January 15, 2004
Daily Bible - 011504
Today's reading is found in Genesis 32:1 to Genesis 35:27.
The time had finally come for Jacob to make peace with Esau. He sent messengers to him in hopes of an agreeable meeting and Esau returned with 400 men. Uh oh! Jacob prayed to God asking for deliverance and mentions the covenant between them. Good move Jacob!
That night, Jacob wrestled with God and they went all night to a standstill. Because of this God renamed him Israel. Remember the issue of naming somebody or something? That is perhaps the greatest blessing for Jacob/Israel of all!
Did Esau kill Israel then? No. He responded like a true brother and embraced him. He even refused the peace offering from Israel until it was reworded into a gift and nothing more. It's a shame these two groups of people can't make peace like this now.
Israel's daughter then went among the people of the area and was raped by the ruler, Shechem. Talk about sweet revenge, though! Her brothers didn't even let this dish get cold. They had all the men in the area circumcised and let the pain sink in, then they attacked and killed all of the men and took their belongings. I'm not a violent person, but those brothers sure had a way of looking after their own!
by Doug McHone at 12:51 AM
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I started reading today's chapters, I get them off the blog rather than the e-mail for several reasons, anyway, I was reading and I kept thinking to myself, this is really familiar. Weren't we running away from father-in-law last time, I thought. http://www.coffeeswirls.com/archives/001158.php
Posted by: Christopher at January 15, 2004 05:58 AMI'm getting some deja vu here.
Posted by: Tim Challies at January 15, 2004 07:20 AMSomething to remember as we go along... Edom is generally considered as the country with the decendents of Esau. When Israel comes back from Egypt, Edom isn't quite as welcoming as Esau was to Jacob.
Later on Edom is held accountable for not treating Israel as a brother... a common thread through the OT...
Posted by: Gator at January 15, 2004 08:59 AMOops! I corrected the post. That's what I get for posting after midnight, huh? :) Thanks for the notice!
Posted by: Doug at January 15, 2004 09:24 AM