Genesis 34:1-12

¹ Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. ²When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. ³ He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her.⁴ So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this young girl for a wife." ⁵ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came in. ⁶ Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷ Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

⁸ But Hamor spoke with them, saying, "The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage. ⁹ "Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ "Thus you shall live with us, and the land shall be open before you; live and trade in it and acquire property in it." ¹¹Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, "If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me. ¹² "Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the girl in marriage."

Let there be no question about it here. Shechem was not in love with Dinah. He wanted her body, and that was it. He forcefully takes her virginity, and then has the nerve to go and ask for her as his wife. Even had the sons of Jacob really consented, the relationship never had a chance. It can't be built on impulses, and physical attraction alone. There must be something deeper, which could possibly maybe develop later, but it's unlikely Dinah could have ever really loved Shechem after this incident. To him, she was just a piece of property to give him pleasure, and Jacob and his sons knew it.

Genesis 33:12-20

¹² Then Esau said, "Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you." ¹³ But he said to him, "My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are a care to me. And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ "Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Seir."

¹⁵ Esau said, "Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me." But he said, "¹What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord." ¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷ Jacob journeyed to ²Succoth, and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.

¹⁸ Now Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and camped before the city. ¹⁹ He bought the piece of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for one hundred pieces of money. ²⁰ Then he erected there an altar and called it ³El-Elohe-Israel.

It is likely here that Jacob was remembering the blessing of his father at this point. He knew that Esau was to be subject to him, and that if they were together in one place that things could become very unsettled between Esau and himself. Besides that, he didn't want to push his children and livestock too hard, so it became a convenient excuse to avoid the conflict that would result from his stolen blessing.

Genesis 33:1-11

¹ Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. ² He put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. ³ But he himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴ Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵ He lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, "Who are these with you?" So he said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant." ⁶ Then the maids came near with their children, and they bowed down. ⁷ Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down. ⁸ And he said, "What do you mean by all this company which I have met?" And he said, "To find favor in the sight of my lord." ⁹ But Esau said, "I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own." ¹⁰ Jacob said, "No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably. ¹¹ "Please take my gift which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty." Thus he urged him and he took it.

After lining up the women and children, he then went out in front of them to meet Esau, so that they would not be harmed if he could help it. He knew the value of family, and even though he didn't expect a warm welcome from Esau, I'm sure he hoped that Esau knew the value of family as well. Esau's reception of Jacob shows that even after all sorts of wrongs, time can heal wounds, and family should not be separated, or allow those wrongs to keep them apart.

Genesis 32:24-32

²⁴ Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵ When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." ²⁷ So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." ²⁸ He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but ³Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed." ²⁹Then Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there. ³⁰ So Jacob named the place ⁴Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." ³¹ Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. ³² Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip.

Jacob was persistent. That, and he knew the value of a blessing, especially one from an angel of God. He would not give up this fight until he received something from the angel. He doesn't get quite what he expects, but he gets something valuable. A new name. Jacob meant 'heal-grabber' and that fit Jacob his whole life. But God had other plans for him, to be a mighty man, one who could even strive with God. So he named him Israel, and the nation was born. The Bible says that the prayers of a righteous man 'avail much', but the prayers of the persistent will never go unheard.

Genesis 32:13-23



¹³ So he spent the night there. Then he selected from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau: ¹⁴two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ He delivered theminto the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass on before me, and put a space between droves." ¹⁷ He commanded the one in front, saying, "When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, `To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?' <sup>18</sup> then you shall say, `These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.'" ¹⁹ Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the droves, saying, "After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him; ²⁰ and you shall say, `Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.'" For he said, "I will appease him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me." ²¹ So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

²² Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.

The two brothers are getting closer yet, and Jacob comes up with a plan. He takes from his flocks some of everything, and sends it on ahead as a present, hoping he can bribe his brother. After all that, he sends his family and the rest of his belongings across the stream, and stays behind for the night. He is really struggling with fear here. He's already forgotten the promise of God that he himself had just claimed. He should know from his father and grandfather, that he can trust God to take care of him. Instead he tries to take matters into his own hands, and if it works (which he isn't confident about), it will be a costly solution to the problem. God's solutions may cost us something, but not as much as if we try to do things on our own. Trust God. Make that your plan.

Genesis 32:1-12

¹ Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him. ² Jacob said when he saw them, "This is God's¹camp." So he named that place ²Mahanaim.

³ Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴ He also commanded them saying, "Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: `Thus says your servant Jacob, "I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; ⁵ I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight."'"

⁶ The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him." ⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies; ⁸ for he said, "If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape."

⁹ Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, `Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you,' <sup>10</sup> I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. <sup>11</sup> "Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. <sup>12</sup> "For You said, `I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.'"

Jacob is a little freaked out here. He knew God would protect him from Laban, since Laban had done nothing but cheat him for twenty years. But when it came to Esau, Jacob was the one who had done the cheating, and he wasn't quite sure that God would protect him from Esau's revenge. Jacob forgot a couple things, and even though he is talking to God in the later verses, he's actually reminding himself of what God promised: to prosper him, and protect him. God needs no reminders, but it never hurts to remind ourselves of what God has promised, so that we can place all our trust in Him.

Genesis 31:43-55

⁴³ Then Laban replied to Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ "So now come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me." ⁴⁵ Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather stones." So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Now Laban called it²Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it ³Galeed. ⁴⁸ Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me this day." Therefore it was named Galeed, ⁴⁹ and ⁴Mizpah, for he said, "May the LORD watch between you and me when we are absent one from the other. ⁵⁰ "If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, God is witness between you and me." ⁵¹ Laban said to Jacob, "Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between you and me. ⁵² "This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. ⁵³ "The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his kinsmen to the meal; and they ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain. ⁵⁵ Early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

The arrogance of Laban is amazing here. After all that we saw yesterday, Laban still lays a claim to everything around them, but he knows he cannot take any of it, because of what God had told him. Then, after Jacob sets up a pillar, and has his kinsmen set up a heap of stones (verses 45-46), then Laban (in verse 51) even takes credit for that too. He can't break himself of the pattern. Anything Jacob has done, he takes credit for, and anything which Jacob has laid claim to, Laban calls his own. In this, God kept Jacob, and Jacob held his own, and did not break the covenant that they were in the middle of making. God gave Jacob the strength to see that it wasn't worth fighting for, but that God would fight his battles for him. He will fight our battles too, if we only let Him.

Genesis 31:33-42

³³ So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's tent. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel's saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not findthem. ³⁵ She said to her father, "Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me." So he searched but did not find the household idols.

³⁶ Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, "What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? ³⁷ "Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. ³⁸ "These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. ³⁹ "That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ "Thus I was: by day the heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ "These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times. ⁴² "If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He rendered judgment last night."

Here we see a bit more of the conflict that existed between Jacob and Laban, and why Jacob was in so much haste to leave as he did. He worked for twenty years, and after all that time, Laban still treated Jacob as a stranger. He constantly changed Jacob's wages, and never trusted him in the case of losses, or theft. Any of those, Jacob had to bear from his own flocks. In all of that, Jacob did prosper, but not because of Laban, but because the Lord was with him. We see the results of his trust in God, and we'll see the end result of this confrontation in the next day or so.

Genesis 31:22-32

²² When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, ²³ then he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days' journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night and said to him, "Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad."

²⁵ Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷ "Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with timbrel and with lyre; ²⁸ and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. ²⁹ "It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, `Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.'³⁰ "Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house; but why did you steal my gods?" ³¹ Then Jacob replied to Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. ³² "The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our kinsmen point out what is yours among my belongings and take it for yourself." For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

It is interesting that God doesn't just tell Laban not to harm Jacob, or not to say anything bad. God also requires of him that he say nothing good either, so Laban is walking a fine line here. God knew very well that Laban would have tried to bribe Jacob to stay, and may have even forced Jacob to stay had he just asked to leave. Jacob had already tried to leave once, and been convinced to stay for the reward of flocks, which is just what had caused the most recent contention between them. So God wanted to protect Jacob from harm, and also from the temptation of returning for more pay and thus abandoning the will of God. So also does God protect us, not just from harm, but from temptations that we cannot handle.

Genesis 31:14-21

¹⁴ Rachel and Leah said to him, "Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father's house? ¹⁵ "Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also entirely consumed our purchase price. ¹⁶ "Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you."

¹⁷ Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels; ¹⁸ and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had gathered, his acquired livestock which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father's. ²⁰ And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. ²¹ So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the Euphrates River, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

The contempt of Laban was so heavy towards Jacob, that even his wives felt it. They felt like they were foreigners, while they were actually family. So instead of telling Laban they were leaving, they fled while he was shearing his sheep. It probably was not the wisest way to leave Laban, even though he was doing what God had asked. What really would come back to haunt him, was that Rachel had stolen her father's household idols. It seems she still wanted a little bit of her old religion to fall back on. Her lack of trust in God would become a thorn in her husband's side.

Genesis 31:1-13

¹ Now Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth." ² Jacob saw the ¹attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. ³ Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you." ⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, ⁵ and said to them, "I see your father's attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶ "You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷ "Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me. ⁸ "If he spoke thus, `The speckled shall be your wages,' then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, `The striped shall be your wages,' then all the flock brought forth striped. ⁹ "Thus God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰ "And it came about at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. ¹¹ "Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, `Jacob,' and I said, `Here I am.' ¹² "He said, `Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. <sup>13</sup> `I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"

Naturally, Laban isn't happy about what's going on. He's tried to gain the edge over Jacob several times, and God always turns it against him. Not only that, but Laban's sons are also complaining about it at this point. So God calls upon Jacob to return to his homeland, and fulfill his vow. Sometimes, when conflict comes, it's just time to move on. Don't worry God will take care of you in the process, and it may not be the most fun process, but when you're following God, you can't go wrong.

Genesis 30:37-43

³⁷ Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. ³⁸ He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. ³⁹ So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰ Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he put his own herds apart, and did not put them with Laban's flock. ⁴¹ Moreover, whenever the stronger of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods;⁴² but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. ⁴³So the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.

Somewhere along the line, Jacob had learned this clever trick. Not only was his flock growing larger, it was also growing stronger. Of course, Jacob had been watching Laban's sheep for at least fourteen years already, whereas Laban had sat in his house and grown rich off of Jacob's toil. Even when you're the boss, it pays to get dirty every once in a while, to make sure you know what's going on. Laban gave Jacob charge of the flocks, and didn't give it a second thought. He paid the price for his carelessness and Jacob reaped all the rewards.

Genesis 30:25-36

²⁵ Now it came about when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country. ²⁶ "Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you." ²⁷ But Laban said to him, "If now ¹it pleases you, stay with me; I have divined that the LORD has blessed me on your account." ²⁸ He continued, "Name me your wages, and I will give it." ²⁹ But he said to him, "You yourself know how I have served you and how your cattle have fared with me. ³⁰ "For you had little before I came and it has increased to a multitude, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?" ³¹ So he said, "What shall I give you?" And Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock: ³² let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. ³³ "So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen." ³⁴ Laban said, "Good, let it be according to your word." ³⁵ So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons. ³⁶ And he put a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

Even as God blessed Laban because of Jacob, God also wanted to use Laban to bless Jacob. God was not willing to send Jacob's family away empty handed, and so he used Laban to reward Jacob's labor. Jacob had his faults, but he was hard worker, and God rewarded that, and Laban knew it without a doubt. When you think no one notices your work, God does, and He will reward you for it.

Genesis 30:14-24

¹⁴ Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." ¹⁵ But she said to her, "Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son's mandrakes also?" So Rachel said, "Therefore he may lie with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes." ¹⁶ When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, then Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." So he lay with her that night. ¹⁷ God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸ Then Leah said, "God has given me my wages because I gave my maid to my husband." So she named him Issachar. ¹⁹ Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰ Then Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good gift; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons." So she named him Zebulun. ²¹ Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.

²² Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb. ²³ So she conceived and bore a son and said, "God has taken away my reproach." ²⁴ She named him Joseph, saying, "May the LORD give me another son."

By this time, Rachel was desperate to bear children for Jacob. Leah's son finds mandrakes in the field, and Rachel sees her chance. Mandrakes were believed to help a woman conceive in those days. Leah naturally objects, as she has been barren for a while also, so Rachel makes a deal. The result is that Leah bears three more children, and Rachel none. It is believed that verse 22 comes much later, and it is only when God intervenes that Rachel finally bears a son, Joseph. God's timing was perfect, and He knew events that were to come, and Joseph would be a key player in those events. Don't get weary in waiting on God, He will come through when the timing is right.

Genesis 30:1-13

¹ Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I die." ² Then Jacob's anger burned against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?" ³ She said, "Here is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may bear on my knees, that through her I too may have children." ⁴ So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. ⁵ Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. ⁶ Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son." Therefore she named him Dan. ⁷Rachel's maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸ So Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed." And she named him Naphtali.

⁹ When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹ Then Leah said, "How fortunate!" So she named him Gad. ¹² Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. ¹³ Then Leah said, "Happy am I! For women will call me happy." So she named him Asher.

For three generations, the chosen of God have had barren wives. All of them try to make things happen themselves, instead of asking God for help. In this case, Jacob also has a wife who is not barren, and his two wives are sisters. It must have been a complicated mess for Jacob to wade through every day. His favorite wife was barren, the wife that had been forced upon him had born him four sons, and then both gave him their maidservants to bear children as well. What a load of contention they caused in the process. If we trust God, instead of trying to force things to work out for us, things will indeed work out much better in the end.

Genesis 29:31-35

³¹ Now the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. ³² Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, "Because the LORD has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me." ³³ Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, "Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also." So she named him Simeon. ³⁴ She conceived again and bore a son and said, "Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore he was named Levi. ³⁵ And she conceived again and bore a son and said, "This time I will praise the LORD." Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

Jacob was not very kind to Leah, and Laban's treachery likely did not help. God took pity on Leah, and gave her four sons to comfort her. If she couldn't have the love of her husband, she could at least have the love of her children. And that love is a beautiful thing.

Genesis 29:21-30

²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my time is completed, that I may go in to her." ²² Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast. ²³ Now in the evening he took his daughter Leah, and brought her to him; and Jacob went in to her. ²⁴ Laban also gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid. ²⁵ So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?" ²⁶ But Laban said, "It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the firstborn. ²⁷ "Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me for another seven years." ²⁸ Jacob did so and completed her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. ²⁹ Laban also gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid. ³⁰ So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.

Deception apparently ran in the family. This is the beginning of a strained relationship between Jacob and Laban. Had Laban told Jacob the traditions, he would have gladly married both sisters, because of his love for Rachel. But Laban didn't care about tradition. He wanted to keep Jacob around, because he was a good worker. So he tricked Jacob, and he'll reap the rewards for that later. Deception never pays off. Ever.

Genesis 29:9-20

⁹ While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. ¹⁰When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. ¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted his voice and wept. ¹² Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and that he was Rebekah's son, and she ran and told her father.

¹³ So when Laban heard the news of Jacob his sister's son, he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he related to Laban all these things. ¹⁴ Laban said to him, "Surely you are my bone and my flesh." And he stayed with him a month.

¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?" ¹⁶ Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷ And Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful of form and face. ¹⁸ Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel." ¹⁹ Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me." ²⁰ So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.

Here, Jacob shows a little bit of his 'quality' in that he is willing to wait seven years for Rachel. He could have very easily sent word to his parents, and given Laban a dowry and been married right away. Two-thirds of all his father had belonged to Jacob, with the right of the firstborn that he had gotten from Esau. He could have then worked and gained even more material benefit from his labor. However, he valued Rachel so much, that he did not want to give a dowry that had cost him nothing. He wanted to give something that wasn't just of value materially, but of value personally.

Genesis 29:1-8

¹ Then Jacob ¹went on his journey, and came to the land of the sons of the east. ² He looked, and saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for from that well they watered the flocks. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large. ³ When all the flocks were gathered there, they would then roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the mouth of the well.

⁴ Jacob said to them, "My brothers, where are you from?" And they said, "We are from Haran." ⁵ He said to them, "Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?" And they said, "We know him." ⁶ And he said to them, "Is it well with him?" And they said, "It is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep." ⁷ He said, "Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the sheep, and go, pasture them." ⁸ But they said, "We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep."

The men (and women) of Haran believed very much in doing things on time. They would not lift the stone from the well until all the flocks had been gathered. Then, and only then, was the well accessible, to prevent misuse. Likewise, God is very much about timing. It was no accident that Rachel was coming with the sheep at that moment. God's timing is always perfect, He never gets it wrong.

Genesis 28:18-22

¹⁸ So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place ¹Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz. ²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, ²¹ and I return to my father's house in safety, then the LORD will be my God. ²² "This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God's house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You."

When Jacob had lain down the night before, the nearby city had been called Luz. After his encounter with God, Jacob renames it Bethel (the house of God). The stone which had been his pillow now becomes a pillar of remembrance. To remember his dream, and the promise of God, and the vow which he made afterwards. It's amazing how your perspective can change after being in the presence of God. Never doubt what He can use for his glory.

Genesis 28:10-17

¹⁰ Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place. ¹² He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. ¹⁴ "Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ¹⁵ "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." ¹⁶Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

I'm sure I am not the only one that always thought it odd that Jacob used a stone for a pillow. Jacob must have left in a terrible hurry, and must have been in dire straights to be using a stone for a pillow. He was likely not even used to staying outside, having been a bit of a "momma's boy" while at home. It seems Jacob had hit bottom here, and probably felt quite alone. And it was here that God met him, in a place without a name, where the only pillow was a stone. It was here, when it seemed he couldn't go any lower, that God found Jacob, and showed him a ladder to heaven. Not unlike where He meets us. God meets us in the valley, and takes us to the mountaintop.

Genesis 28:1-9

¹So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. ²"Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. ³"May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴"May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham." ⁵Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. ⁶Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan," ⁷and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac; ⁹and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.

Esau is more or less getting what he deserves for taking his birthright so lightly in this passage, and Jacob is reaping the rewards of valuing the inheritance. Esau could have moved on, and tried to make something of himself, and try to get back in the good graces of his parents, but that apparently didn't suit Esau very well, so he goes out of his way to make things worse. He marries another Canaanite woman, just to spite his parents. If you had asked Esau about all this before the 'birthright incident', he probably would have laughed at you. But he showed poor judgement in one thing (and it probably didn't start with that either), and now he's making serious life choices that are totally rebellious (and thus, by definition, sinful). We've seen this lesson several times. Don't let sin even have a foothold.

Genesis 27:41-46

⁴¹So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob." ⁴²Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, "Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. ⁴³"Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! ⁴⁴"Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury subsides, ⁴⁵until your brother's anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?" ⁴⁶Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?"

Now, Rebekah knows that most of what is happening is her fault in the first place, so she does her best to preserve peace in their household. She sends Jacob out of Esau's grasp, so that their conflict will not lead to death. We are often witnesses to conflict, whether we are involved or not. Even more so, when we are involved, like Rebekah was, that we try to help resolve that conflict. Not to just live at peace with all men for ourselves (as Paul said), but to also be a peacemaker and spread peace to those around us.

Genesis 27:30-40

³⁰Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me." ³²Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" And he said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau." ³³Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed." ³⁴When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!" ³⁵And he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing." ³⁶Then he said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." And he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" ³⁷But Isaac replied to Esau, "Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?" ³⁸Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." So Esau lifted his voice and wept. ³⁹Then Isaac his father answered and said to him,

"Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling,
And away from the dew of heaven from above.
⁴⁰"By your sword you shall live,
And your brother you shall serve;
But it shall come about when you become restless,
That you will break his yoke from your neck."

When Isaac heard Esau's voice, he immediately knew the truth. He had fallen for the deceitful voice, and there could be no going back. He couldn't fix the situation. He couldn't take back the blessing. He couldn't even give Esau the same blessing. There was no 'do over' button for Isaac. They all would have to live with the consequences of their actions. We may be tempted to think Esau was the innocent victim here, but who was it that 'despised' his birthright? He gave up all his rights as the firstborn by doing so, and now the results of that action are catching up with him as well. When you give in to sin, there are sometimes immediate consequences, but there may also be long-term far-reaching results down the road. Guard your heart, and don't give even a foothold to the enemy.

Genesis 27:19-29

¹⁹Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me." ²⁰Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the LORD your God caused it to happen to me." ²¹Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not." ²²So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." ²³He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him. ²⁴And he said, "Are you really my son Esau?" And he said, "I am." ²⁵So he said, "Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son's game, that I may bless you." And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank. ²⁶Then his father Isaac said to him, "Please come close and kiss me, my son." ²⁷So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said,

"See, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed;
²⁸Now may God give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the fatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
²⁹May peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you;
Be master of your brothers,
And may your mother's sons bow down to you
Cursed be those who curse you,
And blessed be those who bless you."

It's pretty clear that Isaac wasn't fully convinced that this was Esau. He tests by everything he can (touch, smell, and even the tasted of the stew), and it all overrides the voice that he is hearing, so he goes ahead and blesses Jacob. It reminds me a bit of the deception of the enemy. He's a clever one, but he can't disguise his voice very well. We may feel like we've checked everything else out, but if the voice doesn't match, don't fall for the trick. Naturally, you also have to be praying and communicating with God daily to even know his voice, but when you do, there's not mistaking the voice.

Genesis 27:14-18

¹⁴So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved. ¹⁵Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. ¹⁶And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob. ¹⁸Then he came to his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"

Isaac knew that Esau was supposed to be coming back, but when he hears the voice of Jacob, he is a little bit confused. Jacob apparently did not spend much time with his father, if his coming was unexpected, and especially if Isaac was unsure about the voice he was hearing. Let us not be guilty of the same with our heavenly father, so that he must ask when we pray, "Who are you, my son?"

Genesis 27:5-13

⁵Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, ⁶Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, ⁷'Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.' ⁸"Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. ⁹"Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰"Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death." ¹¹Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. ¹²"Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing." ¹³But his mother said to him, "Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me."

There are a couple things at play here. First off, we see the results of Esau's 'rebellion'. His father, Isaac, was willing to forgive and forget. His mother, however, had a longer memory, and was not so inclined. It's believed she already favored Jacob anyway, but Esau's behavior only furthered the divide between himself and his mother. The second thing is the amazing logic of Rebekah and Jacob. Jacob isn't concerned about being a deceiver here, he only wants to make sure his father doesn't know it. But he has to know that Esau will eventually come back, and then Isaac (and Esau) will know what happened anyway. Rebekah assures him that she will take all the blame, and if Isaac curses Jacob, she will take that as well. It is an interesting promise for one who is in the act of deception to make, and we'll see later just how well that turns out. For now, rest assured: if you are party to such an act, you will surely reap the consequences.

Genesis 27:1-4

¹Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, "My son." And he said to him, "Here I am." ²Isaac said, "Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death. ³"Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; ⁴and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die."

After all that Esau had done (and we didn't even go into his choice of wives yesterday), Isaac still loved his son, and wanted to give him the blessing of the firstborn before he died. It is not unlike the grace that God shows us constantly. After all we've done, He still loves us, He still forgives us, He still wants to bless us, if we will do His will.

Genesis 26:26-35

²⁶Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army. ²⁷Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?" ²⁸They said, "We see plainly that the LORD has been with you; so we said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, ²⁹that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.'" ³⁰Then he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ³¹In the morning they arose early and exchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace. ³²Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac's servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water." ³³So he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. ³⁴When Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; ³⁵and they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

After all the hardship that Isaac had been through, he kept his integrity, and did not allow the Philistines to perturb him to violence. Yesterday, we saw God reward him with an affirmation of the covenant, but shortly thereafter, God goes one further. The Philistines come and offer a peace treaty to Isaac, and Isaac's servants strike water again, so that they now have two wells at their disposal. After withstanding the tests and trials, the rewards come flowing (literally). Don't give up your efforts to do good, the rewards will always be worth it.

Genesis 26:18-25

¹⁸Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the same names which his father had given them. ¹⁹But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing water, ²⁰the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him. ²¹Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it Sitnah. ²²He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, "At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land." ²³Then he went up from there to Beersheba. ²⁴The LORD appeared to him the same night and said,

"I am the God of your father Abraham;
Do not fear, for I am with you
I will bless you, and multiply your descendants,
For the sake of My servant Abraham."

²⁵So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants dug a well.

As I said yesterday, Isaac was facing some attacks due to his immense success resulting from God's blessings. And it didn't end with getting kicked out of Gerar. He settled in the nearby valley and tried to dig wells there, and the local herdsman pick a fight over those too. He aptly names them 'strife' and 'contention'. Finally, he digs a third well, and the herdsman leave him alone. He gives God the glory for it, and that's when the 'God moment' happens. That night, God appears to him in a vision and affirms the covenant of Abraham with Isaac. Isaac could have easily given up after the first well, or the second well, but He perseveres, and God blesses him for it. And then he digs a fourth well, and an altar to commemorate the occasion.