Genesis 28-30
We know that Jacob, the schemer, does not deserve the blessing, but he gets it anyway. Before sending him off to Uncle Laban in search of a wife, Isaac conveys the blessing of Abraham, that his descendants would be multiplied and that they would possess the land. And on the way, in the dream of “Jacob’s Ladder”, the LORD Himself blesses Jacob, saying:
I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 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.
Genesis 28:13-15
This is now the fifth time that God has told Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob that through them all the families (or nations) of the earth shall be blessed. (See also Gen. 12:2-3; 18:17-19; 22:16-18; 26:2-5.) Perhaps we should pay attention…
I guess we can take heart from the fact that God blesses imperfect people with great blessings. However, it seems to me that Rebekah has to take a good deal of the blame for Jacob’s stealing Esau’s blessing. I don’t think Jacob thought of this himself.
Also thinking about David as an imperfect person and blessed by God in spite of a planned murder.
Just a note on Rebekah. When she was pregnant with the twins, God told her that the older would serve the younger. As for the blessing ruse, perhaps she was trying to make sure God’s prophesy came true? How often do we try to “help” God, doing His work for Him?
I’ve never fully understood the agreement between Jacob and Laban on the striped, speckled, and spotted sheep and goats and black lambs. At first it seems to me that Jacob is proposing that he, himself, take these “imperfect” animals (see 30:32). But then three verses later Laban removes those same animals from the flock and takes them three days away. Is he stealing Laban’s part of the herd before Laban can get to them himself? But then Jacob does that “poplar and almond and plane tree” mating trick and wins back all those imperfect animals. Am I reading this correctly?
Hmmm… I’ve always understood it to be that Laban was trying to cheat Jacob by agreeing to give him these (inferior?) animals, then removing them surreptitiously from the flock.
What interests me is Jacob in Gen. 30:26-31 making it clear that God has blessed Laban through his being there. Therefore he has earned what he has and doesn’t want anyone to say something was “given” to him. Laban is such a cheater and conniver that he can’t be trusted, as was shown before and again later in this chapter and (spoiler alert) in Gen. 31:7.
Good morning. This reading confused me and left me with questions. This morning God gave me an answer from another reading. I subscribe to a weekly newsletter sent out from Becky Beresford. Each week she features a story from a different woman sharing her brave story. Each one shares her life story and how God is working through it. This week’s story was from a woman, Carla Arges, who struggles with past abuse and mental illness. See https://www.beckyberesford.com/post/mental-illness-doesn-t-disqualify-us-from-god-s-work-courage-for-when-our-callings-are-hard .
Carla wrote:
This statement clicked for me because I am struggling with this, waking up in the night with fear and doubts. So how does this connect with our reading? Jacob and Laban each feared losing their possessions (which includes people) and power to each other. And their way to control the fear was to scheme and trick, not giving God control over the situation.
Our next reading covers more of Jacob not trusting his fear to God. His gifts to his brother were not out of love but fear that his brother was going to kill him. When I wake in the night, my first thoughts are how am I going to deal with these issues. Carla reminds me to give it to God and have faith in His ability to handle it.
Thank you for this response, Courtenay. You have truly caught the heart of the problem in each of these characters, and in us. I also struggle daily to have confidence that God is with me, knows each situation, and lovingly walks with me through them.
He does not “solve” problems the way I want him to at times. But I am still learning that everything will work out for my good because I’m his child and he loves me. I can stop trying to control situations; that we have control over most things in our lives is an illusion anyway!