In Sunday School, the flannelgraph presentations explain how Jacob put on an animal fur and his mom made soup and then his dad gave him the blessing his brother was supposed to get. And then Jacob's brother got mad and he had to run away and when he ran away he got two wives for it.
But they don't stop to explain -- or maybe it's that I don't stop to think -- that what Jacob and his mom did was wrong. And not only does Laban trick his son-in-law, but Jacob deceives him back. And after Jacob tells God he will do as He says and go to Esau, he only does it partway, and all the time Jacob is trying to cover his own back at the expense of others (i.e. sending his least liked concubines, wives, and children ahead of him to Esau).
And let's stop and talk about those kids. Yes, Jacob gets a lot of them (which happens when you have two wives and two concubines), but he plays favorites and his wives aren't of the best stature, either. What I didn't really think about before is that God chooses to descend the Messiah not out of Rachel (the lot that Jacob picked for himself), but from Leah, what was given him. And the son from Leah (Judah) is the fourth, the one she finally praised God with.
What I still don't get: Why did God wrestle Jacob? What is the theological significance of Jacob stealing the birthright, or really the entire Jacob story?
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