The Majesty of God

Chapter Fourteen – Sow and Reap

Abraham sent his most trusted servant to Haran to fetch back a wife for his son Isaac, a very old man who was not likely to marry the girl himself or disappear with the bride–price. Abraham loved his son, but that did not mean he was blind to his weaknesses. As said before, Isaac was an easy–going person, which is wonderful trait, but also prone to get sentimental about his relatives and be persuaded to stay among them, as was the custom when a man took a wife. This was so that the wife's family could ensure that their daughter and her children were not mistreated.

The servant loaded up ten camels, taking many gifts with him on the caravan that he led to Mesopotamia. When he came to Haran at twilight, he stood by the well outside its walls and pondered his mission. Most of the young women would come to the well at this time when it was cool to fetch water. How was he going to know which of the young women who came to the well was the right one for his master's son?

He believed in God, but would God answer him based on his own faith and righteous behaviour? He asked God for Abraham's sake and Isaac's sake, reminding Him of their faithfulness to Him, to show him the right person. He put before Him a sign. The right girl would be kind, generous, energetic, willing to serve. She would give him water when he asked for it, and then offer to water his camels, also. It was unlikely that anyone would offer to water his camels when he had a contingent of strong men with him who would have done it, if he hadn't told them to not water the camels.

Even before he was finished praying, Abraham's greatniece Rebekah came to the well to fetch water for her household. She was gorgeous. It obviously was not the custom for women to wear a veil, if Abraham's servant could take note of her beauty. If she wore a head covering, it may have been for protection from the sun's heat and from getting sunburn. It may also have been protection from dust. Men wore head coverings also, for the same reasons. We can't assume that the modesty customs of the Jews in Jesus' time were applied in more ancient times.

No doubt, there were plenty of well–off men who were vying to win Rebekah's favour and get permission from her father to marry her. Rebekah wasn't impressed with any of them, yet, and her brother Laban probably backed her up, urging his father to not pressure her into getting married, biding his time, waiting for the bidding to go up. The hopeful candidates for her hand were apt to do him favours in hopes of him persuading his sister to marry one of them. He was also his father's heir and would inherit the gifts given to her family.

The servant asked Rebekah for water and she gave it to him, and then his heart soared when she offered to water his camels, also. Rebekah was beautiful and her family was wealthy, but she was not conceited. She did not think it was beneath her to serve others. She ran back and forth between the well and the watering trough until she had watered all the camels. Abraham's warriors stared at her in admiration along with him. The servant could see that she was strong and energetic.

The servant was overcome with awe that his prayer for guidance was answered so quickly, and that the girl was such a beautiful, healthy creature, and one who showed such lovely character, but he was also anxious as to whether this maiden would accept his offer of marriage on behalf of his master's son.

When Rebekah finished watering the camels, the old man gave her a beautiful gold nose ring with intricate chains to grace her cheeks, and two heavy gold bracelets, fastening them on her ears and wrists himself. She probably had not thought of getting a reward and was amazed at such generosity and honour. Then the servant asked her who her father was and if there was room in his house for him and his men to lodge. When she told him that her father was Bethuel, the son of Nahor and his wife Milcah, the servant was astounded. Rebekah assured him that there was room for them and plenty of fodder for the animals.

The man then bowed his head and worshipped God, declaring His mercy and truth for having led him to the house of his master's relatives. Rebekah was so astonished that this man had been sent by her great–uncle Abram, she ran immediately back into the city to announce this to her family, forgetting to tell the old man how to get to their house.

Her brother took one look at the fancy ring hanging from her nose and festooned across to her ears with chains, and the gleaming bracelets on her wrists, then took off for the well, cheerfully inviting the man to come to his house right away, taking credit for readying the rooms and stabling for him and his caravan. The man and his retinue were eagerly served by the family with honour, but the servant refused to eat before he explained his errand.

His hosts were enthralled as he told them how Abraham had prospered, and how Sarah had brought forth a miracle child when they were old, and that this son was his heir. Abraham wanted a wife for his son from his own relatives. He told about the sign he asked of the Lord, and how Rebekah came along and fulfilled it. He now wanted to know if they would give permission for Rebekah to marry his master's son.

Laban and his father knew better than to interfere with anything that Abraham wanted. They knew from Nahor that Abraham had a special relationship to the Creator, that he heard from Him very distinctly. He had led them out of Ur of the Chaldees and history says that it was destroyed soon after. They gave their permission.

The servant was overcome again at how things were working out so well. As Abraham had said, the Lord would send His angel before him, to prepare his way and make it prosperous. He bowed himself to the ground and worshipped God, then he loaded Rebekah and her family with many precious gifts. Afterwards they ate and drank and the servant and his escort of warriors stayed the night.

In the morning, when he rose up, the servant wanted to leave right away to return to his master. Rebekah's family entreated him to let them have at least ten days more with Rebekah, as they were unlikely to ever see her again, but the servant insisted that he wanted to leave right away. So they sent for Rebekah and asked her if she consented to go with this man. She agreed to go with him that day, so they got her packed up, and sent her and her nurse Deborah away with Abraham's servant, probably wailing because she was going away forever, and Deborah, too, though they were glad that Rebekah was marrying a man who was wealthy and powerful and would treat her well.

Isaac was out in the field at twilight talking to God, waiting to hear His feedback, and thinking on the ways of God, when the servant arrived with Rebekah. When he lifted his head, he saw the camels were coming! Here was the answer to his prayers. His bride was on that caravan. He waited until his mother died before taking a wife, so that his mother could have him all to herself after waiting so long to bear a child. Sarah died three years ago and now her tent was set up and ready for the new mistress, furnished luxuriously, freshened daily, the air laden with the scent of spices and flowers.

Isaac's eyes eagerly surveyed the figure of the shrouded woman that the faithful, old servant presented to him. The old servant is never named in the story because he is a type and a shadow of the Holy Spirit, who serves the Father and the Son, never taking any glory for Himself, though so highly honoured by Them that they will forgive blasphemies against Themselves, but never against the Holy Spirit.

Isaac handed Rebekah down from her camel and listened as the servant told him the story of how God led him to find her. He wanted to see Rebekah's face, but she was being coy with him, keeping her face veiled. He took her to Sarah's tent and they talked while they were served a meal, the maiden slipping bits of food into her mouth beneath her veil.

Rebekah's surprise that Isaac was not as handsome as she had hoped was overcome as she got to know his personality and character. He was a gem; winsome, good–humoured, kind and considerate, intelligent, well–educated, confident, but not conceited, a leader of men. Eventually, she was persuaded to remove her veil and Isaac's heart must have stood still for a moment when he saw what a beauty the Lord had given him. Rebekah was as gorgeous as Sarah and she was a woman of faith like her, too. It took faith in the goodness of God to live away from one's family, to marry a man one has not met, regardless that Isaac's father was known to be a man of great character.

Isaac mourned for the loss of his doting mother, but the sadness lifted from his heart with the arrival of Rebekah. Abraham was encouraged, too, when he saw how the Lord had worked to bring the right woman to them for his son. His heart was cheered and his faith was so rejuvenated that his body gained another blast of refreshing from the Lord. He took another wife, and she gave him six more sons. He remained living apart from Isaac with his new family, as their flocks were too great to feed together. The younger sons grew to manhood, then were given an inheritance and sent away from Isaac's territory to marry and begin their own tribes.

Isaac stumbled into the same error as his father in regards to lying about being his wife's brother. Like Sarah, Rebekah was so beautiful that Isaac was afraid men would kill him to get his wife.

He lived among the Philistines for a while and told them that Rebekah was his sister. The king invited the pair to be his guests, so that he could woo that woman into joining his harem. One day, the king looked out of a window of his palace and saw Isaac joking around with Rebekah in a private garden, probably tickling her and kissing her playfully, possibly giving her a wee slap on the butt. Then a heavy–duty clinch with their lips locked and his hands roving all over her. That wasn't how brothers behaved towards their sisters!

The king asked Isaac why he had lied. When Isaac told him that he had been afraid for his life, the king remembered the trouble that had occurred in the former king's time regarding Isaac's mother. This king may have been the very child that Abimelech's queen was trying to deliver in Abraham's time, which means he would have heard the tale many tmes from his mother of how much she suffered trying to give birth to him.

This Abimelech (the royal title given to the Philistine¹ kings) was annoyed that Isaac was like his father Abraham. Certainly he and his people were not reluctant to capture other men's wives and take them for their own, but not from men who had the blessing of a god upon them, particularly a god so powerful as the One who safeguarded these Hebrews. Abimelech rebuked Isaac for lying and assured Isaac that none of his people would do harm to him or his wife.

There was famine in the land, but Isaac trusted God and God prospered him, regardless of what was happening in Nature. God does these same miracles in modern times for those who will believe Him for it. Whatever Isaac planted, he reaped bumper crops. This was a blessing to the Philistines among whom he resided because then there was food for them to buy. Isaac increased in wealth.²

Like his father before him, Isaac was tested regarding children, though not as severely. Twenty years went by before his wife conceived. Then they had twin sons who struggled with each other in Rebekah's womb.

The youngest twin, Jacob, was the one whom God chose to lead the tribe. Jacob had serious faults, but he also yearned for God's blessing. He had the humility to know that, regardless of his natural talents, he needed big help in order to succeed in life, and he also wanted an eternal inheritance beyond that.

Jacob was the younger twin, but he was never one to put up with being pushed around or to settle quietly for second place. In the womb, he wrestled with his brother Esau so that he wouldn't be so squished, and even when Esau was preceding him through their mother's birth canal, he grabbed hold of his brother's heel in a last ditch attempt to be the first one out. He was therefore named "Jacob," which means "supplanter" or "deceiver."

In other words, his name was "Sneak," and he lived up to his name. His parents probably meant it playfully when he was born, but he was addressed by it every day and not always with affection. His big brother said it to him contemptuously, as big brothers who are full of themselves tend to address younger siblings. His father said it angrily, as he was disappointed with Jacob.

Later, Esau, whose name meant "rough," because he was so hairy, was also named Edom, which meant "Red," not just because his hair was red, but because his life was coloured by a big mistake that he made, and Jacob's name was changed to one that had a princely meaning because of a noble choice that he made to cling to God.

Esau had the brawn, but Jacob had the brains. Esau was cunning when it came to hunting, but Jacob was more intellectual. From babyhood, Esau was a boisterous extrovert, the kind of a kid that warriors looked at with affection and said, "Now there's a real boy!" It is likely that such comments were made in the hearing of the child's twin brother, who was a quiet introvert, and Jacob perceived that he was considered to be an ineffectual wimp, which was wounding to his soul.

Perhaps Esau's admirers were careless with their words because they hoped to shame the quieter child into being hardier, like his brother. Esau was like he was made of rubber, bouncing back when he tumbled while learning to walk, but Jacob probably cried and was whiny, which men usually find annoying and scoff at, making the problem worse. Either the child cries harder because nobody cares, or they are shamed into silence and become insensitive to others because they feel like nobody cares if they live or die. Jacob's parents did not find the fine balance of offering cheerful, encouraging words of, "You're okay. You can do it," to let him know that his hurts were not the end of the world, but a small inconvenience at the beginning of his exploration of it.

I think that Jacob, as a teenager, was one of the quiet, sulky ones who are a challenge to connect with, as they refuse to share their feelings, believing that, if the parent really loves them, they will be able to figure them out by paying close attention to the little clues they give about what is on their mind. Most parents are usually very busy and distracted, so they miss the clues. Isaac was probably annoyed by Jacob's sulks, considering them unmanly and immature, but a teenager is still just a child, though they are transitioning to adulthood. They also have the burden of their hormones running amok, giving them a tendency to be cranky.

Rebekah was angered at Isaac's insensitivity towards Jacob's feelings and Isaac's failure to appreciate his abilities, so she favoured Jacob over her other son. She became Jacob's champion, an over–protective mother. Isaac probably figured that Rebekah was making a sissy out of him.

Rebekah must have noticed how attentive Jacob was to what went on around him, so she would be aware that he was very intelligent. It is likely that he had a scholarly disposition. Jacob took in a lot more than Esau when their father told them about the history of mankind, which was handed down from Adam, directly to Lamech, Noah's father, then from Noah to Shem, and from Shem to Abraham. Possibly Noah also met Abraham and gave him an account of the world that existed prior to the Flood. Jacob was intrigued by his family's heritage and beliefs. He had more interest in such things than Esau did. I imagine Jacob listening with rapt attention while Esau busied himself by sharpening arrows and knives to keep himself from being bored to death.

Isaac gloried in Esau's strength, daring, and athletic ability. He assumed his firstborn would inherit his place as Chief and it was fitting to his way of thinking that Esau was naturally endowed with strength, competitiveness, and confidence. Such a man would lead the tribe successfully against aggressors and increase its wealth, as well as sire strong, healthy offspring.

Jacob was inclined to be artistic. He learned to weave, as it was useful for a man to have a trade to fall back on, if misfortunes left him penniless, but he also enjoyed making the colourful patterns in the cloth. Weaving was a man's job, though it was not considered a manly job, as women did it, too, and it was a sedentary occupation, rather than active and aggressive. Enjoying it as much as he did was not considered to be manly. Jacob also liked to cook.

Cooking was something both boys could do well, having learned from their mother to blend herbs and spices skillfully. Esau could see the practicality of learning to do this. His skill was hunting, and if he should have nobody to cook for him out in the field, he wanted to be able to make tasty meals for himself. It also won him more favour with his father when he presented him with delicious venison.

The Bible tells us later on that God chose Jacob for His special purpose while still in his mother's womb because He loved him. He also said that He hated Esau while he was still in his mother's womb, before he had done any evil. The Book of Romans addresses this issue in chapter nine, verse fourteen, where it says, "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid."

God loves everybody, even the people He sends to Hell because they chose to reject His plan of salvation for their soul. He sent Jesus to die for us ALL. Because He loves us all, He lets us choose Him or reject Him, and also because He wants those who choose Him to truly love Him. He certainly does not hate children. He is furious when they are mistreated and that escalates with the severity of the abuse. If people do not repent, their punishment in Hell for abusing a child is very severe.

But God knew ahead of time the bad choices that Esau would make. He hated Esau's choices. He hated that Esau cossetted his lustful flesh and chose the ways of carnality. The Bible also tells us in Hebrews 12:17 that Esau never truly repented of his decision to sell his birthright. He always found a way to justify it and continued to resent God for not agreeing with his rationale.

I came into contact with a group home many years ago, which was named Esau House, based on the mistaken notion that Esau was less advantaged than Jacob, in sympathy with teens who supposed that they were mistreated by their parents because God hated them. The namers of that group home were feeding the children's rebellion by reinforcing this mistaken belief.

Esau was given the same advantages that Jacob was given to know God and His ways. He was raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord by his parents. None of the benefits of his father's wealth were withheld from him as he was growing up. He was treated equal to his brother in that regard.

Moreover, though he did not get as much attention and affection and approval from his mother, he got it from his father, more than his brother did, which weighted things in his favour because his father was the Chief. Men and women in the tribe naturally had more respect for the Chief than for his wife, for the Chief had more authority, as well as the knowledge and skills to lead them into battle against their enemies. Most of the tribe probably adored Esau, being very proud of his skills and certain that he would lead them to victory, if they were attacked. That is very important to a group of people who (apparently) did not have land that they could claim as their own, but were dependent on being allowed to live among the fierce inhabitants of a land that Isaac was very attached to.

The only disadvantage that Esau grew up with was that his mother did not like him as much as she liked his brother, but that was because Esau chose to be blockhead. She did not abuse him, and he could have won her over, if he had paid attention to her godly values and adopted them as his own, training himself to be more considerate towards her and his brother.

God knew that Jacob would make bad choices, too, but He also knew that Jacob had good motives, and he would accept reproof and learn from how he was disciplined because he inclined his heart towards God. He knew that Jacob would ultimately die in faith, trusting God to the end that He would fulfill His promises.

God knew before the twins were born how they would respond to having one of their parents favour the other child over the other. God gave their parents a free will to choose to raise their children as they thought best, or to seek His face for His wisdom in how to deal with their children in the best way possible.

Isaac set a wave of dysfunction in his family in motion by favouring Esau. Rebekah had a choice of asking God how to deal with that situation in a way that would be fair to both children, but she reacted in anger to Isaac, and to Esau, who lapped up his father's attention without any regard for his brother, even when he grew older and his awareness increased.

I gather that Esau wanted all the attention and admiration, and did not care if his brother got only bare leftovers from both parents. I surmise that he deeply resented his mother, and God was a target for his resentment, as well, because He permitted that situation to exist.³ Thus, he despised his mother in his heart, though he was not overtly discourteous due to being taught by his father that he must treat his mother with respect, and he also gave lip service to God for his father's sake, but his heart was far from Him.

Jacob's response to his father's favouritism did not carry as heavy a load of resentment. He mourned it, but he was more humble than Esau, and recognized that he had weaknesses within himself and could not hope to succeed in life without God's help. He did not blame his father so much for favouring Esau, who was strong and fearless. Jacob knew that his brains were of value in leading a tribe, but a chief needed to be strong and fearless, too.

Jacob did not resent God for not making him stronger and an extrovert like Esau. He knew that it was actually more essential to be intelligent to lead a tribe whose calling was to serve God and bring forth the Messiah. If a man had strength and daring, but lacked wisdom, he should at least have the wisdom to gather wise counsellors around him and pay serious heed to their advice, but Esau was inclined towards doing what he wanted to do, and that centred around gratifying his flesh.

Jacob, on the other hand, because he knew that, if one had God's favour, they could go beyond their natural limitations, desired God. He wanted God's purpose for his tribe, that of bringing forth the Anointed One who would take away the sins of the world and establish righteousness in it, and he wanted God's power so that he could fulfill the calling on his life.

In spite of some natural resentment towards his father, Jacob respected Isaac because of God's calling upon him, but it was through his mother that the flame of a passion for God was ignited and received the most nurturing. His mother was a beautiful woman from a wealthy family who could have had a wide choice of princes to marry, chieftains who already had their own territory, but because she hungered to know God, she left her home, her family, and a familiar culture to marry a man she had never met. She knew in her heart that it was God's will for her, and that going to live with Isaac and his father presented her with the best opportunity in the whole world to get to know God better, the God who had supernaturally pointed Abraham's servant in her direction. In spite of her faults and mistakes, Rebekah was a very special lady.

We can see from this story that God does not reject people because of sinful behaviour or attitudes, for Jacob had sinful attitudes and behaviour, but rather He rejects people who hold sinful attitudes and refuse to give them up. He knew before Esau was born that he would choose to respond to his mother's favouritism of his brother and Jacob's deceit in a stubbornly selfish way, and impute unrighteousness to God, rather than repent of not resolving his anger appropriately.

For things to be fair to both brothers, Dad would have to pay more attention to Jacob, which would take some attention away from him, and Dad would have to recognize that Jacob excelled Esau in some ways, which meant that he would find some fault with Esau. Esau did not want to give up any of his father's attention, approval, and favour; he wanted it all, and he wanted his mother's complete acceptance, as well, without having to change anything about himself.

Jacob did not try to compete with his brother in Esau's areas of talent. It would have been an exercise in frustration because he did not have the athletic ability nor the drive to be a macho type of man. He stayed close to camp and refined his domestic skills under the tutelage of his mother. He used his talents one day to trick his brother into giving up his birthright, the double portion that is usually inherited by the eldest son.

Did he do it for greed? Considering where his heart was, I doubt it. The son who inherited the leadership of the tribe was the one who also received the double portion. Usually the eldest inherited. Jacob wanted to lead the tribe; he knew it was more likely to stay away from idolatry and seek after God if he led it. He needed material prosperity to minister to the tribe's needs and keep it large and strong enough with servants and warriors to prevent his dependents and descendents from being wiped out by other tribes and bandits.

To become the heir, the most logical way for that to happen would be for his brother to die, without having had any children to inherit in his place. It was unlikely that someone as healthy and strong and skilled in war as Esau was going to die while young, either from natural causes, or at the hand of another. Jacob certainly was intelligent enough, and could be a skilled enough actor, to secretly murder his brother and take his inheritance by that means, but that was totally abhorrent to him.

It would make him ineligible to lead a tribe to love God and bring forth the Anointed, so that sins would be forgiven and righteousness established, if he used such evil means to gain the birthright, or to have evil desires in his heart. He was in a quandary. He could see that his brother was not fit for the destiny that God had ordained for the tribe. He was absolutely right about that. There seemed to be only three ways that he would receive that birthright, and that was if Esau either died from illness or accident, or if Isaac realized that Jacob should be the leader, or if Esau suddenly realized that Jacob was the one who should lead the tribe and willingly handed the birthright over to him. The latter two seemed utterly impossible.

The last option was the most impossible. Esau prided himself on being a man of action and despised Jacob that he was a man of prayer. As far as Esau was concerned, Jacob prayed because he was weak, and also to try to suck up to their father who set great store in his beliefs. Yes, Isaac was a man who prayed, but he was also a successful man in spite of that, whereas Esau did not see that praying did anything for Jacob.

Jacob felt that he was left with no option but to wait for God to let his brother become ill or die in an accident, but that did not sit easy with him either. It was unrighteous of him to wish his brother was dead, even if it was for a righteous cause. How else would he gain the birthright and leadership of the tribe, though? For conscience sake, he had to make sure that in no way did he have any part in causing his brother to become ill or to have an accident.

There were possibly incidents where he saved his brother from injury by pointing out possible dangers, while fighting the temptation to pretend that he did not see danger. If this was the case, Esau probably mocked him as being fearful, and Isaac likely thought that Jacob lacked courage and initiative, confirming his misconception that Esau was more fit to be a leader. No doubt, this would be terrifically frustrating to Jacob.

There was no way he could have explained his motive of wanting to have a clear conscience if Esau died, without looking like he was envious of his brother, which is another quality that would not recommend him to his father and would invite scorn from his brother. When people develop a negative mindset towards a person, they ignore their good qualities and attribute good behaviour to self–serving motives; it is almost impossible to change their perception.

With new developments, Jacob decided that he had to do something to get that birthright away from Esau. Esau got married. He not only took a wife, but he took two wives around the same time, the daughters of chieftains.

Esau figured that marriage with these women would give him valuable political connections. He was forty years old, and his parents had not approved of any of the daughters of the Canaanites as a wife for him, but just how long did they expect him to wait for the right person? Were they expecting some paragon of womanly virtue to just show up some day out of the blue? If that was so, she was taking her sweet time about it. Besides that, marrying the daughters of their neighbours would assure his father that Esau did not intend to desert the territory that God promised to Abraham's descendents.

He usually honoured his father's religious expectations, but it was just getting ridiculous, as far as he was concerned, for them to expect a virile man like him, whom women had been throwing themselves at for years, to retain his virginity any longer. If it had not been for Dad's religious prohibition against him being indiscriminate with his seed, he would have fully consummated his sexual activities with women long, long ago. Normally, he liked to please his father, but he figured that Isaac would acknowledge that a man has needs that have to be taken care of. This was one of those cases when it would be easier to get forgiveness than permission.

As for Mom, well, who cared what she felt about it? In fact, if his wives annoyed Mom, all the better; she had it coming to her because she thought more of Jacob than she did of him. Those girls were a couple of sassy, little vixens, so it was likely to happen. They would spend time with Mom far more than they ever would with Dad, so if they were cheeky to her, she would have to deal with it. They were not likely to say anything disrespectful to his father, though, because he was the Chief and they knew that Esau was very close to his father.

Jacob was alarmed about the marriages. He did not doubt that his brother would soon have some children. He had to get that birthright before any sons were conceived. Killing him was out of the question, but Esau had a blood sugar problem that Jacob could take advantage of. He knew that Esau was usually ferociously hungry when he returned from hunting because he got so absorbed in hunting that he did not take time to eat, if he made a kill close to home.

Yes, if he could trick Esau at one of those vulnerable times, perhaps he would hand over the birthright. He knew that Esau would not take it as a serious matter that anyone would hold him to, having obtained it when he was in a weak condition, but Isaac would enforce it because he taught that a person should always keep their word, even when it was not convenient to do so, and he had set them an example of this at various times.

Jacob felt relieved when he came up with this brilliant idea. This was so much better than wishing his brother was dead, for he knew in his heart that, regardless of having looked out for his bullying brother's safety, his heart really was not in it. Wishing someone was dead so that he could benefit from their death was like harbouring murder in his heart, and he hated that he had to fight that desire so hard.

Trickery was not right, but it was definitely the lesser of two evils, and he thought he did not have time to wait for God to move. Maybe God would not let Esau's wives conceive, but in his observation, it was usually godly women who were to bring forth a godly seed who had trouble conceiving, whereas wicked men seemed to breed like rabbits, and having two wives doubled Esau's chances of soon having a son.

Jacob found a reason to station himself on the outskirts of camp in a place where Esau was likely to enter on his return, having noted his direction when he left the camp to go hunting. Perhaps he volunteered to watch over some sheep that were grazing there. Jacob had a savoury pot of red lentils ready and a pile of fragrant bread. Esau approached the outskirts of the camp feeling weak from having stayed out too long and demanded Jacob's food as soon as he smelled its delicious aroma. He was so faint from hunger that he thought he was going to die.

Jacob demanded Esau's birthright in return for the lentils. Esau, being somewhat of a bonehead who acted on his impulses and exaggerated to himself the enormity of his needs, figured that his birthright would not do him any good if he died of hunger, so he agreed. He doubted that anyone would hold him to such a ridiculous bargain.

He got a shock when Isaac agreed with Jacob that the birthright was now his. Isaac disliked Jacob's deception and it deepened his disapproval of him, but he was also disappointed in his favourite son that Esau would treat something so important as if it was trivial. The only way Esau was going to learn to be a man of his word was to make him suffer the consequences of having given it so lightly. He would have to work harder to increase his wealth and bring it back up to what it should have been.

I think that Isaac decided to impart the blessing soon after this, not only because he was getting old, but to mollify Esau about having lost his birthright. Jacob now stood to inherit the double portion, but Isaac still had the option of naming who would lead the tribe when he died, and the one from whom the Messiah would be descended was not always the one who inherited the birthright. Isaac wanted Esau to feel that he had the most important parts of what still remained for him to confer. I could be wrong about the timing; Jacob might have stolen the birthright when they were much younger and before Esau married, but Jacob's motive for stealing the birthright would still hold true.

Jacob was now deep in his father's bad books after he stole the birthright. Rebekah despaired of Isaac ever seeing Jacob's value and realizing that he was the one who should inherit his position because he was the son who valued the things of God. Isaac requested that Esau kill some venison for him and prepare it with herbs and spices in a special recipe that Isaac enjoyed. When Isaac announced to Esau that he was going to impart God's blessing on him, Rebekah had a little talk with Jacob.

The deal was that he would take his brother's place. Isaac was blind from age and he would be fooled, if Jacob wore his brother's clothes, so that he smelled like him, and if he let Mom put some goatskin patches on his neck and hands, so that he felt hairy like Esau. Jacob worried that his father would curse him when he found out about the deception. Rebekah said that, if that happened, she would take the curse in his stead. She was willing to be punished for Jacob's sake because she loved him so much. It is not to Jacob's credit that he would have allowed that. Rebekah gave him a delicious meal to carry in to his father.

The deception worked. Isaac suspected Jacob because his voice had a higher register than his brother's, but Rebekah's ruses duped him and he prophesied blessing on Jacob. Isaac got the prophecy from God. God wasn't fooled. He knew who was kneeling before Isaac, but He went ahead and sent forth a blessing to Jacob because it was His plan to do so. Jacob, however, was going to be disciplined for having used dishonest means to obtain the blessing, instead of waiting for God to move Esau out of the way without Jacob offending him.

Jacob could have gotten the blessing without needing to stoop to deception to obtain it. Jacob and Rebekah knew that it was God's plan to place Jacob over his brother, but neither Jacob nor Rebekah could see how it would ever happen. They made the mistake of thinking that the control was in Isaac's hands because he was the one with the authority. In this way, they made a god of Isaac, and let him come between them and the Lord.

Control is ultimately always in God's hands. If Rebekah and Jacob had left things alone and not meddled, Jacob would have gotten the birthright and the blessing without any muddle. Isaac would have figured out who was supposed to be his heir when he went to bless Esau and got only silence from the Lord, or heard Him say, "This one is not my choice." Esau's blessing would not have come forth until after the main blessing was conferred on Jacob.

Jacob and Rebekah set themselves up for a lot of suffering because they did not wait patiently for God to work things out in His own way. They waited for a while, but they waited impatiently and with resentment. It is ironic that Jacob was right on the verge of seeing God confer the birthright and the blessing on him when he decided to take matters into his own hands, and ended up with a huge mess that led to detours and losses and heartaches that could have been avoided.

Isaac thought he could not count on living for much longer, though he did, in fact, live for another eighty years.⁴ Perhaps his physical blindness, a symptom of old age, worked hand in hand with his spiritual blindess concerning the character of his sons to prompt him to announce his intention to confer the leadership blessing on Esau.

If Jacob had waited patiently for the Lord to fulfill His word, he would have made better use of his time by preparing for spiritual leadership and developing stronger character. Instead of seething with resentment over how his father favoured his brother, he would have pitied Esau that he was not the chosen one, and not grudged him any of the affection that their father gave Esau. He would have seen that Esau needed that affection and favour more then he did, to help soothe his feelings about not being selected to be the leader of the tribe. He also would have been kind and helpful to his brother, so that when Esau learned that Jacob was to inherit the birthright and the blessing, it would alleviate his rage and help him realize that Jacob was better suited to lead their people in God's ways. As it was, because of his bickering and deceptions, Esau considered Jacob unworthy of those honours.

Esau was enraged when he came into Isaac's chamber later with a tasty meal in his hands and discovered that Jacob had stolen his blessing. Isaac was shaken up, too. He was amazed that God had released that blessing, but since He had, he realized that the blessing would stand. Esau passionately begged for a blessing, as well, and one was delivered to him, but it was too late to obtain the blessing of taking Isaac's place as leader when he was gone, which also carried with it the honour of progenitor of the Messiah.

What Esau didn't realize was that he would never have inherited those things anyway. God was not pleased with his shallow attitude towards holy things. Esau knew that, in the matter of the birthright, he had displeased his father when he traded it for a meal of lentils, and he deduced that God was displeased also.

Esau examined his heart and tried to work up the proper feeling about it, whipping himself with remorse in an effort to propitiate God. Surely when God saw how much he was making himself suffer, He would feel sorry for him and forgive him.

But salvation does not work that way. It does not come through works, not even the work of making oneself feel bad for having done something that they know is displeasing to God, so that He will be satisfied by the emotional suffering they have put themselves through (even if they privately think that God is making too big of a deal about those things). Salvation is a gift from God. After one has realized in their heart that they are guilty of awful deeds, for even the smallest of sins are obscene to a holy God, and are horrified when they realize what they have done, they must turn away from their sins and turn to God for Him to wash them clean and deliver them from temptation.

Those who have truly repented are so thankful to God for having washed the stains of sin from their heart that, even if they have to suffer the consequences of their mistakes in their Earth life, they rejoice because they are clean. They do not have to bear their filth any longer. Men may still look down on them, but in the eyes of the One who matters the most, they are deemed innocent. They can enter into God's presence and enjoy Him.

Esau did not truly repent of his sin. He could always justify it to himself by blaming Jacob for taking advantage of his weakness. He only felt sorry for the consequences of his actions. In the end, his conclusion was, "When a man is hungry, he has to eat."

It is possible that Esau did not recognize God for who He truly is. He may have respected Him as only one of many deities, the particular one whom his father served and therefore released His power on Isaac's and his offsprings' behalf. He went along with his father's account of history, as it elevated their family, showing them to not only be of noble blood, but also supernaturally favoured. If he'd had a proper reverence for God as the only God, and the only safe source of power, he would not have married heathen women. What religious service he did render, if it did not interfere too much with his own impulses, he did so as a matter of tradition out of respect for his father, rather than of devotion to God.

His wives may have influenced him to regard demonic sources of power as viable for fulfilling his ambitions. They may have brought charms and small figures of idols into his home and hid them from Esau because of his upbringing. They possibly went to the witch doctors of their religion when they felt ill, and muttered incantations for prosperity and when they vied with each other to be their husband's favourite. They may have openly cast spells, or paid a sorcerer to cast spells, against Jacob when they learned of how he stole tehir husband's birthright, and then again when he stole the blessing. Esau probably approved of them using witchcraft against his brother.

God had this drama recorded because He wanted us to see that Man is not to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. In fact, we are to esteem His will far above the necessities of life. Later when the Messiah showed up, satan set this same snare before Yeshua by challenging Him to change some stones to bread after He had fasted for forty days and was weak with hunger. In His reply, Yeshua made it clear that we should never do what the flesh or the devil wants us to do, no matter how desperately needy we are.

Esau received a blessing anyway because he was Isaac's son, but he was still enraged over what Jacob did to him. He planned to kill Jacob when their father died, which he figured would be soon because Isaac was so old. Isaac was sixty when the twins were born and now he was 100.

Rebekah got wind of Esau's plot and urged Isaac to send Jacob away to get a wife from among their relatives in Haran. She pointed out to Isaac that the two Hittite women whom Esau married despised his family's morality and beliefs; it made her weary to deal with them.

Another consideration was how those wicked women were going to raise the children that they bore Esau. It always distresses a godly grandparent's heart to see their grandchildren being raised in unwholesome ways that are contrary to reverence for the Lord. Isaac agreed that Jacob needed a wife who was more in tune with their ways, so he sent him away with his blessing.

Isaac forgave Rebekah for deceiving him. He realized that he brought the situation on himself by being obtuse about his sons, too caught up with the one who appealed to his earthly interests to recognize that the younger son cared more than his brother about the things that really matter. The fact that God did not see fit to let Isaac discern who was in front of him receiving the blessing was a reproof about letting himself get too focussed on the things that men esteem. He was humble enough to see that and was now more willing to listen to what Rebekah had to say.

He was also left with regrets of having recognized Jacob's value too late. Jacob was no longer around for him to repair his relationship with him right away. Jacob would have to somehow earn an income in order to buy a bride from their relatives in Syria and that could take some time. He hoped to stay alive until Jacob returned, to affirm to his tribe that Jacob was to be their Chief, regardless of how he had stolen the birthright and blessing from his older brother.

Though Isaac forgave her, Rebekah was still left with repercussions of her sin. The son whom she loved was sent away and she never saw him again in her Earth life. Meanwhile, the remaining son now hated her.

Esau had always preferred his father's company. It was his father who enjoyed his company and was proud of him. Esau did not relate well to women because he was alienated from his mother. He could not empathize with how it wounds a woman to see her husband favour one child over another, instead of loving them equally.

In their anger at the father for not loving their children equally, mothers tend to then make the mistake of favouring the overlooked child to even things up, not considering that they wound their other child by not giving them as much attention as the one they feel sorry for. To be emotionally healthy, children need both a loving father and a loving mother.

Esau retaliated against his mother's emotional neglect by ignoring her most of the time. To guard his heart against hurt, Esau convinced himself that he didn't need his mother, but that just played into the vicious cycle of hurt that wheeled through the family. After all, Rebekah was human and had feelings, too.

Wounded feelings made Rebekah's heart grow cold towards her eldest son. If she did not have a chip on her shoulder towards him, she would never have urged Jacob to do something that would wound Esau. Knowing that it would wound him and enrage him, she went ahead with it, figuring that she had nothing to lose because he didn't love her anyway and she had no hope that he ever would. She thought Esau was a bonehead who would never change. Her assessment was probably right, but we should always keep the door to reconciliation unlocked on our side.

I think that Rebekah was astounded afterwards by the enormity of what she had done to Esau. In spite of her faults, she was a decent woman. I think she regretted that she short–changed Esau by not appreciating his abilities, and not being as tender and affectionate and attentive to him as she was to his brother. Esau needed her as much as he needed his father, even if he didn't think so.

Esau was too well brought up and respectful of his father to do anything drastic to his mother to pay her back, but he was the type of person who would make her feel his displeasure over her betrayal. It certainly would be evident in the vibes she got from him. His voice was probably studiously polite, but cold when he answered her, and he probably avoided her as much as possible. If Rebekah longed to heal his hurt, he would sense that. To make her suffer, he would refuse to accept her repentance and receive her offers of love.

When he saw that Isaac sent his brother away to take a wife from among their relatives, it finally sunk in that Isaac was displeased with his wives. Isaac was offended on Rebekah's behalf for the impudence that she had to deal with, as well as how their worldliness vexed her, which she had seen more than he had, as she was exposed to their conversation more than he was. It is unlikely that Isaac made much effort to engage Esau's wives in conversation, especially if their replies and remarks were frivolous or asinine.

Esau boasted of their virtues and political connections to try to put Isaac at ease about the marriages, but he could see that his father was not fooled. If he was sending Jacob away to get a wife from among the Semites, and specifically from their own close relatives, then Dad was not pleased with him for having married these ungodly daughters of ungodly Ham.

Therefore, to show his father that he was trying to please him, he took one of Ishmael's daughters for a wife. Her name means sickly, so we can deduce from this that she had poor health. I wonder if some of the old jealousy towards Isaac was rearing up in Ishmael when he gave this daughter to Isaac's son. He would not deny his wealthy, powerful nephew one of his daughters, but did he give him this particular daughter to weaken Isaac's descendents?

Mahalath's name was changed to a nice one that means fragrant, not only a faith statement regarding her health, but also indicative of beauty. Esau's wives had more than one name, as most people do, and one of his Canaanite wives was sometimes called Basemath. Ishmael's daughter, who was raised with some knowledge of God, was appreciated and valued by her father–in–law, and probably also by her husband because this was the wife that his Dad liked, as well as being his own blood relative (his cousin), and her new name reflects that affection. It was a relief to Ishmael's daughter to live with kindly in–laws, rather than with her ill–tempered father and warrior brothers who may have despised her for having a weak constitution.

It is possible that she never warmed to Rebekah, taking her husband's part against his mother, nor is it likely that Rebekah felt particularly warm towards her. After all, Ishmael was the son of Abraham's slave, who had been no relative of hers, and if Mahaleth/Bashemath shared her husband's grudge against his mother, it would be hard to get any warm response to overtures of friendship. But Mahaleth felt kinship with Isaac and it was mutual, for he loved his brother Ishmael, and grew very fond of his niece.⁵

It was up to Isaac to guide his son, and God let Isaac live for a long time so that he could cool Esau's wrath against his brother. Jacob was going to come home some day. Esau needed to learn godly values and about how God operates to help him be more accepting about how things had turned out.

Eventually, Isaac sent Esau away to establish his own territory. The land of Canaan was slated for Jacob's descendents and, like Ishmael, the older brother had to be prevented from marring the chosen one's inheritance. Isaac, at that point, probably gave Esau a third of his wealth and pointed out that there was not room for both Esau's herds and what he was looking after for Jacob, which Jacob would receive when he died. Esau could see that his portion was quite sizeable, regardless of what his brother had gained by deception, and he was likely relieved to get away from the mockers in the tribe who called him Red, pretending that it was because his hair was red, but really because he had given away his birthright for a stew made from red lentils. Though he was going to miss his father, he was glad to get away from those who had contempt for him.

Esau went to live among the cave dwellers to the south, hiring himself and his men out as mercenaries, and possibly raiding caravans on the side. It was part of his blessing that he and his descendents would be mighty warriors, though with that kind of blessing, one should be careful to engage only in righteous causes. Otherwise, one stores up wrath against themselves for using their gift the wrong way.

Jacob headed east after leaving his parents. He felt lonely and homesick and afraid of the future. He was close to his mother, and he'd always had hopes of getting close to his father, but it didn't seem like it would ever happen now. He was being forced by his brother's rancour to go out into the world on his own to make his fortune.

Dad could not deny him the double portion upon his death, and he could not withdraw the blessing, nor did he want to withdraw the blessing, but Isaac punished Jacob's deception by not supporting him any more. Jacob was sent out on foot with only bare necessities to keep him going until he could get a job. It was also essential for the sake of measuring how God would bless him with increase to have no capital with which to start a business.

Far from being confident about gathering a fortune, Jacob wasn't certain that he would manage to take care of his minimum needs in such a wicked world. Up until now, as the privileged son of a powerful chief, all his physical needs had been taken care of. In that insulated world, he never wondered where his next meal was coming from, he always had fine clothes, a luxurious tent, maybe at times an actual house to live in, a donkey, camel, or horse to ride, and all the fit men in the tribe were obliged to protect him from attacks. Yes, he had God's blessing, but guilt about how he obtained it undermined his confidence in that blessing.

Jacob lay down at night to take some rest, with his neck and back supported by rocks. Possibly they were rocks from an altar that Abraham built when he stopped off in Bethel, scattered afterwards by the other passersby. Then Jacob had an amazing dream. He saw a staircase, maybe like a spiral of DNA, that reached to Heaven and angels on it going back and forth between Heaven and the Earth.

God stood at the top of the staircase and told him that He was the God of his fathers and that He would give him the land upon which he was lying. He said that He would make a nation of him and bring forth the Messiah out of his nation, who would bless all the nations of the Earth. God promised Jacob that He would be with him and look after him and do all that He declared unto him.

Jacob was astounded and terrified when he awoke. He set up an altar with the rock he had used for a pillow and poured some oil on it. I heard a pastor criticize Jacob for using "cheap oil." He may have made a good point about how it is wrong to not give God our best, but it was wrong to run Jacob down. Give the man a break. It was all that Jacob had. Even if his father had not withdrawn his support, Jacob was a solitary traveller on a journey and could take with him only what he could carry. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 8:12, "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what a man has, and not according to what he doesn't have." God looks on the intentions of the heart, not the outward appearances. Besides that, the pastor was assuming that Jacob's oil was cheap. His father was rich and probably had high quality oil for every day use.

When Jacob came to the outskirts of Haran, he ran into one of his cousins. She was a beautiful, young girl named Rachel, the youngest daughter of his Uncle Laban. Rachel helped look after her father's sheep and Jacob saw her when he was resting at a well. He asked the shepherds, who were waiting for the rest of the shepherds to get there, if they knew his uncle. They said they did and noted that Laban's daughter Rachel was approaching. He fell in love with her at first sight.

Jacob married Rachel, after he worked for her father for seven years as the price of her hand in marriage, but her father tricked him into marrying her older sister first. Jacob had 13 children, and one of his sons, Joseph, became very wealthy and powerful in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh, after his brothers sold him into slavery. Consider how old Jacob was when he arrived at his uncle's doorstep.

Jacob was 40 years old when he left Canaan. When he arrived in Syria, 37 years later, he was 77 years old and had never married! His and Isaac's ages at death clue us in that he made some detours before he got to Syria. He was 130 years old⁶ when Joseph was 39 years old, so that means that he was 91 years old when Joseph was born, not in his fifties.

This is how I figured out the timeline, based on ages and lengths of time given in the Bible:

• Jacob worked for his uncle for 7 years and his wife Leah had Reuben, his firstborn, when he had worked for Laban almost 8 years.
• Jacob continued to consumate his marriage to Leah for a week, then took Rachel as his wife and worked 7 more years for her.
• Jacob worked for his wives for 14 years and for his personal fortune, 6 years.
• Rachel and Leah gave Jacob their maids to be his concubines to give them more children.
• So 12 children were born among his 4 wives within 12 years. Benjamin, the youngest, was born after Jacob returned to Canaan.
• Jacob was 120 when his father died, so he returned to Canaan before he was 120.
• Joseph was 17 when he was sold into slavery in Egypt.
• The Bible says Joseph was 30 when he stood before Pharoah and became his Prime Minister (Grand Vizier). [Genesis 41:46]
• Seven years of plenty came after that, which would make Joseph 37 when it ended.
• The famine started and a year later, when Joseph was 38, his brothers showed up to buy grain.
• Joseph sent his brothers away, keeping Simeon in prison as a hostage. He was 39 when the rest of them returned.
• Joseph told his brothers that the famine would last for 5 more years, so to go get their father and bring him to Egypt. [Genesis 45:6]
• Jacob was 130 years old when he was introduced to Pharaoh. 130 - 39 = 91. [Genesis 47:9]
• Because we know that Jacob served only 20 years for Laban, we know that he cannot have been 47 when he married Leah.
• We know that he finished his contract for his wives when Joseph was born, and afterwards he asked Laban to release him. [Genesis 30:25]
• Laban persuaded Jacob to work for him longer, and take sheep and goats of a certain colouring for his wages.
• Six years later, God told Jacob to return to Canaan. We know it was 6 years later because Jacob said to Laban that he had worked for him for 20 years. [Genesis 31:38]
• So Jacob was 91 when Joseph was born and he started to work for himself. He was 97 when he left Syria and Joseph was 6 years old.
• Jacob was 77 when he arrived at Laban's camp. 97 - 20 = 77
• Jacob was 108 when Joseph was sold into Egypt. Isaac was 168 at that time.
• Jacob was 147 when he died and Joseph was 58 at that time.

Whoa! So what was Jacob doing for 37 years before he arrived in Padanaram where his uncle grazed his herds? It seems reasonable that Jacob would want to see the world before he settled down, after having stayed so close to his mother's side. Maybe he did some missionary work; there are legends on other continents about a man from a far off place teaching better ways to the natives, including admonitions against cannibalism, which is unlike the doctrines of the widely travelled emmisaries of the Mystery religion of Babylon. In time, the teachings of a godly man would become confused as idolatry crept back in.

It is likely that Jacob talked to others about his beliefs wherever he went, but it is possible that his main purpose for travelling was to amass wealth. For the sake of his dignity, Jacob probably did not want to show up at Uncle Laban's home until he had acquired a fortune, but his labours to that end simply did not work out the way he hoped.

I wonder if Isaac and Rebekah sometimes had visitors from the house of Bethuel, traders passing near their location who popped in to inquire about them and reported back to Rebekah's relatives when they returned home. If that was the case, Jacob's parents would be dismayed to hear that Jacob had not yet arrived to his relatives' home to meet their daughters.

Just imagine if you didn't hear from your son for 10, 20, or 30 years after he left home. This would be a hard test of faith. Was he still alive somewhere? What happened to him? Was he captured by slave traders and toiling away in a mine or at the oars of a ship? Isaac and Rebekah would have had to stand on the promises of God contained in the blessing that Isaac gave Jacob. It was the only assurance that their son still lived and would return home someday.

Jacob had no property when he arrived at Laban's mansion in Haran, so we can deduce that everything he tried before then to acquire wealth bombed, or he might have been robbed, or indeed have been a slave, but managed to escape. Whatever happened, he finally came to the conclusion that he had to take a wife before he got too old to raise a family, and God apparently was not going to let him prosper in a material way until after he obeyed his parents about taking a wife from among his relatives.

It would be really amazing if when he married, Jacob was 84 years old, had travelled the world, and was still a virgin! We know he did not mess around before he married because he said in Genesis 49:3 that Reuben, his eldest son, was the first of his strength. To remain a virgin for 84 years was an amazing demonstration of how committed Jacob was to the Lord, in spite of his faults. It is no wonder that God chose Jacob to beget a holy nation. And no wonder, with such a father for an example, that Joseph maintained his purity, in spite of great temptation.

We can't say that Jacob was disobeying God if he went a–travelling and tried to make his fortune before he headed over towards Haran, because his father told him to take a wife from among Laban's daughters, and Leah and Rachel had not yet been born at the time that Jacob set out on his journeys, if he was 84 years old before he married. It could be that God figured into His plans that Jacob would need some time to satisfy his curiosity about various things before he settled down. In all that time, Jacob was committed to obeying his parents about marrying a near relative, he stayed committed to what they had taught him about chastity, and he stayed committed to God's plan for his life. He did not try to carve out a kingdom for himself outside of the promised land.

Jacob had doubtless seen many beautiful women in his travels, but it was not until he saw Rachel, and knew that she was acceptable to the Lord because she was of his own people, that he instantly fell in love. Rachel had big, brown eyes and was absolutely gorgeous. Maybe he never imagined that, at his age, God would be willing to give him such a young wife, and one so beautiful, but with her being the first relative whom he saw after arriving in their territory seemed to be a sign from God that she was intended for him.

He hustled to move the rock off of the well to water her sheep for her. It was really impressive that a man his age was so strong; normally the shepherds had to wait until all the sheep were gathered and it took several men to move that rock. I surmise that Jacob received an anointing at that moment to be extraordinarily strong and an extraordinary shepherd, which must have been very encouraging to him, and it would get a very young girl's attention.

Normally, Rachel might not have paid him much mind, but rather just thought of him as a nice kind of "uncle," since he was a much older cousin, but this Samson–like strength marked him as special, and also convinced Laban that Jacob, in spite of his age, was very fit for the work of shepherding. It is also possible that God preserved Jacob's youth in a supernatural way, or restored it, as He had his grandparents' youth, thus ensuring that Rachel would be attracted to him.

After watering the sheep, Jacob took advantage of his kinship and kissed Rachel and cried for relief and joy at having found his relatives. No doubt, he also cried for joy that one of the unmarried ones was such a beauty. After having experienced failure after failure, things were finally starting to look favourable for him.

Rachel hurried off to tell her father that one of Aunt Rebekah's sons had arrived. Laban welcomed him. Laban must have been 100 years old or more by this time, and had sired his daughters very late in life from a young wife, but in these remarkable times, people were much longer lived. Isaac was still alive at this time, 137 years old, and lived to see Jacob return to Canaan: altogether, he lived to be 180 years old.

Laban remembered how rich Abraham was and was dazzled by the gifts he received when his sister Rebekah went away to become Isaac's wife. This nephew was going to inherit great substance from his father someday and that day was probably going to be soon. He had to see what he could do about fixing him up with one of his daughters, even if Jacob was old enough to be their grandfather.

Jacob needed to marry someone young enough to give him children and he was already head over heels in love with Rachel. To demonstrate the high value he placed on her, he offered to work for Laban for seven years as a shepherd, so that he could have her as his wife. Laban was delighted with the deal, and said that it was better that he should have her than anyone else marry her. He was also impressed with what he had already seen of Jacob's abilities in the month that his nephew stayed with him as a guest. From the time that he arrived in Syria, God blessed everything that Jacob did. Through Jacob, Laban's wealth increased considerably.

The years sped by like days to Jacob because he loved Rachel and was having so much fun developing a close emotional connection with her. She was beautiful, but what he felt for her was not merely lust. He wanted to know her better as a person and to give her time to grow up because she was so young when he met her. He was quite a man to be willing to wait for her. After all, he was not getting any younger. He was so courteous and thoughtful towards Rachel that he won her affection, even if he wasn't everything a young woman dreams of when she fantasizes about getting married some day.

The wedding day finally came and Jacob whooped it up with his bride's brothers and the rest of Laban's tribe. Then his bride was brought to him, heavily veiled, as was the custom. It was dark inside the chamber and he could not see his beloved's face, but he lavished on her all the love that was penned up in his heart for the last seven years. Then he fell asleep, unaware of his bride's tears as she lay fearfully beside him until morning, wondering what he would do when he discovered that she was not Rachel.

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¹The Philistines were invaders/interlopers. They did not have a mandate from God to occupy the land of Canaan. We know this from the fact that God did not list them among the children of Canaan, who had the prior right to the land. The modern Arabs who live in Israel and claim to be descendents of the Philistines are making a false claim. All of the Philistines were eventually eliminated from Israel.

Amos 1:6 – 8 says, "Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof: And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holds the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord GOD."

I would not want to claim to be a remnant of the Philistines, for the Lord God Himself ordained that ALL of them perish for their misdeeds against Israel.

²Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:
[Genesis 26:12 & 13]

³Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
[Hebrews 12:14 – 17]

⁴And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years.
[Genesis 35:28]

⁵Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus, Chapter 18, Paragraph 8

⁶And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
[Genesis 47:9]

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Click below to read:

The Majesty of God, Chapter 15