Character Needed - Bible Sketches 17

CHARACTER NEEDED – BIBLE SKETCHES

Character Needed, by Robert Allen, published by Regular Baptist Press, includes 33 skits illustrating the truths of each of the verses in Proverbs 15.  These Character Needed – Bible Sketches are designed to accompany those contemporary plays, illustrating the same character traits by use of a Bible story. 

CHARACTER NEEDED

JACOB AND ESAU

Proverbs 15:16

Genesis 27:1-46

Character Trait: Patience

Cast of Characters

                                    Narrator

                                    Isaac

                                    Esau

                                    Rebekah

                                    Jacob

NARRATOR:              Isaac was so old that he was almost blind.  He had lived all of his life in the Promised land, but God had not given his wife any children until Isaac was sixty years old.  So now that Jacob and Esau were grown, he was really old.  But Isaac still loved to eat, especially the wild meat his son Esau killed in hunting.

ISAAC:                        Esau, my son.   Come over here.

ESAU:                         Behold, I am here, my father.

ISAAC:                        Esau, I want you to take your bow out into the field and shoot a deer.  I have a real appetite for some venison and you are the one who knows how to make it best.  Kill a deer for me, and cook it the way I like it.  And when you come back, I am going to give you my blessing.

ESAU:                         Thank you father.  I’m sure I can find a good deer and prepare the meat you want.

NARRATOR:              So Esau went off to hunt.  But what he didn’t know was that his mother had overheard his conversation with Isaac.  Now, Isaac loved Esau best, but Rebekah loved Jacob.  And that’s not a good thing to have happen in a family.

REBEKAH:                 Jacob!  Come here quickly!

JACOB:                       What do you want, Mother?

REBEKAH:                 I just heard your father telling Esau to kill a deer and bring him some venison.  Then Isaac is going to give him the blessing.  But I want you to have the blessing, Jacob.  Go to the flock and pick out two sheep.  I will make them taste like the meat your father loves.  And then you will take them to your father and tell him you are Esau. He will give you the blessing instead of your brother.

JACOB:                       But my arms are smooth.  Father will feel them and know I am lying.

REBEKAH:                 Don’t worry.  I’ll take care of it somehow.  Now, hurry and bring me those sheep.

NARRATOR:              So Jacob obeyed his mother and brought sheep for her to cook.  While it was being prepared, she thought up more ways to deceive Isaac.

REBEKAH:                 Take some of the sheepskin and tie it on your arms and neck.  Then if you father feels you, he will think you are Esau because you will have hair all over.  Hurry now.  You need to get that blessing before your brother comes back.

NARRATOR:              Jacob was not sure the plan would work, but he went up to his father’s tent anyway.

JACOB:                       Father?

ISAAC:                        Who are you, my son?

JACOB:                       I am Esau.

ISAAC:                        How is it you have been able to find a deer and kill it, and prepare the meat so quickly?

JACOB:                       The Lord brought it to me, father. 

ISAAC:                        Come over here and let me feel you.  Your voice sounds like Jacob’s, but your arms and your neck are hairy like Esau’s.  Are you really my son Esau?

JACOB:                       I am.

ISAAC:                        Very well. Bring me the meat and then I will bless you.

NARRATOR:              So Jacob brought the meat and Isaac ate it without realizing that is was not Esau who had brought it.  Then he gave his blessing to Jacob, promising him the best of everything he had.  Very soon after Jacob left, Esau came in from hunting.

ESAU:                         Here I am, father.  I had a very successful hunting trip.  And I have prepared the venison the way you like it.   So sit up and eat, and then you can give me the blessing.

ISAAC:                        But who are you, my son?

ESAU:                         I am Esau, your firstborn.  And I have the meat you sent me to get.

ISAAC:                        Then who was it who came in already with venison?  I have already eaten and I have given him my blessing.  Who was it?  For I have blessed him and he will be blessed.

ESAU:                         It must have been Jacob.  He has stolen my blessing, father.  Can’t you give me a blessing too?

ISAAC:                        All I can promise you is that some day your descendents will revolt against his people and no longer serve them.  But for now, I have made it part of my blessing that you will be his servant.  And I cannot change that, my son.

ESAU:                         I’ll revolt all right.  I’ll kill him!  He has stolen my blessing.

NARRATOR:              Esau stormed out of the tent.  He wasn’t going to let his brother get away with stealing his blessing.  He would just take his bow and go hunting again—and this time he would hunt his brother.  But again Rebekah had overheard.

REBEKAH:                 Quickly, Jacob.  You have to leave.  Esau is going to kill you.

JACOB:                       Where will I go?

REBEKAH:                 You’ll have to flee to Haran.  You can stay with my brother, Laban until your brother’s anger dies away.  Then I’ll send for you to come back, when he’s not so furious.  Hurry now, or he will kill you.

NARRATOR:              So Jacob left and Rebekah congratulated herself on working everything out.  But what she didn’t know was that she would die before Jacob ever came back.  She would never see her son again.  What an unhappy family they were, lying to each other like that.  I really don’t think Isaac enjoyed that meal very much at all when he found out what had happened.  What that family needed was a big helping of love.