Jacob, The Deceiver (MP 25)

The twins in her womb jostled each other,
And Rebekah asked God the reason why;
“Of two nations you will be the mother;
They will live separate until they die!”
Esau was the firstborn of Isaac’s two;
Jacob came forth clutching the older’s heel;
Esau sold his birthright for lentil stew
To Jacob, who Isaac’s blessing did steal!
Then Rebekah helped Jacob to escape
Esau’s wrath, who swore his brother to kill;
To Laban* he went, his future to shape,
A wife to find, and a fortune to build!
Jacob and Laban deserved each other—
Each one thought he had bested his brother!

*Laban = Rebekah’s brother in Mesopotamia

Scripture Quoted: Genesis 25:23 (NIV) [Brackets added]
“The Lord said to her [Rebekah], ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.’ “

Commentary
Abraham sent his chief servant to his brother Nahor’s house in Mesopotamia to find and bring back a wife for Isaac, the son God had chosen. The servant brought Rebekah, the granddaughter of Nahor, and she and Isaac were married. She became pregnant with twins, and they jostled each other constantly in her womb. So she asked God why, and His answer is quoted above. Esau was born first, but Jacob came out holding Esau’s heel. Jacob was a trickster; his name means “deceiver”. God changed his name later to “Israel”, which became the name of the nation descended from him. It was the custom for the older son to inherit the most from the father in those days, so Esau was the expected heir to Isaac, including the covenant God had made with Abraham. But Jacob took advantage of Esau when he was ravenous with hunger and persuaded him to trade his birthright for a bowl of stew. Then Rebeka, who favored Jacob over Esau, helped Jacob deceive his blind father Isaac, and he received the blessing that was intended for Esau. Therefore, Jacob became the recipient of God’s covenant and the privilege of founding the nation that produced Jesus as the Savior of the world.

However, Esau did not intend to forgive Jacob for tricking him out of his expected blessing. He decided to wait until Isaac died of old age, after which he resolved to kill Jacob. Rebekah learned his intention, so she sent Jacob from Canaan to Mesopotamia, to live with her brother Laban. Jacob was instructed to find him a wife from among their kin before returning to Canaan. Notice that both Abraham and Isaac took great pains to insure their sons married girls from within their own family, so that the future nation of Israel would have a bloodstream without the taint of mixed blood with Canaanites.

The nation of Israel began with deep hostility between its own forefathers and those that founded Arab nations—Ishmael and Esau both were deprived of their so-called “rightful” inheritances; adding Abraham’s other sons by Keturah (his second wife) and the descendants of Lot by his own daughters (a sordid chapter after their escape from Sodom), these were all founders of Arab tribes. It was to create a 4,000-year feud between the Jews descended from Jacob and the Arabs descended from the “left-outs”. That’s why the desire of the rest of the world to create a lasting peace treaty in the Middle East today is impossible—a waste of time. Peace will not come between Jews and Arabs until Jesus Christ returns to earth.

You may well ask, How is it possible for God to have planned all these details in advance? In answer, remember the question God asked Abraham, “Is anything impossible for God?”

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not die, but have everlasting life.”) (John 3:16)

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)