Jacob and Essau Bible Story: Jacob and Essau Genesis 27-28 Memory Verse: 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29, NIV Main Point: God makes and keeps His promises. Christ Connection: The promises for Abraham and Isaac also became the promises for Jacob. At Bethel, God showed that His plan was to continue the covenant through Jacob s family and eventually a whole nation, leading to the birth of Jesus the promised Savior. Leader Notes: Context Jacob and Esau were rivals before birth. They struggled in the womb, and Jacob was born grabbing onto Esau s heel. Even though he was younger, Jacob convinced Esau to sell him his birthright for some stew. When Isaac was old and blind, the time came for Isaac to bless Esau. With the blessing came the privilege afforded to the firstborn leadership over the family. With Rebekah s guidance, Jacob deceived his father and stole his brother s blessing. In his anger, Esau planned to kill Jacob. Rebekah sent Jacob away to her brother Laban until Esau calmed down. Isaac blessed Jacob before he left and told him to find a wife among his relatives. Jacob had a 500-mile journey ahead of him. Along the way, he stopped and camped under the stars. He used a rock as a pillow and fell asleep. That night, Jacob dreamed and saw a stairway from the ground to the sky, and God s angels were going up and down on it. The Lord stood beside him and said, I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac (Gen. 28:13). God promised to give Jacob s family land and numerous descendants, and He promised they would be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. In the morning, Jacob set up the stone as a marker and poured oil on it He named the place Bethel, which means House of God. He vowed to follow God if God kept His promise to be with him and take care of him. Then Jacob continued on his journey. Jacob was the child chosen by God to carry the family line to follow God, to lead the family, and to teach the next generation to follow God too. The promises for Abraham and Isaac also became the promises for Jacob. At Bethel, God showed that His plan was to continue the covenant through Jacob s family and eventually a whole nation, leading to the birth of Jesus the promised Savior. Today s Passage 24 Are you really my son Esau? he asked. I am, he replied. 25 Then he said, My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing. Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, Come here, my son, and kiss me. 27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. 28 May God give you heaven s dew and earth s richness an abundance of grain and new wine. 29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed. 30 After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. Genesis 27:24-30 Today s Takeaways The good news is that no matter what we do or how we mess up, God is always faithful. This story gives a clear answer to that: God always keeps His promises because He is faithful. BL: Rebekah and Jacob tricked Isaac into blessing Jacob. Even when Rebekah and Jacob didn t fully trust God, God was faithful. God promised to be with Jacob, watch over him, and bless him. But Jacob still had to suffer the consequences of tricking his dad and his brother. He was away from home for many years. Social: Providing Time for Fun Interaction (15 minutes)
Activities that encourage preschoolers to enter the classroom and begin engaging with peers and Small Group Leaders by providing age appropriate and hands on fun while introducing new concepts they will hear in the day s Bible story. Prepare to offer the following activities to 3-, 4-, 5- year olds as they arrive. Upset the Farm What you Need: animal cards with string tied for necklace (1 for each kid) Assign each player an animal. By giving them a necklace to wear. For a smaller group, just use 3 animals. For a larger group, you will want to use all 6;) You will arrange everyone in a big circle of chairs. But make sure there is one less chair than players. The one player without the chair will be IT and stand in the center of the circle. They will call out a farm animal. The farm animal that they call will need to jump up and find another seat, meanwhile the person that is IT will hurry and snatch a seat. The player left without a seat is now IT. And the game continues. Make sure everyone gets a turn to be IT. You can make it a rule that each player must move at least 2 seats away, instead of just sliding to the next seat on their left or right. Another option that IT has, is to yell, Upset the Farm! In this case, EVERYONE has to get up and run to a new chair and it s hilarious watching everyone scramble! What You Say: Was that fun? Sometimes moving around, following God s plan or being with our family is a difficult thing to do. All of those things were hard for Abraham and his family too. In our Bible story we are going to learn about how God built Abraham s family to include Jesus. Let s go see what happens. Worship Time Gather children on a rug or in a specific area of the classroom to tell the story. Some kids (especially the younger ones) may wander. That s okay. They re still listening and learning! Play the DVD of All Star Kids worship (choose 1 song for today) What You Say: Way to go! You are such amazing singers. Now let s sit down to learn from the Bible today. Story Time: Communicating God s Truth in Engaging Ways Engage kids hearts through a dynamic and interactive Bible story and prayer experience in a Large Group setting.
Bible Story What You Need: Bible Place a bookmark at Genesis 27-28 in your Bible. Invite a preschooler to open it. What You Say: The Bible is called the Word of God because it contains God s words to us. Everything that God says is true, and all the words of the Bible are true. Today s story is from the first book of the Bible called Genesis. Remind children that all the stories in the Bible fit together to tell an even bigger story. The Bible tells us the big story of how God rescues sinners through His Son, Jesus. PLAY BIBLE STORY VIDEO Talk about the Bible Story: Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau was born first, and he was his father s favorite. Jacob was his mother s favorite. Jacob wanted a special gift that belonged to the first son Esau. Esau traded that special gift for a bowl of red soup! When Isaac was old, Isaac wanted to bless Esau. Rebekah told Jacob to wear Esau s clothes. Jacob covered his arms with goatskin to be hairy like Esau. Rebekah made a tasty meal, and Jacob took the meal to his father. Isaac could not see well, so he said, Are you Esau? Jacob said, I am Esau. Jacob tricked his father, and Isaac blessed Jacob. Esau was very angry with Jacob. Rebekah sent Jacob away until Esau calmed down. Jacob made wrong choices, but he did not stop God s promise. Ask the following review Questions: Whom did Isaac plan to give his blessing to? (Esau) Whom did Isaac bless instead? (Jacob) How did Rebekah and Jacob trick Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing? (made his favorite meal, dressed Jacob in Esau s clothes and put hair on him) How did Esau feel when he learned what Jacob had done? (angry, he wanted to hurt Jacob) Whom did Jacob see in his dream? (God, angels) What did God promise Jacob in his dream? (the same things He promised to Abraham and Isaac) Does God keep His promises? God always keeps His promises. Learn the Big Picture Question What You Say: Our big picture question is, Why can we trust God? We can trust God because He is faithful. God kept His promise to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. God sent Jesus to earth through Jacob s family. Jesus brings blessing and salvation to the world. Practice the Memory Verse Open your Bible to Galatians 3:29. Read the memory verse aloud several times. What You Say: If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Abraham trusted God, and God made Him a great promise. When we believe that God gave Jesus to die for us and rise again, He promises that we can be with Him forever! Transition to small group.
Groups: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (25 minutes) Create a safe place to connect through activities that are written to reach every learning style while reinforcing the Main Point that was introduced during the Bible Story and applying it to real life experiences. In addition, these activities provide preschoolers with an opportunity to build relationships with their Small Group Leader. 1. Five senses Jacob and Esau What You Need: Jacob and Esau Activity page, fabric (2 different pieces), spoon, hands cut out, cotton balls, lentils, glue or glue sticks and tape Each kid is going to make a picture similar to this one: Pass out the Jacob and Esau Activity page. Pass out the glue and fabric. Kids will glue the blindfold over the eyes. Pass out the hands, spoon, and fabric piece. Kids will glue the fabric on one hand and spoon on the other hand. Pass out the cotton balls. Kids will glue the cotton balls on the sheep. Pass out the lentils and tape. The kids will tape the lentils to the spoon. What You Say Rebekah dressed Jacob in Esau s clothing. She told Jacob to pretend to be Esau. Jacob tricked Isaac. But god had already planned to do His plan through Jacob s family. God would bless Jacob s family and even a whole nation as part of His plan to bring Jesus, the Savior of the World. 2. Practice signing the Memory Verse What you need: Memory Verse Poster Show the poster to the kids As you say the words point to them on the poster Create simple hand motions to teach kids the memory verse. Sample hand motions include If you belong to Christ (clasp hands together), then you are Abraham s seed, (act like a seed growing from the ground) and heirs according to the promise (point to God) Our key passage tells us that when we believe Jesus is our savior, we get to be part of Abraham s family, too! What You Say: Our Bible verse tells us that God promised Abraham that his family would be very large. Did you know that Jesus was born in Abraham s family? In our Bible story today, we saw that the promise God made started with Abraham, continued with Isaac and then was passed to Jacob even without his
father s blessing. That same promise to bless all the world has now been passed all the way down to those of us who believe in Jesus today. Pray and Dismiss: What You need: no supplies needed Pray- " God thank you for making promises and keeping them. We thank you that your promises were for Abraham and his kids and grandkids and for us through Jesus. Help us to trust your promises. What You Say: Tell parents something that their child enjoyed doing or did well during the session. Send home the Jacob and Esau Activity page with each kid.