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Page 1 of 5 Hope for Messed Up Families
The Life of Jacob 4.0
Genesis 30-31
by Eric Stillman
February 25th, 2007
 | Play |  | Download mp3 | This morning we’re going to continue to look at the story of Jacob as recorded in the book of Genesis, and try to wrap our heads around the question of how a family that completely belongs on Jerry Springer wound up as such an honored family in the Bible and the history of mankind. Just to review where we’ve come so far – Jacob is the youngest of two sons born to Isaac and Rebekah, and has left his parents’ home after deceiving his father Isaac into giving him the firstborn blessing that was due to his brother Esau. As a result, Esau swore that he would hunt Jacob down and kill him, so Jacob was sent by his mother Rachel to find his uncle Laban’s house for safe haven. On the way to Laban’s, Jacob is poor, alone, without possessions, pulling up a stone to use as a pillow in the middle of nowhere, and has a dream where God appears to him and reveals to him a stairway to heaven, with angels ascending and descending on it. Essentially, God comes to Jacob and promises him that he will be with him and protect him wherever he goes, and that all the promises of land and descendants that were given to his grandfather Abraham will be given to him. He eventually arrives at Laban’s place, and last week we looked at the polygamous love story that was Jacob and his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and how Jacob continued his search for blessing in a woman, Rachel, just as Leah desperately is looking for the attention of her unloving husband, Jacob. When that chapter ends, Jacob continues to produce children with Leah, Rachel, and their maidservants. When Rachel has her first son, Joseph, Jacob decides that it is time to take his family and return to the land which God has promised to him. We pick up the story in Genesis 30. Now, I’m going to approach the text a little differently today. You may notice that sermons in suburban churches like ours can tend to be very heady, very much about analyzing a text and understanding what is going on and applying that truth to our lives. But there are sometimes it is better to read and listen with your heart more than your head, to emotionally respond to what is going on in the story and characters and to the similarities in your own life. And since these chapters continue some themes that we have already touched on, I want to approach them differently. Chapters 30-31 are very long, so we’re only going to read part of Chapter 30, beginning in vs. 25, and I’ll summarize parts of chapter 31. As you listen, I want you to pay attention to this family and how messed up it is, and how certain sins and destructive patterns keep repeating themselves in this family.
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