Bible stories - Forgiving

Colossians 3:13

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.(NIV) 

Forgiving Brother

Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25, 27, 32, 33)- Forgiveness Bible Story

The twins Jacob and Esau were very different from one another. One was a man’s man. Esau loved outdoor activities like tending the sheep and hunting. Jacob preferred to stay at home and learn from his mother.

One day Esau came in from the field famished. He begged Jacob to give him something to eat. In return Jacob sold a bowl of soup to his older twin in exchange for the birthright. Esau traded the larger portion of their inheritance for a bowl of beans. (Genesis 25:29-34)

The deception continued. Time passes; Isaac became old and blind, and felt he might die soon. So he called Esau and asked him to hunt an animal, make his favourite dish, and then he would bless Esau before he died. Rebekah overhears this and plans to trick her husband. She tells Jacob to kill two of the family goats and she'll make the food, so that Jacob can receive Isaac's blessing instead of Esau.

Jacob responded to his mother with possibly the best line in the bible: "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a smooth man." He worried that Isaac would feel him and know he was the wrong son. Rebekah had a solution: she dressed Jacob up in Esau's clothes, and put the goat skins on Jacob's hands and neck to make him seem hairy.

Jacob went to his blind father and claimed to be Esau. Here's the dialogue:

18 So he went to his father and said, “My father.”
And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”
20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”
And he said, “Because Yahweh your God brought it to me.”
21 Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
24 Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He said, “I am.”

Jacob received the blessing of his father Isaac through this trickery.

Inevitably, Esau returned from his hunting and approached his father. Isaac realised he'd been tricked and was furious. But he'd given all his blessing to Jacob, and so Esau could not receive any blessing. Unfortunately, Isaac explained, Jacob is Esau's master now. But Isaac prophesied that one day, Esau would break the bondage of Jacob's mastership.

In the end, Jacob had to run for his life. He fled to another country to find his mother’s relatives who would care for him. It was many years before he returned to his own family. When he did, he heard that his brother Esau was looking for him. The deceiver Jacob was scared. He devised a plan so that his brother could only destroy half of Jacob’s wealth if he was caught. (Genesis 32)

After splitting his assets into two, he prayed and then rested but since he was too scared of Esau, Jacob couldnt sleep. So he got another plan, he made half of every animal (Goat, donkey, sheep and camel) in his herd then had a servant for each group and sent them one by one with large gap and instructed the servants to tell Esau that there are much presents coming for him still and also his brother is coming to visit him. He thought this may decrease the anger in Easu on Jacob. 

Just when Jacob decided he had done all he could do and was hoping to finally get some much needed rest, a man came out of nowhere and started wrestling with him. They wrestled all night long!

Just as the sun was peeking out over the distant hills, the man grabbed Jacob's thigh, dislocating it and causing him a great amount of pain. The man asked Jacob to let him go, but Jacob didn't.

Jacob turned to the man and said, "I'm not giving up that easily! I won't let you go until you bless me!" He kept wrestling, even though he was badly hurt.

The man asked, "What is your name?"

Of course, Jacob replied: "My name is Jacob."

The man said, "Oh no. You will no longer be called Jacob, which means deceiver. Your new name will be Israel, which means prince. From now on, you will have power with God and power with men."

Jacob asked, "Who are you?"

The man replied, "You don't need to ask who I am," and he pronounced a blessing over Jacob.

Jacob didn't need to ask who the man was. He already knew that the man he had been wrestling with was not a man at all; rather, he was an angel of God, or maybe even God himself. Jacob named the place Peniel, meaning, I have seen God face to face and lived to tell about it.

           The sun was high up in the sky when the angel left Jacob. Even though Jacob hadn't had any sleep, was in a great deal of pain, and even walked with limp, it didn't seem to matter. He had a lot more courage because he knew that God was truly with him.

When they finally met, Esau ran to Jacob and hugged him and kissed him and showed forgiveness and mercy. He had so forgiven Jacob that he was surprised Jacob would even think that there might be hard feelings between them. (Genesis 33)

Forgiving Father

Prodigal Son (Luke 15)- Forgiving Bible Story Between A Father and a Son

Jesus taught a story that illustrates redemption, love and forgiveness in Luke 15:11-32. It is commonly called the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

There was a man who had two sons. The oldest was obedient and content to live with his father. The younger couldn’t wait to get away from the family to live life on his own terms. When he was able, he went to his father to ask for his portion of the inheritance. When he got his money he ran off to a far away land. Jesus says that the young man wasted his money in wild living. A short time later the economy bottomed out and the man had no money, no job and no friends. He was willing to take whatever job he could get and ended up taking care of pigs for a farmer. He was so destitute that he was willing to eat the pig feed to stay alive.

The young man wised up and realized that he had a loving father who treated his servants better than the boy was currently living. He decided to return home as a servant to the father. At least he would have food to eat. Little did he know, his father was expecting the boy’s return. As soon as the father saw the young man on the horizon, he ran to him with open arms of forgiveness.

Though the boy returned with hopes of just being a servant, the father accepted him as the son he always was. The boy was forgiven and restored to his former position in the family.

Luke 15:11-32 (NIV)

¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.  

¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

   ¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 

¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.

¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.  

¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 

¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 

¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 

²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.

   “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 

²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 

²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.  

²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 

²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.  
²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.  
³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’


Jesus examples forgiveness

Woman Taken in Adultery (John 8)(NIV)

It is early morning, and Jesus is at the Temple, ready to teach whoever comes to listen to him. Some respected Jewish leaders bring a woman to him. She has been found guilty of adultery

The leaders (scribes and Pharisees) challenge him to find a solution to a problem: what is to be done with this woman, who has been found guilty of adultery, a capital crime? Jesus parries their question by asking them, in essence, to examine their own consciences to see if they themselves are guiltless. One by one they leave, and Jesus tells the woman to go, and not to sin again.

³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group  

⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  

⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 

⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

   But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  
⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  
¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.
   “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
 

Forgiveness is an attribute of God that we are consistently taught in the Bible that we too can demonstrate to others.