Digging In His Word

Jacob has just struggled all night with God.  The sun rises in the morning to find him limping due to an injury near his hip joint.  God has changed his name to Israel to reflect the change that has occurred in his character.  Sometimes, God allows us to struggle.  Sometimes, things are not easy and we come away with battle scars.  Sometimes, this is how God reaches us (2 Cor 4:17).  Jacob is limping, but he has been changed.

Today, once again, we see Jacob on a journey directed by God.  As he left Canaan, years ago, to go to his uncle’s household, he met with angels in a dream ascending and descending a ladder to Heaven (Gen 28:10-15).  Now, as he is leaving his uncle’s household to return home, he is met again by angels (verses 1-2).  He names this place Mahanaim, which means “Two Camps” since this is the second place he has met with angels.  By this, he knows that God has been with Him. 

Today we continue our story of Jacob and his family.  Jacob has been many years in the employment of his father-in-law and has many legitimate complaints.  His wives, also, are fed up with their father and God tells Jacob to return, with his family, to his father’s home in Canaan.  The family waited until Laban was away sheering his sheep and then snuck off without his knowledge.  Rachel, unbeknownst to Jacob, stole her father’s household gods and took them with her.

We know from our last lesson Jacob had already decided that he wanted to return home before today’s reading selection even begins, but Laban had convinced him to stay with the promise of wages.  This offer seemed generous on the surface, but we learned later that Laban was still trying to take advantage of Jacob and had no real intention of treating him fairly.  Still, Jacob tried his best to get along with his father-in-law and make the situation work.

When we left our friend Jacob, he had gotten married and had lots and lots of children.  By this time, he has been working for his uncle Laban for 20 years.  He has at least 12 children, though we know he has daughters that the Bible doesn’t tell us about (Gen 37:35).  And, as we talked about before, his uncle was treating him like a hired hand rather than like family.  There is an old saying, “You’ll never get rich working for the man,” and this is how it was for Jacob.  Though he was working hard and increasing Laban’s wealth, he was not establishing any wealth of his own.

Have you ever heard the expression, “He got a taste of his own medicine?”  I’m afraid that is what happens to Jacob in our story today.  He has just experienced his first theophany (one of many).  God appeared to Jacob in a dream (Gen 28) and reaffirmed to him the covenant promise.  Even though Jacob is fleeing his home in exile and heading to his mother’s childhood home in Harran, God has assured him that He will be with Him and bring him back to Canaan.  Verse 1 has Jacob continuing on his journey to his uncle Laban’s place in good spirits.

In our last lesson we learned that Esau was so angry with Jacob that he had decided to kill him.  Their mother, Rebekah, learned of this plan and warned Jacob that he must flee.  As we pick up the story today, Rebekah goes to Isaac (Gen 27:46) and again misleads him with a complaint about Esau’s wives.  What does she tell him?  Previously, Rebekah had told Jacob to flee for his life to her brother, Laban, and now she will get Isaac to send him there.

Have you ever read a book or seen a movie where the plot was so crazy you thought that it could never happen in real life?  Today’s text will touch on a story like that.  It centers around the favoritism present in Isaac’s family (Gen 25:27-28) and the sibling rivalry that it caused.  If you recall, Isaac and Rebekah each had different ‘favorites’ among their sons.  Isaac preferred Esau and Rebekah favored Jacob. 

Today’s lesson is going to give you such a sense of déjà vu.  The Bible, in chapter 26, records several events from Isaac’s life, and they are all going to sound somewhat familiar.  They are all scenes we have already seen in Abraham’s life.  As we study, think about the ways in which the events are similar and the ways they are different from when they happened to Abraham.

Have you ever been surprised or astonished when someone you didn’t think had exceptional qualities went out and did something impressive?  As humans, we can be guilty of looking at people and sizing them up pretty quickly, determining what we estimate to be their potential.  We look at certain characteristics about them, and based on our observations, we make our assumptions.  When the person either succeeds or fails differently than we expected, it can sometimes be startling.  But we will see today that God views a man’s potential differently than we do.  He chooses leaders and people to do His work based on different criteria than we might.  When God calls men to do His will, He calls according to His good will.  He knows what they can be.