Children of Jacob

The Children of Jacob

• Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.
• The Lord opened Leah's womb because Jacob didn't love her, while Rachel was barren.
• When Leah gave birth to her firstborn, she mistakenly thought Jacob would love her.

Leah's Sons

• Reuben: The Lord has seen Leah's affliction.
• Simeon: The Lord heard Leah was hated.
• Levi: Leah's husband will be joined to her.
• Judah: Leah will now praise the Lord.
• Rachel, envying Leah, demanded a child from Jacob, angering him as only God could open her womb.
• Rachel instructed Jacob to have intercourse with her handmaid, Bilhah, so she could have a child through her.

Bilhah's Sons

• Dan: God judged Rachel, heard her voice, and gave her a son.
• Naphtali: Rachel had a fight with her sister and she prevailed.

Zilpah's Sons

• Leah gave her handmaid, Zilpah, to Jacob to have a child.
• Gad: Leah said that a troop comes.
• Asher: Leah is happy and blessed.
• Reuben found mandrakes in the field and brought them to Leah.
• Rachel wanted the mandrakes, leading Leah to exchange them for Jacob lying with Leah.

Leah's Children

• Issachar: Leah said God made payment for giving his maiden to her husband.
• Zebulun: Leah said God endued her with good dowry because she bore six sons with Jacob.
• Dinah: Jacob's only daughter.
• God hearkened to Rachel's prayers and opened her womb.
• Joseph: first child of Rachel and Jacob and God took away Rachel's reproach.

Jacob Fled from Laban

• After Joseph's birth, Jacob asked Laban to allow his family to return to Isaac's homeland.
• Laban did not allow Jacob to leave with his family because the Lord had blessed him with multitude because of Jacob.
• Jacob only wanted to take his part of the flock and Laban agreed.
• Jacob wanted spotted and speckled cattle, brown sheep, and spotted and speckled goats.
• Laban wanted white and unspotted cattle, goats, and sheep.
• The journey between Jacob and Laban's flock was 3 days so they wouldn't mix.
• Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flock.
• Jacob took rods of poplar, hazel, and chestnut trees, peeled white streaks on them, and placed them in the watering troughs for the strong cattle to see during conception, making Jacob's cattle stronger than Laban's.
• Jacob's possessions increased exceedingly with cattle, maidservants, menservants, camels, and asses.
• Laban's sons falsely accused Jacob of taking Laban's wealth.
• The Lord instructed Jacob to return to Canaan; Jacob told Rachel and Leah about their father's ways.
• Laban deceived Jacob and changed his wages 10 times, but God took away Laban's wealth because of Laban's actions.
• Jacob told Leah and Rachel that the God of Bethel instructed him to leave Padan-aram and return to his homeland; they agreed to obey.
• Jacob set off with his family and possessions to Isaac in Canaan.
• Rachel took Laban's graven images on their journey.

Mount Gilead

• Jacob and his family headed towards this location after crossing the river.
• Laban was informed 3 days after Jacob left, pursued him with his men, and overtook him after 7 days.
• The Lord warned Laban in a dream not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.
• Laban accused Jacob of stealing his gods.
• Jacob declared that whoever stole Laban's gods would die.

Rachel's Deception

• Rachel hid the strange gods in the camel's furniture and sat on them- she told her father that she couldn't stand due to the custom of women being upon her.
• Laban did not find the graven images.
• Jacob angrily reminded Laban of his 20 years of faithful service, despite Laban's deception and changed wages.
• Laban argued everything Jacob had belonged to him.
• Laban and Jacob made a covenant at Mount Gilead.

The Covenant

• The heap of stones served as a witness and was called Jegar-sahadutha (by Laban) and Galeed (by Jacob).
• Jacob and Laban swore not to harm each other, with God as their witness.
• The God of Abraham, Nahor, and Isaac would judge between them. After sacrificing and eating, they rested.
• Laban kissed and blessed his children before returning home.

Jacob Meets Esau

• Mahanaim: Jacob named the place after seeing God's angels, referring to them as "God's host" on their way to Canaan.
• Jacob sent messengers to Esau in Seir, who reported Esau's approach with 400 men.
• Jacob, fearing Esau's anger over Isaac's blessing, divided his people and flocks for potential escape.
• Jacob prayed to God for deliverance from Esau's hand, fearing for his family's safety.

Jacob's Gifts

• Jacob prepared gifts for Esau including: 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 milking camels with their colt, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female asses, 10 foals.
• Jacob instructed his servants on what to say to Esau when giving the gifts.
• Jacob moved his family across the Ford Jabbok river at night.
• Alone, Jacob wrestled with a man/angel of God until dawn, who dislocated his thigh.
• Jacob refused to let the angel leave without a blessing, and the angel left.
• Jacob was given the new name Israel, for having power as a prince having prevailed against the angel / man.
• Peniel is the place where Jacob overpowered the angel and saw God face to face.
• Esau approached with 400 men.

Jacob's Family

• Jacob divided his children among Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah, placing them in different positions. He put Bilhah and Zilpah and their children in front, Leah and her children in the middle, and Rachel and Joseph at the back.
• Jacob bowed down seven times to Esau.
• Esau embraced Jacob, and they both wept.
• Esau saw Jacob's wives and children, and they all bowed down to him.
• Esau initially refused Jacob's gifts but eventually accepted them.
• Esau invited Jacob to travel together, but Jacob declined, citing his children's and flocks' inability to keep pace.
• Jacob said they would travel slowly to Seir and meet Esau again; Esau left some men as companions, but Jacob declined, and Esau returned to Seir.

Revenge of Jacob's Sons

• Succoth: Jacob built a house and booths for his cattle there.
• Shalem: Jacob bought land in Shechem and erected an altar, El-elohe-Israel.
• Dinah, Leah's daughter, was defiled by Shechem, son of Hamor, who then sought her as his wife.
• Jacob remained silent until his sons, upon hearing the news, were angered by Shechem's act.
• Hamor requested that Jacob give Dinah to Shechem, offering trade and marriage between their people.
• Shechem, desiring Dinah, offered a large dowry and gifts.
• Jacob's sons deceived Shechem and Hamor by demanding circumcision for all males before marriage to Dinah.
• They said they would take Dinah and leave if their condition was not met.
• Schechem and Hamor believed their lies and did not defer to do what Jacob's sons requested because Schechem would do anything for Dinah.
• Believing this would benefit their land, Hamor and Shechem persuaded the city's men to undergo circumcision.
• Simeon and Levi killed all the men in the city while they were sore from being circumcised.
• Shechem and Hamor were killed by the brothers.
• Jacob's sons took Dinah out of Shechem's house and spoiled the city.
• They took all the possessions and people as captives.
• Jacob disapproved of his sons' actions, fearing retaliation from the Canaanites and Perizzites.
• God directed Jacob to Bethel (formerly Luz) to build an altar, commemorating His appearance to him when fleeing Esau.
• Jacob instructed his household to purify themselves and dispose of foreign gods before going to Bethel.
• They buried the strange gods and earrings under an oak tree in Shechem, where Jacob put all the strange gods and earrings his household possessed.
• God's terror prevented pursuit after Jacob's sons.
• The altar, El-bethel, commemorated God's appearance when Jacob fled from his brother.
• Upon returning from Padan-aram, God blessed Jacob, renaming him Israel and reaffirming His promise of land.
• Bethel became the place where Jacob set up a pillar of stone as a memorial of God's appearance, pouring oil and a drink offering on it.
• Rachel experienced a difficult labor delivering her second child near Ephrath, and she died after giving birth.
• Rachel named her second son Benoni, but Jacob renamed him Benjamin.
• Rachel was buried near Ephrath (Bethlehem), and Jacob erected a pillar upon her grave.
• Jacob had 12 sons.
• Leah's sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
• Rachel's sons: Joseph and Benjamin.
• Bilhah's (Rachel's handmaid) sons: Dan and Naphtali.
• Zilpah's (Leah's handmaid) sons: Gad and Asher.
• Isaac died at 180 and was buried by Esau and Jacob in Mamre (Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had lived.

Joseph and His Dreams

• Jacob/Israel dwelt in Canaan and favored Joseph, Rachel's son, making him a coat of many colors.
• Joseph's brothers hated him due to his father's favoritism.
• Joseph, at 17, assisted his brothers (sons of Bilhah and Zilpah) in tending flocks and reported their misdeeds to his father.
• Joseph's first dream involved sheaves bowing down to his, interpreted by his brothers as a sign he would rule over them.
• Joseph's second dream featured the sun, moon, and stars bowing to him, signifying his family would bow to him and araising further anger.
• He reported that he and his brothers were binding sheaves in the field then Joseph's sheaf arose and stood upright and his brothers' sheaves stood round about and bowed down to his sheaf
• Israel instructed Joseph to check on his brothers in Shechem.
• A man directed Jacob to his brothers in Dothan.
• The brothers plotted to kill Joseph and throw him into a pit, claiming a wild beast had devoured him.
• Reuben suggested they cast Joseph into a pit without killing him, intending to rescue him later.
• Joseph was stripped of his coat and cast into a waterless pit.
• The Ishmaelites was from Gilead, they came laden with spices, balm, and myrrh for Egypt.
• Judah proposed selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites, sparing him from death, to which his brothers agreed.
• Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver and brought to Egypt.
• Reuben, unaware of the sale, intended to rescue Joseph.
• Joseph's brothers dipped his coat in goat's blood and presented it to Jacob, who presumed Joseph was killed by an animal.
• Jacob mourned Joseph for many days, wearing sackcloth and refusing comfort.
• Joseph was sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, in Egypt.
• God's favor made Joseph prosperous in Potiphar's house, who entrusted him with everything.
• The Lord blessed Potiphar because of Joseph's presence.
• Joseph was good looking, Potiphar's wife desired Joseph and repeatedly tried to seduce him, but Joseph refused, seeing it as a sin against God and his master.
• Potiphar's wife lied and held Joseph's clothes and insisted him to lie down with him when he went to the house to do chores.
• Joseph fled, leaving his garment behind, and she falsely accused him of assault.
• Potiphar, angered by the accusation, imprisoned Joseph.
• God showed mercy to Joseph, who was put in charge of the other prisoners.

The Dreams of Pharaoh

• Joseph was imprisoned for being falsely accused of being sexually assaulted by Potiphar's wife of sexual assault.
• The king's butler and baker were imprisoned for offending the king of Egypt.
• Pharaoh was angry at the two and put them where Joseph was imprisoned.
• The king's chief butler and chief baker were imprisoned for offending the king of Egypt.
• In prison, the chief butler and baker each had a dream one night that no one could interpret.
• Joseph said that the interpretation of dreams belongs to God.
• Joseph said that the interpretation of dreams belongs to God.
• The chief butler's dream: He saw a vine with three branches that budded, flowered, and produced ripe grapes, which he squeezed into Pharaoh's cup.
• Joseph interpreted the three vines as three days, after which Pharaoh would restore the butler to his position.
• Joseph requested the chief butler to remember him to Pharaoh so that Joseph might be released from prison, telling him that he'd been stolen from the land of the Hebrews and had done nothing worthy of imprisonment.
• The chief baker's dream included three baskets of baked goods on his head, being eaten by birds.
• Joseph interpreted the three baskets as three days before Pharaoh would execute the baker.
• The chief baker's dream: There were three white baskets in his head and in the uppermost basket, there were all types of baked stuff for Pharaoh and the birds were eating them from the basket on his head.
• After three days, on Pharaoh's birthday, the butler was restored to his position, while the baker was hanged.
• The chief butler forgot about Joseph.
• Two years later, Pharaoh dreamed of seven healthy cows and seven sickly cows