TLDR: A guide for having a family discipleship time on Genesis 30–31 based on the ACT Bible Study Method.
Act 3: God Promises Jesus
Scene 17: Jacob and Laban
Genesis 30:25—31:55
Analyze the Passage
Step 1: Introduce the Passage
Genesis was written by Moses sometime between 1445–1405 BC to help the Israelites leaving Egypt understand their history with God. It’s one of the five books of the Law that Moses wrote, which we also call the Torah, or the Pentateuch, which means “five books.”
Today’s true story continues the story of Jacob and we will see him becoming quite wealthy, before leaving Laban’s house with his wives and children. Today’s story is the seventeenth in Act 3: God Promises Jesus.
Step 2: Read the Passage
Step 3: Summarize the Passage
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob told Laban that he wanted to leave and head back to his home land. Laban asked Jacob to stay and name his wages to do so, because Laban believed God had blessed him because of Jacob.
Jacob replied that he indeed had helped Laban prosper, but he had to do something for his own family. Laban asked again what he could pay Jacob, and Jacob responded that if Laban allowed him to remove every speckled or spotted sheep and goat, and every dark-colored lamb, that would be his wages. The markings on these animals would verify what was Jacob’s and what was Laban’s. So Laban agreed.
Laban separated Jacob’s animals and put them a three-day journey away. Jacob, meanwhile placed branches in all the watering troughs where the flocks drank. The animals then produced animals that were speckled and spotted. He only did this for the animals that were strong though. So Jacob had the better animals than Laban.
In time, Jacob learned that Laban’s sons were complaining about him becoming so prosperous and Laban’s attitude seemed to have changed toward him. God then told Jacob to return to his relatives. Jacob told Rachel and Leah that he could tell Laban was unhappy with him, but Laban had changed his wages ten times and he further explained that God had grown his flocks. Had Jacon chosen the other kind of animals, God would have grown that number. And now, God had told him to leave.
Rachel and Leah responded that Laban had treated them wrongly too. So, Jacob immediately packed his family and set out with them and his livestock for Canaan.
Because Rachel had stolen his household idols and Jacob had left without telling him, Laban pursued them for seven days. He caught up with them but God warned him in a dream not to bless or curse Jacob.
Laban asked Jacob why he had deceived him and taken away his daughters in secret. He denied him the chance to throw a celebration for them. He told him he could harm him, but God had warned him not to. He also asked why he stole the idols.
Jacob told Laban he left like he did because he was afraid and that if anyone had the idols, they would be put to death. Laban searched but did not find the idols in Leah’s saddle bags.
Then, Jacob became angry and told him all he had experienced because of Laban for 20 years. Laban responded by asking that they make an agreement. Jacob set up stones as a memorial and they promised that neither would cross the line to harm the other. Then, Jacob offered a sacrifice and his family ate a meal.
Early the next morning, Laban blessed his daughters and grandchildren and left.
Step 4: Interrogate the Passage
Questions you and your family ask might include:
- Did Jacob need Laban’s permission to leave?
- Would Laban ever have been okay with Jacob leaving?
- Why did Jacob place the branches near the livestock?
- Had Laban changed Jacob’s wages 10 times, or was that Jacob exaggerating?
- Did Jacob really believe that God would have grown his flocks either way, even after Jacob had done things to intentionally grow his flocks?
- Had Rachel and Leah been unhappy with Laban before Jacob’s speech, or did that trigger them being unhappy?
- What were the household idols and why did Rachel steal them?
- Why did God not want Laban to bless Jacob?
- Would Laban have really thrown a party before Jacob left?
Step 5: Wonder about the Passage
Wonder statements you and your family make might include:
- I wonder why Jacob chose right after Joseph’s birth to leave.
- I wonder if Jacob truly worked as hard as he said he did.
- I wonder how many animals Jacob started with after separating Laban’s flocks.
- I wonder if Jacob knew the branches would help produce animals for him and how he knew that.
- I wonder if Jacob had planned this way to grow his flocks all along.
- I wonder if Jacob’s account of the 20 years was accurate.
Connect the Passage to Christ
Step 6: Find the World in Front of Text
This is another story where we see more of how the world isn’t supposed to be based on both Jacob and Laban’s actions. Both men seemed to be driven by the same thing: greed and selfishness. Both seemed willing to do whatever it took to have an advantage. Laban, it seems, used Jacob to his own benefit—prospering from his hard work and making him feel trapped. Jacob, meanwhile, saw an opportunity to better Laban and took it, growing his flocks while leaving Laban’s weaker. In the end, it led to a family being torn apart, with Laban’s own daughters being against him.
This is the opposite of what God intends. He intends for us to live with generosity and hospitality toward one another. This should have been a family that loved and cared for one another and desired one another’s good. They had ample resources from God, but they hoarded them instead of using them to bless.
Step 7: Find the World of Jesus of the Text
We see the amazing generosity and hospitality of Jesus, who extended both freely, even to those who were against him. Jacob and Laban both seemed to use the wrongs done by the other as a reason for doing wrong back. Jesus, however, gave freely to those who wronged him. And in doing so, Jesus provided the way for us to be forgiven and changed by him so that we can live like Jesus, not Jacob or Laban.
Translate It to Your Context
Step 8: Connect the World of Jesus of the Text to Your World
How can you be amazingly generous with someone this week to show them Jesus? Who might you be generous toward, how might you do it, and when might you do it?
How can you show someone hospitality this week? How can you treat someone with friendship, love, and kindness? Think about people who you know of or barely know, especially anyone who seems like he or she might need a friend. What will you do to be a friend to them?
NEXT: Act 3: God Promises Jesus; Scene 18: Jacob Wrestles with a Man (Genesis 32:1–32)
Learn more about this family discipleship method here.
brian dembowczyk 