Promise Keeper: Jacob- God keeps His promises, even when we don’t deserve it
Through the faithfulness of the Promise Keeper (God), the family of the patriarch, Abraham, is expanding. Last week we saw that Abraham had Isaac. Isaac married Rebekah and Rebekah gave birth to twins whose struggle with one another began in their mother’s womb (Genesis 25:22)! God told Rebekah that there would be a rivalry between her boys throughout their lifetimes. Even during their birth, Jacob came out after Esau clutching Esau’s heel (Genesis 25:26).
As the boys grew, they were complete opposites and their rivalry is seen in the affection of their parents-
Genesis 25:27-28 | As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home. Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
It continues when Jacob, the younger twin, leverages a moment of Esau’s weakness to steal Esau’s birthright, or inheritance (Genesis 25:29-35). Esau’s contempt against Jacob grows (vs. 35) and continues into adulthood. The boys are at least 40 years old when Rebekah helps Jacob steal from his brother Esau once again. This time, he would take Esau’s blessing (Genesis 27:5-10) from their father Isaac. Jacob does this by dressing up as a hairy outdoorsman to trick his dying father who was nearly blind. Jacob has to run away from his family to stay with his uncle Laban because –
Genesis 27:41 | From that time on, Esau hated Jacob because their father had given Jacob the blessing. And Esau began to scheme: “I will soon be mourning my father’s death. Then I will kill my brother, Jacob.”
But even in his sin, God seeks Jacob out on his journey to his Uncle’s and, appearing to him in a dream, He promises Jacob–
Genesis 28:13b-15 | “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 am giving it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
God, the Promise Keeper, pledges to fulfill his promise to Abraham through Jacob’s family even though Jacob hadn’t done anything to deserve God’s mercy. Thankfully for Jacob, God’s promises are kept not because of our merit, but because of God’s character. As our theme verse reminds us, God always keeps His promises-
Psalm 145:13b | The Lord always keeps his promises; he is gracious in all he does.
Jacob continues on to his Uncle Laban’s and It is here, interestingly after Jacob has pledged his commitment to the Lord (Genesis 28:22), that Jacob will have the tables turned and experience for himself what it feels like to be tricked by someone, lied to, and stolen from. This would happen several times throughout the rest of his life.
First, after falling in love with Laban’s daughter Rachel and working hard for Laban for seven years so he could marry Rachel (Genesis 29:18), Laban tricked Jacob into marrying his older daughter Leah instead. Jacob would work seven more years to marry Rachel as well (Genesis 29:28) and now the rivalry that existed between Jacob and his estranged brother Esau would exist between Jacob’s two wives: Rachel and Leah (Genesis 30:1). A great baby race ensues and Jacob is blessed by the Lord with a large family and flock.
The rivalry and strife in Jacob’s life would continue between him and Laban (Genesis 30), then Jacob and Laban’s children (Genesis 31), and even Jacob and Jesus (Genesis 32)! During Jacob’s wrestling match with God the Son, God does something notable for our timeline-
Genesis 32:28 | “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”
Jacob, still undeserving, becomes Israel, which is why his many descendants, the mighty nation promised to Abraham, are called Israelites. God’s blessings continue as God restores Jacob’s relationship with Esau, even though again, Jacob didn’t deserve it (Genesis 33). Then, the conflict and trickery in Jacob’s life transfers to a new group: his children.
Like we saw with Rachel, his mother, Jacob would love his son Joseph more than his other children (Genesis 37:3) and it would cause a rivalry between Joseph and his 11 brothers (Genesis 37:4). Now Jacob’s sons would scheme against him and trick Jacob into believing his favorite son, Joseph, was dead (Genesis 37:31). Many years would pass, but throughout all that time, God was faithful to Jacob and his family. Even Joseph would be blessed and rise to power in Egypt. At the end of his life, Jacob has a beautiful reunion with Joseph and his entire family (Genesis 46). Jacob’s family settled in Egypt, but Jacob tells Joseph–
Genesis 48:21 | Then Jacob said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will take you back to Canaan, the land of your ancestors.”
While it hasn’t happened yet, Jacob knows that God is the Promise Keeper and will fulfill his promise to Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham. One day, his descendants, the Israelites, would be in the land of promise. Spoiler alert: the Israelites wouldn’t deserve the promised land either. But for now, the family of Israel is settled in Egypt and Jacob’s large family has large families of their own (Exodus 1).
Jacob’s story is a beautiful account of God’s faithfulness when we are not faithful.
2nd Timothy 2:13 | If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.
Even though Jacob doesn’t deserve it, God continually blesses, protects, and restores Jacob, despite the messes Jacob makes. Jacob isn’t immune from the effects of his sin, but God shows his love unconditionally to Jacob and always keeps his promises. Our timeless truth from Jacob’s life is: God keeps His promises, even when we don’t deserve it.
Like we saw with Abraham, God keeping his promises doesn’t depend on us. In fact, the promise God made to us- a way of rescue through his only son, Jesus, was kept even though we didn’t deserve it–
Romans 5:8 | But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Because God loves us (and IS love- 1st John 4:8), God keeps His promises, even when we don’t deserve it.
What is something you learned or that stood out to you from Jacob’s life?
What promises would God keep and fulfill during Jacob’s lifetime?
Why didn’t Jacob deserve the blessings God promised? Why did God keep those promises anyway?
What is important about God naming Jacob Israel?