Jacob Sent Away (Genesis 27)
Reading with your child......
After Jacob tricked Esau and took the blessings that should have belonged to him, Esau became very angry - angry enough that he wanted to kill his brother, Jacob. Rebekah knew that Esau was angry, so in order to protect Jacob, she called him. "Jacob!", she said, "You must leave here because Esau is so angry with you that he wants to kill you. Go to my brother's house in Haran and stay there until I call you to return after your brother is no longer angry and has forgotten what you did to him." So Isaac blessed Jacob and agreed with his wife Rebekah and told Jacob to go live with her brother Laban. He told him to not marry a woman from Canaan because they did not follow God, but to marry someone from Laban's house instead. After this blessing, Jacob left and went to Laban's home and stayed there.
Esau heard that Jacob had left and what his parents had told him. He knew that Isaac and Rebekah wanted Esau and Jacob to marry women who worshipped God and were within their community, so Esau went to Ishmael and married his daughter because he knew that this would make Isaac, his father, angry.
Your child's insights......
- Do you remember why Esau was so angry with Jacob?
- Why did Rebekah want Jacob to leave?
- Do you think Jacob was afraid?
- What else did Esau do in his anger?
- Why did Isaac and Rebekah not want their sons to marry women who did not worship God?
- Who did Esau marry?
- Why do you think he did that?
- What are some things you do when you're angry?
Ideas for prayer with your child......
- Pray that your child would go to God in their anger.
- Pray for a spouse for your child that follows God.
Random thoughts for your consideration.....
1. I'm not a big fan of Rebekah. She's just too dramatic for me. Every time we hear a story about her she's saying, "Why should I go on living?!? - these babies inside me are fighting - I don't like the women who live around me!" I bet she was fun to live with. Just goes to show you that no matter how godly we all are or want to be, we all have our flaws.
2. What made Rebekah think that Esau would just forget about the blessing Jacob stole from him? Taking his blessing was a tremendous offense!
3. What do you think Isaac must have been thinking as this whole thing panned out?
4. I did not realize that Esau married Ishmael's daughter!! He must have thought about the one person who would displease his parents the most, found her and married her. Marrying the daughter of the half brother of Isaac - the one who made fun of him and was told to leave his presence - the one who would compete with the house of Israel forever. Unbelievable!
Any thoughts you want to share? Please do.
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