Part 3b Jacob the Fugitive

Part 3b Jacob the Fugitive

• In this part we are going to continue on with Jacob's life, his having to flee from home to escape his brother's wrath where he wanted to take Jacob's life.
• Jacob becomes a fugitive where he journeys to his uncle's home in Padan - aram.  
• Along the way God meets with Jacob in a dream and promises to take care of him and bring him safely back to the land of Canaan and He will be his God.
• When Jacob arrives in Padan - aram he meets his cousin Rachel and wants to marry her and he is tricked by his uncle to marry her elder sister Leah.
• So Jacob the trickster reaps the consequences of his trickery for he in turn is 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.

Jacob's life story cont.

1. Isaac sends Jacob away with a blessing to marry a daughter from the house of Rebekah’s brother.

Genesis 28:1-5, 7

1 SO ISAAC called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, you shall not marry one of the women of Canaan. 

 2 Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take from there as a wife one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. 

 3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you until you become a group of peoples. 

 4 May He give the blessing [He gave to] Abraham to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land He gave to Abraham, in which you are a sojourner. 

5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Padan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mother. 

And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan-aram.

⦁ Jacob leaves his parents household and journeys to his uncle’s household in Padan–aram, along the way he had an encounter with God, the El Shaddai of his grandfather and his father Isaac. 

⦁ This is the first encounter we read about in Genesis with Jacob and El Shaddai.  We can only surmise that Isaac would have taught his sons about the Lord and how to follow Him as His father Abraham would have taught him to follow El Shaddai.  

⦁ This was the condition of the covenant that God made with Abraham that he was to be blameless and walk uprightly before his God.  He was to circumcise the male members of his household those born to him, those who were his servants and those who were bought by him to teach those born into his household both servants and his son about God and His ways. 

Genesis 18:17-19 – these verses are in the period of time before the birth of Isaac and God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genesis 18:17-19 

17 And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham [My friend and servant] what I am going to do,

18 Since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through him and shall bless themselves by him?

19 For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own], so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous, so that the Lord may bring Abraham what He has promised him.

⦁ Most importantly he was to teach his son, grandsons how to follow and know the true and living God and to walk in His ways. 

⦁  We know Isaac was a praying man because he constantly prayed for his wife to be fruitful and have children. 

⦁  Rebekah was a praying woman, when the children were struggling in her womb she went to El Shaddai to find out the reason why.  From the beginning He told her that two nations were being formed in her womb and the younger one would rule over the older twin.  

⦁ This scenario we see from the above verses in Genesis starting to be played out by Jacob taking the birth right and the blessing that means that Esau will be under Jacob in everything.

⦁ The above events in Genesis 25, 27 & 28 relate how the younger son became the ruler over the older brother by him tricking him out of his birthright where Jacob would own two thirds of the family inheritance instead of just a third of it and he rec’d the blessing of the first born in place of Esau where he would have prosperity in every area of his life.  

⦁ You can re read the blessing that Isaac placed upon Jacob from Part 3a.  You can see that Jacob was doubly blessed because Isaac also sent him away with a blessing in his own right.  Also Isaac gave Jacob the blessing that God gave to Abraham that Jacob with his descendant/s that he will inherit the land that God gave to Abraham in which Jacob is a sojourner.

⦁ Up until this point in Genesis 28 when Jacob encounters El Shaddai in a dream we do not have any clear indication at this stage if he knew God personally in his heart.  At the end of the chapter there is an indication in the vow he makes to God that he will call him his God if he is brought back safely to the land he is fleeing from.  

⦁ Jacob from this statement is showing that he regards the Lord as being only the God of his father and grandfather but he does not personally regard Him at this stage as being his God.  

⦁ Also interesting to note that the Lord initiated contact with Jacob through a dream and when he Jacob was on the outward journey to his uncle’s house. 
 El Shaddai spoke to Jacob when he was on his own free from other distractions.  Jacob would have known about the promises of God concerning the land as he would have heard about it from both his father and grandfather and the blessing of which he received from his father Isaac.  Maybe that is why he wanted the birthright and blessing so badly that he was willing to trick his elder twin brother out of them.

⦁ Interesting that Isaac spoke prophetically when he blessed Jacob the second time this time in Jacob’s own right before he left his parents to go to his uncle’s place in Padan-aram. 

⦁  That Isaac blessed Jacob with the promise that the Lord made to both Isaac and Abraham in regards to the land of Canaan. 

⦁  From this blessing it appears that already the Lord was singling out Jacob for His own, then after this blessing He appears to Jacob in a dream as he spends the night in a lonely place.  Jacob calls this place Bethel the house of God, which was a place of worship for the Israelites in later years.

⦁ It is also interesting to note that here God talks about an Offspring singular that is to come through the line of Jacob that will inherit the land.  This Offspring being Jesus.  The land is His inheritance, the tribes of Israel and the nations and the church are Jesus’ inheritance as well.  
We have a share of this inheritance through our faith in Jesus. In John 1:51 there is a reference to the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man it sounds very much like the dream Jacob had that we call Jacob’s ladder.  It is very likely that he saw the pre incarnate Christ in his dream.

2. God appears to Jacob in a dream

Genesis 28:10-22 I will only include verses 12-15, 19-22 you can read the full account at your leisure.
Genesis 28:10-22 

 12 And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 

 13 And behold, the Lord stood over and beside him and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father [forefather] and the God of Isaac; I will give to you and to your descendants the land on which you are lying. 

 14 And your offspring shall be as [countless as] the dust or sand of the ground, and you shall spread abroad to the west and the east and the north and the south; and by you and your Offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed and bless themselves. 

15 And behold, I am with you and will keep (watch over you with care, take notice of) you wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done all of which I have told you. 

19 And he named that place Bethel [the house of God]; but the name of that city was Luz at first. 

 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me food to eat and clothing to wear, 

 21 So that I may come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God; 

 22 And this stone which I have set up as a pillar (monument) shall be God's house [a sacred place to me], and of all [the increase of possessions] that You give me I will give the tenth to You.
A note on tithing

⦁ Tithing is not new, Abraham tithed a tenth of the booty of war when he rescued his nephew Lot, he gave it  to Melchizedek the priest of Salem. See Genesis 14:18-20 and Hebrews chapter 7:1-11 for Abraham paying tithes to Melchizedek and the rest of Hebrews chapter 7 is about  Christ being after the order of Melchizedek. 
In a way Abraham was paying tithes directly to God Himself through Melchizedek the priest of Salem.

⦁ However Abraham tithed to this priest of El Shaddai and Jacob must have known about this.
This is the second reference to tithing in Genesis through Jacob promising to tithe to God a tenth of all of the increase that the Lord will give to him.
It is a bit like bargaining with God.  If God blessed Jacob and brought him safely back to his father’s house in peace, he in turn will regard the Lord as his God and he will pay Him tithes.  

⦁ Also in the laws of Moses the Lord gives instructions on tithing to the people of Israel.
What is to be tithed and how to go about tithing and who the tithe was meant for.  Even the Levites themselves who were the priestly tribe and to whom the tithe was given for their service unto the Lord had to give tithes.

Jacob has yet to see God as being a personal God.

⦁ The reality of God being a personal God has not hit home yet to Jacob, Jacob still sees God as being only the God of his father and grandfather and a distant God.  El Shaddai promises to watch over Jacob and to bring him back to the land of his fathers the Promised Land.  God is a personal God and He watches over us and cares for us with great care.   It is not till much later does Jacob come to know the Lord on this personal level.  He has yet to have a real personal encounter with his God.  

⦁ This also applies to us today, we can know about God, and His Son Jesus, we can sit in church and have heard the gospel over and over again and still be indifferent to the truth of the gospel.  Or we can read the Bible heaps of times especially the same passages and not be touched by them.  Then suddenly one day we could read the passage we have read many times before and it jumps out at us because God’s Spirit has breathed life unto that word. 

⦁  Or we hear something in a sermon that stands out for us and brings us under conviction.  Or we meet with God in some other way and suddenly He becomes a personal God who is real and alive and we are willing to give everything for Him.  We have a life changing encounter with Jesus and then we start to become alive to the things of God through the Holy Spirit and it is like we cannot get enough of Him.  

The next stage of Jacob’s life is found in Genesis chapters 29-31 when Jacob goes to his uncle’s house and stays there for 20 years.

3.  Jacob’s marriages and service to his uncle Laban and Laban’s trickery.

⦁ Jacob meets his cousin Rachel at a well.  He then goes to his uncle Laban’s house and works seven years for Rachel the bride price, only to be tricked by his uncle in marrying her sister Leah who is the elder sister.

⦁ Jacob marries Rachel after serving the marriage week with Leah, he then works another seven years for Rachel.  So in total he worked for fourteen years for the two sisters as their bride price.

⦁ Trickery runs in the family, Laban tricks Jacob into marrying the wrong sister.  He also in later years tricks Jacob and changes his wages many times over.
So in sum total Jacob works twenty years for his uncle fourteen for the two sisters and six for being a herdsman for his uncle with no certain wages.

⦁ God in the Law of Moses forbids marriage to sisters of the one family as this breeds, hatred and jealousy over the husband and causes strife and misery in the family.  A man was not to take a woman and her sister as his wife.  
This law is in Leviticus on marriage.
 Leviticus 18:18. 
18 You must not marry a woman in addition to her sister, to be a rival to her, having sexual relations with the second sister when the first one is alive.

⦁ The marriage did cause rivalry and misery between the two sisters as there was battle royal over who will produce the most children and hold the husband’s love.  The constant wrangling between the two sisters must have worn Jacob out and grieved the heart of God hence the passing of the law given above for a man not to marry sisters.

4. A brief journey into the women in the family of Abraham and Nabor descendants of Terah.

It is interesting to note here, that Sarah was half-sister to Abraham Terah was her father too 

Genesis 20:9-13 
9 Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” 10 And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?”

 11 Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’

⦁ Both Rebekah and Rachel came from the line of Terah’s son Nahor, through his son Bethuel Rebekah was Nahor’s granddaughter and Rachel was his great granddaughter the women seemed on the surface to be cursed that they are unable to bear children.  
Rebekah couldn’t have children; it was twenty years before she conceived.  
Sarah daughter of Terah, Abraham's wife and half sister was aged 90 and it was only through a miracle of God before she could conceive and give birth to a child the promised son of promise Isaac.

⦁ El Shaddai used Sarah’s barrenness to work a miracle when both Abraham and Sarah were both old to bring forth the son of promise (Isaac) out of an impossible situation a child was born.  
Likewise when Jesus was conceived, He too was born out of an impossible situation, He had a miraculous conception in that a virgin conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and gave birth.  
An old woman was made as good as new to give birth to Isaac the son of promise and a very young woman a maiden a virgin conceived and gave birth to the Divine Son of God, she was the womb that formed the body that was prepared for Him 

Hebrews 10:.5-7 
5 Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer];

6 In burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight.

7 Then I said, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will, O God--[to fulfill] what is written of Me in the volume of the Book.

⦁ Rebekah was unable to have children too yet Isaac prayed for her to have children.  
The Lord used this seemingly barrenness for His Glory and purposes. Isaac prayed for Rebekah to bear children.
Yet for some reason Jacob didn’t pray to the Lord so that Rachel could conceive maybe he didn’t think to do so.

⦁ God felt compassion for Leah and gave her children; it appears that Leah had knowledge of God because she attributes to Him her ability to bear children.  
When Leah stopped having children for a period of time she gave Jacob her maid to raise up children.  
This was the competition between the sisters coming into the picture; Rachel had given Jacob her maid so that she could have children with Jacob in a type of surrogacy through her maid.  
So Leah did likewise with her maid.  It was battle royal between the two sisters to try and win their husband’s love and favor by trying to see who can raise up the most children to him.

⦁ Finally after a period of time God heard Rachel’s pleas to have children and He gave her a child Joseph.  
She was to have another son but died in childbirth when they were on the way back to Bethel where Isaac was living at that time. 
 Rachel died outside of Bethlehem that is why she is buried there and why the scripture talks about Rachel weeping for her children and will not be comforted out 
of her deep grief for the loss of her children.
Jeremiah 31:15 
15 Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.  

⦁ This verse was prophesying about the time when the Messiah was to be born. 
 Bethlehem is known as the town of Rachel because she gave birth to Benjamin near Bethlehem and died there.
This was where her future descendants were bereft of their children and wailed for their infant sons.
That were murdered by Herod’s soldiers on Herod’s orders and their mothers who are Rachel’s descendants could not be comforted.
Please see Matthew chapter 2:1-18 for the account of when Jesus was born and King Herod’s reaction to the news of a king being born in Bethlehem when the Wise Men came looking for the One who was born King of the Jews.

5. The birth of the twelve sons of Jacob (Israel)

The twelve sons of Jacob are as follows, from these twelve sons come the twelve tribes of Israel.
The tribes that would later comprise the nation of Israel (Jacob).

Leah Genesis 29:32-35

32 And Leah became pregnant and bore a son and named him Reuben [See, a son!]; for she said, Because the Lord has seen my humiliation and affliction; now my husband will love me. 

33[Leah] became pregnant again and bore a son and said, Because the Lord heard that I am despised, He has given me this son also; and she named him Simeon [God hears]. 

 34 And she became pregnant again and bore a son and said, Now this time will my husband be a companion to me, for I have borne him three sons. Therefore he was named Levi [companion]. 

35 Again she conceived and bore a son, and she said, Now will I praise the Lord! So she called his name Judah [praise]; then [for a time] she ceased bearing.

The two key tribes of Israel Levi and Judah

⦁ Leah had given birth to the two key tribes of Israel, Judah and Levi, one would be the kingly tribe from which the Messiah was to come and the other was to become the priestly tribe.  
Jesus our Messiah is both King and Priest and Prophet, He carries the office of prophet (Spirit of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy Revelation 19:10) the one that speaks from God to the people.
He is now in the heavens as our High Priest interceding before the Mercy Seat of God a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek Hebrews 7:21-25. 

⦁ He is interceding on behalf of the people to God.  He is our future King from the line of David who is from the tribe of Judah and one day He will return to set up His physical kingdom on this earth.

⦁   He came the first time as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.  
He is coming the second time as the lion of the tribe of Judah.
For He will roar out of Zion to rescue and deliver His people as a lion and will sit down on the throne of David in Jerusalem.  
He came the first time in humility a suffering servant, He will come the second time as a conquering all powerful King who will rule with a sceptre of iron and righteousness.

⦁ So God honoured Leah as the despised wife by allowing her to give birth to two of the key future tribes of Israel. 

The names of the twelve sons of Jacob how they relate to Jesus.

⦁ I am including here another aspect of the names of the sons of Israel in how they relate to Jesus Himself.

⦁ It is interesting to note that the names of the twelve sons of Jacob who was soon to be called Israel all related to the Son of God as well, these names reflect something about the character of God’s Son.  

⦁ These names of the tribes reflect who He is as a man and God.
Truly our Lord’s life is closely entwined with His people the Israelites, and they are the tribes of His inheritance because their very names are to do with Him.
The names of the children of Jacob which became the twelve tribes of Israel are prophetic.

For the names of Jacob's sons proclaim the following;
Reuben [See, a son!] that God has a Son whose name is Jesus or Yeshua in the Hebrew.
Simeon [God hears] Jesus hears.
 Levi [companion) Jesus is a companion.
Judah [praise] Jesus is praise.
Issachar [hired] Jesus was hired as a shepherd and sold for a pittance when He was betrayed,
Zebulun [dwelling) Jesus is a dwelling for He dwelt among His people Israel when He walked this earth as a man Immanuel God with us.  He also dwells in us those who believe in Him by His Holy Spirit.  He will physically in His glorified body dwell among His people again in the millennial temple in Jerusalem then He will dwell among His people openly with His Father in the New Jerusalem on the new earth.

Joseph [may he add] Jesus does add He is the first fruit of many brethren, He is fruitful a fruitful bough a vine.
 Benjamin [son of the right hand]. Jesus is the son of Father’s right hand.  
Dan [judged) Jesus has been judged unfairly by men to be handed over to death and He was judged by God for our sins and bore the punishment for them.  Yet He will judge at the end of the age, He is the King that will judge the nations and Israel.  
Naphtali [struggled] Jesus struggled for mankind in prayer and intercession He conquered sin and death, in His struggle against sin He poured out His own blood, He bore our grief and sorrows, and He is interceding right now at Father’s right hand as High Priest.  

Gad [fortune].Jesus is fortune or rather He is a blessing and it is through Him all the nations are blessed as a direct descendant of Abraham to Him all wealth belongs.
 Asher [happy]. Jesus is anointed with joy above His brethren He is happy full of joy.

 Scriptures to show how these names of the sons of Jacob relate to Jesus the Son of God, 
His characteristics, nature and who He is as God the Son and Son of God the Son of Promise.

Leah Genesis 29:32-35  Jesus as God incarnate in the flesh

Reuben [See, a son!]  Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-35, Hebrews 1:1-14   God has a Son who is eternal

Simeon [God hears]. John 11:41, John 14:13-14, John 16:23-28 , 1 John 5:13-15 (We can ask anything in Jesus name and Father will hear us as long as it is in accordance to His will also God hears the prayers of His Son who also is God)       

Levi [companion) 1 Corinthians 1:9, Psalm 25:14   (We are the companions of Christ and God through Christ)

Judah [praise] Matthew 21:1-17, Mark 11:1-10 Luke 19:35-40, John 12:12-16, Hebrews 2:11-12, Revelation 5:11-14 (He is the praise of God His Father and the future King of Israel)

Leah Genesis 30:14-21

Issachar [hired]. Zechariah 11:1-14, Matthew 26:14-16, Matthew 27:1-10, Luke 22:1-6, Jesus is the Good Shepherd John 10:1-10

Zebulun [dwelling) John 1:14, John 2:19-22, Hebrews 10:5-7 the word became flesh and dwelt among us in the man Christ Jesus)

Dinah her daughter

Finally Rachel Genesis 30:23-24 Jesus is the first born of many brethren.

Joseph [may he add] Isaiah 53:10-12, Romans 8:18-25, Hebrews 2:9-18

Genesis 35:16-19 (Rachel died in childbirth near Bethlehem) Jesus is the Son of the right hand and He is seated at Father’s right hand in heaven waiting to return to earth.  Right hand represents strength, power and might.

 Rachel called the baby as she was dying Ben-oni [son of my sorrow] Jesus too is Son of sorrow for He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Isaiah 53:3-5; but his father called him Benjamin [son of the right hand]. Psalm 80:17, Matthew 26:62-64, Luke 22:66-71, Acts 5:29-32, Acts 7:54-56, Philippians 2:9-11 Hebrews 1:1-3, Hebrews 2:9, Hebrews 10:12-14, Revelation 5:1-14. 

 Benjamin is the only son named by his father Jacob.
The other son's names were either given their names of Leah or Rachel.  
Benjamin means son of the right hand and so Jesus is also the Son of the right hand of His Father.
As He is currently seated in heaven at the right hand of His Father Yahweh.
Waiting  to come back to earth to rule as king and priest on the throne of David over the house of Jacob/ Israel and the nations who are also His inheritance along with Israel.

The sons Jacob had to his wives handmaidens

Bilhah Rachel’s maid 

Genesis 30:2-8

Dan [judged) He was judged that He was judged and punished for our sins first by Jewish law by God through the High Priest and the Sanhedrin and then by the Romans law – Gentiles by Pontius Pilate)] Isaiah 53:1-8  Matthew 26:57-68, Matthew 27:1-2, Matthew 27:11-19, Mark 14:53-65, Mark 15:1-20, John 19:12-40, 2 Corinthians 5:21.  
As One who judges: John 12:27-33,  Matthew 25:31-46, Joel 3:9-17, Romans 14:8-12, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10, Revelation 19:1-3,11-17

Naphtali [struggled] Isaiah 53:11. Matthew 26:36-45, Luke 22:39-46, Hebrews 12:1-4. 
Jesus struggled against sin He sweated great drops of blood in agony before going to the cross.  
Israel herself is a nation too was birthed in struggle the twelve sons of Jacob.  For their mothers waged war with each other the two sisters to see who can raise up the most children to Jacob.
Jacob wrestling with the Angel of the Lord struggled with God and man, Jesus as the suffering servant in Isaiah 49:3 is called Israel. 
 Israel today is still struggling for survival against a hostile world, it is the battle of the two kingdoms God and Satan for supremacy but we know in the long run who has the ultimate and finale victory

Zilpah Leah’s maid

Genesis 30:8-13

Gad [fortune].   Genesis 12:3, Isaiah 61:7-11, Colossians 2:2-3, Ephesians 1:3, Revelation 5:12.  Christ is our spiritual blessing, treasure and inheritance to Him belongs all wealth of the world both the natural and spiritual realms.                                   

Asher [happy].  Psalm 45:3-7, John 15:11, John 17:13. Hebrews 1:8-9 Christ is anointed with Joy above His brethren, His joy is made complete in us His disciples, and joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

This is the end of part 3b. In the next post Part 3c will continue on with the life of Jacob.

Jacob's journey back to the land of Canaan, and his wrestling with the Angel of the Lord who is the pre incarnate Christ.  Through this encounter God's changes Jacob's name from Jacob to Israel Genesis 32.

God's reaffirming the covenant with Jacob and 

establishes the name change He has given to Jacob. Genesis 35.