Answers for a study in the book of Genesis: Chapters 27-29, The Patriarch Jacob

“Answers for a study in the book of Genesis” is a weekly post in addition to the regular “apologetics” posts on the weekend where the original questions can be found at the bottom of the study, and then answers appear here mid-week. This gives you time to do your own research, and then check your answers. Keep in mind these will be basic answers with a little depth, but you can go much deeper for discussion if you’d like.

Always remember to pray before you study and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and lead you into the truth found in God’s Word – pray for protection from the evil one who will try to discourage, distract and deceive us when we commit to growing closer to the LORD.

Note: Questions are taken directly from the chapters, and answers should be found and cited from the Scripture text in order to be Biblically accurate (unless asked to summarize in your own words). Study Bibles, commentaries and your own thoughts can be used for Discussion or Going Deeper questions. If you use these kinds of sources share them with your group.

 1.  Review of Class Topic:  Before getting into the Bible study questions, discuss today’s class presentation by summarizing what you learned, commenting or asking any questions.

Answers will vary…

Read Genesis Chapter 27 through Chapter 29, then answer the following questions:

NOTE: Scripture passages are copied and pasted for underlining and highlighting purposes. Then answers to the questions are summarized below the passage. This is an example of just one of many ways to study Scripture in order to keep answers in their proper context.

2.  (Genesis 27:1-41) In this chapter, we find the story of Jacob and his mom, Rebekah, deceiving Isaac. What did Rebekah do, and why (cross-reference clue: go back to chapter 25:22-23)? What was the blessing that Isaac gave Jacob, instead of Esau; how did Esau respond when he discovered what had happened, and how did his father Isaac answer him?

Going Deeper: Culturally speaking, what was the importance of the blessing, and how is it different from the “birthright” Jacob also stole earlier (see chapter 25:30-34)?

27 Now 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.” ² Isaac 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; ⁴ and 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.”  ⁵ Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, ⁶ Rebekah 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.” ¹¹ Jacob 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.” ¹³ But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” ¹⁴ So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved. ¹⁵ Then 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. ¹⁶ And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob.

¹⁸ Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” ¹⁹ Jacob 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.” ²⁰ Isaac 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.” ²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” ²² So 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.” ²³ He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. ²⁴ And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.” ²⁵ So 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. ²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷ So 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; ²⁸ Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine; ²⁹ May 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.”

The Stolen Blessing

³⁰ Now 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. ³¹ Then 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.” ³² Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” ³³ Then 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.” ³⁴ When 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!” ³⁵ And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” ³⁶ Then 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?” ³⁷ But 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?” ³⁸ Esau 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. ³⁹ Then 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.” ⁴¹ So 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.”  Genesis 27:1-41 (NASB)

Jacob and his mom Rebekah, deceive Isaac

• Rebekah, like Sarah, knew God’s promise and plan because God had told her earlier what would happen between the twins in her womb (Gen. 25:22-23), but like Sarah, Rebekah tries to “help” God out by having Jacob deceive her husband Isaac into thinking Jacob was Esau.
• Jacob didn’t try to stop the plan, but on questioning his father’s ability to recognize him, Rebekah devised ways to trick Isaac (fur hair on his hands, the smell of Esau by using his clothing and the cooking of his favorite wild catch).
• Rebekah did this because God had told her “The older will serve the younger” and she knew if Isaac gave the blessing to Esau instead of Jacob, that promise might be compromised.
• However, like Sarah, anytime we do things outside of God’s plan, we will reap the consequences.
• God could have taken care of Isaac’s blessing in many ways, had Rebekah completely trusted, but instead the consequence is that she would lose Jacob forever (he would have to leave) and it appears that she never saw him again (the text does not tell us what happened to Rebekah, but she is not brought up again in the story until we hear where she was buried at the end of chapter 49).

The blessing Isaac gave Jacob (instead of Esau)

• The “blessing” was the tradition of the father giving to the firstborn, along with the birthright, a promise in a spiritual way, of a life filled with goodness and plenty – this included land, food, people to serve him and bow down to him, even his brother(s). He also said, “cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.” All this includes the blessing of the Covenant God made with his father Abraham.

How Esau responded, and Isaac in kind

• Esau came in bringing the food from the kill he made that day, not knowing what happened, Isaac told him that he had already blessed Jacob, who he thought was Esau. Esau begged his father for a blessing, but Isaac told him it could not be done because he had sworn it.
• In ancient times, a person’s word was binding, especially when it was part of a formal oath. This is why Isaac’s blessing was irrevocable. He did prophecy to Esau “that he would live away from the fertility of the earth, and away from the dew of heaven from above. “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.” This came true later on when Edom became an enemy of Israel,
• Note: Herod was 1/2 Edomite, and this is why it was said by God “Jacob I loved, Esau I hated” – Jesus did not speak to Herod when He came before him, and earlier in his ministry He spoke of him as “that dog.”

Paul writes about this in Romans 9:6-13:

⁶ But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; ⁷ nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” ⁸ That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. ⁹ For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁰ And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; ¹¹ for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, ¹² it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” ¹³ Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Going Deeper: The importance of the Blessing

• The blessing confirmed the birthright.
• A birthright was a special honor given to the firstborn son. It included a double portion of the family inheritance along with the honor of one day becoming the family leader.
• The blessing was the spiritual part that included an oath (and sometimes a prophecy) for future assurance of family leadership, wealth, land, people and protection – in some cases it included a curse, or potential curse.

Numbers 6:24-27 give us an insight to the five main parts of a blessing according to Mosaic Law: “The LORD bless you, and keep you; the LORD make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace. So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”

3.  (Genesis 27:42 through 28:9) In this section Jacob is sent away. Where was Jacob sent, and why? Isaac blessed Jacob before he left – What part of the Abrahamic Covenant did Isaac emphasize (focus on 28:3-4)? Esau had previously married some of the “daughters of Canaan;” after this happened with Jacob, who else did he marry, and why?

⁴² Now 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, ⁴⁵ until 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?”

⁴⁶ Rebekah 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?”

28 So 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.” ⁵ Then 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.

⁶ Now 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,” ⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸ So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac; ⁹ and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.  Genesis 27:42-28:9

Where Jacob was sent, and why?

• Jacob is sent to Rebekah’s family in Haran because Esau was planning to kill him.
• Initially, before he left, they thought he would only be gone a few days, but in reality, it would be 20 years – the resulting consequence.
• Rebekah knew that Esau vowed to kill Jacob, so she said to Isaac, I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from them what good will my life be? So, she got Isaac to agree in sending Jacob away to get a wife from her brother Laban.

Isaac and the Covenant

• Isaac blessed Jacob again by saying: “May God almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. 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.”
• Isaac finally realized that it was Jacob who was to have the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant, not Esau, and he blessed him with the three main parts:

1) Descendants (a nation/company of people)

2) the Land

3) the blessing (implied)

Esau and his wives

• When Esau realized that the daughters of Canaan displeased his parents, he took a wife from the family of Ishmael – his daughter Mahalath.
• Note: This would be the combination of Ishmael and Esau that would expand the Arab Nation that is still in conflict with Israel today.

4.  (Genesis 28:10-22) In this section Jacob begins his journey to Haran. Describe Jacob’s dream and what he saw (focus on verses 12-13)? Cross-reference with John 1:48-51 – who does the “Ladder” picture? What parts of the Abrahamic Covenant did God promise Jacob, and what did Jacob do and say after God spoke to him?

Jacob’s Dream

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.” ¹⁶ Then 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.” 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 Bethel; 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.”

New Testament – John 1:48-51

⁴⁸ Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” ⁵⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹ And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”  John 1:48-51 (NASB)

Jacob’s Dream and the “Ladder”

• Jacob saw a ladder in his dream, that was set on the earth and extended into Heaven with the angels of God ascending and descending on it – God stood above on it and spoke directly to Jacob.
• If we cross-reference with John 1:48-51 we find that Jesus is the ladder – signifying that He is the way to Heaven (John 14:6-7 – the way, the truth and the life).
• This was another Christophany (appearance of the pre-incarnate Jesus) where God spoke to a human-being – Jacob this time.

Jacob and the Covenant

• In this section, God affirms the Covenant Promise given to Abraham and Isaac by promising: 1) the land on which he was lying; 2) descendants that would be like the dust of the earth; and 3) in him and his family would all of the families of the earth be blessed. God also promised to protect him and bring him back to the land, and that He would not leave him until all that He had promised was done.
• After God spoke to Jacob, when he woke up, he said: “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it. 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. He then rose early in the morning and set up a pillar of the stone he had put under his head and called the place “Bethel.”” This was also the place where Abraham made one of his first sacrifices to God when he entered the land. Bethel became a significant place of worship later on in the Old Testament, and ultimately became a place of idol worship, condemned by the prophet Hosea.
• Jacob also made a pledge to tithe to the LORD. Abraham had given a tithe to Melchizedek earlier. Note: Tithing was common in ancient times and was not specifically required by God until it was written in the Law of Moses.
• At this point in time, Jacob still seemed to be relying on himself and not completely trusting God. Evidenced in verse 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, and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the LORD will be my God.”” Here he is trying to bargain with God, and it won’t be until chapter 32 where he wrestled with God all night, and made a confession in prayer that he would begin to call on God as his God, and not just the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac.

5.  (Genesis 29:1-20) In this section Jacob meets his family from Haran. What happened when Jacob met Rachel? How did Laban respond to meeting Jacob, and why? Who was Leah, and what was the comparison between her and Rachel?

29 Then Jacob went 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.”

⁹ While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. ¹⁰ When 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.  Genesis 29:1-20 (NASB)

Jacob meets Rachel

• Just as had happened earlier with Abraham’s Servant, when he went to get a wife for Isaac from this same area, God led Jacob to his mother’s family.
• When he saw Rachel, and found out that she was the daughter of his mother’s brother (his uncle), he rolled away the heavy stone from the watering well and watered the flock of Laban. He then kissed Rachel and wept.
• The text does not tell us specifically why he kissed Rachel or why he wept. Two options: 1) It was love at first site, and he reacted by kissing her and weeping (although probably not a common thing to do in this time or culture); or 2) he was so overjoyed that he had found his family that the kiss and weeping may have been one of joy (kissing on the check is a middle east custom, and Laban does the same to Jacob when he meets him as well).

Laban and Jacob

• Laban ran to meet him, kissed him and brought him to his house.
• Jacob stayed for a month and then the bargaining began from Laban – “what shall your wages be?”
• Jacob then asked for Rachel’s hand in marriage and said he would serve Laban seven years for her.
• Many scholars say that Laban knew the wealth of Abraham’s family from the previous visit years earlier when they came for Rebekah, and he wanted to use Jacob to eventually get to the family’s inheritance.
• Laban seemed to have ulterior motives, whether it was for cheap labor, or to eventually get the family’s inheritance through Jacob.

Leah and Rachel

• Leah was the oldest daughter of Laban, and the text describes her as having “weak eyes” which is another way of saying that she was not very “pretty.”
• Rachel was the younger daughter and is described as being “beautiful of form and face” which is another way of saying that she was the more attractive one.

6.  (Genesis 29:21-35) In this section Jacob begins his family by working for Laban. Describe how Jacob ended up with Leah, even though it was Rachel he loved, and how did God respond to Leah’s plight? How did Laban respond when Jacob confronted him?

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. 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.  Genesis 29:21-35 (NASB)

Jacob, Leah and Laban

• Laban, again with ulterior motives, tricked Jacob by sending Leah into the tent. You might ask how Jacob would have not known the difference until morning? One answer is that, just like today, the festival would have included alcohol, the tent was dark, Leah would have been completely covered until they ‘slept together,’ and Jacob was likely drunk.
• Laban waited to tell Jacob that the custom of the land was to marry off the oldest first. When Jacob objected, he was also given Rachel, but had to wait until after the wedding week for Leah. This was in return for seven more years added to Jacob’s free labor for Laban. (Note: The text does not say he had to wait another seven years for Rachel, but agreed to the additional service for Rachel too).
• Because she was unloved, God allowed Leah to conceive first in this order: Rueben, Simeon, Levi and Judah – Note: keep these names in mind as they will play interesting and pivotal roles later on – especially Judah.
• Note: Some scholars say that the best wife for Jacob was actually Leah, not Rachel, and in God’s sovereignty this will prove to be true as she will bear the majority of the sons of Jacob (and could have ultimately bore all 12). Rachel is unable to bear more than one child, and later dies in the second and last child’s birth, therefore showing she was not the one best suited for God’s purpose and plan.

7.  Discussion: How does Laban compare to Jacob as a deceiver, and what lesson can we take away, as application, from the actions of these two men?

Answers will vary but could include…

• One way that we see Jacob had meet his match in Laban as a deceiver, is that Laban ultimately ends up with 20 years of free labor from Jacob (14 for the girls, and he bargained for 6 more).
• There are always consequences to deception, favoritism, and/or selfish ambitions, not only in families, but other relationships as well – they don’t always play out right away, but can ultimately affect the future for generations to come.

Please join us each week as we continue our case for the Old Testament, and a study in the book of Genesis!

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You will not find this material in the public school curriculum even though it is based on solid evidence and grounded in research. It is ironic that following the evidence to where it leads stops at the door of our public schools as they will not let a “Divine footprint” in!  Join us as we examine evidence for Christianity and learn how to become a thoughtful defender and ambassador of your faith.

Click into the resource page of this website to view many of the top Christian thinkers and apologists along with some of their work; connecting to these types of resources is essential in your Christian growth.

Please let me know what you think: Give feedback, ask questions or send concerns in the comment section of the blog.

Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

1 Peter 3:15