JACOB'S YEARS AWAY FROM HOME

Rebekah brought great sorrow on herself by urging Jacob to deceive his father. Rebekah gave bad advice, so Jacob was separated from her for the rest of her life. Jacob had to escape from home because Esau wanted to kill him. Rebekah never saw Jacob again.SRme 1.317

After giving Jacob the blessing Isaac lived many years. As Isaac saw the difference between the way Jacob and Esau lived, he realized that Jacob was the right son to receive the blessing.SRme 1.318

Jacob did not have a happy home. His wives were sisters. Jacob made an agreement with Laban to work seven years to marry Rachel, Laban's daughter. But Laban deceived Jacob, giving him Leah instead of Rachel. Laban tricked Jacob because he wanted Jacob, who was a faithful worker, to work for him more than seven years. Leah had a part in deceiving Jacob, so he could not love her. Jacob scolded Laban for tricking him and giving him Leah for his wife when he had not wanted her. Laban pleaded with Jacob not to divorce Leah because divorcing Leah would not only shame Leah but her entire family.SRme 1.319

This put Jacob in a difficult position. But he decided to keep Leah and also marry her sister Rachel. Jacob did not love Leah as much as he loved Rachel.SRme 1.320

Laban was selfish in the way he dealt with Jacob. Laban thought only about how he could use Jacob's faithful work to increase his own profit. Jacob wanted to leave Laban, but Jacob was afraid of Esau back home.SRme 1.321

One day Jacob heard Laban's sons complaining about him. They said, "'Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father. He got all his wealth from what our father owned'" (Gen. 31:1). Jacob also noticed Laban was not friendly to him. This troubled Jacob greatly. Jacob did not know what to do, so he asked the Lord to guide him. The Lord answered Jacob's troubled prayer for guidance. In a dream the Lord told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers, and to his family. God promised to go with Jacob.SRme 1.322

"So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where his flocks were. He said to them, 'I have noticed that your father is not as friendly toward me as he. . .[was in the past]; but my father's God has been with me. You both know that I have worked for your father with all my strength. Yet he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not let him harm me'" (Gen. 31:4-7).SRme 1.323

Jacob explained to his wives that in a dream God had told him to leave Laban and return to his homeland. Rachel and Leah told Jacob they were not happy about the way their father had treated him. Jacob told Rachel and Leah about the wrongs their father had done to him and that he planned to leave Laban. "Rachel and Leah answered Jacob, 'There is nothing left for us to inherit from our father. He treats us like foreigners. He sold us, and now he has spent all the money he was paid for us. All this wealth which God has taken from our father belongs to us and to our children. Do whatever God has told you'" (Gen. 31:14-16, TEV).SRme 1.324