Sep. 28, 2025

Saints & Sinners

Jacob

September 27 & 28, 2025

Primary Text: Genesis 25:21-34            

1)  Two Nations

Genesis 25:21-28:  Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren.  The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.  The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?”  So she went to inquire of the Lord.  The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”  When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.  The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.  After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.  Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.  The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents.  Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.  

DQ 1) What does the name Jacob mean?  What does the name Esau mean?  

DQ 2) What inclined Isaac and Rebekah to show favoritism toward their children? 

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2)  Birthright Quandaries

Genesis 25:29-34:  Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.  He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew!  I’m famished!”  (That is why he was also called Edom.)  Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”  “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said.  “What good is the birthright to me?”  But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.”  So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.  Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew.  He ate and drank, and then got up and left.  So Esau despised his birthright. 

DQ 3) What was the significance of the birthright in the times of Jacob and Esau?

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3)  Deceived

Genesis 29:18-30:  Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”  Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man.  Stay here with me.”  So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.  Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife.  My time is completed, and I want to lie with her.”  So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast.  But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her.  And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.  When morning came, there was Leah!  So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me?  I served you for Rachel, didn’t I?  Why have you deceived me?”  Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.  Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”  And Jacob did so.  He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.  Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.  Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah.  And he worked for Laban another seven years.  

DQ 4) How is deception interwoven throughout much of the life of Jacob?

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4)  The Favored Son

Genesis 30:22-24:  Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb.  She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”  She named him Joseph, and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.” 

Genesis 37:3-4:  Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.  When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. 

DQ 5) How did Jacob’s favoritism of Joseph hurt his whole family?

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5)  A Family Reunion

Genesis 32:9-12:  Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant.  I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.  Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.  But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’” 

Genesis 33:1-5:  Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants.  He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.  He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.  But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him.  And they wept.  Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children.  “Who are these with you?” he asked.  Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.” 

DQ 6) Why was Esau’s response to Jacob surprising?  What did it reveal about Esau?

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