Genesis 27 through 33, very interesting story....
God wants to bless us no matter who we are... we don't have to lie about where we came from or be ashamed of who we are.....
God wants to bless us no matter who we are... we don't have to lie about where we came from or be ashamed of who we are.....
Jacob was a young man when his mother told him to lie to his father about who he was (his father was blind). He even questioned her about it. He was scared he would get into trouble and be cursed instead of blessed. But, in the end, he did what his mother asked of him and went into his blind dad's room and lied to him about who he was and received the blessing of the first born son. Even though he and Esau were twins, Esau had come out of the womb first and the blessing was due him. Their father, Isaac was on his death bed and ready to dole out the final blessing to the first born son.
He did question Jacob about who he was, he seemed unsure because he was blind. He used his sense of smell, touch and hearing to identify. He kept saying, "you sound like Jacob" and Jacob would say "no, it's me Esau". In the end, his dad believed him because Jacob was wearing Esau's clothes which smelled like Esau and he also disguised his hands with some goat hair. Evidently Esau was a hairy guy and Jacob was not.
It is interesting to me what happened afterwards.
Jacob's twin brother, Esau became so angry that when he found out that his blessing has been stolen, (basically his entire future) that he threatened to kill him after the mourning period for their father was over. His mother got wind of it and sent her youngest and favorite son off to safety. She sure did love that boy! He ended up at his mother's brother's house and worked for seven years to get the woman of his dreams, Rachel. But on the wedding night, a switch takes place by the girl's father, his uncle Laban. He gives his oldest daughter, Leah to him instead and Jacob doesn't find out about it until the next morning when he wakes up.
Isn't it interesting that Jacob lied about being the oldest and then he got lied to about the girl he was supposed to marry and received the oldest instead of the youngest? It is very interesting to me that this is his mother's brother who does this to him. His mother grew up in the same household. They must have all learned to lie and cheat at a very early age because his mother certainly didn't have a problem with it and neither did her brother, Laban. It was commonplace in their family to lie and cheat.
His new father-in-law strikes another deal with Jacob and he only had to get through what they called the "bridal week" for his beloved Rachel to become his wife, but he had to agree to work seven more years for her which he didn't mind doing. Remember he is still on the run from his brother who wants to murder him--so he might as well stick around.
Twenty years go by and eleven sons later and Jacob decides it's time to head back home.
Laban's attitude toward him has changed. Laban is accusing Jacob behind his back of cheating him (is that all Laban thinks about?) and Jacob has heard the gossip and is sick of it. Jacob has pretty much learned his lesson about lying and cheating because he has experienced it every day with Laban. He had to learn how to outsmart his father-in-law but he does it honestly.
The bible tells us that God tells Jacob to "return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your relatives there, and I will be with you.”
So he leaves with everything he has earned, his two wives and all their children etc. When Rachel and Leah's father, Laban finds out they have left, he comes running after them accusing Jacob of "stealing" his household gods from him. Jacob is so insulted that they have this huge exchange of words. “I rushed away because I was afraid,” Jacob answered. “I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. But as for your gods, see if you can find them, and let the person who has taken them die! And if you find anything else that belongs to you, identify it before all these relatives of ours, and I will give it back!” But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the household gods. He puts a curse on her without knowing it. Laban searches everywhere but never finds them because Rachel is sitting on them and claims she is on her period and can't get up.
It's all a bunch of lying and cheating and stealing which is very commonplace in this family.
After Jacob and Laban reach an understanding and make peace and kiss goodbye, Jacob continues on to his childhood home.
He is still scared of his brother, Esau, so he sends a messenger ahead to let him know he's coming and he sends word to him of how successful he has become. Uh, yeah, successful because he stole the birthright!
He then hears his brother is on his way to meet him with this huge caravan of 400 people. It freaks him out he prays to God. “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.’”
He sends a ton of gifts ahead of him in shifts of three and tells his servants to tell Esau that they are coming from "his servant", Jacob. He makes sure to convey to Esau that Esau is the master. And he keeps Rachel and Joseph, their son, close to him....his most precious possessions.
That night before he meets up with his brother Esau, he goes off to be alone and he has this encounter with a man who he realizes is God. They wrestle all night and Jacob is winning, but it's almost dawn and when he realizes that this is God, he asks for a blessing. He wants it for real, he wants it honestly.
The thing that I find so interesting is that this angelic being who is wrestling with him asks him his name! That's the thing that got him into trouble in the first place--lying about his name. He has come full circle, he's on his way back home after twenty years, he's getting ready to meet up with his brother whom he tricked. He has now experienced what it feels like to be cheated big time, he comes face to face with God and He simply asks him "what's your name?", that's it, "what's your name?" I think he does it so Jacob can have complete closure about that whole mess. Jacob answers truthfully and then he asks this angelic being who he has been wrestling with all night (who is God), "what's your name?" God says "why do you want to know my name?" It's actually a weird dialogue taking place between them. God basically kind of conveys to him "this is about you, not me and then, God changes Jacob's name to Israel.
Jacob leaves that place a changed man with a changed name. He comes back to the camp that morning and meets up with his brother Esau who is pretty cool and extremely happy to see him. They cry and embrace each other, introduce their wives and children to each other. Evidently he has worked through his "issues". Then they go their separate ways. They don't hang out together. They just kind of say "hey, everything's okay. We have our families now-- let's move on."
Then, just before he arrives home, he loses the thing most precious to him, Rachel. She gives birth to his last son, Benjamin and dies in the process. This is huge because he was crazy about her and she was about him. They had this thing. You see this in scripture when they first meet at the beginning of their relationship how much he loved her and later how much he values the two sons she bore him -- more than the others. The sad part about this is that she died because of lying and stealing...remember the idols and the curse Jacob put on the person who had stolen them.
Jacob gets "home" and Israel is complete. He has twelve sons who become the twelve tribes of Israel.
I just wonder what the outcome would have been if Jacob had lied again about what his name was! He was paid back for what he did in the worst kind of way, through getting the wrong wife....and so much more. It created a domino effect. Do you think his brother Esau heard the story about what happened with the two wives before he met up with Jacob again? I do. I actually think he got a little feeling of euphoria from it.
But once Jacob broke the curse of lying during his encounter with God and basically begging God to bless him for simply who he was, God blessed him and changed him into someone far greater, Israel. And he becomes this patriarch of the Jewish nation.
Jacob becomes Israel and the legacy continues.
KL
