Genesis

1. Genesis • Jacob’s trouble

2. The religious mentality: What is God trying to do? I don’t know, I just want • my bills paid • a comfy home • good health • and safety

3. The religious mentality: What is God trying to do? I don’t know, I just want • my bills paid • a comfy home • good health • and safety Following God is all about what’s in it for my temporal life

4. The religious mentality: What is God trying to do? I don’t know, I just want • my bills paid • a comfy home • good health • and safety Object of religion = Get God to deliver

5. The religious mentality: What is God trying to do? I don’t know, I just want • my bills paid • a comfy home • good health • and safety Willing to use manipulation to get what you want from God

6. The religious mentality: Also: Whatever happens good will be up to me

7. The religious mentality: Also: Whatever happens good will be up to me Views God as either stingy, or disengaged, so he needs me to do most of the work

8. The religious mentality: Also: Whatever happens good will be up to me Also, I’ll probably have to pay him for any assistance he gives me

9. Jacob’s Trouble 27:41 Esau hated Jacob because he had stolen his blessing, and he said to himself, “My father will soon be dead and gone. Then I will kill Jacob.” 42 But someone got wind of what Esau was planning and reported it to Rebekah. She sent for Jacob and told him, “Esau is threatening to kill you.

10. Jacob’s Trouble 43 This is what you should do. Flee to your uncle Laban in Haran. 44 Stay there with him until your brother’s fury is spent. 45 When he forgets what you have done, I will send for you. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

11. Jacob’s Trouble 28:10 Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. 11 At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone for a pillow and lay down to sleep.

12. Jacob’s Trouble 12 As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from earth to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down on it.

13. Jacob’s Trouble 13 At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I will give it to you and your descendants.

14. Jacob’s Trouble 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will cover the land from east to west and from north to south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.

15. Jacob’s Trouble 15 What’s more, I will be with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. I will someday bring you safely back to this land. I will be with you constantly until I have finished giving you everything I have promised.”

16. Jacob’s Trouble 16 Then Jacob woke up and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God—the gateway to heaven!”

17. Jacob’s Trouble 18 The next morning he got up very early. He took the stone he had used as a pillow and set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19 He named the place Bethel— “house of God”—though the name of the nearby village was Luz.

18. Jacob’s Trouble 18 The next morning he got up very early. He took the stone he had used as a pillow and set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19 He named the place Bethel— “house of God”—though the name of the nearby village was Luz. Completely misses the point!

19. Jacob’s Trouble 18 The next morning he got up very early. He took the stone he had used as a pillow and set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19 He named the place Bethel— “house of God”—though the name of the nearby village was Luz. It’s not the place that’s special

20. Jacob’s Trouble 18 The next morning he got up very early. He took the stone he had used as a pillow and set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19 He named the place Bethel— “house of God”—though the name of the nearby village was Luz. De-personalizes the encounter

21. Jacob’s Trouble 18 The next morning he got up very early. He took the stone he had used as a pillow and set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19 He named the place Bethel— “house of God”—though the name of the nearby village was Luz. His superstitious view shows distance from God

22. Jacob’s Trouble 20 Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will be with me and if he will protect me on this journey and if he will give me food and clothing, 21 and if he will bring me back safely to my father, then I will make the Lord my God. 22 This memorial pillar will become a place for worshiping God, and I will give God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

23. Jacob’s Trouble 20 Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will be with me and if he will protect me on this journey and if he will give me food and clothing, 21 and if he will bring me back safely to my father, then I will make the Lord my God. 22 This memorial pillar will become a place for worshiping God, and I will give God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

24. Jacob’s Trouble 20 Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will be with me and if he will protect me on this journey and if he will give me food and clothing, 21 and if he will bring me back safely to my father, then I will make the Lord my God. 22 This memorial pillar will become a place for worshiping God, and I will give God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

25. Jacob’s Trouble 29:1 Jacob hurried on, finally arriving in the land of the east. 9 … [at a well], Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and tears came to his eyes. 12 … So Rachel quickly ran and told her father, Laban.

26. Jacob’s Trouble 29:14 After Jacob had been there about a month, 15 Laban said to him, “You shouldn’t work for me without pay just because we are relatives. How much do you want?” 16 Now Laban had two daughters: Leah, who was the oldest, and her younger sister, Rachel.

27. Jacob’s Trouble 17 Leah had pretty eyes, but Rachel was beautiful in every way, with a lovely face and shapely figure. 18 Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.”

28. Jacob’s Trouble 19 “Agreed!” Laban replied. “I’d rather give her to you than to someone outside the family.” 20 So Jacob spent the next seven years working to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.

29. Jacob’s Trouble 21 Finally, the time came for him to marry her. “I have fulfilled my contract,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife so we can be married.” 22 So Laban invited everyone in the neighborhood to celebrate with Jacob at a wedding feast.

30. Jacob’s Trouble 23 That night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her. 25 But when Jacob woke up in the morning—it was Leah! “What sort of trick is this?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel. What do you mean by this trickery?”

31. Jacob’s Trouble How could this happen? 23 That night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her. 25 But when Jacob woke up in the morning—it was Leah! “What sort of trick is this?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel. What do you mean by this trickery?”

32. Jacob’s Trouble 29:26 “It’s not our custom to marry off a younger daughter ahead of the firstborn,” Laban replied. 27 “Wait until the bridal week is over, and you can have Rachel, too—that is, if you promise to work another seven years for me.”

33. Jacob’s Trouble 28 So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too. 30 So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her more than Leah. He then stayed and worked the additional seven years.

34. Jacob’s Trouble 30:25 Soon after Joseph was born to Rachel, Jacob said to Laban, “I want to go back home. 26 Let me take my wives and children, for I have earned them from you, and let me be on my way. You know I have fully paid for them with my service to you.”

35. Jacob’s Trouble 30 “You had little indeed before I came, and your wealth has increased enormously. The Lord has blessed you from everything I do! But now, what about me? When should I provide for my own family?” 31 “What wages do you want?” Laban asked again.

36. Jacob’s Trouble 31,2 Jacob replied, “Let me go out among your flocks today and remove all the sheep and goats that are speckled or spotted, along with all the dark-colored sheep. Give them to me as my wages. 34 “All right,” Laban replied. “It will be as you have said.”

37. Jacob’s Trouble 35 But that very day Laban went out and removed all the male goats that were speckled and spotted, the females that were speckled and spotted with any white patches, and all the dark-colored sheep. He placed them in the care of his sons, 36 and they took them three days’ distance from where Jacob was. Meanwhile, Jacob stayed and cared for Laban’s flock.

38. Jacob’s Trouble 37 Now Jacob took fresh shoots from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled off strips of the bark to make white streaks on them. 38 Then he set up these peeled branches beside the watering troughs so Laban’s flocks would see them as they came to drink, for that was when they mated.

39. Jacob’s Trouble 39 So when the flocks mated in front of the white-streaked branches, all of their offspring were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 40 Jacob added them to his own flock, thus separating the lambs from Laban’s flock. Then at mating time, he turned the flocks toward the streaked and dark-colored rams in Laban’s flock. This is how he built his flock from Laban’s.

40. Jacob’s Trouble 39 So when the flocks mated in front of the white-streaked branches, all of their offspring were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 40 Jacob added them to his own flock, thus separating the lambs from Laban’s flock. Then at mating time, he turned the flocks toward the streaked and dark-colored rams in Laban’s flock. This is how he built his flock from Laban’s. Jacob thinks his sympathetic magic is what expands his flocks

41. Jacob’s Trouble 43 As a result, Jacob’s flocks increased rapidly, and he became very wealthy, with many servants, camels, and donkeys.

42. Jacob’s Trouble But Laban out-manipulates him again! “Oh, no, not the striped ones, I meant the speckled ones” 43 As a result, Jacob’s flocks increased rapidly, and he became very wealthy, with many servants, camels, and donkeys.

43. Jacob’s Trouble 31:1 But Jacob soon learned that Laban’s sons were beginning to grumble. “Jacob has robbed our father!” they said. “All his wealth has been gained at our father’s expense.” 2 And Jacob began to notice a considerable cooling in Laban’s attitude toward him.

44. Jacob’s Trouble 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your relatives there, and I will be with you.” 4 Jacob called Rachel and Leah out to the field where he was watching the flocks,

45. Jacob’s Trouble 5 so he could talk things over with them. “Your father has turned against me and is not treating me like he used to,” he told them. “But the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know how hard I have worked for your father,

46. Jacob’s Trouble 7 but he has tricked me, breaking his wage agreement with me again and again. But God has not allowed him to do me any harm. 8 For if he said the speckled animals were mine, the whole flock began to produce speckled lambs. And when he changed his mind and said I could have the streaked ones, then all the lambs were born streaked.

47. Jacob’s Trouble 9 In this way, God has made me wealthy at your father’s expense. 10 During the mating season, I had a dream and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 11 Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Yes, I’m listening!’

48. Jacob’s Trouble 12 The angel said, ‘Look, and you will see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your flock. For I have seen all that Laban has done to you.

49. Jacob’s Trouble 12 The angel said, ‘Look, and you will see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your flock. For I have seen all that Laban has done to you. The real reason Jacob’s flocks increased!

50. Jacob’s Trouble 13 I am the God you met at Bethel, the place where you anointed the pillar of stone and made a vow to serve me. Now leave this country and return to the land you came from.’”