In verse 10, Jacob also wants his people to know that they should seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from him. There are some passages in the Allegory of the Olive Tree where the master and servant of the vineyard debate about what to do. The servant pleads for God to be patient, and it works, but only because the Lord knows what to do and when to do it, in pruning and grafting the branches (Jacob 5:52). I think Jacob could have said to himself, "It is worth telling my people this whole story if my children will only learn from it to rely on the Lord and know that he knows what is ultimately best." As Jacob and his people were living their days out, mourning and feeling bad for themselves, that might have been the most important thing he could have taught them.