JACOB THE SUPPLANTER
Jacob is a figure of every heaven born soul. He is a figure of what we are by nature, and he is figure of what God has made us by his grace. He is a reflection of every one of us in all our joys and sorrows, in all our strengths and weaknesses. He represents what is commendable about us, and he represents all that is shameful and repugnant.
We cannot help but appreciate the simplicity of the Bible. One of the ways by which the Bible teaches us is by figures—by characters or events that illustrate the lesson. That is one of the simplest of all methods of teaching. The character simply acts out the lesson.
In the first moments of his life Jacob demonstrated that he was a sinner—a sinner by birth and a sinner by practice. The first thing the Bible tells us about Jacob is that as soon as he was born, to the limit of his ability, he attacked his brother Esau. Gen. 25:24-26, “And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob.” A newborn baby is limited in his ability to attack anybody, but to the limit of his ability, Jacob attacked his brother—he grabbed him by the heel. That assault, such as it was, was a preview of the way Jacob would spend most of his life, tricking and cheating his brother.
Jacob’s grabbing Esau by the heel as soon as he was born was an indication of the carnal nature we were all born with. It is not that we were not born innocent and only later turned into sinners. We were born with that sinful nature, and as soon as we had the opportunity we proved that we were sinners.
It was the first day of school and the first grade teacher was letting each child tell something about himself, so they could get better acquainted. One little girl said, “We have a new baby at our house—but it is turning into a boy.” Well, babies do not turn into little boys, and kittens do not turn into cats, and pups do not turn into dogs, and little babies do not turn into sinners. We were born sinners. Our sin was bred in the bone. It is part of our nature. Sin is as surely the natural condition of the sinner as water is the natural environment for a fish. The sinner feels to be entirely at home in his sin.
We should not get the idea that every character, and every event, in the Bible has a symbolic significance. Very often a well meaning Bible student will just wear himself out trying to find the symbolic lesson in some character who does not teach any symbolic lesson at all. If there is a symbolic lesson involved, it seems to me that the Bible usually makes it fairly clear that we are to look for that lesson. Sometimes the passage simply tells us what the person said or what he did, and what the consequence was. That is the full lesson, and we wear ourselves out if we look for something more.
That applies to any passage we might read. There is an old saying, “When the obvious sense makes common sense, seek no other sense.” To me that makes good sense. Very often a young preacher will come to me with a question about some text. I read the verse, and it seems to be about as plain as it needs to be. It is a simple, straightforward statement of fact. The verse simply says what it means, and means what it says. He wants to know, “Is there not more than that?” But it seems to me that the verse teaches a simple lesson in simple language. We do not need to interpret it, nor explain it; just read it and believe it. In fact, we can get in all kinds of trouble trying to make a verse say more than it says.
I am convinced that the Bible is usually about as simple as we let it be. There are mysteries in the Bible that have humbled the most brilliant minds that have ever lived. If we go through the Bible looking for deep dark mysteries, we will discover mysteries we will never unravel. But if we go through the Bible looking for simple lessons, we will discover an abundance of simple lessons to feed and instruct us.
It has been said that the Bible is a stream in which a lamb may wade, or an elephant may swim—in different places. That is true, but it is also true that when we go through the Bible looking for simple lessons, some of the most profound lessons become much more simple. And when we go through the Bible looking for some profound lesson, even the simple lessons become harder to understand.
It is fairly clear that Jacob is a symbolic character. The lessons are spread all across the page. When we read his life and his struggles, we constantly come face to face with ourselves. He looks far too much like all of us not to be a figure of us, a symbol of all we are, both by nature and by the grace of God.
In his very first experience, Jacob demonstrated that he is a sinner. As soon as he was born, to the best of his ability, he attacked his brother; he grabbed him by the heel. And he spent the rest of his life mistreating his brother, and taking advantage of him. Jacob came into this world a sinner, and at the first opportunity, he demonstrated his sinful nature.
There is a popular notion that we came into the world as innocent little babies, and then after twelve years or so, we finally learn to be sinners. We are told that about age twelve children “learn to know right from wrong.” Others say that happens about age seven. I do not know where anybody ever got that idea; it does not make any kind of sense. If tiny children do not already know something about the difference between right and wrong, you are wasting your time to correct them when they do wrong. You can be sure that if you do not correct a child until he is twelve years old, or even seven years old, you are wasting your time to start then. The battle is already over; you have lost him.
I have heard it said that if you want to know the truth, you should ask a child, but that is not entirely true. A child will tell you the truth, if he is not afraid of the truth. But is he is afraid of the truth, there is a good chance that he will tell the most bodacious lies to get away from the truth. You may come into the room, and your three year old is standing there with a crayon in his hand. There are crayon marks all over the wall. You ask him who made the marks, and there is a good chance he has no idea who did it. It may be that somebody from down the street came in and marked all over the wall and left.
Psa. 58:3, “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they are born speaking lies.” That is about as clear as it can be. Children come into this world knowing how to lie; they have to be taught to tell the truth. If I say that children know how to lie before they learn how to talk, I am sure that somebody will think I am exaggerating, but that is exactly what the verse says. They “go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.”
Let me prove that. One of the great benefits God provided for babies is the ability to cry in order to get attention when they are in need. It is hard to imagine the problems that might result if babies could not cry when they need to. On the other hand, every one of us knows what we mean by the expression, “That baby is just spoiled.” We mean that the baby has learned how to get attention by crying—pretending to be in need—when there is not a thing wrong. He does not know how to talk; but he does know how to lie in order to get his way. “They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.” He does not know how to talk, but he does know how to lie.
Selfishness is one of those characteristics we inherited from Adam. It was one of the characteristics of his rebellion against his Maker. Adam wanted for himself the honor and majesty that belonged only to God. The serpent promised him, “Ye shall be as gods” (Gen. 3:5). Adam took the bait; he wanted what did not belong to him; he sinned, and he passed to all of his offspring that selfish nature that characterized his sin.
Every person descended from Adam possesses the nature of Adam. By his own willful act Adam became selfish; he acted selfishly; that selfishness became a part of his nature, and he passed that nature to all mankind. No sooner does the brand new baby manifest any kind of disposition, than he demon-trates that he inherited a selfish nature. He proves how selfish he is of his mother’s time and attention. No matter how busy she may be, and no matter what else she may need to do, he wants her to see about him, and he wants her to see about him now.
That disposition does not change as he gets older. You can set a little two year old baby in the middle of the floor among all his toys. He is just old enough to sit up and handle his toys. He really only needs two toys, one for each hand, but he has toys all around him. He has not even noticed some of them. Now you set another two year old next to him, and watch what happens. The new baby picks up one of the first baby’s toys, and the fireworks start. The first baby was not playing with that toy, but he does not intend for anybody else to pick it up. We did not learn to be selfish. We were born that way. That selfish nature was bred in the bone. It is as much a part of our nature as our fingers and toes.
If those two babies are within reach of each other, as little as they are, there is some chance the first baby will hit the other baby on the head with anything he may have in his hand. Not only did we come into this world with a selfish nature; we were born knowing how to hit. Children have to be taught how to get along; they already know how to fight. As they get older, they learn better and more effective ways of fighting, but from the very outset, they are willing to hit anybody who does not please them.
Again, Jacob is a figure of every heaven born soul. He is a figure of what we are by nature, and he is a figure of what God has made us by his grace. In his grabbing his brother by the heel as soon as he was born, he represents that sinful and corrupt nature we all inherited from Adam, and which we began to manifest just as early in life as Jacob did.
Gen. 25:27-34, “And the boys grew: and Esau was a mighty hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage and lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his; birthright.”
This is the next thing we read about Jacob; he cheated his brother out of his birthright. Jacob was a wheeler dealer. He was a con-man, a trickster. The name Jacob means supplanter. According to Webster supplant means “to supercede or replace (another) especially by force, cunning, etc.” He was not the sort of person you wanted to do business with, and if you did do business with him, you should always count your change. There is a covetous nature in every person born of Adam. Adam coveted that honor which belonged only to God; that covetousness became a part of his nature, and he passed that nature on to every one of his posterity.
Esau was a man of the field; he enjoyed hunting. On this occasion he stayed with the hunt too long. By the time he got home, he was so exhausted and hungry, he thought he was dying. He knew his brother Jacob was a good cook, so he asked him to feed him. Verse 29 tells us that “Jacob sod pottage, and Esau came from the field.” That seems to indicate that the food was already prepared, but Jacob was in no mood to share it with his brother. He had, no doubt, been waiting for this opportunity. He intended to take his brother’s birthright, if he could; now he had the opportunity.
Jacob and Esau were twins. We have always heard how close and affectionate twins are, and, no doubt, that is true, but bear in mind that Jacob was a sinner, and he was acting out that carnal nature every sinner has. This was his twin brother, but he could starve to death for all Jacob cared—unless he agreed to sell his birthright. In order that we might learn from him, God suffered Jacob to demonstrate what we all are by nature. Esau thought he was dying, but Jacob would not feed him— not until he got what he wanted. Esau was not innocent in the matter. Verse 34 tells us that he despised his birthright; but I am not on Esau’s case; right now, I am looking at Jacob.
It is easy for us to look at this despicable act and be disgusted with Jacob. It is easy for us to square our shoulders, throw out our chest and allow, “I will never do any such thing as that.” But you do not know that. I don’t know that. None of us knows what we might do if the situation presented itself. Sometimes somebody uses the expression, “If I know my own heart…..” Let me tell you: you don’t. The prophet said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Jer. 17:9.
We are all sinners by nature and sinners by practice. We inherited a sinful, corrupt nature from Adam, and that nature affects all we say and do. None of us is nearly so righteous as we would like to think we are.
The next thing the Bible tells us about Jacob is that he stole his brother’s blessing. There were both a birthright and a blessing that belonged to the firstborn child in the family. Jacob swindled Esau out of his birthright. I doubt anybody would claim that Jacob made a fair trade with Esau in the matter of the birthright.. They did make a deal, but Jacob took advantage of Esau’s distress, to say the least. But when their father Isaac thought he was dying, Jacob saw the oppor-tunity to take the blessing that belonged to Esau. He did not bother to make a deal; he simply stole the blessing.
“And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said, Behold here I am. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death, Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; and make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.,” Gen. 27:1-4. Isaac thought he was close to death. As it happened, he lived, at least, another twenty years. But anyway, he thought he was close to death, and it was time for him to pronounce his blessing on his first born son Esau.
“And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may bless thee before the Lord before my death. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. Go now to the flock, and fetch me thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death,” vss 5-10. Not only was Jacob a sinner; his mother was a sinner as well. Every person born of Adam is a sinner. Rebekah was a sinner as surely as all the rest of us are. Just as Jacob had waited for the opportunity to defraud his brother out of the birthright; Rebekah had patiently waited for the opportunity to assist Jacob in stealing the blessing.
“Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,” Rom. 5:12.
“And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved. And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck: And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob,” vss 11-17. At the first Jacob did not seem interested in the plot; but we should not get the wrong idea. He was perfectly willing to steal the blessing; he just did not want to get caught. As soon as he saw how they could pull it off, he was more than willing.
Now, bear in mind that it is very unlikely Rebekah could have prepared those skins for Jacob to wear on his hands and neck in the very little time it took to kill and prepare that meal. In order for those skins to fit well enough to convince Isaac, Rebekah must have spent weeks, or even months getting them ready. And notice that the “goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau” was already “with her in the house.” I would not be surprised if Esau had been wondering for days what happened to that garment. Rebekah was truly a sinner as surely as Jacob was—and a conniving sinner at that.
“And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son? And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me. And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him. And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am,” vss 18-24.
I have always heard that you can spot a liar—a liar can never look you in the eye. But that is not entirely right. That only applies to amateur liars. I have met a few liars in my time who could look you squarely in the eye, put on their most honest face, and lie through their teeth. Jacob was that kind of liar. He had this lying business down to an art. He could lie to his old blind daddy, get caught, lie again, get caught again, and just keep on lying until his father believed him. Jacob truly was a sinner—a sinner saved by grace, but a sinner after all.
Years later, in Padan-aram, Jacob bargained with Laban for the hand of of Rachel, his younger daughter. He worked seven years for Rachel, but on the wedding night, it was her sister Leah whom Laban delivered to Jacob. Jacob deceived his blind father, and pretended to be his brother Esau. In the dark of that wedding night, Leah pretended to be her sister Rachel. You do reap what you sow. Jacob deceived Isaac, and Leah deceived Jacob. If you mistreat other people; other people will mistreat you. The people who mistreat you will not likely be the same people you mistreated, but the principle holds; you do reap what you sow.
As you might imagine, when Esau learned what had happened, he was upset, and he decided that the best thing he could do was to do away with Jacob. “And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright: and, behold now he hath taken away my blessing……And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob,” vss 36,41.
Rebekah should not have been surprised at Esau’s reaction. He had every right to be upset. She called Jacob and advised him that it would be a good idea for him to leave the country for awhile. “And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran; and tarry with him a few days, until thy brother’s fury turn away,” vss 42-44.
Jacob was a fraud; he was a liar and a thief. He had cheated his brother and stolen from him, and he lied to his father, but before he left for Padan-aram, his father Isaac called him to his bedside and pronounced his blessing on him. “And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham,” Gen. 28:1-4.
Let me ask you: do you believe Isaac blessed Jacob, because he had been such an obedient son? No, of course not. He blessed Jacob in spite of all he was and all he had done. Any blessing he pronounced on Jacob was entirely unmerited on his part. Not only was Jacob a figure of all we are by nature he is a figure of all God has done for us by his grace.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast,” Eph. 2:8,9.
“And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which have spoken to thee of,” vss.10-15
We cannot imagine a more awesome experience. Here was this rebellious sinner lying down to sleep in the middle of the wilderness, with nothing more than a rock for his pillow. He was, no doubt, miles from any other human being, and there, all alone in the world, the very God of heaven appears to him and makes him this long list of great promises. He shows him a vision of a ladder reaching all the way to heaven itself; he identifies himself as the God of Abraham and Isaac; he promises to give him that entire country for an everlasting inheritance; at a time when he did not have a wife, he promised him that his offspring would be as the very dust of the earth and that they would spread out to the four winds; he promises him that he will be with him and keep him anywhere he goes, and that he will not leave him until he has done everything he promised. And all of that was not from another man such as himself, but from the Almighty himself. It would not hurt to go back and read the text again, and try to imagine a more mind boggling experience.
This was the pinnacle of Jacob’s experience. This was the high point in his life. This was the moment he remembered, thought on, and savored as long as he lived. Just before he died in Egypt many years later, he called Joseph to his bedside and told him, “God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me. And he said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give thee this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession,” Gen 48:3,4. Jacob had his ups and downs; he lived a long and chequered life. But at that moment, in the very shadow of death, he remembered the day long before when God came to him.
Jacob was a symbol of the child of God in this experience as he was in all the others. Compare his experience with the most common notion in the religious world today. Religious types run the length and breadth of the land telling people, “God wants to save you, but you will have to take the first step;” “God wants to save you, but you will have to meet him half way.” I would like for one of them to show how Jacob fits that formula. Here was Jacob, a rebellious sinner. He had defrauded his brother of his birthright; he had stolen his blessing; he had deceived his poor old blind daddy, and now he was running away from the scene of the crime. The only thought on his mind was running as fast as he could, and as far as he could, to escape the consequence of his sins. He was as repugnant as the rest of Adam’s sinful race. He did not deserve saving, and yet God came to him and saved him by his grace.
God only has one way of saving sinners. The way he saved Jacob is the way he saves every sinner. If you think you deserved saving more than Jacob did, it is because you have never been able to see yourself as the sinner we all are.
“And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first,” vss 16-19.
Then realizing who it was that had appeared to him, Jacob made, perhaps, the most heart felt promise he had ever made. Listen to his language: “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee,” vss 20-22.
It has been almost fifty years since I first read those words, and ever so many times during those years I have marveled at the sweet and precious promise Jacob made to his Lord on that day. What a commitment that old sinner made to his Lord.
But, wait—things are not always what they seem. Finally, after all those years, I read those words one more time, and I realized that Jacob was not saying what I thought he was saying at all. It was, no doubt, the most heartfelt promise he had ever made, and he was, no doubt, as sincere as he had ever been. But the promise was not nearly so commendable I thought it was.
Read it again. “IF the Lord will be with me, and [IF] he will keep me in this way that I go, and [IF] he will give me bread to eat, and [IF he will give me] raiment to put on, and [IF he will] bring me again to my father’s house in peace; THEN shall the Lord be my God.”
Jacob was trying to strike a deal with the Lord.
Jacob, the supplanter, Jacob the con artist, Jacob the wheeler dealer, was trying to bargain with the Lord. He was saying, “You can be my Lord—but first you will have to come to terms. First we have to agree on what I am going to get out of this arrangement.”
This was the highest point in Jacob’s life. He would never be closer to the Lord than this, and yet, at that very time he still had that same old carnal nature, that same weakness of the flesh he had always had.
At this point in his life Jacob was a very clear illustration of David’s statement, “Verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity,” Psa. 39:5. Notice that he is not talking about some men; it is every man. It is not at his worst state, but at his best state. And he is not somewhat vain; he is rather altogether vanity. There is no way human language can make this statement any more strongly than these words say it; and because language cannot say it any more force-fully, he simply underscores the entire statement with a verily.
We are all of us like Jacob of old; either we are saved by the sovereign, unmerited grace of God, or we are not saved at all. Not one of us could stand justified before God on our own merit.
THE END