Provided by Hesston College
W H AT G O E S A R O U N D CO M E S A R O U N D
by Carol Duerksen and Billie Jo Warren
KEY VERSE:
Laban said to Jacob, What have you done? You have deceived me, and carried away my
daughters like captives of the sword. Why did you flee secretly and deceive me and not tell
me? Genesis 31:26-27a.
FAITH STORY:
Genesis 27, 29:1-30, 30:25-43, 31
FAITH FOCUS:
What a tangled web we weave when we set out to deceive! Todays stories of Jacob, Esau,
and Laban are full of deceptiondeception that steals birthrights, marries the wrong
woman, breeds sheep dishonestly, and steals a fathers household gods. Jacobs name even
means deceiving one, and he lived up to the name, but he was also on the receiving end of
some mighty mean tricks. Despite this familys ability to be nasty to each other, there were
also moments of hope and a covenent of peace.
SESSION GOAL:
Students will learn that deceiving others is hurtful to everyone, including the one doing the
deception.
SESSION OBJECTIVES:
Students will learn about the deception that happened in the lives of Jacob, Esau, and Laban
and they will see that people in the Bible werent perfect. They will also learn that hope and
peace can grow out of bad situations like deception.
MATERIALS NEEDED AND ADVANCE PREPARATION:
1 Chalk board or newsprint and markers.
2 Bibles for everyone.
3 Ball of yarn or string
SESSION OUTLINE
FOCUS: (510 minutes)
Have students sit in a circle and ask them to think of two things about themselves that are
true and one that is not true. (The one that isnt true should be something that COULD be
true about them.) Go around the circle and have each student state their three things, after
which the group tries to guess which statement isnt true.
At the end of the stories, say: We had some fun lying to each other, but lying isnt usually a very
fun thing to do.
CONNECT: (510 minutes)
Write the word DECEIVED on the chalk board or on newsprint. Ask students to use the word
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as part of a short story they tell about themselvesa time when they were deceived by
someone or someone else deceived them.
When everyone has shared an incident, ask students to respond to the following: True or
false: In general, people in the Bible were better than people are today. Stand up if you think thats
true, remain sitting if you think its false.
Ask students to explain their answers.
EXPLORE THE BIBLE: (30 minutes)
Make sure each student has a Bible. Divide students into four groups and assign each group
one of the following passages:Genesis 27, Genesis 29:1-30, Genesis 30:25-43, Genesis 31:
1-42. Give each group newsprint and a marker. Ask students to read their texts silently to
themselves. After they have finished reading it, ask each group to answer the following
questions and write the answers on their newsprint.
1 What happened in your passage?
2 Who deceived who?
When everyone is done, bring the groups together and have them share what they wrote on
their newsprint. Make sure the whole story is getting told in order during this time.
APPLY: (5 minutes)
Write this phrase on the chalkboard or newsprint: What a tangled web we weave when we
set out to deceive.
Ask the class to stand up in a circle and throw the ball of yarn or string to each other until
everyone is connected. (They will need to hold onto the string or wrap it around part of their
body before they throw the ball to the next person.) When they are all connected, ask: How
does lying and deceiving each other create a tangled web? (We dont know what to believe
and what not to believe, the lies get spread around, people get revenge by continuing the
deception, etc.)
RESPOND: (510 minutes)
Ask students to sit down and listen as you read Genesis 31:43-55.
Say something like this, in your own words: What a wonderful, hopeful, chapter in this story!
Despite all of the lying and cheating and deception, Laban and Jacob come together and make
a covenanta promise to be at peace and not to do each other wrong. They have gone from
doing horrible things to each other to saying The Lord watch between you and me, when we are
absent one from another. Wow! That is powerful stuff!
Ask students to think of someone with whom they are at oddsperhaps lying or cheating
was involved, or something else that put them at odds with each other. Ask them to take a
minute to pray for that relationship, and to ask God to watch between
and me,
when we are absent one from another. Challenge them to pray this prayer for that person
every day for the next week.
Close with a short prayer.
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INSIGHTS FROM SCRIPTURE:
From the moment they are conceived, Jacob and Esau seem destined to disagree. Their
mother Rebecca felt them struggling within her womb and prayed Why do I have to put
up with this? When they were born, their differences were immediately obvious: Esau the
firstborn was red and hairy, and Jacob was holding on to Esaus heel. They grew up with each
parent favoring one of them: father Isaac loved his outdoorsy son Esau and mother Rebecca
loved her quiet son Jacob.
Jacob may have been quiet, but he was sneaky. He tricked Esau into selling him his birthright,
and then he conspired with his mother to get his fathers blessingthe blessing that Isaac
intended for Esau. Needless to say, Esau was not happy about this, and Jacob had to get out
of town fast to escape his brothers wrath. He heads for Haran, where his mothers brother
Laban lives.
Jacob arrives in Haran, promptly falls in love with Labans daughter Rachel, and agrees to
work for Laban for 7 years in exchange for the privilege of marrying Rachel. Their wedding
day arrives and this time its Jacob whos on the receiving end of a huge deceptionLaban
has given him his older daughter Leah in marriage rather than Rachel. Jacob is quite upset,
and agrees to work another 7 years for Laban if he can take Rachel as his wife as well.
Jacob has now been on the giving and receiving end of deception, but he hasnt learned his
lesson yet. While managing a herd of sheep that belong to both him and Laban, he manages
to set up a breeding program that produces more, better sheep for himself. Laban finds out
Jacob is getting rich off of him, and Jacob knows its time to leave and head back to his home
country. Without telling Laban, he rounds up his wives, children and livestock. And oh yes, his
wife Rachel steals the household gods. When Laban catches up with the runaway troupe, and
he confronts Rachel about the gods, she wont allow him to search her saddlebags because
she says shes having her period!
The web of deception in this family goes on and on. And yet, woven into the story, is the
covenant that Laban and Jacob make with each other. They agree to go their own ways and
to stop the harassment; they build a stone pile to commemorate their agreement, and they
pray The Lord watch between you and me, when we are absent one from another.
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