after you have deceitfully stolen a birthright? He lines up his family in terms of favoritism....dysfunctional and real....prepare to hear more about Joseph....and then Jacob Wrestles with God....can you believe that God allowed this....can you now see that God changes Jacob's name to Isreal......Jacob stole a blessing before (from Esau) and now he wanted his own, so he fought all night for it....Isreal means "He who stuggles with God and has overcome"....isn't it interesting that the "country" has the same name.....I feel like they are still in the struggling phase...they have not overcome, but God is not finished with them yet....
I love this artwork...and what about that hip that God touched.....Jacob walked with a limp, I bet, but what a reminder of how we can get caught up in our day and forget that there is a supernatural power all around us...all seems well then with Esau and Jacob,thought Esau thinks that Jacobs family will come stay in his area....remember that where you see Canaan, this is the Promised Land...right now (at the time of the reading), pagans inhabit it....Dinah, Jacob's only daughter gets violated by a pagan man....this is NOT the way to win a women's heart, but what do pagan nations know....remember that God wants His people to be separate because of their belief system......Dinah's brother's vindicate her without consulting the Lord........Jacob understands this by saying," you have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to Canaanites and Perrizites, the people living in this land..."......what happened to their sister was wrong, but this was not an appropriate way to handle revenge.....Being set apart does not mean "being better"...what do you think about what you have read?
I find it interesting that the brothers jumped up to defend their sister like they did.....not that it was right...just very interesting considering how women are treated at this time....
ReplyDeleteI bet Jacob was nervous about meeting his brother.... I would be if I had double crossed someone like he did..
my complete idiot guide talks about the wresting match....says there was more than simply wrestling match and that would be why God did not defeat Jacob easily......how Jacob had been symbolically wrestling with God his whole life.....and Jacob's inner struggle....Jacob the trickster wtestling with Jacob the man of God.....when Jacob woke up the next morning, the man of God Jacob won.
So, will his name be Jacob later as we read or Israel?
And I find it interesting that all these men would get circumcised so easily.....these were pagan men who did not believe in God, am I correct?......Were they doing it just for wives and animals? That just blows my mind that ALL men did this...what would they use for anesthesia? YIKES!!
Catching up on my reading...are there no posts for 2012. The last thing I found was Jan. 18 .. "you're thought for the day".I agree with Bonnie in the last paragraph. How did Jacob get all these men to agree wiht this and how did they do it without anesthesia? And what about sterilization techniques? I know studpid questions, but when you are in the medcical field you wonder. What book is Bonnie speaking of ... the complete idiot guide?
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