* LESSON
* HANDOUT #1
* HANDOUT #2
Bible Memory Verse:
“…First go and be friends again with your brother…” Matthew 5:24
“I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift my voice to the Lord for mercy.” Psalm 142:1
REMEMBER THE TWO BROTHERS WE TALKED ABOUT LAST WEEK-JACOB AND ESAU-HOW WERE THEY DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER? WHAT WAS TE MAIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM?
Jacob had left for Paddan Aram to escape from Esau and to find a wife. On the way there he had a dream about a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and angels were ascending and descending on the stairway. God had spoken to him in the dream that told him He would be with him and watch over him wherever he went and that all peoples on earth would be blessed because of his offspring.
When Jacob came to Paddan Aram, he saw a well with three flocks of sheep lying near the well because sheep were watered there. After all the sheep were gathered there, the large stone that covered the well was rolled away so they could drink. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.
Jacob asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?” Genesis 29:4
“We’re from Haran,” they replied.
He said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?”
“Yes, we know him,” they answered.
Then Jacob asked them, “Is he well?”
“Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”
He rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle Laban’s sheep that Rachel brought. Then he kissed Rachel & wept aloud and told her he was her relative, she ran and told her father. As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, he hurried to meet him. He kissed him and brought him home and said, “You are my own flesh and blood.”
After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
Now Laban had two daughters. The older, Leah, was not beautiful. The younger, Rachel, was lovely. 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 to 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 because of his love for her.
When it was time for Jacob to marry Rachel, Laban tricked Jacob into marrying Leah. Jacob said, “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 out this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.” Genesis 29:27
So Jacob did this.
It’s is not God’s will that a man have more than one wife. It caused many problems. Leah and Rachel were jealous of each other. It was very important in the Jewish culture to have children. Leah had several children; Rachel had none. Finally she gave her servant girl Bilhah to Jacob so he could have children with her. These would be considered Rachel’s children. Then Leah gave Jacob her servant girl Zilpah because she saw that she had stopped having children. Finally, Rachel did have children.
Altogether, Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter. This is important because the twelve tribes of Israel began with Jacob’s twelve sons. In heaven, on the gates of the New Jerusalem will be written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel (Revelation 21:12). Sometimes the Bible talks about God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Jacob worked for Laban for several years. Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” Genesis 31:3
Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had earned in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau, in the land of Seir, “Your servant Jacob says, ‘I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and maidservants. Now I am sending this message to you my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes,’” Genesis 32:5
When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.”
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 (river), 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 32:9-12
He spent the night there and from what he had he selected a gift for his brother. He selected goats, camels and donkeys and he put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself and told his servants, “Go ahead of me and keep some space between the herds.”
He instructed each servant to say, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong and where are you going, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”
Jacob sent his gifts ahead of him, then he sent his wives and children and all his possessions to the other side of the Jordan River, but he stayed alone and the Bible says a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When this man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched. Then the man said, "Let me go for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” For this man was the angel of the Lord.
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
The man replied, “Your name will no longer be Jacob (deceiver) but Israel (he struggles with God) because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
Jacob asked him, “What is your name?”
He said, “Why do you ask my name?” And he blessed him.
So Jacob called the place Peniel (face of God), saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.
Jacob looked up and there was Esau coming with his four hundred men so he divided his wives and children. He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
But Esau ran to meet his brother, 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.” Then they all bowed down to Esau.
Esau asked, “What do you mean by all these droves I met?”
Jacob said, “To find favor in your eyes, my lord.”
But Esau said, “I already have plenty. Keep what you have for yourself.”
But Jacob insisted so Esau accepted his gift. Jacob refused the offer Esau made of helping him so Esau went back to is own land.
Jacob went on and eventually came to his family and the land God had promised him. That is now the land of Israel.
QUESTIONS:
1. How did Laban trick Jacob?
2. In what ways did God bless Jacob in the land of Paddan Aram?
3. What did Jacob do to find favor in Esau’s eyes?
4. What land did God promise Jacob and his descendants?
JACOB–Part 2
Bible Memory Verse:
“…First go and be friends again with your brother…” Matthew 5:24
“I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift my voice to the Lord for mercy.” Psalm 142:1
Words to choose from: HONEST, GIFTS, BLESSED, NATION, WIFE, VEIL, ISRAEL, STONE, PRAYED, DECEIVER
1. Jacob moved a large __ __ __ __ __ so Rachel could water her sheep.
2. Laban was a __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ because he tricked Jacob into marrying Leah.
3. God wants us to be __ __ __ __ __ __.
4. Jacob thought he was marrying Rachel because Leah had a __ __ __ __ over her face.
5. God wants us to marry only one __ __ __ __.
6. God __ __ __ __ __ __ __ Jacob in the land of Paddan Aram by giving him many children and animals.
7. Jacob offered Esau __ __ __ __ __ of goats, camels and donkeys.
8. Jacob __ __ __ __ __ __ all night to God.
9. God changed Jacob’s name to __ __ __ __ __ __.
10. Israel is a great __ __ __ __ __ __ today.
JACOB–Part 2
Bible Memory Verse:
“…First go and be friends again with your brother…” Matthew 5:24
“I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift my voice to the Lord for mercy.” Psalm 142:1
CROSSWORD PUZZLE:
Across
1. What did Rachel come to the well to water?
2. What was the name of Rachel and Leah’s father?
Down
1. What did God change Jacob’s name to?
1.
__
1. __ __ __ __ __
__
__
__
2. __ __ __ __ __
QUESTIONS:
1. How many years did Jacob work in order to marry Rachel?
2. In what ways were Jacob and Laban alike?
a. They were cousins
b. They were both deceivers.
c. They both liked to hunt.
3. What job did Jacob have?
4. What did Jacob do in order to be friends with Esau? (choose two)
a. Hid his family.
b. Sent him presents
c. Prayed
d. Divided up his family
5. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel when he spent all night praying. Israel means:
a. A great nation
b. Son of Isaac
c. He struggles with God