Jacob Runs Away to Laban’s House
May 26, 2024
Commentary
When Esau returned home and discovered his expected blessing had been given to Jacob, he was furious. Jacob had twice deceived Esau, by taking his birthright (Gen. 25:27-34) and now by taking his blessing. It meant that Esau’s descendants (the Edomites) would occupy a land less fertile than Jacob’s (the land of Canaan) for years to come. Esau had an unsaved man’s view of eternal values:
1. His remorse (vv. 34-35). – He was simply brokenhearted. Remorse alone cannot win spiritual blessing. It also takes repentance and Esau showed no trace of repentance.
2. His resentment (vv. 36-37). – We can understand Esau’s resentment, but he had sold his birthright of his own free will. Jacob had persuaded but not compelled him.
3. His request (vv. 38-40). – “And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also my father.”
4. His resolve (v. 41). – He now hated his brother Jacob and said, “I will slay my brother Jacob” He thought perhaps he could win with murder what he could not buy with meat.
When Rebekah heard this she worked out a plan to deliver her favorite son over to her brother Laban in Haran (vv. 42-45). Instead of telling Isaac the truth she told him Jacob needed to go to her homeland to get a wife and thus Jacob could flee with his blessing (v. 46). Rebekah suffers in the consequences as she is forced to send her favorite son away. As a result, the curse really falls on her. Despite her hopes that the separation will be brief, the “few days” turns into twenty years.
Application
Although decisions I make today can bring years of grief and heartache to me, the Lord can still cause them to bring glory to His name (Rom. 8:28). I need to be praying for strength and asking God to help me see the opportunities that even bad situations can provide.
Genesis 27:34– 46 (NET)
34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!” 35 But Isaac replied, “Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away your blessing.” 36 Esau exclaimed, “Jacob is the right name for him! He has tripped me up two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!” Then he asked, “Have you not kept back a blessing for me?”
37 Isaac replied to Esau, “Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?” 38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!” Then Esau wept loudly.
39 So his father Isaac said to him, “See here, your home will be by the richness of the earth, and by the dew of the sky above.
40 You will live by your sword but you will serve your brother. When you grow restless, you will tear off his yoke from your neck.”
41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. Esau said privately, “The time of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill my brother Jacob!”
42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, she quickly summoned her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say. Run away immediately to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 Live with him for a little while until your brother’s rage subsides. 45 Stay there until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I’ll send someone to bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am deeply depressed because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob were to marry one of these daughters of Heth who live in this land, I would want to die!”
Illustration: Horses Become Discouraged Trying to Pull a Heavy Load
I saw a span of horses drawing a very heavy load of logs, and as they came to a hard place they struggled and tried with all their force, strained every muscle to the highest tension, but they could not start the load. Then the driver took some of the logs off and tried to get them to start the load, but they would not. He rolled off some more, but those horses would not start. He rolled off still more, and at last took off every log, and then they started up the road. Those horses had been utterly discouraged; they had pulled with all their strength and failed, and any one doing that, be it man or beast, is not able to accomplish half as much as a man who has not lost heart. (Source Unknown).