Tag: Deception

Episode 16 – The deceiver is deceived

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – Old Testament

Based on Genesis chapter 29 verses 1 – 30

The deceiver is deceived!

‘When I arrived in the lands of the east, God was good to me and took me straight to my uncle’s house. It happened like this. I’d seen some sheep waiting in a field by a well to be watered, and when I spoke to the shepherds, they told me that the young shepherdess coming towards us was none other than my uncle’s daughter, Rachel!’

‘Well, when I heard this I ran over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and began watering my uncle’s sheep. Then, because I couldn’t hold my emotions back any longer I kissed Rachel with tears rolling down my cheeks.’

‘And when I told her that I was Jacob, her cousin, Rachel ran home to tell her father Laban, who came rushing out to greet me and take me to his home.’ (PAUSE)

‘After about a month, Laban began to realise that I wasn’t in any hurry to go back home, not with Esau wanting to murder me! So he said to me, ‘Look Jacob, you shouldn’t be working for me for nothing just because we’re family. How much should I pay you?’’

‘Well, Laban had two daughters. His oldest daughter, Leah, had pretty eyes, but his youngest daughter Rachel, whom I’d met the day I arrived, was beautiful in every way – in fact, I’d fallen head over heals in love with her… so I said to Laban. Would it be ok if I were to work seven years for you, and then take Rachel, your youngest daughter, as my wife?’

‘Yes I’d have thought so,’ said Laban. ‘I’d rather you took her for your wife than she married someone outside the family.’

‘I was overjoyed! (P) You’d have thought the time’d drag, but it didn’t. I loved Rachel so much that the seven years seemed just like a few days to me. And then the time was up! So I went to see Laban, excited at the idea of soon being married to Rachel. I’d fulfilled my part of the bargain. So I said to Laban, ‘Now, please bring Rachel to me so that we can be married.’’

‘The news of the wedding soon spread around the neighbourhood and Laban invited all the men to come along and celebrate our wedding. It was almost too good to be true! And then, late at night, long after the sun had set and we’d been celebrating for a long time, Laban brought the bride to me. She wore a veil, and in the darkness, the two of us went to our tent to celebrate our marriage together. (P) I guess I should’ve seen the signs. Maybe I’d drunk a little too much? Maybe I should’ve wondered why she said nothing as we went to our tent together in the darkness of that night.’

‘But I’ll never forget the following morning for as long as I live. For as the sun started to rise, and I turned to say good morning to my dear bride, there beside me wasn’t Rachel who I’d thought I’d married – but Leah her older sister! I’d been deceived!’

‘I couldn’t believe my eyes! For seven years I’d worked heart and soul for Laban for the joy of knowing that at the end of it all Rachel would be my bride. (P) My shock soon turned to anger and I stormed into Laban’s house!’

‘‘What kind of trick is this?’ I screamed. ‘I worked seven years for Rachel not Leah! How could you do this to me?’’

‘‘Calm down, calm down!’ said Laban. ‘Look, it’s just not done to marry off the youngest daughter before her older sister. (P) Anyway, in these parts, it’s perfectly acceptable for a man to have more than one wife. So, wait the week of the bridal celebrations and then you can marry Rachel as well – as long as you’re happy to work for another seven years to pay for her of course?’’ (PAUSE)

‘I was in love. I’d been cruelly tricked – perhaps no more cruelly than I’d tricked others in the past – but I just couldn’t let Rachel go. So a week later, I also married Rachel. Which was very hard on Leah, because she knew I loved Rachel far more than I loved her.’

Episode 14 – Jacob the liar

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – Old Testament

Based on Genesis chapter 27 verses 1 – 41

Jacob the liar

It wasn’t long before the whole family knew what’d happened between Esau and Jacob, how Jacob had tricked Esau out of his birthright for a bowl of red lentil stew! But it didn’t change the way their parents felt. Isaac still wanted his favourite Esau, the great hunter, to be head of the family – for no other reason than that he liked the food Esau caught. And Rebekah wanted her favourite, Jacob to be the head. Things weren’t looking good; they were a family at war!

A while later, when Isaac was older and his eyesight had almost failed, he decided it was time to pass on the blessing of God to his children. Normally, the head of the family would have called a gathering of family members, and with them all present to witness the event, he would have publicly blessed his children for all to see… kind of like reading your will – but before you’ve died.

But you see – Isaac knew all about the prophecy Rebekah’d had when she’d asked the Lord about her pregnancy… he knew that the Lord had said the older son would serve the younger son. He also knew of the time Jacob had tricked Esau out of his birthright for a bowl of red lentil stew… that Esau had given up his birthright with a solemn promise. And yet, even though Isaac knew all these things, he was still determined to do what he wanted and pass the blessing onto Esau. So, without calling a family meeting, in fact, without telling anyone at all what he intended to do, he called Esau in for a private chat.

But even as he made his plans, he couldn’t get his mind off his stomach! ‘Now Esau,’ he started. ‘ I’m getting to be an old man, I could die any day! So I want you to do something for me. I want you to get your bow and arrows and go out and catch something for me to eat. Bring it back and prepare a meal for me – just the way I like it. And then, when you’ve done all that and I’ve had my meal, I’ll give you my blessing, the blessing that belongs to my first born son.’

Isaac was trying to go directly against what God had said! Not only that, he was also trying to ignore the solemn promise Esau had given – that the birthright would belong to Jacob! And Esau was no better! Ignoring his own promise to Jacob, he ran off to get his bow and arrows, anxious to take the blessing for himself!

But what they didn’t realise as they hatched their little plot together, was that Rebekah had overheard the whole thing! And she had no intention of letting it happen. (P) As soon as Esau left for the hunt she ran to find Jacob. ‘Jacob, I overheard your father talking to Esau. He’s sent him off to catch some wild animal to make him a tasty meal. After that, he plans to bless Esau in the Lord’s presence before he dies! Now listen and do exactly as I tell you. Go to the flock of goats and bring me two fine young goats. When you’ve done that, I’ll prepare a meal – just the way your father likes it. Your father can’t see very well, so when you take the food to him, pretending to be Esau, he’ll bless you instead of Esau.’

Oh dear, Isaac was planning to do something he shouldn’t with Esau agreeing to his evil plan, and now Rebekah and Jacob were planning to trick Isaac! Why no one talked to the Lord about it all and asked Him for help we’ll never know. And one thing you can be sure of when people try to trick each other is that no good’ll come of it!

However, Jacob had seen a flaw in his mother’s plan. ‘But mum,’ he said. ‘What if dad touches me for some reason? I’m not all hairy like Esau, and when he finds out that I’m trying to deceive him, he’ll curse me instead of blessing me!’

‘Let the curse fall on me, my son.’ Rebekah said, ‘just go and get the goats (P) quickly.’

While the goat stew was cooking, Rebekah took some strips of goatskin and made a hairy covering for Jacobs’s arms and hands. She also took another strip and put it around his neck. Then she made Jacob put on some of Esau’s clothes. Her plan was almost ready. So when she’d prepared the stew, with a rich mouth-watering smell, along with some freshly baked bread, she gave them to Jacob to take to his father. The deception was complete!

‘Father,’ said Jacob, trying to sound as much like Esau as he could.

‘Yes,’ said Isaac. ‘Who is it – Esau or Jacob?’

‘It’s me, Esau, your eldest son,’ he lied, ‘I’ve been hunting and made you some stew, just the way you like. Sit up and eat, then you can give me your blessing.’

‘But how were you able to catch an animal so fast son?’ Isaac asked.

‘Oh, the Lord your God put it right in my path father – I couldn’t miss it!’ Jacob lied – again.

‘Come here Esau,’ Isaac said, a little suspiciously. ‘I want to touch you so that I can be sure it’s really you.’ So Jacob went to his father who touched the goatskin on Jacob’s arm. ‘Well,’ he said to himself. ‘The voice’s Jacob’s, but the hands are all hairy like Esau’s!’ Then out loud he said, ‘Are you really Esau?’

‘Yes of course I am,’ lied Jacob.

And then, because he could think of nothing else except the lovely meal prepared for him, Isaac said. ‘Ok, bring me my meal (licks lips) and after I’ve eaten it I’ll give you my blessing. (Smacks lips)’

So Jacob took the meal over to his father and waited while he watched the old man greedily eat up his meal without even realising that it wasn’t made from wild animal at all, but from goats! However, Isaac was still a little unsure if the person in the room with him was really Esau and not Jacob, so after he’d finished eating he called him over again. ‘Come here boy and give your old father a kiss.’ As Jacob came across, Isaac caught the smell of Esau’s clothes that Jacob was wearing. It was enough to finally convince him. ‘That’s a good smell,’ he said. ‘The smell of the open fields that the Lord God has blessed.’ And then he started to bless his son.

‘May God always give you plenty of dew for healthy crops and a good harvest of grain and wine.’

‘May many nations become your servants.’

‘May you be master of your brothers, and may all your mother’s sons bow low before you.’

 ‘All who curse you are cursed, and all who bless you are blessed.’

It was a close-run thing. Because as Jacob left his father, having received the blessing, Esau returned. Thankfully he didn’t see Jacob and got on preparing the meal for his father. When he’d finished he strode into his father’s tent. ‘Right, here I am with this wonderful wild game stew you wanted. Sit up and eat so that you can give me your blessing.’

Isaac was spooked. ‘Who are you?’ He asked in a quavering voice.

‘It’s me of course, Esau, your eldest son. Who else would it be?’

Isaac began trembling uncontrollably. ‘Then who was just in here serving me food? I’ve eaten already and I blessed that person with a blessing that can never be undone!’

It took a while for Esau to realise what’d happened. But when he realised that Jacob had tricked him again, he began to cry out loud. ‘Oh Father, bless me too!’

 ‘Your brother’s tricked me. He’s taken away your blessing,’ said Isaac.

Esau: ‘No wonder his name’s Jacob – the deceiver. He’s deceived me twice. Once when he tricked me into selling my birthright and – and now he’s stolen my blessing. (P) Oh father, haven’t you saved even one blessing for me?’

But Isaac knew that he’d been beaten, and he also knew that it was what the Lord’d said would happen all those years ago when Rebekah went to talk to him about the children in her womb. ‘I – I have made Jacob your master. I have made all his brothers his servants and I have blessed him with grain and wine… what else is there left to bless you with?’

‘Oh please father, please – there must be some blessing for me too?’ Then Esau fell to his knees crying bitterly.

‘All I can say is this,’ Isaac continued. ‘You will live off the land and what it gives. And you will live by the sword. You will serve your brother for a time, but then you will make yourself free.’

After that, Esau hated his brother Jacob and waited for an opportunity to murder him.

Episode 13 – Jacob and Esau

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – Old Testament

Based on Genesis chapter 25 verses 18 – 24

Esau and Jacob

20 years! 20 years Isaac and Rebekah had been married and still no children! Somehow it seemed that the Lord wasn’t in any hurry to keep His promise that they would have countless descendants!

However, Isaac knew God had promised that they would have children, and, he also knew God would keep His promise … eventually … but it seemed that the Lord was waiting until they were desperate before He finally answered their prayer. (P) And one day, as Isaac pleaded with the Lord for Rebekah to be able to have children, the Lord answered Isaac’s prayer and Rebekah became pregnant! (PAUSE)

But right from the outset, Rebekah knew there was something different about her pregnancy. It seemed that the baby was always twisting and turning and struggling inside her. In fact, it got so bad that Rebekah went to ask the Lord what was going on. ‘Lord, why’s this happening to me?’

‘Rebekah,’ the Lord answered. ‘There are two children inside your womb and they are going to become two rival nations. One of those nations will be stronger than the other one, and, the descendants of the older son will serve the descendants of the younger son.’

So there was more than one child inside her! And already the Lord knew all about them and what would become of them! (PAUSE)

At the right time, the twins were born. But when they arrived – two very different children were born! The first one out was very red and covered in hair. They called him Esau, which means ‘hairy’! But the second child was nothing like the first, his skin was smooth, and when he came out, he was holding the heel of his older brother! So they called him Jacob, which means ‘he grasps the heel’ (P) – Jacob can also mean ‘deceiver’ – and that was to be a warning of things to come. (PAUSE)

As the years went by, the two boys continued to show how different they were. Esau loved the open country and became an expert huntsman with his bow and arrow. Unfortunately, he also became the favourite of his father Isaac, who loved the taste of the wild animals that his son caught.

Jacob was altogether different. He enjoyed staying around the home and – unfortunately he became the favourite of his mother Rebekah! It’s never a good thing for a parent to have a favourite child, and now both parents were rivals – with each of them supporting their own favourite son … where had the love gone that Isaac and Rebekah used to have all those years before? (PAUSE)

In those days, the older son, even if he was born only a few moments before his brother, inherited a much larger share of his father’s belongings when his father died! Not only that, he also became the head of the family, the one who would make all the important decisions for the whole family. It was called his ‘birthright’, because it was his right to have these things for no other reason than that he was born first! It was an important privilege and responsibility to be the older son, and even more so in this family, because it was the son who inherited the ‘birthright’ who would also receive all the wonderful and special promises that God had first given to Abraham and then passed onto Isaac all those years before. (P)

Jacob was very unhappy that he’d missed all this blessing and importance by a matter of minutes! Maybe he wouldn’t have cared quite so much if he’d been born a few years later. But that’s not how it’d happened; he’d lost out because of just a few minutes! (P) Now, unfortunately, Jacob was a selfish little schemer, who looked for any and every opportunity to get his own way. And sure enough, the day came when he saw his chance to get what he wanted – and nothing was going to stop him.

It happened like this. One day Jacob was cooking a red lentil stew when his brother Esau came home – hungry and exhausted from hunting in the fields. Had Jacob known Esau was due back some time soon and so made the stew? Or was it just chance? We’ll never know. But one thing’s for sure; Jacob wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass him by.

‘Give me some of that stew Jacob, I’m starving.’ Esau said.

 ‘It’s going to cost you,’ Jacob replied. ‘I’ll happily give you some … as long as you agree to sell me your birthright for it!’

You’d have thought Esau’d tell his brother to stop being so stupid! But instead Esau replied. ‘Look I’m starving to death here, what good’s a birthright to me if I’m dead?’ But if he’d thought Jacob was joking – he was soon put right. Because when Jacob had served up a bowl full of stew – he held it just out of Esau’s reach.

‘Now swear to me that the birthright’s mine! You’re not having anything until you do.’

‘All right, all right,’ said Esau. ‘I swear the birthright’s your – I give you my solemn promise – now will you just give me that stew!’

Esau had sold his birthright – for a bowl of stew and some bread! He just didn’t care! In fact, after he’d eaten his stew he went on with his life as if nothing had happened! He was the eldest son in a family that had been given incredible and wonderful promises from God … and just like that, he’d ignored the promises as if they were worthless and given away his right to become head of the family! He simply didn’t care!

But Jacob hadn’t finished his deceiving yet!