Today’s passage: Genesis 31:1-55

Helpful thoughts:

• The Lord had promised to be with Jacob all the years he was away from the Promised Land and He was.  Now, God promises to continue to be with Jacob on the journey back.
• Jacob gives greater detail to how the Lord told him it was time to go.  In Jacob’s explanation to his wives (The daughters of Laban), he contrasts the faithlessness of Laban and the faithfulness of God.
• The Hebrew words translated as “Tricked” in verse 20 are literally, “Stole the heart.”  Laban defines what his “heart” was when he claimed that Jacob had stolen his daughters, his grandchildren, and his flock.  Laban still saw all of these things as rightfully his.

Questions to consider:

1. What are the reasons why Rachel might have stolen the household gods from Laban (Given she just encouraged Jacob to follow the Lord’s command)?  How does Jacob evidence he knows nothing of the theft?
2. From what does this treaty protect both Jacob and Laban?  Why did they have to make a treaty of this magnitude?  What would have prevented them from simply giving their word?  How had they treated each other before?
3. How did God fulfill his promise to Jacob?  What did Jacob say he would do if God did this (28:20-22)?

Today’s passage: Genesis 30:25-43

Helpful thoughts:

• All of Jacob’s children (Expect for Benjamin) were born outside of the Promised Land.
• When it came time for Jacob and his household to leave, he made a deal with Laban.
  • Both men sought to trick the other to their own advantage.
    • Laban removed the sheep that would be prone to reproduce to Jacob’s advantage before entrusting any additional sheep to his care (Verses 35-36).
    • Jacob sought to use an old tradition to produce more and healthier striped, speckled and spotted sheep.
• God had chosen to bless Jacob (The real reason his trick “worked”).  Jacob left the Promised Land with just the promise of an inheritance.  Now, he would return home to his inheritance already independently wealthy.

Questions to consider:

1. Those striped sticks didn’t do anything to cause the sheep to reproduce to Jacob’s advantage…  Why did the sheep keep bearing lambs that were to Jacob’s advantage?  What was God doing?  Why was God doing this?
2. Why didn’t Laban have any reason to be upset with how many sheep Jacob would end up taking?  Why was Laban going to be upset anyway?  What did Laban want most?
3. What has God promised to us, his children?  How does wanting our own inheritance in Christ compel us to pursue the best things (No trickery needed!)?

Today’s passage: Genesis 29:31-30:24

Helpful thoughts:

• There were multiple consequences to Laban’s actions resulting in Jacob having multiple wives.  There were also multiple consequences for the actions of Jacob, Leah, Rachel and others subsequent to the arrangement of the marriages.
  • Many of the consequences were negative.
  • At least 13 of the consequences were positive.
• When Rebekah remained barren for an extended time, Isaac prayed for her, and God answered that prayer with the conception of Jacob and Esau.  When Rachel was barren, Jacob did not pray.  Instead, they copied the practice of Abraham and Sarah (Hagar & Ishmael).
• Rachel celebrated the birth of her son by asking for another.  The birthing of her next son resulted in her death.

Questions to consider:

1. Who is the giver of life?  Did Leah or Rachel (Or Bilhah, or Zilpah) have any more or any fewer children than the Lord intended for them to have?
2. What did Leah and Rachel want?  Besides more children, what was it they really wanted?  What desires motivated their actions?  What thinking informed their desires?
3. What hardships and relational conflicts must have arisen from all this rivalry and intimacy among four women?  What good did God bring from all of it?  What can we learn from this?  How should we value all new life?

Today’s passage: Genesis 29:1-30

Helpful thoughts:

• What begins as an exciting continuation of Jacob’s story, turns into an ironic chain of events that results in Jacob having two wives!
  • The mention of Zilpah and Bilhah provides some foreshadowing for what’s to come as well.
• The description of Leah at the beginning of verse 17 is a figure of speech.  She wasn’t as physically beautiful in appearance as Rachel.  In this verse, we are learning part of the reason why Jacob will later “love” Rachel more than Leah.
  • Though Jacob loved Rachel more, he technically paid the same bride price for each of his wives.
• The trickster (Jacob) got tricked!  Much in the same manner he tricked his father by dressing up like Esau to receive the blessing, Laban presents Leah to him as his wife when he was expecting Rachel.

Questions to consider:

1. What are some of the similarities and differences between this account of Jacob finding Laban and Rachel and the servant of Abraham finding a wife (Rebekah) for Isaac?
2. Is God mentioned at all in this passage?  Whose ways and customs are being followed here?  What did that result in?
3. Even though we don’t see God mentioned in this passage, was He totally caught off guard or bewildered by what happened?  How did God use all of this trickery for good in the end?

Today’s passage: Genesis 28:1-22

Helpful thoughts:

• In sending Jacob away, Isaac confirms the blessing of Abraham on him.  Jacob was sent away with his father’s promise of inheriting the land he was leaving.
  • Jacob obeyed Isaac’s instruction.  When Esau saw this, he again acted impetuously.
• Before Jacob left the promised land, he not only received confirmation of the promise from his father Isaac but also from the Heavenly Father, the Lord.
• Jacob had been a schemer.  He sought to ensure things would turn out in his favor.  God made it clear to him who was sovereign over his life in verses 13-15.

Questions to consider:

1. Didi Esau’s third marriage “fix” what he had done wrong in the first two marriages?  Can we do enough good to erase our wrongs?  What do our own efforts to cover our sin result in?  To whom should we go and what does God do with our humble confession (Psalm 51:1-2, 1 John 1:9)?
2. What is the significance of a “ladder” which provides passage from heaven to earth (and from earth to heaven?  What is God communicating to us in providing this vision?  What more do we learn from Jesus’ description of himself in John 1:51?  Does God intend to be distant from his creation, his people?  What (Who) is the way to God?
3. How does God show His sovereignty in verses 13-15?  What did Jacob need to do to bring these promises about?  Was there anything Jacob needed to worry about?  What could his chief focus have been?  How can this encourage you to cast your cares on the Lord and trust Him with your life?

Today’s passage: Genesis 27:30-46

Helpful thoughts:

• In the previous passage, it was evident Isaac had every intention to bless Esau.  Today, we see Esau had every intention of receiving the blessing (Though, he had already sold his birthright)!
• From Esau’s perspective, Jacob was a deceiver and a cheater.  The birthright and the blessing we Esau’s to have and he had been unjustly deprived of both.
  • This wasn’t exactly true (25:23), but Jacob’s decision to take it upon himself to get these things God had already promised sure didn’t help.
• Rebekah has one more trick up her sleeve.  Her desire to see Jacob marry from within their people becomes a scheme to have Jacob sent away for his safety.
  • Man continues to plot and scheme…all the while God is accomplishing His every purpose.

Questions to consider:

1. What kinds of emotions are conveyed in this passage?  What would the interaction between Isaac and Esau have looked like (And sounded like)?
2. How did Esau intend to “break his brother’s yoke” from his neck?  How do Esau and Jacob both continue to try to bring about their desired ends through their own methods?  What methods do you tend toward when you desire to see God act?
3. Why didn’t Esau inherit the promise (It wasn’t because he was a sinner, because Jacob was too)?  Why did Jacob inherit the promise (It wasn’t because he was righteous, because he wasn’t)?  To whom do we owe our praise and thanksgiving for our inheritance of the promise of eternal life in Christ (Romans 9:6-18)?

Today’s passage: Genesis 27:1-29

Helpful thoughts:

• Isaac intended to give the blessing to Esau, his firstborn and favorite son.
  • The language of the blessing was intended to carry on the Abrahamic promises (Peoples and nations bowing down, blessings and cursings).
  • The blessing was intended to make Esau the leader of the family.
• Rebekah hears Isaac’s intent, devises a scheme, and executes the plan.  Jacob is not the only deceiver in this narrative.
  • There are parallels in the actions and character of Isaac and Esau, as well as Rebekah and Jacob.
• Isaac wanted this blessing to go to Esau.  But God had already determined and chosen Jacob.

Questions to consider:

1. What similarities can we find between Isaac and Esau?  How did they make decisions?  How were they driven by desires like food?
2. What similarities can we find between Rachel and Jacob?  How did they problem solve?  How did they use their loved ones shortcomings to get what they wanted?
3. Who now has the birthright and the blessing (Both of which normally given to the first born)?  Did Jacob have to do what he did to get them if God had already decreed the promise was his?

Today’s passage: Genesis 26:1-35

Helpful thoughts:

• God personally commits Abraham’s promised inheritance to Isaac.
  • Isaac has more than just Abraham’s promise.  He also copied his father’s sinful practice of calling his wife his sister…
• The difficulties in verses 6-22 are surrounded on both sides by the promises of God’s blessing on Isaac.  Even Abimelech and his people can’t help but notice this is true and make a treaty with him.
• Isaac had been 40 years old when Abraham provided his wife (Rebekah).  Esau evidently chose not to wait any longer.  He “took” for himself two women from the land Abraham had commanded that Isaac not marry.

Questions to consider:

1. How has Esau continued to act in an impetuous way?  What would Isaac have been ready to do for his favorite son at this time?  What might the fact that Esau got himself not one, but two wives also indicate?
2. Given what we read in this chapter, to whom does the credit belong for Isaac’s blessing and growing wealth?  Who does Abimelech and his people even acknowledge as the one who is blessing Isaac?
3. What does Isaac’s lie and self-protection remind us of concerning God’s grace?  Are God’s people perfect?  Why are we counted as righteous before God (2 Corinthians 5:21)?

Today’s passage: Genesis 25:19-34

Helpful thoughts:

• With the phrase, “These are the generations of” the book of Genesis moves on to the next chapter.
• Once again, the wife in the line of the people of God is barren for a time.  Unlike in the previous generation, conception came within one verse!  We don’t know exactly when Isaac prayed to the Lord for Rebekah to conceive (Or how many times he prayed).
  • We do know they had been married for 20 years.  Verse 26 tells us Isaac was 60 when Jacob and Esau were born.  He was 40 when they married.
• From the womb, Rebekah knew that the younger child among her twins would be the one who carried on the promise.  God made this clear from the beginning.
• Esau’s name refers to his rugged red features.  Jacob was named after his heal grabbing.  Grabbing someone’s heal was a figure of speech referring to deception.
• Many years later, and for a single warm meal, Esau willingly gave up his firstborn status.

Questions to consider:

1. What have we learned so far about Jacob and Esau?  What characteristics are already on display in this first passage about their lives?
2. Esau and Edom are both tied to the word for “Red.”  But, if Esau started being called Edom after the event of selling his birthright, what would he have always thought of whenever people called him Edom?  What all did the name “Edom” remind him of?  What would Jacob be reminding him of every time he used this name?
3. What all did Esau despise when we despised his birthright?  What was tied to the birthright of the son of Isaac, the grandson of Abraham (Hebrews 12:15-17)?