The 10 Commandments
Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Exodus 20:15 "You shall not steal."
Exodus 20:16 You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor
Is it ever an option to lie? Jacob had a problem. He was asked to obey his mother and lie to his father. What a conflicted family life.

How can this come about. Did they not love one another? Isaac gets a promise from God that should have given him peace and allowed him to devote himself to his family.
Genesis 26:2-5 The Lord appeared to Issac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.
The Lord himself appeared to Issac yet we see actions based on fear. Is this lack of faith? Issac did not keep his eyes on God's promise.
Genesis 26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister, because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He thought, "The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful."
Now before we are too hard on Abraham and Issac, let us look at this passage.
1 Corinthians 10:11-13 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Do we choose not to sin every time? Can anyone say in truth, "I am without sin."? The answer is no. [Romans 3:23]  [Romans 3:10-11] That being said, Issac betrayed his wife. Now how should a husband conduct himself with reguard to his wife.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
When Issac said, "She is my sister", an identity crisis was carried on from Abraham's acts in this reguard in [Genesis 12:10-20] and [Genesis 20:11-13]. This act came back to haunt Issac in that Jacob had a problem with his identity.
Genesis 27:5-19 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die. Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies." Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing." His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me." So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goat skins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. He went to his father and said, "My father." "Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?" Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your first born. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing."
Was this without consequence? We can be harsh in our view of Esau, a man of the flesh. But Esau now had a broken heart. Can you feel the hurt in this passage.
Genesis 27:32-38 His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?" "I am your son," he answered, "your first born, Esau." Isaac trembled violently and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him-and indeed he will be blessed!" When Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me-me too, my father!" But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing." Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing!" Then he asked, "Haven't you reserved any blessing for me?" Isaac answered Esau, "I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?" Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!" Then Esau wept aloud.

Jacob means he grasps the heel (figuratively, he deceives ).
When I read this passage, I grieve for Esau. The statement,"Bless me too, my father", shakes me to the core.
To every extent possible, we need to be sure to pass on "the blessing" to our children. Not that it is a deserved reward or wage, but as we act in the "Loving Kindness" of God.
Issac seems to understand "the blessing" only in physical terms. But the blessings of the Spirit are the only true blessings.
Esau's loss and the hurt then turns to anger and he now intends to kill Jacob. So much so that he speaks it.
Genesis 27:41-43 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob." When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.
So then Jacob used the age old tradition of "Run away, run away".
And once again we see the mercy of God. Not as a result of our goodness, but as a result of his goodness.
Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
However we don't get by with sin.
Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
So then, now it is time that Jacob was educated in the art of identity fraud by good old uncle Laban. But first, God re-assures Jacob that He will be with him.
Genesis 28:12-15 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD , and he said: "I am the LORD , the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
The natural response is too look at the material blessing. As Jacob shows in his comment, he only sees protection, food and clothes.
Genesis 28:20-22 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."
And what will he do in return for this?
  1. A rather small stone that he found will be the "House of God".
  2. And out of the gifts of God, Jacob gets 90% and God gets 10%.
He does not see or even respond to "All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring".
But how do we respond to what, in essence, is the same gift.
Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Welcome to Padan or Padan-aram = "field" It is a plain or tableland in northern Mesopotamia in Aram, a region of Syria.
Uncle Laban is glad to see you.
Laban = "white"
1) son of Bethuel, brother of Rebekah, and father of Leah and Rachel
2) a wilderness encampment of the Israelites
Sometimes your family can be a wilderness experience.
Genesis 29:13-14a As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. Then Laban said to him, "You are my own flesh and blood."
Laban sees that Jacob is family and a good worker. However Laban wants to be the boss. So he now changes the family relationship to a business relationship.
Genesis 29:14b-15 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 me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be."
Jacob determines to gain a wife as instructed by his folks. So far so good. However, the blindness of Issac in his old age is somehow visited upon Jacob in this passage. What was it? Was it too much wine, that it was night time, or maybe the trust that your "own flesh and blood" will deal with you in honor and respect. Maybe all three played a part. But God's principal spoken in Galatians, that "A man reaps what he sows", shows itself time after time. In the same way that Jacob gave false witness to his identity, so Leah, at the direction of Laban, looses her identity.
Genesis 29:16-25 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful. 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?"
This pain and deception will be shown throughout Jacobs life. With Jacob and his wives and Jacob and his Children. Where picking favorites and dealing falsely makes this family turn on one another to such an extent that murder and slavery are the options to choose from.

Jacob now wants to get on with his life. But he is not free.
Genesis 30:25-30 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I've done for you." But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you." He added, "Name your wages, and I will pay them." Jacob said to him, "You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?"
Jacob has been bitten by Laban before and now seems to want to honor God and go back to the land God has promised. Laban is glad to have the material blessing that comes from God through Jacob. He does not want to loose a good thing. However Jacob is in a land of idols. Now the word Laban uses here is nachash {naw-khash'}. To practice divination, divine, observe signs, learn by experience, diligently observe, practice fortune telling, take as an omen.
The NIV chooses "divination" and the King James chooses "learned by experience".
We can look at it both ways. As Laban does not need a mystic to enlighten him on what is plain to see. If he is getting richer after 14 years with Jacob, he may notice on his own. Yet as we will later find, Laban's house is filled with idols. Material blessings, ok, but keep your religion to yourself.
As Laban insists, Jacob resists only once. Then he takes the opportunity pull a fast one.
Let's speculate. How much of the following conversation went on about Jacob. Job was a righteous man. Jacob was a chosen man. Job's name = hated. Jacob have I loved.
Job 1:8-12 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD .

Let us justify our behavior. If God is going to bless me, what can I do to help? God is on our side after all. But rather should we not seek God and be on His side.
Jacob does not wait. But after all who does? Abraham and Sarah took things into their own hands. Now it is Jacob's time.
Genesis 30:31-33 "What shall I give you?" he asked. "Don't give me anything," Jacob replied. "But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen."
Seems like a good deal. Again, trust the children, Laban is about to enter a new deal with the Jacob. Laban had cheated Jacob before but this time the LORD would rescue him.
Genesis 30:34-43 "Agreed," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said." That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban's flocks. Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban's animals. Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.
This was not a mystic method. It is more likely that sheep like some things and don't like others. Like maybe a 6 inch fence can stop these little short legged meals on wheels.
Jacob is getting rich but as we will see it is by the hand of God. Is Labon is suffering loss? Yes. Yet there is no need for Jacob act this way. God will bless ALL the work of his hands. But Jacob seems to need to be sly. The LORD will deal with Laban.
So the sons of Laban do some more divination. And more mis-trust springs up.
Genesis 31:1-2 Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father." And Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude toward him was not what it had been.
When you betray others, they get mad. If you act justly, you may be taken advantage of. It is tough out there. The LORD has seen enough. It is time for Jacob to move on.
Genesis 31:3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you."
Jacob is ready to go home.
Genesis 31:7 yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me.
A man reaps what he sows. Laban delt falsly with Jacob and it cost him.
Genesis 31:9 So God has taken away your father's livestock and has given them to me.
It still seems to be about the goodies.
Genesis 31:14-21 Then Rachel and Leah replied, "Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father's estate? Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you." Then 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 accumulated in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father's household gods. Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, he headed for the hill country of Gilead.
Nothing is hidden from God. Rachel was loved by Jacob more than Leah but Rachel still looked to the idols. Leah was the chosen of God. It was her sons, Levi for the Priests, and Judah for the Kings, chosen by the LORD.
Genesis 31:22-24 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, "Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad."
They then settled the accounts. After 20 years of family togetherness, it was time to go.
Genesis 31:55 Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.
Jacob Wrestles With God
Genesis 32:22-32 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, 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. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon.
What about us? What is the identity we wish to show the world?
Peter's Confession of Christ
Matthew 16:13-17 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Peter was unable to keep it up either.
John 18:25-27 As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, "You are not one of his disciples, are you?" He denied it, saying, "I am not." One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, "Didn't I see you with him in the olive grove?" Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.


Who are you?
Who do you say you are?
Who do you say Jesus is?
 
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