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Genesis 35 English Standard Version (ESV)

God Blesses and Renames Jacob

¹ God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ² So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. ³ Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

⁵ And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶ And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, ⁷ and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. ⁸ And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.

⁹ God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰ And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. ¹¹ And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.  ¹² The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”¹³ Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. ¹⁴ And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. ¹⁵ So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

 

REFLECTION

Jacob returned to Bethel, the “house of God”, where God had first spoken to him and it was to become a refuge for him.  Three things establish Bethel as a refuge:  The altar, which speaks of worship (vv3-7); the repeated promise, which speaks of God’s presence (vv9-13); and the stone pillar, which speaks of remembrance (vv14-15).

(1) Worship is essential. We need a time and place set aside especially to meet with God to find inner peace in a troubled world.  In worship we clear our hearts and minds of everything that competes with God for our attention, and focus completely on Him.

(2) God’s presence is experienced as we hear His voice speaking to us.  This is what we experience as we open the Scriptures and read to hear and respond to what God has to say to us personally.

(3) Remembrance is the way we re-enter the presence of God at any moment throughout the day.  The Bethel we create by worship and by reading Scripture serves as an anchor for our day. At any moment, we can return in memory and find fresh strength.

How important that we apply to ourselves the words God spoke to Jacob: “Go up to Bethel: and settle there” (v1).

If you haven’t done already, select a time and place where you can meet daily with God.

 

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Genesis 34 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Defiling of Dinah

¹ Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. ² And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. ³ And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.”

⁵ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. ⁶ And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷ The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done.

⁸ But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. ⁹ Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” ¹¹ Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. ¹² Ask me for as great a bride price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.”

¹³ The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah.¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. ¹⁶ Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.” (vv18-24 skipped)

²⁵ On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. ²⁷ The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸ They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. ²⁹ All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.

³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” ³¹ But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

 

REFLECTION

No sooner had Jacob and his family entered the land entered than the security of Jacob’s family was threatened by the violent rape of Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. Shechem offers to marry Dinah, which is his right according to custom. Certainly, the brothers of Dinah were wrong to take revenge on an entire city for the act of one of its citizens. Jacob, whose fears had been relieved by reconciliation with Esau, now had a new worry. Would the other Canaanites attack his family because his sons had taken such bloody revenge?

Like Jacob’s, our life is never completely free of stress. One anxiety is relieved only to be replaced by a new one. Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). We need a peace that has a source beyond this world.

Personalize the verse of John 14:27. Read the verse slowly: “Peace God leaves with (fill in your name); God’s peace God gives (fill in your name). God does not give to (fill in your name) as the world gives. Do not let (fill in your name) hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Thank the Lord for the peace He’s given you. Ask that God help you to experience His peace.

 

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Genesis 33 English Standard Version (ESV)

Jacob Meets Esau

¹ And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. ² And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³ He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴ But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵ And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. ⁷ Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down.⁸ Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” ¹⁰ Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. ¹¹ Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.

¹² Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of you.” ¹³ But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

¹⁵ So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

¹⁸ And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. ¹⁹ And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent.²⁰ There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

 

REFLECTION

Encounters with God affect how we deal with one another and make way for reconciliation. Even as Jacob prepares a line of defense to protect Rachel and Joseph, fully expecting Esau may seek to do harm, instead, he meets his brother running toward him with arms outstretched for embracing. This is quite similar to the father of the prodigal son (Lk 15:20).  What attitude and emotions are demonstrated by the opening arms of Esau and that of the father of the prodigal son? What does that illustrate our relationship with God?

When is it easier for you to forgive others?  When is it harder?  Or to feel forgiven?

Recall a happy story of forgiveness received unexpectedly or given unsolicited.

Thank God for His grace of forgiveness.  Continue to rest in God’s arms of forgiveness and grace.

 

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Genesis 32 English Standard Version (ESV)

Jacob Fears Esau

¹ Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ² And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

³ And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, ⁴ instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. ⁵ I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’”

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob wasgreatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, ⁸ thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”

⁹ And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ ¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.¹² But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”

¹³ So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” ¹⁷ He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” ¹⁹ He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.” ²¹ So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

 

REFLECTION

Jacob’s early life could be labeled as “egocentric” for he saw things only from his own perspective. He was unconcerned with how his schemes to steal Esau’s birthright and blessing might affect his brother and their relationship. Twenty years later, however, Jacob himself had been the victim of Laban’s scheme. Under Laban’s hand, Jacob must have experienced many of the feelings Esau went through – frustration, helplessness, and anger.

God sometimes uses the same method in dealing with us. When we are hurt it is often a reflection of the way we hurt others, a not-so-gentle reminder that God has charged us with the duty of loving others as we love ourselves. We can see both promise and warning in Jacob’s life. The promise is that even unlikely individuals like Jacob can become an understanding and considerate person. The warning is that if we live egocentristic lives, taking advantage of others, God may place us in positions where we experience the very pain we have caused others to suffer.

Do you usually consider the feelings of others when you make choices? Are your choices mostly wise and godly?

PRAYER

Use this as today’s prayer:

Prayer of St. Francis of Assissi

“O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is discord, harmony.

Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sorrow, joy.

Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not
so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.”

 

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Genesis 31 English Standard Version (ESV)

Jacob Flees from Laban

¹ Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.” ² And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was ⁵ and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. ⁶ You know that I have served your father with all my strength, ⁷ yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. ⁸ If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. ⁹ Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. ¹⁰ In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. ¹¹ Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ ¹² And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’”¹⁴ Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. ¹⁶ All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”

¹⁷ So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels.¹⁸ He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods. ²⁰ And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. ²¹ He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

 

REFLECTION

God had been faithful in blessing Jacob, as He had promised Abraham and Isaac. Jacob acknowledged that God was responsible for his prosperity (not his scheming). God’s goodness and His command to return to the Promised Land (v. 3), as well as Laban’s growing hostility (v. 5), motivated Jacob to leave Paddan-aram.

Jacob reported to his wives when the Angel of God appeared to him in the dream (vv. 10-13). In this revelation God promised to be with him. Clearly, this was a reminder of the promises God and Jacob had made at Bethel (28:16-22). It assured Jacob that God remembered His promise and would keep it. It also reminded Jacob of his promise to God.

God did not bless Jacob because of his godliness, rather, it’s entirely due to God’s grace and His faithfulness to Abraham to work miracles and to bless His people.

Thank God for His blessings in your life.

 

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Genesis 30 English Standard Version (ESV)

Jacob’s Prosperity

²⁵ As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.” ²⁷ But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. ²⁸ Name your wages, and I will give it.” ²⁹ Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has fared with me. ³⁰ For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?” ³¹ He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it: ³² let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages. ³³ So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.” ³⁴ Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.” ³⁵ But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in the charge of his sons. ³⁶ And he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flock.

³⁷ Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. ³⁸ He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, ³⁹ the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰ And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock. ⁴¹ Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks, ⁴² but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. ⁴³ Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

 

REFLECTION

After working for Laban for 14 years, Jacob asked permission to return to His homeland with his family.  He has made an agreement with Laban that those flocks with stripes will belong to him as his wage.  Jacob credited God for the result that the herds produced a majority of the dark, spotted or speckled animals.  And in six years he acquired quite a wealth of flocks for himself.

God works comfortably within nature and outside of nature.  He can turn “natural” event to His purposes just as He supernaturally intervenes and works miracles.

Remain silent before God and meditate upon your successes and God’s blessings in your life.  Ponder the natural or coincidental explanation versus the supernatural or providential explanation for them.  Write down what you learned or were reminded of during the silence.

In what sense are you giving credit where credit is due for the good things that happen to you?  Talk to God about it.

 

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Genesis 29 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, 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 Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. ¹⁸ Jacob loved Rachel. And 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 that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” ²⁰ So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.

²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” ²² So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. ²³ But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. ²⁴ (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.)²⁵ And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”²⁶ Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. ²⁷ Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” ²⁸ Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. ²⁹ (Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.) ³⁰ So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.

 

REFLECTION

Jacob’s marriage to two sisters, and acceptance of their servants as concubines was not immoral by the standards of his culture.  Yet the conflict in Jacob’s home suggests how wise it is to adopt monogamous marriage, as God intended.

Each of the main characters strived for something he or she did not have, rather than seeking contentment in God’s gifts.  Rachel could have been happy in Jacob’s love, but was jealous of her sister’s fertility.  Leah could have found satisfaction in her sons, but yearned for Jacob’s love.  Laban could have valued people rather than wealth, and would have been loved by them all.  Jacob could have taken a stand against his father-in-law and his wives, but allowed each of the others to bully or take advantage of him.  Yet, despite their flaws, God used each of these individuals to create a family that would become the instrument of His blessing to the world.  And, despite the dissatisfaction each felt, each truly was blessed.

How we need to accept ourselves and our limitations!  And how we need to rejoice in what we have, rather than make ourselves and others miserable in pursuit of what we do not have!

Are you dissatisfied with yourself or someone else?  Practice “Counting Blessings”.  List 10 blessings in your life in the past week, month or year and thank God for each one of them.  Ask God to help you understanding that you are truly blessed.

 

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Genesis 28 English Standard Version (ESV)

Jacob’s Dream

¹⁰ Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹² And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached 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 Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. ¹⁴ 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.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 And 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 early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place Bethel, t the name of the city was Luz at the first. ²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ²¹ so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, ²² and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

 

REFLECTION

Having duped his father, stolen the blessing, Jacob ran from the rage of his brother.  At sunset, he camped out at “a certain place” (v11).  The Bible indicated that it was an ordinary place named Luz, but it became Bethel – House of God.  House of God, where we encounter God and establish relationship with God, can be an ordinary place.  House of God, also represents God’s abundant blessing, which cannot be obtained through our diligent planning, but was given by God according to His will.  God unexpectedly appeared to Jacob under a circumstance that is beyond his control – a dream, God stood beside him and talked with him and made the ancestral promise to Jacob directly.

We’ve been taught to calculate, plan, invest, and compete.  The world tells us that it is smart to use the least resources to gain the most profit.  Therefore, we continue to calculate and plan.  Like Jacob, we want to have control of everything.  But God has a way of overthrowing our plans.  He would bless us in the most ordinary thing at a most unexpected time.

Have you ever thought that God will continue to bless you even if your company forecloses?  That God wants to meet with you and establish a deeper relationship with you through an unexpected event?

Have you had such experiences?  What is your “Bethel” where you met God?  How did you feel?  How has this experience changed you?

 

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Genesis 27 English Standard Version (ESV)

Isaac Blesses Jacob

¹⁸ So he went in 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; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” ²⁰ But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” ²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” ²² So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him.²⁴ He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” ²⁵ Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷ So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said,

“See, the smell of my son
is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed!
²⁸ May God give you of the dew of heaven
and of the fatness of the earth
and plenty of grain and wine.
²⁹ Let peoples serve you,
and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

³⁰ As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹ He also prepared delicious 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 His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” ³³ Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” ³⁴ As soon as 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 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” ³⁶ Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” ³⁷ Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” ³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

 

REFLECTION

In ancient cultures blessings given by parents or by one in authority were viewed as having great power. The deathbed blessing was equivalent to a last will, by which a person transmitted his tangible and intangible possessions to the next generation. Thus Isaac’s blessing was eagerly sought by Esau and jealously desired by Jacob.

Jacob and his mother plotted together to deceive Isaac and to steal the blessing by passing Jacob off as his older brother. They did succeed in deceiving a then sightless Isaac. But they alienated Esau so greatly that he determined to kill Jacob after Isaac died.

It’s incredible to think that God’s blessing is passed down to the next generation in such a family devastated by deceit, grief, and hatred. Through this tangled family soap opera God is making a holy people, set apart for his purposes.  In the same way, God invites us to consider how He moves to call us, nurture us, compel us and send us into the world to walk with Him.

 

PRAYER

Commit yourself and your family to God, listening for who God is calling you to be.  Ask God to continue His healing, encouragement in you that you may walk with him every day in a godly way.

 

Read chapter in full: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Genesis+26

 

Genesis 26 English Standard Version (ESV)

God’s Promise to Isaac

¹ Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. ² And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. ³ Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. ⁴ I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, ⁵ because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Isaac and Abimelech

⁶ So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷ When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance. ⁸ When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. ⁹ So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’”¹⁰ Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” ¹¹ So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

¹² And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, ¹³ and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. ¹⁴ He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵ (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) ¹⁶ And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

²³ From there he went up to Beersheba. ²⁴ And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” ²⁵ So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

²⁶ When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, ²⁷ Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” ²⁸ They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, ²⁹ that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.” ³⁰ So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ³¹ In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. ³² That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” ³³ He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

 

REFLECTION

Esau despised his birthright and sold it to Jacob, Jacob (Israel) now possessed the covenant promises that Esau despised. What value did the covenant really have?

First, God’s guidance (vv1-6). The Lord appeared to Isaac and directed him to stay in Canaan rather than go to Egypt. He stayed in Canaan, on coastal land then occupied by the Philistines.

Second, God’s protection (vv7-11). Even though Isaac showed the same lack of active faith that led Abraham to lie about his wife in fear that he might be killed for her, God protected Isaac and his family.

Third, the covenant assured God’s blessing (vv12-22). God made Isaac rich, multiplying his wealth.

Fourth, God’s intervention (vv23-25). When land and water rights disputes drove Isaac to move again and again, God spoke to him, urging him not to fear. The Philistines finally made a treaty with Isaac because “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you” (v28).

In each of these incidents we see – and Esau and Jacob would have observed – how important possession of God’s covenant promise truly was. With the covenant came God’s commitment to guide, to protect, to bless and to intervene. Spiritual realities seem irrelevant to some. But in fact, they are far more important than anything the materialist can touch, see or feel.

Have you experienced God’s guidance, protection, blessing, and intervention? Did you realize at the time that it was your faithful and loving Father fulfilling His commitment to you – His child? How would you respond to this?