Part 3a Jacob the Supplanter who became Israel

THE OLIVE TREE – TEACHING ON ISRAEL

PART THREE JACOB THE SUPPLANTER WHO BECAME ISRAEL

Or Jacob the younger brother who rules over the Older brother.  The inheritor of the promises

Part 3a Jacob the Supplanter who became Israel

The reason why we should minister to the Jews (house of Israel) is found in the following scriptures. Romans 1:16, Romans 11:15-31, Romans 15:8-12.25-27

Romans 11:15-18, 25-32

15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes.

29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

I will be breaking down this post on Jacob into three parts  I will put the parts into the following sections.

Part 3a Jacob the supplanter.

• I want to correct this misconception see at the end of the Overview portion, Jacob did not steal the birth right from his brother or take his blessing. 
• This concept comes through what Esau said about his brother when he found out that Isaac gave the blessing to Jacob and Isaac said that he was deceived by Jacob.  
• In fact Rebekah said if any curse was to take place it should come upon her not Jacob and also she received a prophecy before the twins were born that the older will serve the younger meaning that Esau will serve Jacob.
• Yes on the surface it may seem like he was a surplanter but it is not true.

Part 3b Jacob the Fugitive

This part will deal with his

His marriages.

Jacob the trickster being tricked by his uncle into marrying the wrong sister and being cheated of his wages.

His long years of service to his uncle for his wives who were also his cousins, and marriage to their handmaids.

The naming of the children he had to his wives which will become the twelve tribes of Israel.

Part 3c Jacob returns to the land of his birth on the way he has an encounter with God and has a name change.

His journey back to the land of Canaan, and his wrestling with the Angel of the Lord who is the pre incarnate Christ.  

God's reaffirming the covenant with Jacob and 

establishes the name change He has given to Jacob.

Overview

⦁ There is more detail in the book of Genesis about Jacob than there is about Isaac who is the son of promise there are brief journeys into the lives of five of Jacob’s sons.  

Details are given in the book of Genesis of the lives of Simeon and Levi over the affair of Dinah and the Prince of Shechem and how they dealt treacherously with that man and his city. Reuben slept with Rachel’s maid Bilhah one of Jacob’s secondary wives. 

 A chapter is devoted to Judah and his lineage through whom will come David and the future King of kings Jesus, and a large part of Genesis is devoted to Joseph who went down to Egypt ahead of his brothers to preserve life.

⦁ Details are given about these five sons as it pertains to the birth right and who will inherit the blessing of the double portion as first born and who will be the ruling tribe.  

Genesis 49 details the blessing of Jacob gives to his twelve sons before his death.  This chapter explains why his eldest son is by passed and Simeon and Levi are bypassed for the birth right pertaining to the leadership of the House of Jacob.

The double portion of the blessing of the first born goes to Joseph but the ruler ship of the tribes is given to Judah through whom Shiloh (Jesus) comes. 

⦁ The other sons are only given a passing mention at their birth and when they go down to Egypt to get food during the famine and when they all go down to Egypt to live and when Jacob prophesied over his sons before his death.  

⦁ Isaac’s life is sort of hidden there is not much written about his life;

Other than the miraculous circumstances of his birth in connection to the covenant God made with Abraham.

When he is offered up as a sacrifice to God by Abraham. His marriage to Rebekah.

The birth of his two sons Jacob and Esau.

• When he goes to live in the land of the Philistines after God specifically tells him not to go to live in the land of Egypt.
• His blessing of Jacob and Esau after this key event the blessing of Jacob by trickery, Isaac sort of fades out of the picture other than a record of his death. 
• We read about God reaffirming the oath and covenant of the land that he will give to Isaac and his descendants this is in Genesis 26.

Life of Isaac similar to life of Jesus

• It is as though the life of Isaac is hidden from view very much like the life of Christ was when He first came to Israel by being born in Bethlehem.  
• The early years of Jesus are hidden from view except for key events in His early life such as:

1.  His miraculous birth. Matthew 1 & 2, Luke 1 & 2
2. His circumcision and being named Jesus on the same day He was circumcised. Luke 2:21.
3. His dedication in the temple in Jerusalem by His birth mother and Joseph. Luke 2:22-24 cross ref Leviticus 12.
4. Being prophesied over by Simeon and Anna in the Temple on the day of His dedication Luke 2:25-39.
5. His being in the temple at the age of twelve at the time of Passover. Luke 2:40-52.

• After these events the Bible is silent about the life of Jesus. 
• The Bible in the New Testament only narrates events concerning His later life and ministry the last three and half years He had on this earth before going to the cross, His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension and promise of His return these things are given to us to know.  
• Though the Old Testament from Moses who wrote the first five books of the Bible, the Psalms  and the Prophets does speak of the Lord of His first coming and of His second coming in great detail.  
• The second coming of the Lord is known as the Day of the Lord but the prophets didn’t know there will be a lengthy gap between the two comings of the Lord.
• They just saw the Day of the Lord as one event not an event broken up into two comings or visitations of the Lord to His people.  
• When Jesus read from the book of Isaiah in the Synagogue in Nazareth He read up to a certain point in the passage and then handed the scroll back to the attendant of the Synagogue. 
• He stopped short of reading about the Day of Vengeance of the Lord; this is to come at His second coming. 
•  He read from Isaiah 61 up to what we have as verse 2a, He read just those few words and stopped when it finished the sentence the favourable year of the Lord.
• As He was coming to visit His people for salvation not judgment which the Day of the Lord is going to be the Day of God’s judgment.  
• A lot of the Old Testament is to do with the restoration of God’s people Israel back to their God and land from exile and about the restoration of Israel and Jerusalem to their rightful place at the head of the nations, with God dwelling in the midst of Jerusalem once more.
• Other than the key things about Isaac's life which I had listed above.  There is very little said about Isaac.

⦁ It is  Jacob that God gives a lot of detail about his life.  

⦁ We read how God allowed Jacob to take the birth right from his brother Esau and how Rebekah his mother helped him claim the blessing of the first born through deception / trickery. 

⦁ Rebekah his mother had Jacob trick his father Isaac into giving him the blessing of the first born because of the prophecy she received from God before the twins were born that the younger will rule over the elder.  

It seems she was trying to make this prophecy come to pass through having Jacob receive the blessing of the first born.  She used trickery to do this.

⦁ In spite of this God did allow this as it was His plan to choose Jacob to inherit the covenant and the promise.

Genesis 25:20-26

20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

21 And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord.

23 And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

Romans 9:10-12

10 And not only that, but this too: Rebecca conceived [two sons under exactly the same circumstances] by our forefather Isaac, 

 11 And the children were yet unborn and had so far done nothing either good or evil. Even so, in order further to carry out God's purpose of selection (election, choice), which depends not on works or what men can do, but on Him Who calls [them], 

 12 It was said to her that the elder [son] should serve the younger [son]. 

⦁ Even though Jacob did obtain both the birth right and blessing of the first born through the trickery of his mother and tricking his brother into selling his birth right for lentil stew.  Jacob didn't get away with what he did without any consequences.  God dealt with him through his marriages and having him being tricked himself by his uncle into marrying the wrong sister.

⦁ Finally God broke Jacob's strength when he wrestled with the angle of the Lord or as we would know this angel today as being the Pre Incarnate Christ.

His marriages.

• His long years of service to his uncle for his wives who were also his cousins, and marriage to their handmaids.
• His journeys and his wrestling with the Angel of the Lord who is the pre incarnate Christ.  
• God spends a lot of time in Genesis on this man Jacob who will later become Israel the father of the nation of Israel.  

It is with his life we pick up and continue on our journey with this man the man who God is pleased to be surnamed by as one of the Patriarchs.

His name Israel is the name God is mainly called by in the Bible.  Though there are times He is referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or the God of Jacob but mainly He is called the God of Israel the name He gave to Jacob.

1. Jacob

Jacob’s historical account in the Bible begins in Genesis chapter 25 and continues on to the end of the book of Genesis.

The name of Jacob means the following:

The name comes either from the Hebrew root עקב ʿqb meaning "to follow, to be behind" but also "to supplant, circumvent, assail, overreach", or from the word for "heel", עֲקֵב ʿaqeb. It can also be taken to mean "may God protect."  Taken from Jacob name from Wikipedia 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_(name)

The fact that Jacob gained the birth right and blessing of the first born brought about enmity between Jacob and his brother Esau which has lasted right up until this day.  This is evidenced in the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Palestinians some of whom are descended from Esau.

2. Jacob tricks Esau into selling him his birth right Genesis 25:28-34

⦁ We looked at in my last post the verses in Genesis 25 to do with the pregnancy and birth of the twins to Rebekah and Isaac and how these two boys were struggling for supremacy even in the womb.

⦁ How when Rebekah went to the Lord about this in prayer the Lord told her that there were the beginning of two nations in her womb and the elder will serve the younger.

This is a prophecy the Lord gave concerning the two boys in the womb before they were born.  This prophecy is to play a huge part later on when Rebekah helps Jacob fulfil this prophecy by obtaining the blessing of the first born.

⦁ That when the boys were born the younger came out of the womb hanging onto the heel of his elder brother hence the name Jacob  - hand on heel - supplanter.

⦁ Genesis 25:2-34 deals with the trickery Jacob used to gain the birth right that Esau gave up with very little thought as he was more concerned about his stomach to be fed than he cared about the importance of the birth right of the eldest son.
He deemed it beneath him yet Jacob valued it and wanted it enough to get his brother to sell it to him.

Genesis 25:27-34

 27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a cunning and skilled hunter, a man of the outdoors; but Jacob was a plain and quiet man, dwelling in tents. 

 28 And Isaac loved [and was partial to] Esau, because he ate of Esau's game; but Rebekah loved Jacob. 

 29 Jacob was boiling pottage (lentil stew) one day, when Esau came from the field and was faint [with hunger]. 

 30 And Esau said to Jacob, I beg of you, let me have some of that red lentil stew to eat, for I am faint and famished! That is why his name was called Edom [red]. 

 31 Jacob answered, Then sell me today your birthright (the rights of a firstborn). 

 32 Esau said, See here, I am at the point of death; what good can this birth right do me? 

 33 Jacob said, Swear to me today [that you are selling it to me]; and he swore to [Jacob] and sold him his birthright. 

 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils, and he ate and drank and rose up and went his way. Thus Esau scorned his birth right as beneath his notice. 

3. Further scriptural references to Esau selling out his birth right.

These verses emphasize how Esau had little value for his birth right and deemed it beneath him until it was too late and he tried to get it back through tears and feigned repentance.  

Hebrews 12:16-17

16 That no one may become guilty of sexual vice, or become a profane (godless and sacrilegious) person as Esau did, who sold his own birth right for a single meal. 

 17 For you understand that later on, when he wanted [to regain title to] his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected (disqualified and set aside), for he could find no opportunity to repair by repentance [what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], although he sought for it carefully with [bitter] tears.

Verses taken from Romans and Malachi to show how the Lord regarded Esau.

Romans 9:10-13

10 And not only that, but this too: Rebecca conceived [two sons under exactly the same circumstances] by our forefather Isaac, 

 11 And the children were yet unborn and had so far done nothing either good or evil. Even so, in order further to carry out God's purpose of selection (election, choice), which depends not on works or what men can do, but on Him Who calls [them], 

 12 It was said to her that the elder [son] should serve the younger [son]. 

 13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated (held in relative disregard in comparison with My feeling for Jacob).

Malachi 1:2-5

2 I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, How and in what way have You loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the Lord; yet I loved Jacob (Israel), 

 3 But [in comparison with the degree of love I have for Jacob] I have hated Esau [Edom] and have laid waste his mountains, and his heritage I have given to the jackals of the wilderness. 

 4 Though [impoverished] Edom should say, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places--thus says the Lord of hosts: They may build, but I will tear and throw down; and men will call them the Wicked Country, the people against whom the Lord has indignation forever. 

 5 Your own eyes shall see this and you shall say, The Lord is great and will be magnified over and beyond the border of Israel!

⦁ So from these verses you can see how the Lord has no feeling for Esau but He loves and regards Jacob and the house of Israel.

4. Jacob with Rebekah's help trick Isaac to giving Jacob Esau’s blessing as the first born.  Genesis 27:1-46

⦁ Rebekah helped Jacob to deceive Isaac into giving to Jacob Esau’s blessing the blessing that belongs to the first born after the death of the Patriarch of the family.

⦁ This is where Isaac’s partiality to game food was the means through which Esau missed out on the blessing of the first born.

. Esau sold the birth right for food and Jacob gained the blessing of the first born through a meal.

⦁ Favouritism was prevalent in the family, Rebekah favoured Jacob because he was a quiet man living in tents a home body.  

Isaac favoured Esau because he was an outdoors man and hunted, Isaac loved the game that Esau caught.  

⦁ This favouritism caused problems later on the family because Jacob favoured Joseph over his brothers and this led to jealousy.

⦁ As Isaac wanted some game to eat before he would die before he would pass on the blessing to Esau he sent him out to hunt.
This was when Rebekah seized the opportunity and arranged for Jacob to dress up like Esau to deceive his father into giving him his blessing that will make sure that this son will be taken care of in every aspect of his life. 

⦁ Isaac was going blind that is why he couldn’t tell the difference between the two brothers one was hairy and one was smooth so that is why Rebekah had Jacob dress up in Esau’s clothes and put the skins of goats on his hands and neck so that Isaac would think it was Esau.

 I believe this was the hand of God in this so that Jacob could receive the blessing of the first born through his father being blind he would not be able to tell which son was which.  

I believe that God orchestrated this so that Jacob could obtain the blessing as God wanted the line of promise to come through him see Romans 9 above.  This is to fulfil the prophecy God gave to Rebekah before the boys were born that the older will serve the younger.

Genesis 27:18-30

18 So he went to his father and said, My father. And he said, Here am I; who are you, my son? 

 19 And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau your firstborn; I have done what you told me to do. Now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may proceed to bless me. 

 20 And Isaac said to his son, How is it that you have found the game so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God caused it to come to me. 

 21 But Isaac said to Jacob, Come close to me, I beg of you, that I may feel you, my son, and know whether you really are my son Esau or not. 

 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac, and his father felt him and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 

 23 He could not identify him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him. 

 24 But he said, Are you really my son Esau? He answered, I am. 

 25 Then [Isaac] said, Bring it to me and I will eat of my son's game, that I may bless you. He brought it to him and he ate; and he brought him wine and he drank. 

 26 Then his father Isaac said, Come near and kiss me, my son. 

 27 So he came near and kissed him; and [Isaac] smelled his clothing and blessed him and said, The scent of my son is as the odor of a field which the Lord has blessed. 

 28 And may God give you of the dew of the heavens and of the fatness of the earth and abundance of grain and [new] wine; 

 29 Let peoples serve you and nations bow down to you; be master over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Let everyone be cursed who curses you and favored with blessings who blesses you. 

 30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob was scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

Footnotes from the Amplified Bible

⦁ The deception played out by Rebekah and Jacob caused enmity between the two brothers that never was totally healed, though they made their peace years later it still boils over today and did at the time of Christ.
King Herod was an Edomite and was hated by the Jews.

Genesis 27:41 Here began a feud that was to cost countless lives throughout succeeding centuries.
Esau's descendants, the Amalekites, were the first enemies to obstruct the flight of Jacob's descendants from Egypt (Exod. 17:8); and the Edomites even refused to let their uncle Jacob's children pass through their land (Num. 20:17-20).
Doeg, an Edomite, all but caused the death of Christ's chosen ancestor David (I Sam. 21, 22). Bloody battles were fought between the two nations in the centuries that followed. It was Herod, of Esau's race (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 14:1, Section 3), who had the male infants of Bethlehem slain in an effort to destroy Christ when He was a Child (Matt. 2:16).
Satan needs no better medium for his evil plans than a family feud, a "mere quarrel" between two brothers. (This point above was taken from the footnotes to this chapter in the Amplified Bible to show how serious this enmity was between the two brothers that never really was healed)

Some side notes concerning Jacob and Rebekah and the blessing of the first born.

⦁ Even though Rebekah said that any curse should fall upon her for deceiving Isaac.

⦁ The curse still has come upon Jacob because he went along with his mother in tricking his father into giving him the blessing of the firstborn.

⦁  Even though this is taught in the church that Jacob tricked him father into giving him the blessing and thereby robbing Esau of the blessing of the firstborn.

⦁  God is the One who wanted Jacob to have both things.  Although Jacob may have known about the prophecy that was spoken before his birth.  He also would have heard from both Abraham and Isaac of God's covenant with them that He will give to them and their descendants the land of Canaan as their inheritance.

⦁ Hence his wanting the birth right and valuing it and asking Esau to sell it to him.  

⦁  In order to obtain the blessing of the first born Rebekah gave Jacob the help he needed to obtain the blessing.  She overheard what Isaac said about wanting a meal of game meat that Esau usually caught and cooked and she made good use of that opportunity it created for Jacob to obtain the blessing of the first born.

⦁ Unfortunately this not only caused enmity between the brothers but it has caused enmity between Jews and Christians because of the false beliefs the church has held about Jacob and taught about him down the centuries. 

⦁  This is why many churches side with the Palestinians and the descendants of Esau and go against the people of Israel who are the true inheritors of the land the covenant that God gave and are the true seed of Abraham.  

Jesus the Son of God is the chief inheritor of the land of Israel and the chief seed of Abraham through Him all the nations of the world will be blessed. 

Acts 3:18-26

18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.

25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

⦁  This is why they teach against Jesus coming back to rule on the throne of David over the House of Jacob because they believe the lie that Jacob stole his brother's birth right and blessing when God meant him to have it.  

⦁  Jesus comes from the line of David through Mary who is of the line of Nathan, David's other son he, he had with Bathsheba.  David is from the tribe of Judah one of the twelve sons of Jacob.

⦁  The church needs to repent of their arrogance toward the people of Israel and repent of teaching this lie and their rejection of Jesus's right to rule on the throne of Jacob over the House of Israel forever.

⦁  Israel is God's house not the gentile nations.  All those who believe in Jesus are grafted by God's grace and mercy into this house.

⦁  This is how the descendants of Esau and the descendants of Jacob can find true peace.  That is by becoming born again through the Holy Spirit through faith in the name of Jesus.  He will break down the wall of enmity and they will have peace between the two races of people and God Himself through His Son Jesus.

⦁  By becoming born again they will become new creations the old will pass away and they will become new people.  Both will be grafted into the body of Messiah and both will be of the true House of Israel.

A warning do not curse the descendants of Jacob - God reaffirms the word that He gave to Abraham about people blessing or cursing him.  Isaac gives this same warning in his blessing upon Jacob.

⦁  It is interesting to note also that as part of his blessing upon Jacob by Isaac when he thought it was Esau.  Isaac said that those who curse him will be cursed and those who bless him will be blessed.  Even though Isaac didn't realize it was to Jacob he was giving this blessing God did know and He wanted Jacob to have the blessing.

Genesis 27:29

 29 Let peoples serve you and nations bow down to you; be master over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Let everyone be cursed who curses you and favoured with blessings who blesses you. 

⦁   This is like Isaac as the second Patriarch is representing God the Son and He is speaking prophetically through Isaac blessing Jacob.  He is warning that anyone who curses the one who will be the founder of the nation of Israel into which nation He (Jesus) will be born in a human body in the fullness of time.  

⦁  That anyone cursing him will be cursed anyone blessing him will be blessed.  This statement is similar to what God says to Abraham in Genesis 12:3.  That anyone cursing Abraham will be cursed and anyone blessing him will be blessed by God.  This is God the Father speaking this to Abraham.

Genesis 12:3

 3 And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].

⦁  So anyone cursing both Abraham and Jacob will be cursed as they in a way will be cursing both Father and Son and anyone blessing both Abraham and Jacob will be blessing both Father and Son.

Helping the Jewish people, showing mercy and kindness to them being the kinsmen of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Witnessing the gospel to them, helping them in their time of need especially during the coming days of the Great Tribulation and blessing them in general this is pleasing to the Lord Jesus and His Father.

On the other hand cursing the Jewish people, being unkind to them, not showing mercy to them or wanting to share the gospel with them.  Or not helping them during the time of the Great Tribulation.

Or in wanting to wipe them off the face of the earth, aligning yourself with their enemies who want to kill the Jews and take their land.  This is not pleasing to God and it will bring God's wrath and His curse upon any nation or individual be it a person or church who goes against the Lord in cursing His people.

As by cursing the Jewish people you are cursing Christ the Son of God who was born in a human body among the people of Israel.  By cursing them it is not pleasing to God and it is a dangerous thing to do as it is like you are cursing Christ His beloved Son that He sent to die on the cross for all humanity including the Jews.

Yes they rejected Him 2,000 years ago, not all rejected Him for many came to faith in Him among the people of Israel.  Those who rejected Him and His atoning work on the cross have born the consequences of their actions by being scattered among the nations until Israel became a nation again in 1948.  

Now we are at the pointy end of time, we are in the last of the last days before the physical return of Jesus.  What is happening on the earth today is the lead up  to the physical return of Jesus and the beginning of the outpouring of the wrath of God through climate upheaval in the form of natural disasters, wars and rumours of wars, famines, diseases.  This is God's wrath coming upon the earth and it is also birth pangs of His Son's return to the earth bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to the earth.

Those who bless the people of Israel are blessing the Son of God and this pleases the Father they will be protected by God and provided for by Him during the dark days that are now coming upon the earth leading to His Son's return. 

Jacob is sent away to find a wife from Rebekah's brother's house.

⦁ Rebekah sends Jacob away to her brothers place, (1)to preserve his life as Esau wanted to kill him for taking from him both his birth right and blessing through deceit and trickery.  (2) For him to marry one of her brother’s daughters if possible.  She didn’t want him to marry any of the women from around the local area, as Esau had done.
 Both of Esau’s wives caused grief to their parents in law probably because they were heathen and had heathen ways ie worshiping other gods and did not know El Shaddai or wished to know him or follow His ways.
 This was the hand of God in that Jacob was sent out of the land to find a wife from his mother’s household in Haran.  To keep the family line pure and strong.
There were things in the family line of Abraham and his brother that El Shaddai valued in spite of their character flaws.

⦁ This is the beauty of the Bible it does not gloss over human failings, or character flaws but gives account in all honesty that The Lord loves those whose hearts are with Him in spite of their human weaknesses. 

⦁ It is because of these weaknesses in our human nature that He can use us for His purposes and glory if we surrender our lives over to Him totally and allow Him to mould us into the people He wants us to be.

In my next post Part 3b I will write about Jacob the supplanter becoming Jacob the fugitive as he flees from the wrath of his estranged brother Esau who wanted to kill him because he tricked him out of his birth right and blessing.
To protect him from his brother Isaac and Rebekah send him away to his mother's brother's place in Padan-aram which is the house of Bethuel.
To marry one of his cousins as the women of the land that Esau married vexed his mother Rebekah and she didn't want Jacob to marry the girls of that land.