This week we are going to be taking a look at the beginning of the story of two brothers- Jacob and Esau.
Monday: Read Genesis 25:19-26
Twin boys—and they were trouble from the start. Rebekah could feel them grappling before they were born. Why does Genesis stress that Jacob was born “grasping his brother’s heel”? To “grasp the heel” was a Hebrew way of saying a person was devious.
• Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, enters the Bible story. Jacob’s descendant, Jesus, quoted Exodus 3:6, where God self-identifies as “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Mark 12:26-27) What barriers could have kept the baby Jacob from being a great patriarch, a key person in history?
Tuesday: Read Genesis 25:27-34
Isaac’s boys were twins, true, but hardly alike! Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of stew—prompted by Jacob. What’s a “birthright”? In their culture, the oldest son (even if by just minutes) inherited twice as much as others. The birthright also implied family leadership. Genesis saw Esau as both foolish and disloyal to give it away so casually.
• Jacob was “sharp,” in all of the positive and negatives senses that term can carry. What do you learn about yourself through your responses to this story? Are you more apt to admire Jacob or to deplore the way he treated Esau? With which qualities in each of the brothers do you most identify?
• The nation of Edom (Esau’s progeny) lived next to Israel in the desert by the Dead Sea, was mostly hostile, and cheered when Israel was crushed (Psalm 137:7). How can you act to keep conflicts in your family or work from having long-lasting results?
Wednesday: Read Genesis 25:34-27:29
Both Isaac and Rebekah played favorites (Genesis 25:28). Isaac tried to flout custom by giving a parting blessing only to Esau, his chosen. Rebekah overheard. She and Jacob fooled nearly blind Isaac, and Jacob got the blessing. Jacob now had all of Esau’s birthright. Genesis is bluntly frank about Isaac’s family, the keepers of the covenant!
• Usually, a father called all his sons around his deathbed, and blessed each one (see Genesis 49). Isaac was not just a naive victim—he tried to bypass Jacob. Do you believe God could have worked in this situation without Rebekah’s deceit or not? How do you decide when to wait and trust God and when you need to act?
Thursday: Read Genesis 27:30-41
Esau’s return showed up Jacob’s fraud—but too late. You may ask, “Why not just take back the blessing, or say it again to Esau?“ Isaac’s world saw words as potent, not trivial (unlike ours, which says, “They’re just words”). Often we can’t just say, “I didn’t mean it” and undo the harm words cause.
• Isaac and Jacob’s culture may have been a little “over the top” on the permanent nature of words. We, on the other hand, are probably too casual about that (see James 3:2-11). When have you wished you could take back words that were irretrievably gone? When have “just words” uplifted and blessed you?
Friday: Read Genesis 27:42-28:22
Jacob ran for his life. Isaac didn’t think the plotting and hurt wiped out God’s covenant with Abraham (28:3-4). And God went with Jacob. In Jacob’s dream, the Lord at the top of the ladder promised him safety and a role in God’s grand story. Jacob inherited the covenant promises, not because he was great, but because God is.
• As to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, so here God promised Jacob that his descendants would be a blessing for all peoples on earth. How does this “blessed to be a blessing” theme shape your grasp of what it meant for God to bless Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? How does it challenge you to use the blessings in your life?
• Genesis says that when Jacob awoke, he said, “Surely the Lord God is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” Have you ever had a moment like that—an uncanny sense that “God is in this place, this person, this event—and I had missed it”? How can you become more aware of God’s presence in your life?
Saturday: Reflect/Pray
Throughout this series we are going to be talking about the way that are scars tell a story, our story, God’s Story! Through this series you are encouraged to take a look at your story, write it down and share it with someone. You will be encouraged to do this for the next few weeks as we live into the scars that we carry with us.
Today be in prayer for those who have scarred you. That you may begin to find release and freedom from those who have hurt you.
You can find a helpful testimony tool on our website here: https://faithpointum.org/?p=1015