Genesis 33

Jacob lied again. He told Esau he'd meet him in Seir, then headed west for Shechem. At this point it was probably a habit for him.

Unfortunately,God recreates us but doesn't remake us. We're the same people we were after we surrender to Christ as before. This is bad because we have the same habits we always did. It's good because it means that there are no such things as cookie-cutter Christians,

Anyone who thinks there are hasn't read the story of Jacob.

Genesis 32

Jacob still depended on himself, and God still came through for him.

Just look what he sent to butter Esau up. Jacob was afraid of his brother, especially when he heard that Esau had 400 men with him. But God had already worked that out. I'm not sure why Esau brought 400 men with him, but it wasn't to kill Jacob. He'd already forgiven him, and was just happy to have his brother back.

Yes, Jacob had lied, but he was also God's chosen, and God took care of him.

Genesis 31

Once again, there's a choice between doing better and lowering the bar. Once again, people made the wrong choice.

Laban's sons were lazy. Rather than be not-lazy, though, they decided to blame Jacob.

God blessed Jacob. There's no doubt about that. The whole stripped stick thing was just Jacob's superstitious way of explaining things. In that way, he was a lot like the sons of Laban. All of them looked for something other than Yahweh to credit for Jacob's success. The sons of Laban credited Jacob's success -- and their own failure -- to his stealing from their father.

As Cain learned, it's easier to bring theLord's chosen down to your level than try and reach his. At least at first. 

Genesis 30

There's no no reason to think that Rachel even liked Jacob, much less loved him.

Of course we're told that Jacob was in love with her, a fact of which Laban took advantage. But what does the Bible actually say about Rachel? She whined and complained. She bossed him around. She was jealous, not only of her sister but also of their servants.

We in the modern West have so identified love and marriage that it's hard to remember that for most of humanity they simply haven't gone together. For better or worse, children married who their parents told them to. I don't doubt this was the case with Rachel.

Genesis 29

Laban was always looking for a deal. He sold his sister to a rich man. Now it turns out that he was willing  to give both his daughters away to get control of an heir. In short, he was what Jacob would have been had God not stepped in.

Jacob was a liar; Laban was a better liar. Jacob cheated people; Laban was better at that, too. Jacob had always lived by his wits; Laban was smarter, or at least more experierienced. The main difference between the two was that God had big plans for Jaco, he was contending to let Laban be Labn,

Ironically, being around someone worse made Jacob better.

Genesis 28

In this chapter Jacob is sent far away, ostensibly to find himself a wife.

I have no doubt that was part of Isaac's plan. He could get Jacob away fromEsau and out of his own hair, as well as ensure that the line of blessing would remain uncontaminated. I also have no doubt that that's where God wanted him, too. I don't know if God planned everything that way or not -- the text doesn't say -- but however you look at it, it's strange how often man's plans serve God's purposes.

Genesis 26

I've always thought of Isaac as a placeholder. He's the least-mentioned patriarch,and the little he does just makes him a rerun of his father. There's evidence that he wasn't even a worshiper ofGod.

Yet he got the same promise Abraham did. The exact same one. God took this otherwise undistinguished man and not only blessed and protected him, but tied their names together. Later in the OT, he would be known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Genesis 27

This is the chapter with the famous story about Jacob tricking Isaac.

In verse 7, though, Esau notices something: "Jacob had obeyed their father." Make no mistake; Jacob was a liar, a cheat, and a thief. But he was also obedient. Esau wasn't a terrible person; he was just impulsive and did whatever he wanted. He too was obedient, but only to his own desires.

In God's eyes, submission to those in authority is more important than just about anything else.

Genesis 25

Being a descendant of Abraham was never the issue.

There are several million Jews in the world, most of whom tradiitionallytrace their lineage to Abraham through his son Isaac. There are hundreds of millions of Arabs, most of whom are Muslim, and likewise claim descent from Abraham, this time through his son, Ishmael. Now, according to this chapter, there are tens of millions more, through his second wife, Keturah.

But why should it surprise us that it was Sarah who was barren? The Bible tells us that it was God wh kept her that way, for his own purposes.

But man, that's a lot of kids for an old man.

Genesis 24

From a worldly standpoint, Eleazar did everything wrong. He stood to inherit everything; with Ishmael gone, he was the onlyremaining heir to his ,master's wealth At least until Isaac came along, but Abraham's world was a dangerous one, where anything might happen.

From a Christian standpoint, he was even worse. He pretty much dictated terms to God, and there's no reason in this or any other chapter to think that he even believed in Yahweh.

Yet God still listened to him.