Year A. 1st Term. Lesson 5. Jacob and Esau

Scripture: Genesis 25:19-34

Outcomes: Respecting and appreciating the precious gifts God gives us

Making contact:

Let two children act out a sketch where one says how hungry s/he is. The other then says ‘I have a piece of bread. If I give you this piece of bread will you give me your watch (or ring or something else valuable)’. Ask the children what they think about what happened in the sketch.

Exploration:

Tell the story –Isaac and Rebecca had twin boys – Jacob and Esau, one was a hairy hunter and the other a smooth talker!  Two of then can act out the parts of Esau and Jacob.

Explain what the significance was of the birthright. (The oldest son had authority over his younger brothers and he inherited twice as much as them.) Esau sold this special privilege for just a bowl of soup.

Explain how we can make the same mistake as Esau by throwing away precious gifts from God

such as:

Physical life and health – we can lose these special ‘birthrights’ through our hunger (like Esau’s hunger) for things like alcohol and drugs, casual sex (leading maybe to HIV/Aids) or the thrill of driving recklessly and ending up injuring or killing oneself or someone else.

Sexuality and virginity  - these special gifts can be spoiled instead of being respected and kept for marriage.

Salvation  - God’s gift of salvation and eternal life can be thrown away by our desire for other things even though God’s gifts are so much better and more lasting.

Consolidation: - You can give the children a ‘Commitment Card’ to sign with words like ‘I promise to keep my body healthy and pure’.

So our Bible buddies Jacob and Esau teach us to be careful with precious things.

Memory Verse: “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?

1 Corinthians 6:19