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That week one was a doozy, if I do say so myself! Imagine, in one week, we discussed the Creation of all that exists, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, and the beginning of the Jewish people as the chosen people of God. Week two won't be a dissapointment either. If you recall, we ended up talking about Isaac-heir to the blessing of Abraham. We will skip ahead in his life a bit in day one of this week. If you don't recall the topic, you may be reading too fast, or doing it all in one sitting. I won't tell you how to read this e-mail, daily or weekly, but if none of it sinks in, I do suggest slowing your pace a bit.
Links to an online Bible for these passages are here, and here.
This reading starts off a bit dry to me. The Old Testament has several passages that seem to serve to chronical the heritage of the main characters in the Bible. To my unlearned mind, the only use for these passages is to show future prophecies that come true. Jesus was a direct descendant of David and the family trees show this. Am I wrong in this thinking? If so, speak up!
So now, Abraham has an heir to the Covenant he made with God in Isaac and Jacob and Esau are born. It has been prophesied that the younger of the twins (Jacob) will be the master of the older (Esau). But being the firstborn, Esau is expecting to receive his father's blessing. Esau had gained Isaac's favor while Jacob had his mother wanting him to be the better of the two. Sounds like trouble brewing. More of this trouble will be unveiled tomorow.
Links to an online Bible for these passages are here, here, here and here.
Esau, the hunter in the family, returned one day from an unsuccessful hunt and was hungry. He must have been pretty hungry to trade his birthright for a bowl of red stew. Did he not understand what he had? His grandfather and father before him had enjoyed great success due to the covenant with God that would pass to his generation. It was foretold that his descendants would be ruled by Jacob's descendants, but still, wasn't he listening to his father and grandfather when they mentioned the covenant? Surely it was brought up!
And here's Isaac behaving like his father, when he introduces his wife as his sister out of fear that others would kill him to take Rebekah. Granted, he had an heir at this time, but God still promised a safe passage for them. I shake my head at this lack of faith.
Here's another questionable transaction by Jacob. His father is nearly blind and ready to die. He asks Esau to go and prepare a meal for him so he may eat and then bless his son, but while Esau is out, Jacob, with the help of his mother, tricks Isaac into giving him the blessing instead. Now maybe this isn't such a bad trick. Esau didn't take the birthright any more seriously than a bowl of stew, but the trickery is still apparent in the theft of the blessing. Anyway, Esau is angry and wants to kill Jacob. So what does Jacob, holder of a covenant with God to have countless descendants do? Runs and hides.
Links to an online Bible for these passages are here, here and here.
Esau marries Ishmael's daughter. It was said that the descendants of Ishmael would have this kind of life: "His hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." It was also said of Jacom and Esau that "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." The trouble in Israel today was foretold and is consummated here. Political leaders can try to talk about peace in that dispute until they are blue in the face and nations can try to wipe out one side or the other, but it won't happen because God has laid out the paths for these nations to walk. I said I'd take the Bible literally. Even though it's not always politically correct, it's always correct.
Jacob dreams of a ladder or stairway from Earth to Heaven and God speaks to him, renewing the covenant. This is the last time it is necessary to do this, as the future generations seem to understand this truth.
Jacob travels to Paddan-Aram and meets Rachel, daughter of Laban. He loves her and wants to marry her, so he makes an agreement to work for Laban for seven years as dowry for her hand. When the time came, he was the one who was tricked with Rachel's older sister, Leah. To wed Rachel as well, he will have to stay and work and additional seven years. Maybe I'm a bit bitter at his underhanded ways he tricked his father and brother, but I say it serves him right! Besides, I imagine that after seven years, he would know that the younger sister couldn't be married before the older sister.
Links to an online Bible for these passages are here and here.
Jacob's 20 years of duty have ended and he wants to be on his way. Due to the properity, Laban doesn't want him to go, and I can't blame him! He offers Jacob to name his price to stay and Jacob takes all of the spotted and striped livestock as his own and his flock multiplies.
Well Laban and his sons see that Jacob is prospering and their own flocks are not, so God tells him that it's time to move on. Laban chases him to make sure nothing is stolen. When they meet, nothing stolen is found, but Rachel has taken some gods from the household. He then makes a pact with Jacob and leaves. Now why would she steal these worthless idols?
Links to an online Bible for these passages are here, here here and here.
The time comes for Jacob to make peace with Esau. He sends messengers to him in hopes of an agreeable meeting and Esau returns with 400 men. Jacob prays to God asking for deliverance and mentions the covenant between them. Good move Jacob!
That night, Jacob wrestles with God and they go all night to a standstill. Because of this God renames 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.
Israel's daughter goes among the people of the area and is raped by the ruler, Shechem. Talk about sweet revenge! Her brothers don't even let this dish get cold. They have all the men in the area circumcised and let the pain sink in, then attack and kill all of the men and take their belongings. I'm not a violent person, but those brothers sure had a way of looking after their own!
God tells Israel to go to Bethel to settle and first Israel confiscates all of the false gods and earrings and buries them. Once this is done, the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. In all, Jacob/Israel had 12 sons and lived to 180 years.
Links to an online Bible for these passages are here, here and here.
Descendents, descendents, descendents. It seems like a dry subject, but do remember that each name was a person with a real life. Genealogy is an interesting hobby, but if you begin an in-depth project with no guidelines, it can become very difficult and you end up chasing after the wind. God has an immaculate guideline, but for this day's reading, I haven't figured it out yet.
Links to an online Bible for these passages are here, here, here and here.
Joseph. King of Dreams. No, this isn't an animated movie. This is the true accounting of one of the greatest men ever to live. You will see betrayel, wisdom, compassion, love, and one of the greatest stories of retribution ever told! Does this sound like dry reading? I didn't think so. Let's delve into this story.
Joseph was the favored son of Israel and had been having dreams that alluded to his greatness over the rest of the family. These suggestions and the robe given him by his father created a lot of jealousy from his brothers that turned to hatred. I don't know about you, but I would likely keep these to myself when I had 10 brothers who wanted me dead. When he approached them out among the flocks, they planned to kill him and be done with it.
Luckily, he had a couple brothers who were still looking out for him.
- Reuben was planning to rescue him and return him to his father. Why? If he did this openly, he'd be aligned with Joseph and the other nine would likely conspire against him also. I suppose he may have wanted to find greater favor with his father than his brothers, maybe he didn't have the nerve to kill his brother, perhaps it was just his conscience. Whatever his reason, I don't suppose Joseph minded!
- Judah then saved his hide by suggesting they sell Joseph into slavery rather than killing him. I believe his reasons were pretty selfish, though. They could kill Joseph and have nothing or sell him and get some cash out of the deal. And that what was what they did.
Meanwhile, Judah was building his family, but several of his descendents died for their wickedness. Tamar, his widowed daughter-in-law, covered her face with a veil and slept with Judah as a prostitute, keeping his seal and its cord, and his staff as a retainer for his payment. That came in handy when he learned that she was a prostitute. He was going to have her killed, but she showed him these retainers to show him that he was as guilty as her.
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Thanks for sharing my goal of reading the Bible in its entirety this year!