Jacob-Glimpses Of His Twilight Years Series

Introduction: After Jacob and his household returned to Hebron (Gen. 35:27), he seemed to settle down to a life of farming and ranching. Isaac, his father, had died; he was at peace with his brother Esau; and it seemed all would be going well for him in his twilight years.

But several things were going to happen, affecting him for years to come.

1 He lost his wife and two sons

Text, Genesis 37:31-35, KJV: 35 And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; 32 And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no. 33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. 34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

One of the hardest things Jacob had to endure was the loss of his favorite son, Joseph. This event took place when Joseph was about 17. His other brothers, all ten of them, hated him because he had become Jacob’s favorite. Further, when he brought back word (“an evil report”) of what Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher (sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, respectively), they hated him so much they couldn’t even speak peaceably with him.

And Joseph hadn’t done himself any favors by explaining a couple of dreams to his brothers, father and possibly his mother, too. His dreams were those of people bowing down to him and that was not something any of them wanted to hear. The text of what Joseph dreamed and the reactions are all found in the first section of Genesis 37.

Also in Genesis 37 is the reaction and treatment of Joseph by his brothers. They hated him so much that they wanted to kill him, but settled for throwing him into a pit, with perhaps little thought of getting him out of there. What a picture of the human heart: so little concern for those who are weaker, younger, or less than the control group in any way.

But no, nine of the brothers came up with a plan: “Let’s not kill him, but let’s sell him and that way he’s gone and we won’t have to hear or face him or his dreams anymore.” They completed this deception by keeping Joseph’s coat, dipped it in animal blood, and asked their father if this was Joseph’s coat or not.

It was, and Jacob was absolutely stricken. He mourned for many days (and who wouldn’t, realizing one of your children was gone forever as far as he knew). Even worse, the brothers and the other “daughters (maybe daughters-in-law)” tried to comfort Jacob when these 10 were responsible for causing the problem in the first place! What a performance they tried to put on for Jacob’s behalf!

We can look at this and ask, didn’t they have any shame? Maybe they had some guilt at the time but years later, when they once again came face to face with Joseph, their guilt and shame rose to the very top. But they seemed to be doing a good job of hiding the truth from Jacob at the time.

Even so, the truth was too much for Judah, Jacob’s fourth son. He decided to leave the family for whatever reason (conscience could be one such reason) and spent a number of years in Canaan, which could be anywhere away from Hebron. According to one online Bible atlas, Judah had wandered north-west and was living for the time about 20 miles from Hebron. Genesis 38 has the story how Judah lived, loved, and lost so much in his time away from his family.

Still, Judah was able to take part in some good things. First, he was able to obtain and manage a flock of sheep (38:13) but even better, he was able to have a son who became a direct ancestor of Messiah Jesus! The story is not pretty, and it’s even sordid, but it does show that sometimes God can take something and still make something good out of it. Just ask Judah’s son!

Then there was another loss for Jacob. Rachel, his favorite wife, had died some time before this event took place but it seems Leah was still alive. But sometime after this, and before Jacob went to live in Egypt, Leah died. She’s never mentioned except as dying before Jacob (Gen 49:10) and as an example for Ruth, many years after this (Ruth 4:11). Nothing is said about when Leah died, or from what cause, but Jacob no doubt carried this pain for many days.