LESSON 9 - JACOB DECEIVED

Esau was so mad at Jacob for tricking him out of his birthright and his blessing that Jacob’s parents told him to go to live with his mother’s brother, Laban, and find a good wife there.

Laban had two daughters. The oldest was named Leah and the youngest was Rachael. Rachael was beautiful and Jacob fell in love with her.

Jacob loved Rachael so much that he told Laban he would work for him for seven years if he could marry Rachael. Laban told Jacob that it would be good for Jacob to marry Rachael rather than to marry someone from another tribe of people.

Jacob worked for Laban for seven years for Rachael but he said it seemed to him like a few days because he loved her so much, Genesis 29:20. After the seven years, Jacob went to Laban and said, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may marry her.”

Laban gathered together all the neighbors and made a big marriage feast. There was probably a lot of good food and drinking and fun at the party just like many weddings today. Laban wanted to play a trick on Jacob. He gave his older daughter Leah to Jacob instead of Rachael! So Jacob married Leah and in the morning he saw that it wasn’t Rachael. Jacob liked Leah, but he was still very upset, because he thought he had married Rachael.

He said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you seven years for Rachael and now you have tricked me!”

 

Laban told Jacob that in that country it was the custom for the oldest daughter to be married before the younger daughter could be married. He told him that he had to stay married to Leah and that he could also have Rachael after a week if he would work for Laban another seven years.

Jacob served Laban for another seven years for Rachael and he loved her more than Leah. When Leah and Rachael got married, Laban gave them each a servant girl to help them.

To make up for Leah not being loved as much, Yahweh let her be the one who had babies while Rachael didn’t have any. She had four sons named Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah.

Rachael was so sad because she didn’t have any children that she told Jacob, “If you don’t give me children I will die!”

That made Jacob angry at Rachael. He told her, “I am not Elohim, that I can make you have children or not have children. If you want to have children you should pray to Yahweh,” Genesis 30:1-2.

So Rachael told Jacob to have a baby with her servant girl, Bilhah, and Rachael would get a baby that way. Bilhah had two baby boys and Rachael named the first one Dan and the second one Naphtali.

Leah didn’t have any more children so she gave Jacob her servant girl, Zilpah, and she had a son whom Leah named Gad. Then Zilpah had another son whom Leah named Asher. Leah then had two more sons named Issachar and Zebulun and then a daughter named Dinah. Now, Leah had six sons and a daughter.

Finally, Elohim listened to Rachael praying to Him and gave her a son. She named him Joseph. Jacob loved Joseph the most because he was Rachael’s son and he still loved Rachael.

BIG FAMILY CHALLENGE
It sounds like Jacob had a lot of children, doesn't it? Now a project for you to check your memory. Take a piece of paper and draw three lines from top to bottom. On the right side at the top, write "Rachael." At the top of the other columns, write "Bilhah" on one, "Leah" on the next, and "Zilpah" on the last. Below are Jacob's children. Write their names under their mother and then look it up in Genesis 29:32 to 30:24 to see if you are right.
Joseph	Dan
Zebulun	Reuben
Asher	Simeon
Levi	Issachar
Dinah	Judah
Naphtali	Gad

 

Jacob had been working for Laban for all this time and now he wanted to leave and be on his own. He was a very good shepherd so Laban asked him to stay and offered to pay him wages for his work. He asked Jacob how much money he wanted.

“You don’t need to give me any money at all. Just give me the lambs that are not all white. We’ll separate all the speckled and spotted and black sheep today and after that, any of those that there are in the flock will be mine,” Jacob said, Genesis 30:32.

Laban thought he would have ALL the sheep (or at least most of them), didn't he?

Since only a few sheep are usually born spotted or black, Laban thought this was a great offer and quickly agreed.

Laban was probably really surprised when Jacob's flock grew so big!

Jacob took sticks and stripped the bark off in places and put them in front of the sheep’s drinking trough. When the baby sheep were born they came out mostly spotted and streaked. Jacob put all those colored sheep into his own flock. His flock grew to be very large with these sheep. Laban changed the rules about which color sheep Jacob got; but every time he changed the rules, the new lambs were born the color which was for Jacob, Genesis 31:8.

Laban and his sons got jealous of Jacob’s blessings and things started to get tense. Then, Yahweh told Jacob he should go back home to his family in Canaan. Rachael and Leah agreed and Jacob’s whole big family and all his flocks left while Laban was out in the fields shearing sheep. Jacob had been with Laban so long that he was about ninety-two years old when they left Laban.

Jacob was glad to be going home but he was also afraid that his brother Esau still wanted to kill him. He sent men on ahead to meet Esau and give him fine gifts from Jacob. Jacob also prayed to Yahweh for help in meeting Esau. He thanked Yahweh for teaching him so much and for giving him so much, Genesis 32:9-12.

When Jacob was camping that night by himself a man came to him and wrestled with him all night. Neither of them could beat the other. Even when the man touched Jacob’s hip and made his leg strained, Jacob would not let go of him.

When it was almost morning and it began to get a little light, the man said, “Let me go because it will soon be day.”

Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

He said, “What is your name?”

“Jacob.”

“Your name shall not be Jacob any more. You shall be called Israel because you have struggled with Elohim and with men and have not lost.”

“What is your name?” Jacob asked Him.

“Why do you ask my name?” He replied. And He blessed Jacob, Genesis 32:34-39.

Jacob got up and limped over to where his family was camped and took them to meet his brother Esau. Because of the blessing he had received he was a little less afraid that Esau would kill him, but he was still concerned.

Finally, Jacob saw Esau coming with four hundred men! Jacob put himself in front of his family to protect them and then Esau saw him and began to run toward him. Jacob bowed himself to the ground and then got up to meet his brother. Esau ran to him and and and and and and …….. HUGGED HIM! He was happy to see his brother Jacob.

Jacob stayed close to Yahweh and Yahweh blessed him and kept him safe.

LESSON 9 - ACTIVITIES

Here are some questions to see how much you learned from the Lesson you just completed. You can print out this page to write your answers and do any activities that follow. Make sure you have an adult or a big brother or sister check your work! You may even get a "star" on it!

Questions

1. Who was Jacob's favorite child?
   ______________________________________________________

2. How did Jacob and Laban divide their lambs?
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3. How long did Jacob work for Laban in order to marry Rachael?
   ______________________________________________________

4. What was Jacob's name changed to and what does it mean?
   ______________________________________________________

5. Who was Bilhah?
   ______________________________________________________

6. Why did Leah have so many babies?
   ______________________________________________________

7. What did Esau do when he saw Jacob?
   ______________________________________________________

8. How many children did Rachel have?
   ______________________________________________________

9. What trick did Laban pull on Jacob?
   ______________________________________________________

10. How many children did Leah have?
    ______________________________________________________

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JACOB'S SONS

This is an interesting puzzle and a bit tough! Listed below are the names of Jacob's sons in the order of their birth. The number beside each name tells you the number of letters in that name. Print the puzzle and the graph. Place the names in the crisscross, and then put the letters from the numbered boxes in the appropriate spaces on the graph at the bottom to solve the coded message. HAVE FUN!

Here's the "coded" message graph:

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Memory Verse

I am the El of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar,
where you vowed a vow to me.
Now arise, get out of this land and
return to the land of your birth.
Genesis 31:13

HalleluYAH!