GENESIS
“Jacob in Paddan-Aram”
Chapters 28-31
Day One: Genesis 28
1.1 Read verses 6-9. What would you say is something that Esau is continually striving for in Genesis? (Consider also,
27:30-38)
1.2 What might be some parallels between Esau’s striving and our striving today?
1.3 Where do the promises God made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-7 reappear in this chapter? What do the promises
consist of?
1.4 Where has 28:16 been true in your life?
Today’s Takeaway:
Day Two: Genesis 29
2.1 What is ironic about this chapter and where we have been with the story of Jacob and Esau?
2.2 What are your impressions/feelings about each of the people we meet in this chapter
Jacob
Rachel
Leah
Laban
2.3 So far, barrenness and childbirth has been a pretty significant theme in Genesis. Jot down three instances of
barrenness in what we’ve read and what ultimately happened in each situation. (Consider Genesis 11:30, 25:21, 29:31)
1.
2.
3.
2.4 What might be the point of this theme of barrenness?
2.5 How has God shown up in hopeless, broken, lifeless scenarios in your life?
Today’s Takeaway:
Day Three: Genesis 30
3.1 Trace the family tree from Abraham through the children born to Jacob in the outline below. Make note of which
son was born the earliest as well. (Note: Include Jacob’s daughter, Dinah. You will need to read 35:16-26 to get the
name of the 12th son.)
____________________ ---------ABRAHAM----------
____________________
____________________
____________________ ------____________________
________----_________----__________----__________----_____________
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
________
___________
________
________
3.2 What questions do you have about Genesis 30:25-43?
3.3 What have you learned about God’s faithfulness in the story of Genesis to this point?
3.4 Through 30 chapters of Genesis, what is the most striking thing that God has impressed upon you?
Today’s Takeaway:
Day Four: Genesis 31
4.1 How has the notion of Genesis 12:1-3 and God ‘blessing those who bless you’ and ‘cursing those who curse you’
played out in the narrative between Jacob and Laban?
4.2 The theme of deception seems to be rampant in this family. Note at least three people in Genesis 28-31 who
participate in some type of deception.
4.3 Do you think sinful patterns can be passed from generation to generation in a family? Why or why not?
4.4 Each of the deceivers in Genesis 28-31 reaped some negative consequences. What were they (you will have to think
critically on some of these!)
4.5 Read Galatians 6:7-10 and jot down any correlations you see between those verses and what transpired in this
section of Genesis.
Today’s Takeaway:
Day Five:
Catch Up or Rest Day. Just bask in His goodness!
Day Six: Commentary
A TALE OF TWO BROTHERS
The account of Jacob and Esau continues to demonstrate two very different paths being lived out. On one hand, we
have Jacob, who has received birthright and blessing and has been instructed to take a wife from Sarah’s family back in
Haran, specifically from Laban (much like Isaac’s wife being brought from that family as well). Jacob goes with the
patriarchal blessing to go and find a wife. On the way, God reveals Himself to Jacob, showing that He is not simply the
God of Abraham and of Isaac, but would continue this promise and covenant through Jacob as well.
Meanwhile, Esau was still reeling from his lost birthright and blessing. He married Hittite women (26:34) and had made
life bitter for his parents. Esau wanted his father’s blessing but got a leftover blessing instead. And it seems that in 28
he sees that his wives have been displeasing to his parents and so he takes a wife of Abraham’s line to try and win the
approval of his parents. Esau may evoke feelings of disgust or feelings of empathy from us, but his continual impulsive
behavior and his desire to be validated and blessed are both tales that often hit very close to home.
NOT SO BLACK AND WHITE
What exactly was going on in chapter 30 with the monochrome and polychrome sheep and goats? Jacob and Laban are
two peas in a pod when it comes to conniving and concocting ploys for selfish gain. Jacob’s track record (and his name,
‘deceiver’) include such deceptions as stealing Esau’s birthright and tricking his father Isaac into giving him the blessing.
Likewise, Laban has ‘duped the duper’ by tricking Jacob into marrying Leah and giving 14 years of service in his
household to this point in the story. Jacob requests dismissal along with his family (4 wives and 11 children to this point)
to return to the land God had promised him and his ancestors. Both Jacob and Laban know that God has blessed Laban
immensely through Jacob’s service (Genesis 12:1-3!) and so Laban tells Jacob to name his price.
Jacob seemingly aims small in his request. Jacob is to remove from Laban’s flocks dark-colored sheep and variegated
(speckled) goats (v.32). In the Mediterranean world the sheep are normally white and the goats black. Thus Jacob is
requesting the irregular, abnormal parts of Laban’s flock. If Laban discovers, subsequently, any monochrome goats or
white sheep/lambs among Jacob’s flocks, he can be sure that Jacob stole them (v.33). If Laban had only known Jacob’s
earlier capabilities for dishonesty, perhaps he would not have been so quick to accept Jacob’s integrity. Perhaps the
only reason Laban consents is because of Jacob’s willingness to accept so little. At most it would amount to twenty
percent of the flocks. Before Jacob came Laban had only a little. Now Jacob is content himself to leave with only a small
portion. To guarantee further as small a share as possible for Jacob, Laban isolated those irregular animals chosen by
Jacob from the monochromes and left them with his own sons. Jacob has only the monochrome members of the flock
to tend, and they will produce few, if any, irregulars. Thus Laban thinks he has limited Jacob’s acquisitions. This move
by Laban will work ultimately for jacob’s advantage, for it will allow Jacob to carry out his crossbreeding in relative
privacy, without Laban or his shepherds spying or checking on him.
If he is to increase his flock, Jacob’s challenge is to get monochrome animals to produce spotted young. To that end,
Jacob took shoots of various trees and peeled them in such a way that there were white stripes on them, and these he
placed in the watering troughs, so that the mating monochrome goats would birth spotted kids. Further, he bred
variegated flocks with monochrome flocks to increase his flocks even more.
How does Jacob manage to succeed? Do one-colored animals produce bi-colored young simply by looking at a bicolored
object in their mating time? The interpretation borders on sympathetic magic. Jacob’s rods function much as do
Rachel’s mandrakes. It is not the mandrakes that produce fertility, and it is not Jacob’s white rods that produce the right
kind of offspring for Jacob—although perhaps that is what Jacob wanted Laban to think. IT IS GOD WHO OPENED
SARAH’S WOMB, REBEKAH’S WOMB AND RACHEL’S WOMB AND JACOB TESTIFIES (31:10-12) THAT IT WAS GOD, NOT
MAGIC THAT BROUGHT ABOUT PROSPERITY FOR JACOB WITH THE FLOCKS. God continually intervenes in hopeless
situations and births something new.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?
Sometimes Old Testament narratives can make only an uneasy connection with the lives of contemporary believers. The
chapters read this week (along with some earlier ones) provide two reasons why. Some narratives seem to take for
granted behavior that we as readers today find objectionable. At the very least, these narratives often do not make a
point of passing judgment on a behavior such as deceiving one’s father. Then again, some narratives describe practices
that are simply as foreign to us as baseball might be to indigenous people living in the rainforest. What in the world do
branches have to do with cattle breeding?
Often what seems out of place or odd to us in a particular text can affect our ability to hear God speak to us through
Scripture and even affect our willingness to listen. “What does all this have to do with me? Can’t we just skip to the
Psalms—or better yet, to the Gospels?” Well, this is precisely the time to pause and remind ourselves of what we have
noticed already: The application of Scripture to our lives—a vital dimension of Christian growth—is more than “What
does this have to do with me?” It means allowing God to tell God’s story in God’s way. It means not simply bringing
Scripture over to our world (although that most certainly does happen) but bringing ourselves into the world of
Scripture. The ‘strangeness’ of the Old Testament reminds us that we are not the primary focus of our study of
Scripture. The focus of our study is first of all God and His glory.
Prayer Focus:
Reflect on the following verses prayerfully. What does it mean for God to be FAITHFUL? Consider how you’ve seen
His faithfulness in Genesis and then examine your own life and see where He has been faithful.
Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. (Ps 36:5)
And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in
steadfast love, and in mercy. 20 I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.
(Hosea 2:19-20)
Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while
continuing to do good. (1 Peter 4:19)