Genesis 32
Starts off with Jacob leaving the mountains going back to his kin after staying with Laban. He sends messengers to his brother Esau.
3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the field of Edom. 4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau: Thus saith thy servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now: 5 and I have oxen, and asses, and flocks, and men-servants, and maid-servants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in thy sight.
This is the first example of the art of sucking up or eating crow... If you remember Jacob stole Esau's blessing from their father Isaac and thus Esau was a bit mad. This was the reason Jacob departed their lands and went to visit Laban. Now Jacob is coming home and is trying desperately to buy his brother's favor.
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; 8 and he said, if Esau come to the one company, and smite it then the company which is left shall escape.
Now Jacob trembles because of what he fears his brother greatly. Jacob has been commanded to go home and here he begins to doubt and starts praying and struggling with himself and god. So he begins sending Esau gifts in droves that pass before Jacob and each is to tell Esau that the gifts are from his servant Jacob (thus begins the full eating crow for Jacob).
In verses 22 and on Jacob begins wrestling with himself, physically, all the way through daybreak. He touches the hollow of his thigh and his thigh was strained.
26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? and he said Jacob. 28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou has striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Genesis 26 thru 31 --- a bit of a catch up update
I'm trying to do a catch up so we can move on through the book of Genesis quickly.
Genesis 26
6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife. And he said, She is my sister. For he feared to say, My wife. Lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah. Because she was fair to look upon.
So once again they don't tell the truth about their wives in order to stay in a place without fear.
8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. 9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is they wife. And saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die because of her. 10 And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? One of the people might easily have lain with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
Wow, Abimelech actually is a better person than Isaac, or at least he's smart enough to realize how absolutely wrong this action by Isaac actually was. I don't remember ever being taught this... anyway we will go on.
After this many verses talk about Isaac sowing in this land and finding a hundred fold, sheep and wells and such, It goes on and on.... Isaac is blessed for some reason, far more than others and I can't get my head around it... but we will go on.
Genesis 27
Isaac is old so he calls his oldest son Esau in to him.
2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death. 3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, they weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison. 4 And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may east. That my soul may bless thee before I die.
Isaac is trying to bless his oldest and most beloved son with his last blessing which would give him rights to all that belongs to Isaac at the time of his death.
5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. 6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, say, 7 Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless thee before Jehovah before my death.
Now to abbreviate the rest of this... Rebekah commands Jacob to go get a goat so she can prepare it like venison, she then took the skins of the goat and put them on the arms and neck of Jacob because his brother Esau was a very hairy man. Jacob goes in to see Isaac with the food and the goat skins on and Isaac eats the food and feels the skins and determines that this is his son Esau and thus he blesses Jacob (the wrong son) with his blessings. Then Esau comes in with venison for his father to eat and Isaac begins shaking and telling Esau he has already given his blessing to Jacob who has deceived him. Esau asks his father to give him a blessing and Isaac says:
40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and thou shalt serve thy brother. And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt break loose, That thou shalt shake his yoke from off thy neck.
So Esau threatens to kill Jacob, Rebekah hears this and sends Jacob away to Haran for a "few days" until Esau cools off a bit.
Genesis 28
1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Paddanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father. And take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.
Wait, that would be his cousin. *yuck.
Then Esau goes out after seeing his brother being blessed by his father and decides to take a wife from Canaan, besides the wives he already had, he takes a "daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife." (v. 9)
Next Jacob goes out to Beer-sheba and decides to make camp and sleep somewhere near Haran. There he has a dream and God speaks to him about how he will bless him with all the lands and he will seed all the earth to the west, east, north and south. So Jacob wakes and blesses the spot he slept.
20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and Jehovah will be my god, 22 then this stone which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
We're gonna blow through Chapter 29, 30 and 31 quickly...
Chapter 29
Jacob comes to a well around Haran, he meets Rachel, goes to his Uncle's house, works 7 years for the hand of Rachel in marriage, she has a sister Leah, so his Uncle gives him Leah, Jacob is mad, so he has to work another 7 years for Rachel's hand in marriage, he gets both sisters with their handmaids and Jacob is happy?... right... He loves Rachel more so Jehovah opens up Leah's womb and not Rachel and Leah has 3 sons for Jacob and thus believes he will love her more. This whole chapter is pitiful.
Chapter 30
Jacob takes Rachel's handmaid to conceive a child with her because Rachel is mad that Leah is able to conceive children, they have several children, back and forth between handmaids and Leah even negotiating mandrakes for services with Jacob to have more kids. It's pitiful and disgusting. Finally Jacob asks Laban to let him leave with his wives and children to go somewhere else. Laban does not want Jacob to leave because he has prospered with Jacob there so they begin this long thing with sheeps and goats speckled and spotted and ring necked and feeding flocks and such. It's all quite confusing. Basically Jacob takes all the good sheeps and goats and breeds them giving Laban the feeble goats and sheeps. Something in there about rods and such but I have no idea what they are talking about.
Chapter 31
In this verse Jacob takes all his wives and children, his flocks and belongings and begins fleeing back to his father Isaac and the land of Canaan. They begin traveling while Laban is away, once he returns he takes off after them. Rachel has stolen one of Laban's idols and he is furious to find it. Once he catches up to Jacob and his caravan it has been a week. Laban is very upset, Jacob has taken his daughters his flocks and his idol. He looks furiously for it, but Rachel has hidden it in a camel pack a camel that she is sitting on. She tells her father that she cannot come off the camel because she is in the time of woman matters. So Jacob and Laban decide finally to make a covenant with one another because Laban had a vision from God that told him to do no harm to Jacob. They create a pillar, give it a bunch of names and eat around it. They agree to a covenant with one another and go there separate ways.
On to the next chapters after all these settle in... hopefully I can keep up and be able to do one chapter at a time.
Genesis 26
6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife. And he said, She is my sister. For he feared to say, My wife. Lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah. Because she was fair to look upon.
So once again they don't tell the truth about their wives in order to stay in a place without fear.
8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. 9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is they wife. And saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die because of her. 10 And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? One of the people might easily have lain with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
Wow, Abimelech actually is a better person than Isaac, or at least he's smart enough to realize how absolutely wrong this action by Isaac actually was. I don't remember ever being taught this... anyway we will go on.
After this many verses talk about Isaac sowing in this land and finding a hundred fold, sheep and wells and such, It goes on and on.... Isaac is blessed for some reason, far more than others and I can't get my head around it... but we will go on.
Genesis 27
Isaac is old so he calls his oldest son Esau in to him.
2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death. 3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, they weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison. 4 And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may east. That my soul may bless thee before I die.
Isaac is trying to bless his oldest and most beloved son with his last blessing which would give him rights to all that belongs to Isaac at the time of his death.
5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. 6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, say, 7 Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless thee before Jehovah before my death.
Now to abbreviate the rest of this... Rebekah commands Jacob to go get a goat so she can prepare it like venison, she then took the skins of the goat and put them on the arms and neck of Jacob because his brother Esau was a very hairy man. Jacob goes in to see Isaac with the food and the goat skins on and Isaac eats the food and feels the skins and determines that this is his son Esau and thus he blesses Jacob (the wrong son) with his blessings. Then Esau comes in with venison for his father to eat and Isaac begins shaking and telling Esau he has already given his blessing to Jacob who has deceived him. Esau asks his father to give him a blessing and Isaac says:
40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and thou shalt serve thy brother. And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt break loose, That thou shalt shake his yoke from off thy neck.
So Esau threatens to kill Jacob, Rebekah hears this and sends Jacob away to Haran for a "few days" until Esau cools off a bit.
Genesis 28
1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Paddanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father. And take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.
Wait, that would be his cousin. *yuck.
Then Esau goes out after seeing his brother being blessed by his father and decides to take a wife from Canaan, besides the wives he already had, he takes a "daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife." (v. 9)
Next Jacob goes out to Beer-sheba and decides to make camp and sleep somewhere near Haran. There he has a dream and God speaks to him about how he will bless him with all the lands and he will seed all the earth to the west, east, north and south. So Jacob wakes and blesses the spot he slept.
20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and Jehovah will be my god, 22 then this stone which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
We're gonna blow through Chapter 29, 30 and 31 quickly...
Chapter 29
Jacob comes to a well around Haran, he meets Rachel, goes to his Uncle's house, works 7 years for the hand of Rachel in marriage, she has a sister Leah, so his Uncle gives him Leah, Jacob is mad, so he has to work another 7 years for Rachel's hand in marriage, he gets both sisters with their handmaids and Jacob is happy?... right... He loves Rachel more so Jehovah opens up Leah's womb and not Rachel and Leah has 3 sons for Jacob and thus believes he will love her more. This whole chapter is pitiful.
Chapter 30
Jacob takes Rachel's handmaid to conceive a child with her because Rachel is mad that Leah is able to conceive children, they have several children, back and forth between handmaids and Leah even negotiating mandrakes for services with Jacob to have more kids. It's pitiful and disgusting. Finally Jacob asks Laban to let him leave with his wives and children to go somewhere else. Laban does not want Jacob to leave because he has prospered with Jacob there so they begin this long thing with sheeps and goats speckled and spotted and ring necked and feeding flocks and such. It's all quite confusing. Basically Jacob takes all the good sheeps and goats and breeds them giving Laban the feeble goats and sheeps. Something in there about rods and such but I have no idea what they are talking about.
Chapter 31
In this verse Jacob takes all his wives and children, his flocks and belongings and begins fleeing back to his father Isaac and the land of Canaan. They begin traveling while Laban is away, once he returns he takes off after them. Rachel has stolen one of Laban's idols and he is furious to find it. Once he catches up to Jacob and his caravan it has been a week. Laban is very upset, Jacob has taken his daughters his flocks and his idol. He looks furiously for it, but Rachel has hidden it in a camel pack a camel that she is sitting on. She tells her father that she cannot come off the camel because she is in the time of woman matters. So Jacob and Laban decide finally to make a covenant with one another because Laban had a vision from God that told him to do no harm to Jacob. They create a pillar, give it a bunch of names and eat around it. They agree to a covenant with one another and go there separate ways.
On to the next chapters after all these settle in... hopefully I can keep up and be able to do one chapter at a time.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)