Genesis 27-29: Are you a slow learner? There are things that I pick up quickly and learn easily. There are other things that it has taken me years to really learn.

I think Jacob was a slow learner as well. Granted he saw things were wrong. He knew that lying to his dad was wrong, but he trusted his mom and obeyed her. He knew it would have bad consequences. Who wouldn’t! When Esau came home and his dad was confused Jacob knew he would be found out yet he did it anyway. Slow! Slow learning can cause lots of hurt and chaos.

Jacob was in a 20 year course on the effects of deceit when he went to Laban and worked with him for his brides. I wonder if deep down after 7 years of labor and getting the wrong girl, I wonder if he thought, “I deserved this because of what I did to my brother.” I wonder if he was even then feeling the long term effects of deceit and lying. Did he hate Leah even more not because of what Laban did, but because of what he had done to his own brother?

The take home for me from this passage was deceit always comes with a high cost. Learning the effects of it early and running from it are a must. Even with the knowledge of its effects, if you are not willing to tell the truth you will repeat the lessons over and over until truth becomes your default. We haven’t gotten to it yet in our reading but soon God will change Jacob’s name from deceiver to Israel. Through this man the 12 tribes of Israel will come and through Judah his son will come the Son of God.

May we all become quick learners and run from the chaos of deception.