JACOB The Trickster
My favourite stories always start with the main character who is lacking in some area - they aren’t good at something or they aren’t nice or their circumstances are poor, and then throughout the story they go on a learning experience and by the end of the story the character has developed into someone who is much wiser or better in some way than before.
Like Lightning McQueen in the movie Cars!
What do you think?
Can you tell who in your family is speaking if you have your eyes closed?
If you’re in the car or together somewhere with a few other people, why not play a game? You can play it now or later - record each of your voices saying the same phrase and then play them back in a random order, trying to guess who is speaking each time. Do you think you can do it?
In my family, we all sound very different except for Sharni and Banjo and I often get their voices mixed up. They sound different but every now and then I just can’t tell!
Do you have twins in your family? Is it harder with twins? If they’re both boys or both girls it can be quite hard, even harder if identical!
Story Time!
Isaac married a woman from Abraham’s hometown, Haran.
Abraham didn’t want them mixing with the locals too much, the Canaanites, and neither did God.
Isaac’s wife was beautiful and was called Rebekah.
So much of this story is from the bible. I aim to make all the details as accurate as possible, and what better way to do that than to have the story told as it was written so many years ago!
Bible Passage: Genesis 25:19-34
Isaac was the son of Abraham, 20 and he was 40 years old when he married Rebekah.
Almost 20 years later, 21 Rebekah still had no children. So Isaac asked the Lord to let her have a child, and the Lord answered his prayer.
22 Before Rebekah gave birth, she knew she was going to have twins, because she could feel them inside her, fighting each other. She thought, “Why is this happening to me?” Finally, she asked the Lord why her twins were fighting, 23 and he told her:
“Your two sons will become
two separate nations.
The younger of the two
will be stronger,
and the older son
will be his servant.”
24 When Rebekah gave birth, 25 the first baby was covered with red hair, so he was named Esau. 26 The second baby grabbed on to his brother's heel, so they named him Jacob.
Isaac was 60 years old when the twins were born.
27 As Jacob and Esau grew older, Esau liked the outdoors and became a good hunter, while Jacob lived the quiet life of a shepherd. 28 Esau would take the meat of wild animals to his father Isaac, so Isaac loved him more, but Jacob was his mother's favourite son.
29 One day, when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came home hungry 30 and said, “I'm starving to death! Here and now give me some of that red stew!”
31 Jacob replied, “Sell me your rights as the first-born son.”
32 “I'm about to die,” Esau answered. “What good will those rights do me?”
33 But Jacob said, “Promise me your birthrights, here and now!” And that's what Esau did. 34 Jacob then gave Esau some bread and some of the bean stew, and when Esau had finished eating and drinking, he just got up and left, showing how little he thought of his rights as the first-born.
What is the birthright? It’s the firstborn son who gets to inherit everything - all the land and livestock and the whole estate. Esau was the twin who came out first so he was entitled to it, but Jacob wanted it.
Would you give up your whole inheritance for a bowl of bean stew?
They didn’t sign a contract and witness it in front of a lawyer like you would today. There was no promised agreement. But God heard. God noticed Esau’s attitude. He saw Jacob’s eagerness.
Both sons to me seem very immature. Neither are people who I would look up to. They are fighting just like God predicted.
Bible Passage: Genesis 26:34-35
“When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. But these two women brought a lot of grief to Esau's parents Isaac and Rebekah.”
Bible Passage: Genesis 27:1-46
Isaac was old and almost blind, when he called in his first-born son Esau, who asked him, “Father, what can I do for you?”
2 Isaac replied, “I am old and might die at any time. 3 So go hunting with your bow and arrows and kill a wild animal. 4 Cook some of that tasty food that I love so much and bring it to me. I want to eat it once more and give you my blessing before I die.”
5 Rebekah had been listening, and as soon as Esau left to go hunting, 6 she said to Jacob, “I heard your father tell Esau 7 to kill a wild animal and cook some tasty food for him before he dies. Your father said this because he wants to bless your brother with the Lord as his witness. 8 Now, my son, listen carefully to what I want you to do. 9 Go and kill two of your best young goats and bring them to me. I'll cook the tasty food that your father loves so much. 10 Then you can take it to him, so he can eat it and give you his blessing before he dies.”
11 “My brother Esau is a hairy man,” Jacob reminded her. “And I am not. 12 If my father touches me and realizes I am trying to trick him, he will put a curse on me instead of giving me a blessing.”
13 Rebekah insisted, “Let his curse fall on me! Just do what I say and bring me the meat.” 14 So Jacob brought the meat to his mother, and she cooked the tasty food that his father liked. 15 Then she took Esau's best clothes and put them on Jacob. 16 She also covered the smooth part of his hands and neck with goatskins 17 and gave him some bread and the tasty food she had cooked.
18 Jacob went to his father and said, “Father, here I am.”
“Which one of my sons are you?” his father asked.
19 Jacob replied, “I am Esau, your first-born, and I have done what you told me. Please sit up and eat the meat I have brought. Then you can give me your blessing.”
20 Isaac asked, “My son, how did you find an animal so quickly?”
“The Lord your God was kind to me,” Jacob answered.
21 “My son,” Isaac said, “come closer, where I can touch you and find out if you really are Esau.” 22 Jacob went closer. His father touched him and said, “You sound like Jacob, but your hands feel hairy like Esau's.” 23 And so Isaac blessed Jacob, thinking he was Esau.
24 Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”
“Yes, I am,” Jacob answered.
25 So Isaac told him, “Serve me the wild meat, and I can give you my blessing.”
Jacob gave him some meat, and he ate it. He also gave him some wine, and he drank it. 26 Then Isaac said, “Son, come over here and kiss me.” 27 While Jacob was kissing him, Isaac caught the smell of his clothes and said:
“The smell of my son
is like a field
the Lord has blessed.
God will bless you, my son,
with dew from heaven
and with fertile fields,
rich with grain and grapes.
Nations will be your servants
and bow down to you.
You will rule over your brothers,
and they will kneel
at your feet.
Anyone who curses you
will be cursed;
anyone who blesses you
will be blessed.”
Does this blessing sound familiar? It’s the blessing God gave to Abraham and promised to all his offspring.
30 Right after Isaac had given Jacob his blessing and Jacob had gone, Esau came back from hunting. 31 He cooked the tasty food, brought it to his father, and said, “Father, please sit up and eat the meat I have brought you, so you can give me your blessing.”
32 “Who are you?” Isaac asked.
“I am Esau, your first-born son.”
33 Isaac started trembling and said, “Then who brought me some wild meat right before you came in? I ate it and gave him a blessing that cannot be taken back.”
34 Esau cried out in great distress, “Father, give me a blessing too!”
35 Isaac answered, “Your brother tricked me and stole your blessing.”
36 Esau replied, “My brother deserves the name Jacob, because he has already cheated me twice. The first time he cheated me out of my rights as the first-born son, and now he has cheated me out of my blessing.” Then Esau asked his father, “Don't you have any blessing left for me?”
37 “My son,” Isaac answered, “I have made Jacob the ruler over you and your brothers, and all of you will be his servants. I have also promised him all the grain and grapes that he needs. There's nothing left that I can do for you.”
38 “Father,” Esau asked, “don't you have more than one blessing? You can surely give me a blessing too!” Then Esau started crying again.
39 So his father said:
“Your home will be far
from that fertile land,
where dew comes down
from the heavens.
40 You will live by the power
of your sword
and be your brother's slave.
But when you decide to be free,
you will break loose.”
41 Esau hated his brother Jacob because he had stolen the blessing that was supposed to be his. So he said to himself, “Just as soon as my father dies, I'll kill Jacob.”
42 When Rebekah found out what Esau planned to do, she sent for Jacob and told him, “Son, your brother Esau is just waiting for a chance to kill you. 43 Now listen carefully and do what I say. Go to the home of my brother Laban in Haran 44 and stay with him for a while. When Esau stops being angry 45 and forgets what you have done to him, I'll send for you to come home. Why should I lose both of my sons on the same day?”
46 Rebekah later told Isaac, “Those Hittite wives of Esau are making my life miserable! If Jacob marries a Hittite woman, I'd be better off dead.”
Bible Passage: Genesis 28:1-5
Isaac called in Jacob, then gave him a blessing, and said:
Don't marry any of those Canaanite women. 2 Go at once to your mother's father Bethuel in northern Syria and choose a wife from one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. 3 I pray that God All-Powerful will bless you with many descendants and let you become a great nation. 4 May he bless you with the land he promised Abraham, so that you will take over this land where we now live as foreigners.
5 Isaac then sent Jacob to stay with Rebekah's brother Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean…
Question Time!
What were some of the things you noticed that Jacob did that God wouldn’t have liked?
What were some of the things you do that God doesn’t?
God still loves us anyway!
