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Jacob and Laban

Jacob arrives in Haran, meets an eligible relative and falls in love. But unlike his father’s servant, who had a similar experience in Genesis 24, Jacob has no gold or silver to impress his prospective in-laws. The seven years which Laban suggests he should work for Rachel may have been an accepted period of time, ensuring that the suitor was serious about the proposal. Unlike Esau, Jacob shows that he is able to wait for what he wants. The marriage ceremony, when it eventually took place, was organized by the male relatives. The veiled bride was brought in by her father and Jacob was none the wiser till the morning. The Bible does not record what Rachel thought of all this! Laban seems to have known that Jacob was going to be willing to work for another seven years and immediately suggests the solution to the problem. He gets another seven years free labour and Jacob discovers what it is like to be on the receiving end of a deception.

What does the passage tell us about the character of Laban?

What do we learn about Rachel and Leah?

How is Jacob repaid for deceiving his father?

How is the situation resolved?

[Genesis 29:31-30:43

This middle section, which is probably better left out, unless you particularly want to look at it, describes the birth of 11 sons and 1 daughter to Jacob by Leah, Rachel and their maidservants. When Jacob wishes to leave, Laban negotiates for him to stay, giving him the speckled or spotted sheep and goats as his wages. By a scientifically doubtful but surprisingly successful selective breeding programme, Jacob becomes very wealthy.]

How factors cause Jacob to change his mind about staying with Laban?

What are Rachel and Leah’s view on the matter?

How do we deal with conflict in our work or family situations?

How has the Lord been at work while Jacob has been in Haran?

How does Jacob receive guidance about his decision?

Do we expect God to guide us in the same ways?

No word from the Lord is recorded since Jacob left Bethel. How does God reassure Jacob that he has been watching over him?

How can we hold onto the promises of God in our ordinary day to day lives?

How has Jacob changed from the man who left Canaan 20 years previously and how is he the same?

Do we ask for and expect quick results to our prayers? Are we prepared to wait patiently for God’s plans to unfold?

Jacob at Peniel Genesis 32

Jacob has left Laban and is returning to Canaan with his large family. However, before he can settle there he must meet Esau. The brothers did not part on the best of terms! Jacob is faced with the greatest danger of his life. Jacob spends the night before this crisis meeting alone and has a strange experience.

How does Jacob prepare to meet Esau?

What do Jacob’s preparations tell us about his state of mind and faith?

Look at Jacob’s prayer v9-12. Is this prayer a good model for our own praying?

v1 The angels that Jacob met appeared apparently as soldiers, perhaps like the army Elisha was aware of in 2 Kings 6:17. Jacob, unlike Elisha, did not rely on these entirely, but made his own plans as well.

v3 Jacob could have found a route which avoided Esau’s territory, but he seems to have decided that it was time to face up to the past and meet Esau.

The second half of this chapter (v22-32) contains one of the most mysterious stories of the whole Bible. There are a number of rather strange elements: Who wrestles with Jacob? Why could he not overpower Jacob? Why does he ask to be released at daybreak? Why does he refuse to tell Jacob his name? This is obviously a very ancient story and it may not be possible to fully explain all the details. However, it is clear that Jacob knew he had encountered God himself in the strange wrestling match at Peniel and that he had seen ‘the face of God’. Jacob refused to accept defeat in the fight until it was inevitable. Even in defeat he clung onto his opponent and demanded a blessing. First he is given a new name, Israel, meaning ‘he struggles with God’ or ‘God strives’, because he has struggled with God and men and has overcome.

How is Jacob feeling as he prepares to spend the night at the ford of Jabbok?

What does he experience during the night?

How has Jacob struggled with God and with men?

How does the wrestling match change Jacob?

Are there any ways in which we feel our Christian life is a struggle?

This story has often been taken to illustrate the need to be persistent in prayer. What do the group think about this interpretation?

God very obviously takes the initiative in this story. Do the members of the group feel that this has been their experience or has their experience been that of looking for God or faith? (Perhaps both of these at different times?)

Do you find this story encouraging, exciting or baffling?

The following extract from The Bible Speaks Today commentary on Genesis 12-50, by Joyce Baldwin, may be helpful:

By any reckoning this incident is fascinating. But has it any meaning for Christians today, and if so, what should it teach us? I remember well being given the example of Jacob the wrestler as a pattern of persevering prayer. It seemed that it should be possible, by hanging on long enough in prayer to God, to obtain answers which were not granted to the half-hearted. That this true is proved by the teaching of Jesus about the hard-hearted judge and the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8). But it would be contrary to biblical teaching, and even to what Jesus says in this passage in Luke, to think that answers to prayer need to be wrested from God, as though he were reluctant to give to those who ask. In fact the passage says less about prayer than about God’s search for us. Certainly Jacob was facing a crisis, and for that reason found a place on his own where he could think and pray, but God took the initiative in appearing to him as a wrestling opponent. God was in charge, not Jacob, and that was precisely the point. When it comes to dealing with God, though we may think that we took the initiative, we find that he was there first, loving God that he is, putting into our minds good desires that aroused our discontent and drove us to himself. In Jacob’s case it took God twenty years to bring Jacob to this point of surrender on the border of the promised land; the Lord is not in any hurry, crucial as the transaction is. But when his time comes the transformation is complete: it is a transition from death to life, from self-help to faith in the God who cripples Jacob in order to bless him. (p138)

Come, O Thou Traveller unknown, My God I know, I feel thee mine,

Whom still I hold, but cannot see! And will not let thee go,

My company before is gone Till all I have is lost in thine

And I am left alone with Thee; And all renewed I am.

With Thee all night I mean to stay,

And wrestle till the break of day. I hold thee with a trembling hand,

But will not let thee go,

In vain Thou strugglest to get free; Till steadfastly by faith I stand

I never will unloose my hold! And all thy goodness know.

Art Thou the Man that died for me?

The secret of Thy love unfold: Charles Wesley

Wrestling I will not let Thee go,

Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

‘Tis Love! ‘tis Love! Thou diedst for me!

I hear Thy whisper in my heart;

The morning breaks, the shadows flee,

Pure universal Love Thou art;

To me, to all, Thy mercies move:

Thy nature and Thy name is Love.

Contented now upon my thigh

I halt, till life’s short journey end;

All helplessness, all weakness, I

On Thee alone for strength depend;

Nor have I power from Thee to move:

Thy nature and Thy name is Love.

These are four verses of a hymn with at least twelve verses.

A fantastic hymn – not often sung these days!

Jacob - Return to Canaan Genesis 33 and 35

Genesis 33

The morning after the strange meeting at the Jabbok ford, Jacob crosses the river and prepares to meet Esau.

What actions and experiences have prepared Jacob for this meeting?

How does this meeting contrast with the last time the brothers saw each other?

Are there any ways in which they have not changed?

What do Jacob’s actions and Esau’s reaction tell us about repentance and reconciliation?

It may be interesting to contrast them with the brothers in another well-known Bible story

(Luke 15:11-31).

What does Jacob’s building of an altar to "God, the God of Israel" and the other references to God in this chapter, tell us about his relationship with God?

Genesis 35:1-15

Why does God command Jacob to go to Bethel?

Why may Jacob have delayed going?

What is the significance of his command to his household to purify themselves?

What things may prevent us from following God wholeheartedly?

What promises does God reaffirm to Jacob and his descendents?

What deeper understanding of God’s nature has Jacob gained by his experiences?

v1 The Lord speaks to Jacob and reminds him of the vow he made at Bethel. Jacob has been living in Shechem and, although God has answered his prayers, Jacob has not attempted to journey south to ‘his father’s house’, which would have taken him close to Bethel. In Genesis 31:13 God appeared as the God of Bethel and reminded him of his vow, but so far this is unfulfilled. Why?

v2 It seems clear that other gods were worshipped by Jacob’s household, but he himself realizes that the God of Bethel is not merely one of many gods, but the God of all the earth. It is time to make a sign of commitment to a new way.

v10 By reaffirming his new name, God makes it clear that Jacob did indeed meet him at Peniel.

v11 The promises made to Abraham and Isaac are now made to Jacob. He will not see most of this fulfilled, but God’s saving plan is continuing to unfold.

Jacob - Final words Genesis 48

Chapters 37 – 47 are mainly concerned with the story of Joseph (a whole study series in itself). This final study is a postscript to Jacob’s life, as on his deathbed he blesses Joseph and his sons.

Genesis 48

What echoes of Jacob’s earlier life story can be seen in this chapter?

How does Jacob describe God in the blessing for Joseph?

How does Jacob express his faith in the promises of God?

How does the blessing recall how God has worked in Jacob’s life?

How would you describe God in terms of the way he has worked in your life?

What does the story of Jacob tell us about God’s character?

Has Jacob’s story shown us anything about how to live God’s way?

Have we gained any new insights in this series of studies, or been reminded of any important truths?

v5 Jacob adopts his grandchildren, as if they were his own sons (Naomi does something similar in Ruth 4). This has the effect of doubling the inheritance allotted to Joseph. (The sons who constituted Israel were thus 13, not 12. When the tribes were given territory the priestly tribe, Levi, were given no territory of their own, but various towns within the other tribes’ territory.)

v16 Jacob refers to ‘the Angel’ who is his redeemer. Jacob recognized this Angel as God himself, when he wrestled at Peniel. God’s protection had delivered him from Laban and Esau and brought him home safely.

v20 Ephraim and Manasseh were given the largest areas of territory at the time of the settlement of the land under Joshua. Ephraim was so numerous that it came to represent the northern tribes as a whole (e.g. Hosea 10:11).

For the might of thine arm we bless thee, our God, our fathers’ God;

Thou hast kept thy pilgrim people by the strength of thy staff and rod;

Thou hast called us to the journey which faithless feet ne’er trod;

For the might of thine arm we bless thee, our God, our fathers’ God.