Jr Tree of Life – Heroes of the Bible – Jacob the Trickster lesson 3 – Part 10

Jr. Tree of Life         03/07/2021

 Heroes of the Bible

Jacob the trickster –  Lesson 3

Eternity Past, Age of Gentiles, Age of Israel, Hypostatic Union, Church Age, Tribulation, Millennium, Eternal future

Before you begin this Bible study, If you have never believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, John 3:16 tells us: “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.’ Simply have faith that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and you will have eternal life and be saved. If you have believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior; then 1 John 1:9 tells us; “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Simply privately tell God the Father your sins to be filled with God the Holy Spirit and He will teach you Bible truth. (Rebound)

Promise Memory Verse

 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap. Galatians 6:7

Jacob in our Bible story is a trickster and a liar and a thief. Last week, we learned that Esau, Jacob’s older brother was so angry at Jacob that he wanted to kill him because he stole the blessing from him. Jacob had to leave his friends and family behind and make a fast get away to a new land called Haran.

God knew (omniscience) all about what Jacob did.

Instead of God punishing him, God gave him grace and promised him the land of Canaan, blessing and a large family just like the promises that He made to Abraham and Isaac. God also promised him that He would be by his side no matter what and that he would one day get to come home.

THAT IS HOW GRACE WORKS!!

Did Jacob get away with what he did wrong? No way. Even though God forgave him and loved him very much. He thought that Jacob needed to learn a lesson. This is called sowing what you reap like our memory verse tells us. It means that when you do something wrong, you will get paid back for it.

Genesis 29:1-27

When Jacob got close to Haran, he saw a beautiful shepherd woman named Rachael with her sheep at a well. Wow he could not take his eyes off of her. Soon he found out that Rachael’s dad was his mom’s brother Laban.

Jacob told his uncle Laban the whole story about what a trickster he had been to his family. When Laban heard that Jacob would be getting a lot of money from his dad, he started thinking up ideas to keep Jacob around and even had Jacob move in with him.

Jacob worked very hard for uncle for a month and fell in love with Rachael. He and Uncle Laban made a deal. If Jacob worked for him for seven years for free, then he could marry Rachael.  When the seven years were up, Uncle Laban threw a big wedding party for Jacob. After it got dark, he disguised his daughter Leah somehow and made Jacob think she was Rachael. Uncle Laban was a liar and a trickster.

In the morning Jacob was furious because when he woke up, and saw that it wasn’t Rachael in his tent but her older sister Leah. Jacob found Laban and demanded to know why he had lied to him and tricked him.

His uncle told him that in his country, the youngest daughter could not get married until her older daughter did. After a week, uncle Laban let Jacob marry Rachael too; but Uncle Laban cheated him and made him work another 7 years for free.

This story kind of sounds familiar does not it. Jacob lied and tricked his dad Isaac into thinking he was the older son Esau seven years before that in order to get the blessing. Now he found out that his uncle was a trickster too. I wonder if Jacob was beginning to understand how he hurt his brother and his dad.

When you trick people and lie or steal form them, you will never get away with it. Even if your parents never find out, God sees everything (omniscience) that you do. He still loves you and forgives you even if you do not deserve it. This is how God’s grace works.

At some point even though you rebound the bad things you think, do, and say to God. He will teach you a lesson; this is called reaping what you sow.

Word search, circle these words in the puzzle.

SOW    ESAU   TRICK    REAP    JACOB    RACHAEL    LEAH

GRACE   BIBLE   STEAL    LABAN    LIE    GOD