By R.A. Mathews

Life had weathered him. In 1948, on the heels of WWII, Winston Churchill famously said, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

 The Bible contains many such men who didn’t learn from their mistakes. One was born in Genesis 25 and buried in Genesis 50. Can you guess who that was — Paul, Noah, Abraham, Jacob?

Make your selection, and I’ll show you the answer. It’s okay to guess.

Genesis is the first book of the Bible and what we call the Old Testament. Paul, who lived after Jesus, is in the New Testament. However, the remaining three are found in Genesis. 

Noah played a big part for the Lord in Genesis 5 through 9. Abraham is a good choice, found in Genesis 12 through 24. He definitely repeated mistakes.

But it’s Abraham’s grandson Jacob whose life spans half of Genesis. The answer is Jacob. 

God will call Jacob “Israel,” and his sons will become the twelve tribes of Israel. 

Jacob, spoiled by his mother, has no qualms over stealing his older brother’s birthright. But when his brother vows to kill him, Jacob flees his home. This is when God meets him. Here’s the passage.

“Jacob left Beersheba and… stopped for the night… He had a dream in which he saw a stairway… and the angels of God were ascending and descending… above it stood the Lord, and He said: ‘… I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying…  I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land…’

“When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.’

“… Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar… He called that place Bethel…” (Genesis 28:10-19 NIV).

Jacob ends up living in exile for over 20 years — and the weathering begins. Jacob marries twice and works for over 20 years for his father-in-law, who treats Jacob badly. But with God’s help, Jacob rights those wrongs (Genesis 29-30).

He flees again, now a wealthy man with wives and children. It’s a scary night when Laban, his father-in-law, catches up with Jacob, but God has warned Laban not to harm Jacob (Genesis 31).

Unfortunately, Jacob then heads straight into the clutches of his brother Esau, who is approaching with 400 men. Laban would not have hurt Jacob’s wives and children, but Jacob fears Esau will attack all of them (Genesis 32:6,11; 33:1).

As it turns out, Esau is friendly and welcomes his brother to live with him in the Promised Land. Instead, Jacob carefully settles his family away from Esau (Genesis 33:12-19).

But Jacob does not find peace. His daughter Dinah is then assaulted by a Hivite prince who wants to marry her. Two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, seek revenge and murder the king, prince, and every male in the Hivite city (Genesis 34).

The younger impetuous Jacob might have supported his sons, but this man has lived a hard life. He knows his family is in danger again. Here’s the passage.

“Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed …’” (Genesis 34:30 NIV).

Jacob wisely decides to relocate, and the Lord guides him: “Then God said to Jacob, ‘Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau’” (Genesis 35:1 NIV).

Remember, Bethel is where Jacob saw the angels on the stairway from heaven and met God the night he fled from Esau.

Has Jacob come full circle?

The rash man who stole his brother’s birthright now seems to be a cautious man, weathered by life. He has kept his distance from Esau and separated himself from the danger caused by his sons’ misdeeds.

We’ll finish his story next week, but I’ll tell you now that the worst is yet to come for Jacob. As Churchill said, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

And Jacob did just that.

Contact the Rev. Mathews at RAMathews.com where you can see her books and join her book club. Copyright © 2025 R.A. Mathews. All rights reserved.