Lessons from the Life of Joseph (2)
“Triumphing in Trial” (Genesis 37:23-36 & 39:1-7)
Last week we began our series of messages looking at the life of Joseph. Even though he lived 3,900 years ago the incredible story of this young man speaks powerfully to us today. Joseph grew up in a complicated and dysfunctional family. He had ten older brothers who were very unkind to him. Joseph’s father Jacob sent him to see how his brothers were getting on with the family flocks. Joseph happily agreed to go. He must have been excited to finally find his brothers but little did he know they were far from happy to see him. Unbelievably, when his brothers saw Joseph approaching they plotted to kill him. Hatred in the heart & mind can so easily boil over into violence. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him because he was his father’s favourite and they hated him because of his dreams. However the fact he had a very different outlook on life to them also upset them. The God of their father Jacob, their grandfather Isaac, and great grandfather Abraham seemed somehow to be with Joseph in a special way – and that irked them. Do not be surprised if after becoming a Christian some of your family and friends no longer seem as friendly. Don’t be surprised if they no longer welcome you as part of their inner circle as perhaps they once did. When we become Christians and seek to live a godly life not everyone is happy about it. Non-believers, & even nominal (in name only) Christians, sometimes feel embarrassed and even threatened by the presence of a sincere follower of Jesus. Not everyone is happy when light shows up the bad things that previously were unseen.
Oldest brother Reuben did not think that killing Joseph was a good idea. He said, “Let’s not take his life. …Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him.” (Gen 37:21 & 22) The other brothers didn’t know that Reuben was intending to later rescue Joseph and so they went along with his suggestion. They stripped Joseph of his coat and threw him into the dry cistern.
We know from Genesis 35 that Reuben had on one occasion slept with Bilhah one of his father’s concubines. Clearly he had a problem in the area of sexual lust. However, he did have some good points. His brothers wanted to kill Joseph but Reuben wanted to save him. Lust was one of his weaknesses but one of his strengths was being able to show compassion. The other brothers clearly struggled with hatred & jealousy. All of us have different areas of weakness. For some it is self pity or doubt. For others it is pride or the desire for control. For some it is anger. For some it is lust. For yet others it is envy, or bitterness or an unforgiving spirit. Let us be honest with ourselves, admit our weaknesses, and ask God to help us overcome them. He will not reject us. He gives grace to all who humbly seek His help. Joseph’s life was spared but throwing him into the dry cistern was still a very cruel thing to do. How would Joseph ever get out? He could easily die down in there – from thirst & starvation. Incredibly v. 25 tells us that after they had thrown him into the cistern his brothers, “…sat down to eat their meal…” How unfeeling could they be? That is what sin does – it hardens our hearts. Just at that moment, we read in v. 25, “…they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.” Another brother, Judah, had a new idea. Rather than leave Joseph, their teenage brother, to die in the cistern, rather than kill him, why not sell him to these foreign traders on their way to Egypt! It seemed a good plan, and so for a pathetic twenty shekels of silver they sold Joseph as a slave. I wonder what they bought with that money? Not much, probably. Just imagine how Joseph felt! He must have been terrified. He cried out to his brothers to show mercy, but they went ahead with their cruel plan anyway. We know from later in the story (Gen 42:21) that in fact the brothers never ever forgot the cries of Joseph that day. Their cruel crime would forever be on their consciences. Reuben must have been somewhere else when the sudden decision to sell Joseph was made and when he found out about it he was very upset – but in the end he went along with the others in deceiving their father. They took Joseph’s special coat, ripped it and dipped it in animal’s blood and showed it to their father. Notice what they said in v. 32: “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.” They didn’t say “see whether it is our brother’s robe” but rather “your son’s robe”. They tried to distance themselves from Joseph. They tried to cover up the truth. They lied but would never be able to escape their guilty consciences. Their father was overwhelmed by grief and so was the rest of the family. That is what sin does. Meanwhile young Joseph, just a teenager, found himself a prisoner, tied up or even chained on the long dusty journey down to Egypt. He would be treated like an animal and on arrival in Egypt was put up for auction in a slave market. Imagine how he felt. Life must have been scary and uncertain. He could not understand what people were saying or what was happening around him. He was no longer able to enjoy the safety and comfort of home nor could he get help or advice from his father. However God his Heavenly Father was with him. Maybe on the journey to Egypt Joseph thought of the stories about God that he had heard from his grandfather Isaac and his father Jacob. He thought about his dreams. Somehow despite his terrible situation Joseph was aware that the God of his ancestors was with him. God was still in control of his life, even though everything seemed to have gone horribly wrong. This is a very important lesson to learn. For the child of God, even when everything seems to be out of control, even when God seems to have abandoned us, in fact He is still in control and is working powerfully behind the scenes. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Do not be afraid of the tough times, the hard times, the dark times. God is doing His work in your life. My good friend & former classmate, well-known radio pastor in America, Alistair Begg, wrote, “It takes the test of trials to make us useful to God. Some of us are not as useful as we might be, for in shunning the trials we have missed the blessings.” [i] Those who have experienced tears are more able themselves to comfort those who are crying. Of course no one asks for tears but the loving Heavenly Father sometimes allows them in order to make us more useful in His service. Everything had changed for Joseph. From being the favourite son of his dotting father he found himself in a foreign country, not as a new immigrant, but being sold as a slave. It is hard to picture the humiliation of being treated like an animal in a slave market. It was totally degrading. We perhaps know a little about the horrors of slavery from reading about the African slave trade when millions of black Africans were captured by cruel slave traders and shipped off to America in the nineteenth century. Many slaves died on the way even before they got to America. Missionaries like David Livingstone fought against the slave trade as did parliamentarians like William Wilberforce. All through human history slavery has been all too common. Even today slavery exists in some places, especially in the Muslim world, and of course we know about the awful sex trade in countries like Thailand which is a form of slavery. Young girls from poor villages are sold by their parents to unscrupulous agents who promise them a good life in the city. Of course they end up as no more than sex slaves in the red light districts of cities like Bangkok. They live enslaved in a life of misery. They need the prayers & the help of Christians. We read in Genesis 39:1, “Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.” Joseph, not even out of his teens, was bought by a guy called Potiphar. He had no idea who his new master was and could not understand the language being spoken around him. Pretty frightening! Soon enough he discovered that Potiphar was in fact a very high official. Pharaoh was the name given to the Egyptian emperor or king – a title like the Chinese “Huangdi” or the Japanese “ten noo”. Potiphar was probably head of the secret police. He was the top security official in the whole of Egypt – a very important position. No doubt he was also very wealthy – and powerful. He had a beautiful home and a large estate – where Joseph was put to work. Joseph had to make a decision. Would he become bitter? Would he complain to God and give up his faith? Would he try to keep out of trouble by doing only what he had to do, and no more? Would he have a bad attitude to the locals around him and say, “I can’t speak Egyptian”? “I don’t understand what you are saying.” Would he try to escape – not much chance of that! Or would Joseph make the most of his new situation? Would he continue to trust God? Would he try to learn all he could about the language and culture of the Egyptians? Would he make friends? Would he work hard? Would he be honest and diligent? I think Joseph chose to embrace life. He chose to do his best – for the glory of God. I can imagine Joseph saying to himself: “Everyone thinks I am one of Potiphar’s slaves, but actually I am God’s slave. I am serving God while I work in Potiphar’s house.” Clearly despite his new circumstances, Joseph made the decision to trust God. He did not allow things like bitterness, self-pity or fear destroy him - and these things can so easily destroy us! Joseph chose to believe that God still had a plan for his life. Notice the next phrase in verse 2: “The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.” It was the presence of the Lord with Joseph that made all the difference. His circumstances had not changed. Life was still very tough. He was still a slave – but his heart was free. There were times when he was sad & lonely, when he was unfairly or cruelly treated, but even at such times He knew God was with him. And God blessed Joseph. Our Scripture says, “…he prospered”. Joseph’s attitude of trust lifted him above his circumstances – and God blessed everything he did. He didn’t have to say anything. People just noticed. Even Potiphar noticed. Verses 3 & 4 say, “When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favour in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.” What a fantastic witness Joseph was! I can imagine Potiphar saying, “I have many slaves but never have I had one as smart, reliable, as impressive as the young Hebrew lad, Joseph. There is something very special about him!” By the power of the Holy Spirit you & I can be like this in the marketplaces of the world. People will notice a difference in the way we live and work. I remember meeting an official in China at a recruitment conference run by the State Administration for Foreign Expert Affairs. When he realised I was a Christian, he whispered to me, “I am also a Christian.” And he went on to tell me that he came to faith after watching the lives of Christian English teachers who were employed in his university. They were so different to others. He could not figure out why they were so helpful & cooperative, so diligent in their work. After several years he finally put two & two together. He realised it was their faith in Christ that made all the difference. By then he too was ready to believe. So friends, make the most of the circumstances in which you find yourself. Don’t complain or wish you were somewhere else. God wants you to bear fruit for Him right where He has planted you. I heard about two grasshoppers that fell into a bucket of milk on a farm. The first grasshopper gave up all hope of getting out & drowned. The second grasshopper began to kick its legs & wings frantically trying to get out of the bucket. After some time of kicking & struggling the grasshopper churned the milk into butter & climbed out of the bucket. How do we cope with unexpected trial or difficult circumstances? Do we complain? Do we feel that God has let us down or forgotten us? Do we stop believing or trusting in God? Do we stop going to church? Do we simply give up? I hope not! May God use the example of young Joseph to encourage us to rise above our circumstances, however hard or unfair they may seem, and trust God. May Joseph’s example be a reminder that even though we cannot always see it, God has a plan! He is not finished with us. He wants to bless us and use us but He is not in a hurry. Joseph made such an impression, and God blessed him so much, that Potiphar put him to charge of his whole estate. Next time we will think about how Joseph coped with the success he began to enjoy. We will see too how he dealt with another new challenge that presented itself. It was a challenge that, sadly, many have failed.
Lessons from the Life of Joseph (1)
“A Family Divided” Genesis 37:1-28
Joseph was a young man of only seventeen. Already in his life he had experienced many trials. He grew up in a very complicated family for his father Jacob did not simply have one wife - he had two wives and two concubines. And he had children from each one of them. When still a very young boy Joseph had been uprooted from his home many hundreds of kilometres north in Haran, in present-day Syria. His father Jacob and his mother Rachel’s father, Laban (Jacob’s father-in-law), simply could not get along together. There was intense family rivalry and conflict. Jacob and his wives secretly planned to leave Haran and return to Jacob’s family in Palestine. It was a very unhappy and acrimonious parting with Laban, Joseph’s grandfather.
And things were not easy back in Palestine either. Joseph would never forget the tension and fear they all experienced on hearing that his father’s brother Esau was coming to meet them with four hundred armed men. The two brothers had been rivals from their earliest years and Esau wanted to kill Jacob. This was a truly complicated, dysfunctional family! Not too long after returning to Palestine something else cut like a knife into Joseph’s heart. When giving birth to his younger brother, Benjamin, Joseph’s beloved mother, Rachel, died. Joseph knew the intense pain of bereavement.
Although his great grandfather Abraham and his grandfather Isaac had known God personally & intimately and although even his own father Jacob had seen God intervening in his life in powerful ways, the fact is Joseph grew up in a very unhappy family. Money was not their problem. They were very wealthy with large flocks of animals – sheep, goats, cattle and camels. Their problem was not lack of money. It was disunity, rivalry and jealousy.
Joseph’s ten older brothers hated him and there were a number of reasons for this. Firstly, they had different mothers. Joseph and his baby brother Benjamin were born to Jacob’s favourite wife, Rachel. Some of the older brothers however were sons of Rachel’s older sister Leah, while yet others were sons of the two concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah. There was intense sibling rivalry – just as there was intense rivalry between the women in the household. This was not surprising. Polygamy (i.e. one man having more than one wife) leads to all kinds of insecurity, just as marital unfaithfulness on the part of parents today leads to insecurity for their children. Polygamy is banned in all developed societies today but marital unfaithfulness & extra-marital affairs are all too common and just as evil & destructive. The trauma & psychological damage to children from broken marriage relationships can be huge.
Another reason Joseph was hated by his older brothers was the fact they saw him as a tale-teller. When they worked together looking after their flocks Joseph saw some of the evil things his brothers were doing and he reported them to his father. We read in verse 2, “he brought their father a bad report about them.” This is typical of brothers. I grew up with four brothers and know all about how boys blame each other – “Dad do you know what Johnny did? He took another piece of chocolate cake when Mum wasn’t looking.” “Dad, Brian punched me. It isn’t fair!” How many of you young folks fight with each other or tell tales on each other? I guess sibling rivalry is no different today all these thousands of years since the days of Joseph. Actually, we know that Joseph’s brothers were really very bad. They did do some very immoral and cruel things. Joseph’s reports were no doubt perfectly true. Not surprisingly, his brothers hated him for pointing out their evil deeds to their father.
There was yet another reason for their hatred of Joseph, and it was not Joseph’s fault this time. We read in verses 3 & 4, “Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.”
Jacob had his favourite. It was Joseph. Was this right? Of course not! Joseph was quite a bit younger than his brothers. They were all grown men. In some ways it was natural for Jacob to have a special soft spot for his young son. However, showing favouritism in a family can be very destructive. Last week Ross Paterson told how having a wife and five daughters was like living in a women’s dormitory. It is amazing Ross still looks so young! Ross & his wife Christine loved each of their girls equally and it is no wonder they have a very close family. l grew up with four brothers – so my Mother lived in a men’s dormitory – with my Dad and her five sons. Each of us liked to think we were Mom & Dad’s favourite – but in reality they never treated any of us as their favourite. We were all equally precious to them. At meal times the food was dished out so that none of us could say we had more than any other brother.
Parents, if God has blessed you with more than one child take care to treat each one of them with love & fairness. Do not show favouritism and do not compare them. Don’t spoil one child while you are hard on another. The one you spoil may become selfish and the one you treat harshly may become bitter. Of course, if you only have one child, don’t spoil that child nor treat it cruelly either. Every child needs to learn to share and every child needs discipline & loving correction, and of course they need parents who are a good example.
Jacob not only loved Joseph more than all his other sons, he showed it in a way that made his other sons hate their younger brother even more. He “made a richly ornamented robe for him”. Every time his brothers saw Joseph in this beautiful and expensive robe it reminded them of their father’s favouritism.
Parents need to treat all their kids fairly. Imagine having two kids and on their birthdays giving one a gold watch and giving the other a plastic watch. It would certainly not go down well with the second child. Imagine if two brothers (or sisters, or a sister and a brother) are fighting over something and you as their parent only discipline one of them, even though both are equally at fault - I think they would very quickly sense that you had your favourite. Children should never doubt that their parents love them equally and always try to treat them fairly. Parents need to love each of their children, remembering that each one has a unique personality, individual gifts, & their own particular needs.
Things for poor Joseph went from bad to worse with his brothers. You remember in v. 4 it says, “…they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.” They were really unkind to their young brother. How sad. Big brothers, or big sisters, can make a huge impact for good or evil on their younger siblings. Younger children often look up to and want to be like their older brothers & sisters. It was my prayer as the oldest in our family that I would be a blessing to my brothers, and it grieves me to know that on a few occasions when we were younger I was not kind to them. Praise the Lord, those childish days are long past and we are a close & happy bunch of brothers.
Things got worse for Joseph when, rather unwisely, he shared some remarkable & vivid dreams he had had. Dreams in the Bible are often seen as carrying a deeper meaning. So we read in v 5: “Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.” He told them what he saw in his dream: “We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” (v 7) Joseph’s brothers were not impressed. They reacted angrily: “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” (v 8) Rather than laughing about his dream, his brothers got angry. Possibly they may have begun to realise that however much they hated Joseph there was something special about their younger brother. They had done some very bad things but young Joseph, by contrast, seemed to have deeper down qualities that made him different. The contrast however only made them more determined to put him in his place.
Young people - let me encourage you to ask God to give you dreams. As you read God’s Word ask Him to speak powerfully into your life. Don’t despise or take lightly the things God shows you. Dream dreams for God. He wants to give you an exciting future as you learn to trust Him, obey Him and follow Him. If you do surrender your life to God He will in His time & way fulfil His plans for you. And His plans are to bless you and to make you a blessing.
Knowing what a bad reaction he got when he told his first dream, Joseph was perhaps naïve & unwise to tell his brothers about his second dream. He should perhaps simply have kept it to himself. Instead he excitedly told his family. “‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’” (v 9) This time even his father criticised Joseph. As for his brothers, they were really mad. Yet, as we find much later on in the story, none of them ever forgot those dreams.
Rather than thinking about how God might be speaking through Joseph’s dreams, his brothers became jealous. Jealousy is a terrible thing. It is like a monster that is ready to eat us alive. Jealousy is seen in families – as it was in Joseph’s family. In some families today, instead of there being love and support, some family members refuse to even speak to each other. They have no contact for years.
Sometimes husbands are jealous of their wives and wives of their husbands. We fear we might lose our partner to someone who appears more attractive, more capable or more successful. If however husband & wife trust each other and feel secure in each other’s love, such jealous feelings have no way to take root.
Jealousy affects young people. If a classmate does well in his or her studies, or if he/she is popular, or excels on the sport’s field, or seems more attractive - it is so easy for other classmates to feel jealous. “Why is she so popular?” “How come he got higher marks than I did?” “How come he got into the first team and I didn’t?”
Jealousy is seen in the work place. When someone gets promoted it is very hard for some people to be honestly happy for them. Instead they feel jealous and wonder why they were not promoted instead. And sadly Christians can get jealous of one another too. We wonder why “so-and-so” got thanked and we didn’t. We wonder why “so-and-so” got to be asked to serve on the committee and we didn’t. We see “so-and-so” leading worship or speaking up front and ask “Why don’t I have their gift?”
Brothers & sisters, we must remember that jealousy can destroy us. It is like self-pity. It is like an unforgiving spirit. It eats us up. It destroys relationships. To overcome jealousy we must learn to find our security, & our sense of worth, in God. If we focus our attention on God and all He has given us rather than on the things He has not given us, we will avoid being jealous of others.
Two restaurant owners were bitter rivals. Their restaurants were directly across the street from each other. Each day they watched to see how many people went to the other person’s restaurant. If one restaurant ended up with more patrons on any one day the owner of that restaurant would feel really good. One night an angel appeared to one of the restaurant owners in a dream and said, “I will give you anything you ask, but whatever it is, your rival will receive twice as much. If you want to be rich I can make you rich, but your rival will be twice as rich. If you want I can give you a long life, but your rival will have an even longer life. What is your desire?” The man frowned, thought for a moment, and then said, “This is what I want. Strike me blind in one eye!” How crazy! Rather than see his rival do better than he did he asked for disaster for himself (& his rival).
Yes, jealousy is dangerous and it was to lead to terrible things in Jacob’s family. In Genesis 37:12 -17 we read that Jacob sent Joseph to see how his brothers were doing. They kept large flocks of animals and at certain times of the year moved from place to place with their animals looking for good grazing. Joseph must have been relieved & excited to eventually find his brothers. Little did he know that something very tragic was about to happen. “…they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. ‘Here comes that dreamer!’ they said to each other. ‘Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams.’” v 18-20 Next week we will see what happened. Things got really desperate for Joseph. Yes, Joseph grew up in a dysfunctional family but we will discover in this series of messages that he never saw himself as a victim. In his darkest times, God was with him. God was in control in all the twists & turns of his life – even if this fact was hard to believe at times. Don’t see yourself as a victim. If you are a Christian see yourself as someone with a God-given destiny, someone who, with God’s wonderful help, can break those cycles of jealousy & disunity that so often plague families & destroy relationships. Ask God to be at the centre of all your relationships. Ask Him to be the head of your home.
The Failure of Human Scheming and the Triumph of God's Grace
The Life of Jacob 2
Genesis 27:1- 28:22
The Bible is an amazing book. It never covers over the faults and weaknesses of even the famous men and women of faith. As we read their stories we come to realise that they are so very like us. They are real human beings with real struggles. From them we can learn so much about our own hearts and our own need for God's grace.
Jacob is a classic case of someone who, despite clever scheming and despite huge effort, could not reach his dreams or fulfill his deepest ambitions - on his own. He wanted God's blessing, he knew there was something more to life than mere existence, but only when he came to meet God face to face did he begin to discover how to find the things he was seeking.
A Family Divided
The incident in Genesis 27 where Jacob deceives his father Isaac in order to obtain the blessing shows the tragedy of a divided family. Here is a home full of jealousy and in-fighting. There was no love in this home. God had revealed Himself to Abraham and also to Isaac. Rebekah too shared faith in Abraham's God. Both Jacob and Esau, the twin brothers, knew something about the God of their fathers. Sadly, however, these religious people did not live out their faith in everyday life. Rather than being filled with God's love, their home was filled with intrigue and disunity. Isaac and Rebekah may still have loved each other but their communication skills were almost zero.
In verses 1-4 we read of Isaac, now old and blind, secretly planning to pronounce his patriarchal blessing on his favourite son Esau. “Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.” v.4. Isaac knew the blessing was to be given to Jacob. However because he preferred Esau and maybe too because he was hungry for a good meal, he tried to take things into his own hands. It was a big mistake. How could he think he could go against the clear plan and purpose of God? A father and husband must be an example in the home. He must take a spiritual lead. He must obey God and make God head of the home. Sadly, Isaac knowingly went against what he knew was God's plan.
Esau went along with his father's suggestion, even though he was very well aware of the fact he had already sold his birthright to Jacob. The birthright only came into force when the father pronounced the blessing anyway. So Esau simply ignored his oath to Jacob as if it was irrelevant. When later, in verse 34, he discovered that Jacob had cheated him out of the blessing, “he burst out with a loud and bitter cry”. That cry was not so much because he valued the spiritual blessings of the birthright and the blessing which he had lost. It was more the fact he had been cheated and had lost the material benefits that might have come his way in the short-term. Esau had little if any interest in the spiritual side of the blessing.
A Father Deceived
Verses 5-17 outline the role played by Rebekah, the boys' mother. She overheard Isaac talking to Esau and quickly got Jacob to act. “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 the blessing before he dies.” v.9, 10. She may have had a good motive – trying to preserve the blessing for Jacob. She may have felt God's plan was in danger of becoming unstuck. Her mistake was in the way she tried to rectify the situation. We cannot excuse Rebekah for what she did even if we can understand her distress. God does not need us to help Him out, and certainly not by taking the law into our own hands. Again, the fact there was so little trust and such poor communication in the family led only to trouble.
Jacob himself was also not without fault, although he did hesitate in agreeing to his mother's plan. He said, “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.” v.11, 12. Sadly, although Jacob knew his mother's plan was not right, he seemed more concerned about being found out than about the fact he would be doing wrong. Once he went along with the plan you notice that one lie led to another lie. First of all, in verse 19, he lied to his father saying he was Esau. Then when Isaac expressed amazement that he had come back so quickly from hunting, Jacob told another lie. He said, “The Lord your God gave me success”. That was a mockery. He tried to sound spiritual. Sometimes when people cover up sin they use fine sounding, even spiritual, words to impress others. One Christian worker I know felt so hurt by the treatment he received from a senior colleague that he finally resigned. The person who had caused the hurt in the first place wrote up a glowing tribute to the colleague who had resigned. I guess he didn't want anyone to think he had anything to do with the person resigning. We may deceive others but God is not mocked. He knows everything. We cannot hide our sin from God. Jacob's lies didn't end there. His father suspected he was not Esau. The animal skin covering which Rebekah had prepared may have in the end fooled Isaac. He said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” However Isaac still had his doubts and went on to ask, “Are you really my son Esau?” Once again Jacob told a straight lie. “I am,” he replied.
Jacob was still the schemer. He desired blessings from God, which was good, but he needed to realise that to receive those blessings he should do things God's way. In our personal lives, in our homes, at work, in our church life, and in our work for God in the community and the world, if we want to know God's favour and blessing - we must do what is right and truthful. If we do not we not only forfeit His blessing but we bring dishonour to His Name.
The Truth Revealed
Something else we can learn from this sad story is: if we try to keep our sin covered, the truth will sooner or later come out into the open. All those in our story today – Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob, all discovered this. None of them was ever the same again. This event virtually broke up the family. How much better it would have been if they had all been living in the light of the truth! When we desire above all to love and please God, He is absolutely able to bless us and make us a blessing. We do not have to scheme and struggle to get hold of His blessing. In fact He longs to bless us. The other thing to remember is God is sovereign and He knows when and how to bless us. In Proverbs 16:9 it says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” In the same chapter in Proverbs, in verse 3 it says, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Verse 7 says, “When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies live at peace with him.”
Isaac may have tried to change God's plan but he ended up blessing Jacob. At least Isaac seemed to recognize that there was nothing he could now do. He knew God would indeed bless Jacob. Look at verse 33, “...I blessed him – and indeed he will be blessed.”
Yes, and Jacob need never have tried to scheme his way to blessing. He still had to learn a lot about the God of his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham. Up till now it had all been hearsay. Very soon he would encounter God in a personal way. Things were to move very fast.
Esau was so angry that he determined to kill Jacob at the earliest opportunity. His anger blinded him to the fact he himself was at fault in despising and giving away his birthright in the first place. Rebekah heard about Esau's anger and his plan to murder Jacob and, like her scheming son, she too came up with a scheme. She urged Jacob to escape. “Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. Stay with him for a while until your brother's fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I'll send word for you to come back from there.” v.43-45. Rebekah also persuaded Isaac to support her plan by pointing out the fact Jacob could get a wife from their relatives in Haran rather than marry someone from amongst the Canaanites. Esau's Canaanite wives were a cause of real heartache to both Rebekah and Isaac. The Canaanites did not share their faith in God and instead worshipped various other deities. In fact all through the Bible believers are warned not to marry non-believers. It seldom works out well. But Esau was not someone who took his faith at all seriously so to him it seemed not to matter who he married.
Before Jacob left home for Haran, Isaac pronounced an amazing blessing on him. In chapter 28:3 he said, “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May He give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham.” With such a blessing, Jacob surely need never have tried to deceive his father into blessing him in the first place! The word Isaac used for God Almighty was El-Shaddai, which is the same name God used for Himself when he made the covenant with Abraham in 17:1.
Jacob set out on the long 400 mile journey north to Haran in Paddan Aram, the plains of Aram, which was where Rebekah's family lived, and from where Abraham, Jacob's grandfather, had also come to Canaan. Little did Jacob or his mother Rebekah realise it, but they would never see each other again.
Imagine how Jacob felt leaving home. Unlike his adventurous brother Esau, Jacob preferred his settled, cozy life at home. He loved the comfort of his own bed and familiar surroundings. He must have felt very lonely and apprehensive about the journey ahead and worried about what might happen to him. His was a most uncertain future. At the end of his first day of travel he settled down for the night, sleeping rough in the open, for there was no where else to stay. For his pillow he had a stone. Little did he know what would happen that night as he slept exhausted and far from home!
The Lord Intervenes
“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.” v.12. As on many other occasions in the Bible, God spoke through a dream. God was now for the first time communicating directly and personally with Jacob. It was all God's gracious initiative. Jacob saw a stairway leading up to heaven and on this stairway was a stream of messengers going up and down. Jacob noticed that the Lord Himself was standing at the top of the stairway. It must have been an awesome sight. God wanted to communicate with Jacob. Up till this point Jacob had only heard about God. His father had told him about this awesome God, and deep down Jacob longed to know more, but there had been no personal encounter. As someone has said, “It is not enough to hear wonderful stories about Christians in your family. You need to become part of the story yourself.” Jacob was about to meet the God of his father and grandfather. God was now showing Jacob there was a way open between heaven and earth. There was access to God. Interestingly Jesus Himself used this same picture in John 1:51. He told Nathanael, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God descending and ascending on the Son of Man.” Jesus was saying He was the way between heaven and earth. He is the One who makes it possible for man to communicate with God. It is through Jesus that you and I can come to know God.
In his dream Jacob heard God say, “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. ...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.” v.13-15. God revealed Himself to Jacob. He promised to bless him and make him a blessing. He promised to be with Jacob and to protect Jacob. It was a totally overwhelming revelation. Jacob the schemer and the grabber now experiences the undeserved grace and mercy of Almighty God. What Jacob had struggled to grab for himself, and failed, God was now graciously and unconditionally promising to him. God takes our mistakes and sins and breaths forgiveness into our lives. He takes up even the tangled, messy threads of our lives and makes them into a beautiful tapestry. He does not need our clever scheming. All He wants is our response in love and obedience.
The dream must have woken Jacob. He thought, “'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, this is the gate of heaven.'” v.16, 17. Jacob must have fallen back to sleep but early the next morning he set up a pillar and made an offering of oil on it, and called the place Bethel – which means the “house of God”. Jacob's encounter with God that night was an experience that would change his life. He had a lot to learn and also a lot to “unlearn” but he had now begun a new life. He had come to know God in a new and personal way. His promise to make the Lord his God and to give a tenth of all he had was a sincere expression, I believe, of Jacob's desire to love and serve God in a new way. No longer was it mere external religion or head knowledge that Jacob had. He now had a relationship with the living God.
Do you know God in this same personal way? Is Jesus just someone you have read about or is He your own personal Lord and Saviour? He wants to open up the stairway of communication with you today, as He did with Jacob. He wants to come into your life and bless you and make you a blessing. Will you let Him?