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Jacob: Father of the 12 tribes of Israel
If you have never read about Jacob and Esau in Genesis 25 - 27, I would highly recommend it. I would say Jacob was a schemer from day one, but he was trying to cheat Esau even at birth. Our spotlight scripture gives a window into the real behavior of Jacob. In Genesis 27:19 he is lying to his dad about who he is, stealing Esau's birthright and asking God to bless all of that. The dude has got some nerve.
As rough and tumble as Esau is portrayed to be, he must have been laid back when it came to his brother and all of his antics. I’ve been hungry before, but to trade one's birthright (which was big back then for a firstborn) for a bowl of lentils and bread seems strange. But God’s ways are not our ways, and this was God’s plan.
Jacob has 12 sons, and a few of them were schemers as well. Several of them plotted to kill Joseph, threw him into a pit to die and then sold him off as a slave. I wonder where they learned that kind of behavior from.
How we behave in front of our children shapes them as to how a man should act. If you are physically or verbally abusive, your children learn that is how you treat others. If you cheat on taxes, or steal a little bit here and there, they think that is how people live. Just because you haven’t been caught doing something you shouldn’t be doing doesn’t make it right. Remember that the next time you're driving 70+ mph in a 55 mph zone. Seems small, but if your children see you speed all the time, it's how they learn to drive.
Now take that small example and scale it up to the big things in life. If you see a person who is different than you on TV and make an abusive comment about them, your child sees. You curse at your wife, your child sees. You lie in a situation, your child sees. They see, and they learn. The more significant problem is not only does your child look at your behavior, but God sees it as well.
Do you consider what your behavior looks like in front of your children? Do you consider what it is like in front of God?
Maybe it’s time for you to be the Father that God could build a nation around.
Scripture Reference:
Genesis 27: 14-41
Scripture
About this Plan
Most of us have a Father Figure in our lives. Some may have been great examples and some may have not even been there. In this study we look at a range of men in the Bible and how they performed the role of a Father Figure.
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