First note: Tomorrow's reading has an explicit chapter (34) in it... just a heads up in case you read to your kids... may want to preview first.
Also, I just realized that you cannot post anything until we do (sorry that I'm slow about this)... which means that if you have the time and are ready to post at 9am, and we don't get on until 9pm, you have to wait all day and it may not be convenient for you then... sorry, sorry, for this! To help alleviate this (and hopefully make it more convenient for you), we will post a title blog page the night before (starting tonight), so you are free to comment at your convenience... then we will make posts as we have time, too. There are days you may be the first comments... just go for it! :) Please, if you ever notice an oversight like this on our part, just let us know so we can fix it. Thanks so much!
On to today's reading...
Chapter 31: I wondered why Rachel would take the pagan gods (verse 19). Was she not a believer? I also thought that Jacob's fleeing was rather cowardly, but was surprised by Laban's love for his daughters and grandkids... that taught me to remember to not only rely on one person's side of a story, as both sides have reasons for their actions and neither is likely entirely bad. I was a little surprised by how Jacob said he had cared so honestly for Laban's sheep because I thought in the last chapter it seemed like he was purposely breeding them to keep the best for himself... which could have been why Laban kept changing Jacob's wages of the types of sheep he could keep... but it was interesting that Jacob didn't see the harm he was doing to Laban and only focused on how Laban was apparently hurting him with unfairness... How often do I forget how my actions effect others?
Kind of gross side note, but in verse 35, I thought that I am glad to be a girl nowadays and not confined to one spot for 5-7 days out of every month!... not cool!
The Study Notes made a mention about verses 40-41, where Jacob complained about the hard work he endured in shepharding the flock... the study notes compared this to a Pastor's service with his human "flock"... my thought was that it is true that working for God will be difficult, and it will be easy to focus on the personal stuff and get discouraged and want to quit, so it is really important that we remember we are working for God and our focus is on the eternal (2 Corinthians 4:8-9,18), so we can stay focused on the real task at hand and serve with perseverance.
I also wondered by Jacob kept refering to God as the "Fear of Isaac" when he said "God of..." everyone else (verse 42 and others, 53, too). Later, Jacob says "God of Isaac" (I thought but can't find reference verse now)... just wondered if you knew what "Fear of Isaac" referred to? Reverence? Scaredness? Other?
Also, in verse 47, I had not realized that they spoke different languages... I know, I know... remember the Tower of Babel... but I guess I just thought that all the Bible characters spoke one language and the other people spoke others or something. :) I just wonder what their common communication language was?
Overall, I think that this chapter made me think how we should never run away from our troubles, instead we should reconcile them through God.
Chapter 32: That theme continues in this chapter and 33 as well... so does the idea that our guilt brings unneccesary fear on us... we can make our minds up that things will be worse than they actually are (or will be)... and it is interesting to see tha God lets us wrestle with that for a time so we remember to rely on Him and trust Him (see Jacob's prayer in verses 9-12).
Also, in reference to Jacob's prayer, I have said these same things... God, you've asked me to do something, now please help me through it... or, God, I've gotten myself in a terrible mess, please save me... I guess that I hope that I don't only seek God when I am in distress (or perceived distress), instead I talk to Him about everything, praises too, and actually trust Him in all areas of my life.
A couple of side notes: I thought that it was interesting that Jacob's mom, Rebekah, never sent word to Jacob that his brother wasn't angry with him anymore (like she promised she would (Gen 27:45), yet Esau seems ok in Chapter 33.
Also, the footnotes say that the camp where Jacob stayed and was met by angels (verse 1-2 of Chapter 32), was named "Mahanaim" which apparently means "two camps"... he didn't name it this after he divided his camp for safety... so, did Jacob not consider himself to be on God's team, or maybe it was a humility thing, like "I'm not worthy to consider myself on the same level of camp as You"?
In the "Jacob Wrestles With God" part (verse 22-32), I had little insight, so hopefully you had some, and I look forward to reading it!... The only thing that came to my mind was a picture of Lt. Dan on the shrimp boat in the storm with Forrest Gump, where he is "wrestling with God"... this made me think about when I have done this very thing, on many levels and for various reasons.... sorry, not very theologically based illustration, though. Can you imagine actually wrestling with someone (or God, or an angel) all night long? I've had nights where I've wrestled with dreams and thoughts and stuff and that made me tired enough... wow!
Chapter 33: verse 4 reminded me of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-31. I wondered if Jesus knew the Jews would know this story of Jacob and Esau and used it (in part of course) as a tie back to provide familiarity for them? Maybe not. Any ideas?
I thought it was pretty uncool that Jacob lined up his family by favorites (verse 2-3)... also, it is interesting to note that Rachel, his favorite, was the one who took the pagan gods... she was closest to his heart yet least in tune with his love of God, apparently... I guess we should not be surprised when people we love reject God, or at least live in some confusion about Him.
I liked in verse 10 when Jacob said that seeing Esau's face was like "seeing the face of God"... it was kind of like saying that he say the flesh and blood answer to his prayer... I think about times that I see God's answer to prayer in my life, and it is like "seeing" God because you can see the presence of His hand at work... Some of my friends call this a "God spy".... however, then, when Jacob lies to Esau about going back to meet him again in his hometown, I felt like that was a slap in God's face... I mean, here God goes and answers his prayers for reconciliation and then, Jacob goes and messes it all up again (potentially at least) by lying and scheming all over again, which is what brought on the mess to begin with... why even get back in touch with Esau at all? Any thoughts about that? I pray that I do not cause God grief by redoing the things He just fixed... although I am sure I have... sorry, God.
Please note that Chapter 34 (tomorrow)has some "adult" stuff in it... so just be wary if you read it to your kids, or listen in front of them.
God Bless,
sandJ
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Sorry, I got confused on the posts and didn't see this one until later. I posted my comments on the post after this about what I read and am just now reading your notes.
ReplyDelete-Ok, "Fear of Isaac", in my Bible the sidenote says "Divine Protector", and the only thing I can think of is that God protected Isaac uniquely from being sacrificed, so maybe that's why it's distinguished differently, maybe Isaac had a different relationship with God because of that. No references on that, just my own thoughts. And because I can't stand not to have a reference, I checked out the original Hebrew for it, which turned out not to be all that helpful this time, both times "God" was used, it was "Elohim" which doesn't sound any different than how I read it, and the word "Fear" basically meant that, fear. But then I looked up the Matthew Henry commentary on it, and he had a little different insight on it that I thought was really good. He said that Isaac was still alive, and Abraham had passed on, and when you die, perfect love casts out fear, but Isaac was still living with the Lord as his fear. Hope that makes sense, I'm not very good at explaining things (especially things I don't understand myself!).
-Ok, they spoke different languages - Laban spoke Aramaic and Jacob spoke Hebrew. I think this is because God had called Abraham to leave his country originally. Then Isaac, and eventually Jacob also went back to find a wife, and so Laban speaks the original language of their heritage, which is Aramaic, and Jacob must have spoken the language of where he grew up, which was Hebrew.
-I really don't have much insight on the wrestling with God, either - I was hoping you would! :), but here's a link I found (shocker, I know):
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/Matthew-Henry/Gen/He-Wrestles-Angel
-I love all the insight you have! Thank you so much for taking the time - and don't worry about the posting, whenever you get to it is fine - if I ever get to it sooner (which is highly unlikely), I keep a copy of my notes on a document saved on my computer for my own use, so if that ever happens, I'll just copy and post it later or the next day.