Genesis 25:19-36:43 Summary

Rebekah was barren, so Isaac prayed to the Lord and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. Rebekah prayed over the twins in her womb and the Lord told her they would become rival nations. When the twins were born, they named them Esau and Jacob. Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. One day, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a meal (25). When a famine forced Isaac into Gerar he deceived the people, but then acquired the king’s protection. The Lord reiterated to Isaac the promise of land, descendants, and blessing. After Isaac gained great wealth the king asked him to leave, so Isaac traveled to Beersheba and the Lord appeared to him there. Isaac then agreed to a covenant of peace with the king of Gerar and Esau married two Hittite women even though his parents did not approve (26). As Isaac was getting old, he prepared to give the firstborn’s blessing to Esau, but Jacob and Rebekah deceived Isaac and stole the blessing, invoking the name of the Lord as part of their deception. Because Esau was planning to kill Jacob once Isaac died (27), Rebekah had Isaac send Jacob to her brother Laban in Haran under the pretense that her main concern was finding Jacob a suitable wife.

On his way to Haran Jacob stopped at Bethel and the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The Lord reiterated the promise of land, descendants, and blessing to Jacob, and Jacob vowed that if the Lord was faithful to him he would make the Lord his God (28). When he arrived in Haran Jacob fell in love with Rachel, his cousin. He agreed to work for her father Laban for seven years so that he could marry her; but Laban tricked Jacob into marrying his oldest daughter, Leah, first, and thus acquired another seven years of labour from Jacob so that he could marry Rachel too. Jacob loved Rachel much more than Leah. The Lord saw this and blessed Leah with four children: Reuben, Levi, Simeon, and Judah (29). Rachel was distraught because of her infertility. One day Rachel told Jacob to sleep with her servant Bilhah so that Rachel might have a child through her. Bilhah had two sons and Rachel named them Dan and Naphtali. Not to be outdone Leah then told Jacob to sleep with her servant Zilpah so that Leah might have more children through her. Zilpah also had two sons, and Leah named them Gad and Asher. Leah herself then bore three more children: Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah, her daughter. Finally, God remembered Rachel, and she gave birth to Joseph (30).

As Jacob’s wealth increased, Laban became jealous. After speaking with the Lord in a dream, Jacob secretly left for Canaan. Laban chased after Jacob. When Laban caught up, they argued at first, but then made a covenant of peace before Jacob continued his journey (31). As Jacob continued, he discovered that Esau was coming out to meet him and became very afraid, so he sent gifts ahead to appease his brother. That night, Jacob wrestled with a mysterious figure through the night who renamed him Israel saying, “You have fought with God and with men and have won” (32). That day, he met up with Esau and the two brothers made peace (33). One day Shechem, a local ruler, raped Jacob’s daughter, Dinah. Shechem’s father, Hamor, then approached Jacob and his sons about having Shechem and Dinah marry. The brothers agreed deceitfully, asking that the men of Hamor’s household first be circumcised. While they were recovering Simeon and Levi killed them all (34). Jacob returned to Bethel under God's protection. God confirmed his name would be Israel and told him to be fruitful and multiply. The family traveled to Ephrath, and Rachel died on the journey after giving birth to her second son, Benjamin. That was also the trip when Reuben had sex with Bilhah. Soon after that Isaac died; his sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him (35). Esau had many descendants through his three wives, Adah the Hittite, Oholibamah the Hivite and Basemath the daughter of Ishmael (36).