Genesis 28-33 Recap | OT Ep 4

In this episode, Austin and Ashley recap Genesis chapters 28 through 33, exploring Jacob's journey, his encounters with Laban, his two weddings, the birth of his children, and the eventual reconciliation with his brother Esau. They highlight the significance of God's presence in Jacob's life and how these narratives point to Jesus, emphasizing the need for a Savior and how God always goes before His people.

Reading Plan - Old Testament in One Year
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Hey everyone,

My name is Austin. And my name is Ashley. Welcome to the Clean Slate Podcast. Where we're finding Jesus in the Old Testament.

Welcome to episode four. We are so glad to have you with us. Today we're gonna be recapping Genesis chapters 28 through 33. Reminder that these episodes are simply an overview of the story. Austin and I are doing our best to show how the scripture points to Jesus. These episodes really are meant to be paired with the Old Testament in a year reading plan.

There's so much more that we could and want to talk about in every single chapter, but we simply can't due to time constraints. So as we get into more of the longer narratives, we just want to give you that little disclaimer.

If you're just starting to join us, that reading plan can actually be found down below in the description

As we get into chapter 28, we see that Jacob departs from Gerar and heads back to Paddan Aram, where Abraham is from, to give Esau time to kind of calm down, as well as to find a wife, since Isaac and Rebekah were insistent that he not marry one of the Hittite women Esau had. So along the way, Jacob has to lie down.

and he has a dream, and it's a very, very important dream. In the dream, there's a ladder set up going from earth all the way up to heaven. So Jacob sees angels going up and down on this ladder, and in verse 13 of chapter 28, we see where says, Lord stood above the ladder. Something really important and very interesting is the Hebrew here could actually go either way. It could mean

as most translations have it, that the Lord was standing above the ladder. But it could also mean that the Lord stood beside him. So he's at the bottom of the ladder. For me, that's exactly what was happening. God had come down to talk to Jacob in this moment because he is a boots on the ground type of savior. We have a savior that doesn't ask or command us to come to him because he knows that we can't. Our savior comes down to us.

So early on in this episode, what a beautiful glimpse of Jesus this is. And we see later in the Gospel of John in chapter one, verse 51, Jesus says, and He said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

What Jesus is communicating here is that he will be a greater way of access to God than even this heavenly ladder that Jacob saw in his dream.

When Jacob wakes up, he renamed the place that he had slept while he had this dream

to Bethel, which is the house of God.

He set up a pillar there and poured oil on top of it to consecrate it. And he made a vow to God that if God would give him food and clothing and bring him back to his father's house, Jacob would give him a tenth of everything he had.

We promised you guys at the end of the last episode that Jacob was going to meet his match in terms of being a swindler, right? And so moving into chapter 29, Jacob does in fact meet that match in his deceitful uncle Laban. So Jacob reaches Padden Aram and he meets Rachel. I mean, just moments after being there and being around the people, he instantly falls in love with her.

and tells Laban who runs out to meet Jacob, his nephew, in a similar fashion to how he ran out when Abraham's messenger came for Laban's sister, Rebecca. It's worth noting that Laban and his father benefited in the marriage arrangement between Isaac and Rebecca. And he probably has dollar signs going through his mind in this moment, seeing the son of his sister and learning that here looking for a wife.

Laban invites Jacob in and Jacob stays with Laban for a month.

While Jacob was staying with Laban, Laban asked Jacob, hey, since you're family, I don't want you working for nothing. What do want your wages to be? What can I pay you? And Jacob says that, hey, I really want to marry Rachel. he would serve Laban for seven years for her.

So really important thing at this point is that Rachel was the younger of two sisters, older being

Suffice it to say that Rachel got the looks of the two as her name means fawn and her older sister's name meant cow. That's the biblical author's polite way of letting us know this is a fact. Okay. to this. so Jacob serves seven

And at end of that seven years, there's a wedding feast to celebrate the marriage of Rachel and Jacob, or so Jacob thought. These feasts were quite the party and they would last for seven days. During this feast, Jacob had his share of adult beverage. then wedding takes place. Jacob wakes up from the wedding night the next morning and he wakes up and in the bed was Leah and not Rachel.

Jacob goes to Laban realizing what had happened. And Laban says, well, it's not so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn complete the week of this one. And we will also give you the other in return for serving me another seven years. Okay. So what Laban saying is, Hey, let's finish this wedding ceremony and then we'll go ahead and have another wedding ceremony for Rachel, and then you can just serve me another seven

Jacob agrees and he's able to marry Rachel a week later in exchange for serving another seven years to his uncle, Laban.

You know, poor Leah in all of this. She had to sneak into her sister's wedding ceremony to get married, and now she's got a literal sister-wife situation going on. But again, we see El-Roy, the God who sees, opened Leah's womb, and ultimately, as we'll see in those genealogies that are so easily skipped sometimes, it is actually one of Leah and Jacob's sons that is the bloodline of Jesus Christ.

That is just like God to take the most unwanted person and turn them into the vessel in which he brings his will to pass.

Yeah, that's exactly right, Ash. By the end of the chapter, we see that Leah had actually born Jacob four sons and a bitter rivalry was beginning to set up between Leah, and Rachel, who was barren. Also take note of that barrenness theme

So upon entering chapter 30, we see Rachel's jealousy of her sister Leah had boiled over, making her demand children from Jacob. Jacob responded by asking her, am I in the place of God? We'll hear that later, the exact phrase later in book of Genesis, by the way. And he was pointing out that it isn't him withholding children from her.

Rachel in turn gives Bilhah, her servant, to Jacob as a wife so that she can have children through Bilhah. Notice how this scenario is setting itself up very similar to how Sarah acted after God promised children to her and Abraham. It didn't happen right away like she wanted it to.

I was going to say, haven't we already seen this, have children through my servant scenario before? Not a great call, sis. You know, it's not a great call, but also how often do we do that? Right? All the time. Yeah, that's right.

So as we reach the middle of the chapter, Tom has passed by and Jacob now has four wives and 10 sons.

Just a note here on things like Jacob having multiple wives, maybe you thought to yourself, or maybe someone has asked you, like, hey, what's going on with that? How come here you have this person in the Old Testament doing this and later we find out that God's not okay with that? Like, was that not him approving of that here in Genesis? And the answer to that is probably no, right? Now, some of that is a little bit situational, but oftentimes,

something like this is stated and it's just an accounting of what happened. This is not God signing off on Jacob having four wives. So just always consult the biblical narrative at large when you come to that, if you're ever confused by that. What does the scripture say harmoniously?

In verse 22 in this chapter, we see the scriptures say, then God remembered Rachel and God listened to her and opened her wounds.

She conceived and bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach. And she called his name Joseph. So just one more quick sidebar here, but this is important. Whenever the scriptures say that God remembered, and in our culture to say that God remembered would seem like we're saying God forgot something. And then, oh gosh, I remember that found said that I was going to do. Keep in mind, God doesn't forget people or things.

that he said he was going to do the way that we do. So in the case of God remembering Rachel, we aren't talking about the Lord forgetting and then remembering. We're talking about him acting on her behalf out of love for her.

After Joseph was born, Jacob asked to be allowed to return to his father, Isaac, with his wives and children. Laban told Jacob that he knew Jacob was the reason he had prospered so much because Jacob had been with him managing things for him. Laban then asked Jacob, hey, name your wages and I'll give it. Now we have heard Laban ask that before and Laban wasn't trustworthy the last time, was he?

So for his wages,

Jacob asked to take the undesirable goats and lambs out of Laban's flock and allow them to breed. Jacob would then keep that new flock for This is a very fair offer since it wouldn't cost Laban anything of value.

Laban allows Jacob to do this, but then tries to double-cross Jacob by removing all the male goats Jacob would have taken and sent him several days' journey Laban's sons. He did this to keep Jacob from gaining a flock of his own and becoming self-sufficient enough to leave. Through some God-given wisdom and miraculous intervention, Jacob is able to grow his flock anyway, and by the end of the chapter, he has prospered greatly.

So moving into chapter 31, Jacob talks to his wives after overhearing his brother-in-law's talking about how upset Laban was that Jacob had been so successful.

tells Rachel and Leah that it was time to go. He had served Laban with everything he had and Laban had cheated him several times.

Jacob can tell the tide is turning against him in regard to dealing with his uncle. Jacob has another dream and the angel of God tells him to take his family and return to his homeland. With all of this information, his wives agree it's time to go. Jacob has to trick Laban in order to get a head start and the deception works. He takes all of his flocks and his children and his wives and his servants and goes towards home.

Laban learns of his deception and pursues Jacob with his kinsmen who are armed, I'm sure. And just before Laban catches up to Jacob, God comes to Laban in a dream and tells him, be careful, do not say anything to Jacob, either good or

Once Laban and his kinsmen catch up to Jacob, Laban has a tense conversation with Jacob, but tells him what God had said.

Laban's main question for Jacob was why he took his family away and didn't allow him to say goodbye to his daughters, Rachel and Leah, or all of his grandchildren.

That is a fair question. But Jacob's response is telling Laban that it's due to the way that Laban had deceived him so many times. Jacob didn't trust Laban to actually let him go, which if we're being honest, is a fair assumption on Jacob's part. So Jacob and Laban make a covenant not to cross over a monument they set up. know, Jacob wouldn't go towards Laban and Laban wouldn't go towards Jacob. They agree to this and Laban returns home.

And Jacob continues toward Isaac.

Now, as we head into chapter 32, the narrative of sneaky uncle Laban has ended. Jacob and his family are truly free to go back home. The only concern now is Esau. Last Jacob heard Esau wanted to kill him for sneakily stealing his blessing. So he begins to prepare for meeting his brother. He starts having gifts prepared, trying to find favor with

That's right. So Jacob sends messengers to Esau to tell him that he has sojourned with Laban until now, and he intends to come home. Because Jacob doesn't know how Esau feels upon hearing back from the messengers that Esau is coming to meet him with 400 men, Jacob divides his people into two camps. That way if one camp is attacked, the other one can get away. Jacob goes to God in prayer with humility, reminding God, hey, you told me to come home.

But if you don't act on my behalf, I'm going to die. You know, guys,

God loves to hear us say His words back to Him.

Christian with love and humility, but as the scriptures say, I've been able to approach the throne of grace with boldness. Grab hold of the promises of God that are in your Bible and go to the Lord and remind Him, Hey God, you said this and I trust you. I totally believe you're going do the thing that you promised me, just like Jacob did

Now we see those gifts go out, drove after drove ahead of Jacob to give to Esau because Jacob thought that that may appease Esau. He sends the two camps that he has divided his people into ahead of him and he was left alone. It doesn't tell us why, the scriptures don't tell us why, maybe he took a walk.

You know, he's probably stressed and wants to think a little bit

So out of nowhere, a man shows up and it's the scripture that says that they started wrestling. Right? Now that, that may not make sense, but if you think about it from Jacob's perspective, he's out walking and trying to clear his thoughts. He's thinking about potentially having to fight his brother for his life tomorrow. and here's a guy and maybe Jacob thinks that this is Esau and he just starts fighting him.

And at some point, Jacob realizes that this is no mere man. So

During the course of this wrestling match the "man" Jacob is wrestling with simply touches Jacob's hip socket and he puts his hip out of place Signifying to the reader that this man could have ended the fight at any time he chose to Jacob still refuses to let the man go until that man blesses him

This man, who we know as God, blesses Jacob and gives him his new name,

in the same way that he renamed Abram to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah. God renames Jacob Israel, which means you have striven with God and men and have prevailed.

Our main gospel glimpse for this episode is actually God losing for us. As I mentioned last episode, Jesus laid down his life for us willingly. He willingly took the punishment of Rome and the Pharisees to fulfill God's law for us.

At any point, Jesus being God could have come off the cross or called down a host of angels to rescue him. But he chose to lose so that he could bless us with eternal life.

In the same way that God loses to Jacob on purpose so he can rename and bless him, Jesus, God in the flesh, lost on purpose for us so that he can rename and bless us with salvation.

Moving into chapter 33, our long-awaited meeting between Esau and Jacob, or should I now say Israel, happens. Israel sees Esau coming, so he divides the children among Rachel and Leah, and of course his favorite wife Rachel and favorite son Joseph are in the back. Hold on to that for the next season of Israel's Life.

Israel now had this encounter with God and rather than sending everyone out in front of him, using them as a shield, he now is the one that goes out in front of his family to be the first to confront Esau. Now rather than an attack, we actually have an embrace. We see that the Lord has gone before his servant Jacob and has long been at work in Esau's heart for him to find forgiveness for his brother's betrayal.

Much like we see in Exodus where the Lord goes before His people, and much like with us where the Lord has gone before us and prepared the way of salvation in sending Jesus to lose for us on purpose, we also see that here. We have a beautiful moment of reconciliation between the brothers.

Esau actually invites Jacob to come back to Seir with him, but Jacob ultimately does not do that. He settles in the city of Shechem, in the land of Canaan, and buys the land they settle on from Hamor, who is Shechem's father.

That is going to be a useful fact in the next episode, but that is going to be all for our recap today everyone. May His grace abound to you and to me as we study to find Jesus in the Old Testament.