really reflecting on this verse, clinging to it. It’s not our own peace. It’s Jesus’ peace. What kind of peace is that? The peace that sleeps during a violent storm on a lake. The peace that remains calm in the midst of a rigged trial led by evil men. The peace that enables you to think of others while you are in unimaginable pain up on the cross. Do you really believe that Jesus has left this kind of peace with you? That it is there for us at any time?
And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. – Matt. 28:20
What does it mean He is with us? He is with us even when we sin. He is with us even when we completely forget about Him. He is with us even when we try to run away from Him. He is with us even in a severe economic downturn. He is with us even in a pandemic. He is with us even in World War III. He is with us even in the end times. He is with us even if we are dying. He is with us even if we are dead.
Great and precious promises! Let us not be like Jacob, who ignores them, but like Israel, who lives by them.
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