Jacob & Esau: Scrapbook Lesson

Joy Marie Zug
Faith Covenant Church, Farmington Hills, MI
2008

Note: This lesson was done in the same format as the Writing Team's lessons - in two parts. Children will visit the workshop twice to highlight both parts of the story.

Advance Preparation
Take a Legal size piece of paper and cut it in half long-ways so you have two long sheets. Now fold that in half to make a booklet. You should have 13 sheets (26 pages) in each one. Block out captions, shrink and copy the pictures. (We used The Bible Story Coloring Book by Standard Publishing, copyright 1994. It looks like it is out of print now, but used copies may be available. This book is good because it has many pictures of the story.) Each student gets one whole set of pictures and one whole set of captions.

Supplies
Booklet made of 13 sheets of paper.
Scrapbooking supplies such as adhesive, rubber stamps, decorative paper, stickers, etc.
Copies of the “pictures” and captions for each page of the book.

Presentation
Open with prayer. Briefly tell or review the story (Part I goes up through where Jacob flees and has his dream—see scripture references in Bible background. Part II picks up with meeting Rachel at the well and ends when Jacob & Esau meet again.)
Have the kids decorate the cover of the scrapbook. Suggest names such as “Family Memories” or “Jacob’s Journey” or something similar. Have them turn it over and put their name on the back cover.
Have them cut out the pictures and the captions and put them on the correct pages. Color pictures if there’s time. If not, tell them to do that later. Read the captions aloud, especially in younger classes. Give them stickers to accent the topics of the pages. Let them draw frames around the pictures. Help them with decorating pages.

Reflect—Closure
Part I - Ask “How is the scrapbook of Jacob and Esau different from a scrapbook that might illustrate your life? How is it the same?” Have kids describe how God had a plan all along. Ask “Do you think Jacob understood God’s plan all along?”
Part II – Review and reflect on Jacob’s life. Ask “Jacob had a full life, didn’t he?” Ask “What plans do you think God has for you?” “Do these plans ever change based on what you do or don’t do?”


CAPTIONS

My mom said that having us in her tummy was not easy. She said we were always fighting. When we were born, I was holding Esau’s foot. We were different right from the start, he was hairy and I was smooth.

These are my parents, Isaac and Rebekah. They sometimes didn’t agree on how to treat us. Esau and I were so different when we were little.

These are my grandparents, Abraham and Sarah. They thought they’d never have a kid. One day when they were very old, an angel came to visit them and told them they would have a son. That’s when my dad, Isaac, was born.

When we were little boys, I liked to stay around the house, but Esau was usually out hunting.

I love to cook! I should be on Iron Chef Beersheba. Here I am with some stew I made. This is like the stew when Esau sold me his birthright.

Here’s Esau coming home hungry again.

Here’s me getting Esau’s blessing. I had to dress up to trick my old dad, Isaac. I had to get him to think I was Esau so that he’d give me the blessing instead of my older twin brother.

Esau was so MAD! I had to leave and head toward my Uncle Laban’s house. My mom helped me figure out what to do. (This accompanied a picture of just Rebekah).

On the way, I had a wild dream where angels were going up and down a ladder and God promised me the land I was sleeping on and He said I’d have many descendants.

My life has changed forever! I’m in love. I stopped at a well and this beautiful woman named Rachel was getting water. It was love at first sight. I can’t wait to marry her.

My Uncle Laban said I could marry her if I worked for him for seven years. At the wedding, he TRICKED me! (Hmmm, seems like I’ve tricked someone before). I was married to Leah, Rachel’s older sister.

I finally got to marry Rachel after seven more years of work. It was worth it, she is the love of my life.

Well, God said it’s finally time to go home. I’ve worked for Laban for 20 years. He made a deal with me about all the livestock. I’m going back home with all my kids. I wondered if Esau is still mad at me. I thought I'd better send him a present.

On the way back, another angel visited me. We wrestled all night. I think my leg is messed up forever. He changed my name to Israel. I guess God is the most powerful.

My dad was very old, but he was so happy to have all of us back together again.

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