In the early days of Isaac and Rebekah’s marriage, long before they had their twin boys, they went through many trials and struggles. At one point, a great famine came upon the land. It grew more and more difficult to find enough to eat.
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Isaac and Rebekah lived in Abimelech’s land for quite some time, and everyone believed that they were sister and brother. It was quite a charade. But then one day, King Abimelech looked out a window of his royal palace, and he saw Isaac caressing Rebekah with the kind of tender affection that belongs only between a husband and wife!
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Isaac was getting older. His eyes were becoming so weak that he was almost blind. He was a hundred, and his aging heart and limbs could not move about as they used to. He feared that the time of his death was coming. Before he was gone, he was determined to speak a blessing to Esau, his firstborn son.
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What a sad and distorted picture of a family. Isaac, Esau, Rebekah, and Jacob each worked out of their own selfish ambition, competing over the powerful and potent blessing of the firstborn son. What great blessings and harmony they could have shared together if they had all submitted to the will of their faithful God.
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Esau was a bitter man. He had been foolish enough to let his brother trick him out of his birthright, and now Jacob had taken his father’s blessing, too. In his seething anger, he began to plot and scheme. As soon as Isaac died, he would get his revenge.
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Jacob continued on his journey. His trek led him away from the Land of Promise where his family faithfully waited on the LORD. He was heading back to the region that Abraham, his great and honorable grandfather, had left over a hundred years before when he was called by God into the wilderness.
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The LORD looked on Leah and saw that she was not loved by her husband. To make things even worse, she had to watch his tender ways with her sister. How his eyes lit up whenever Rachel came near! How he treated her with the deference of masculine passion!
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In those early days of his marriages, Jacob’s family had grown to eleven boys and a girl! For fourteen years, he worked as the chief shepherd for Laban so that he could marry Rachel and Leah. He had worked very hard, often in harsh weather and for long hours.
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Jacob had escaped from his uncle with all of his wives and children, their servants, flocks, and tents. Ten days into their journey back to the Promised Land, Laban and the men of his household caught up with them.
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As Jacob and his family left the land of Laban behind, they were headed towards something that could become an even bigger problem. Twenty years before, Jacob fled his family. He had tricked his brother and father and taken the birthright and the blessing of the firstborn, and then he had to leave.
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The sunrise came and a new morning began. The conniving sneak was transformed. In the past, Jacob had showed some glimpses of faith. Unlike Esau, he had not married Canaanite women. He truly believed in God’s promise that the land of Canaan would one day belong to the descendants of Abraham.
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Jacob and his clan settled on land that he had purchased near the town of Shechem. They could see its buildings off in the distance from their home. This was the place that Abraham had built his first altar in the Promised Land.
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Shechem had grown up in the brutal town that shared his name. It was a world where manipulation and corruption were the name of the game. And when it came to how a man should treat a woman, it was even more brutal still.
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The children of Abraham had earned a new kind of reputation. Abraham was a man of peace, venturing into war only to protect and defend. His military might had restored his neighbors from slavery and abject poverty.
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In all those years of Jacob’s travels, Esau had grown to a man of vast fortunes. The customs of his family had also changed. Esau did not marry women from Abraham’s heritage. His marriages to Canaanite women deeply connected his life and children to the Canaanite nations around him.
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Joseph, the beloved son of Rachel and Jacob, grew up quite alone in the household of his father. The sons of Leah and the maidservants were very jealous of this boy who was so clearly the favorite of their father. He wore the lavish coat that their father had made just for him, and he told them of dreams where they would bow down at his feet.
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The family of Jacob became more distant and broken. Judah moved away from the clan and married a Canaanite woman. Their first two sons were so wicked that God shortened their lives so they could sin no more. Tamar was the wife of Judah’s oldest son, and now she was left alone and vulnerable.
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Joseph was living in Egypt as a slave in the house of Potiphar. The Bible says that God was with Joseph, which means he was present with him to bless him. Even though he was a slave and far from the Land of Promise, God’s protection and care had not changed.
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Joseph spent year after year in the prison dungeon, humbled to one of the lowest positions in life. Yet he continued to faithfully and loyally serve God. His God was with him in the middle of his suffering, and he trusted that his Lord had a purpose in it.
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Joseph worked away as a faithful servant in the prison of the Egyptian king. At one point, he even interpreted the dreams of the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and chief baker. His interpretations came true with stunning accuracy!
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