Genesis 30

I think this section of scripture contains two of the strangest accounts I've come across yet - or so it seems to my "modern" sensibilities. First we have two sisters, both married to the same man, fighting over who bears him more sons. Apparently sending in their maidservants to do their dirty work is also fair game, as both do so. Leah is the more confusing one to me here, though: she seems to think that by bearing more sons she will garner more if Jacob's love, but she must have known full well that Jacob was slaving away not for her but for Rachel. She even trades goods for time in the sack with Jacob, which he goes along with without complaining. Doesn't that sound kind of backwards? A wife paying to be able to sleep with her husband... seems that the gender roles are a bit off, and since when does a wife need to pay someone to get her husband to sleep with her?

In the later part of the passage we see Jacob using rather odd practices to try and influence babies born to the flocks he is tending, such practices as we would easily laugh at with today's knowledge of science. Despite rather questionable methods, though, God seems to bless Jacob with increasing herds. I haven't thought of it this way before, but if anything this shows God's power: He was able to cause birth patterns in animals that should not have occurred given science and probability! It is a little thing next to many of the other wonders He works, but it is interesting to note nonetheless.

Genesis 29

Ah, young love! There is nothing like working for seven years for the girl of your dreams, only to have your father-in-law do a 'wife swap' on your wedding night and give you his other daughter. It makes me wonder if the reason Laban gave - that tradition insisted the older daughter marry before the younger - was really his reason. Perhaps he just wanted another seven years of work from Jacob, or maybe he was concerned that Leah wouldn't get married otherwise (there is an indication that she may not have been as visually appealing as Rachel).

Even more, though, I wonder how Jacob managed to sleep with Leah on his wedding night and not realize till the morning that he had been tricked! Maybe he was drunk, as Lot had been earlier in Genesis, but if he was that far gone then they used to brew some serious wine. If not, then I think he had some explaining to do his intended. Of course, Rachel must also have known what was going on - so perhaps she didn't care that she would have to share her husband with her sister. Things like this are a very strong reminder that life back then was quite different from what it is today.

Genesis 28

Here we have yet another instance of a favored son being instructed to take a wife from among Abraham's relatives, rather than the locals. This time, though, instead of sending a servant to find the bride Isaac sends the one to be married - Jacob. Along the way he has a bit of a dream, in which he sees and hears God speak to him.

It seems that God re-affirms his covenant with Abraham's bloodline over and over, but here we have the first occurrence of it with Jacob specifically. This shows, officially, that Jacob will be the heir of Issac through whom the covenant will be fulfilled - just as it came through Isaac rather than Ishmael.

A few interesting things to note from the passage:

- When Esau realizes that his parents dislike the women he married (due to their ancestry), he goes and marries another woman - a daughter of Ishmael. This is closer in to the family line, and so presumably an attempt to curry favor again with his father. I guess I am a little surprised, given all the events that transpired in the last chapter, that he is still concerned about impressing his father.

- After the dream that Jacob has, he promises to obey and serve God - but on the condition that he is kept safe on his journey. Given the vision he had just woken from, one would think that he would be best served not to try and 'make a deal' with God. I wonder what God thought of that...

New blog announcement

I just wanted to notify my loyal readers that I have started another blog. This brings the total to three, which hopefully I will be able to keep up on. In case you aren't aware of my other writing endeavors, here are descriptions and links to all three:

Read One Daily - A forum for my thoughts as I read through the Bible one chapter a day (you are already here!)

The George Family Post - Regular updates on my family, especially my new son Gus

Earth to William - Rants and ramblings about what I think is wrong with the world, and how it could or should be fixed

I know that not all of you will be interested in every one of these topics, which is why I chose to have multiple blogs rather than just one, but I wanted to make sure that no one misses out on stuff they might enjoy reading. I also really appreciate feedback on all three of these, so if you are out there please don't hesitate to comment!

A Question about Formatting

So I stated early on that I was going to provide links at the end of each blog entry to the chapter for that day. I did that for a while, but the last week or two I have been rather remiss in this task. It is largely because I have been posting from a variety of different computers (my desktop, my laptop, and my work computer) - and only the desktop currently has a native copy of the file where I stored the HTML code for the links.

What I wanted to ask, loyal readers, is whether that feature was/is actually useful to you? If it is I will endeavor to begin including it again, and to go back and correct the posts where it is missing. If not, then I can rest easy knowing that I am not leaving my friends at a loss. Please share your thoughts on this subject!

Genesis 27

Here we have the fulfillment of what God had told Rebekah about her sons when they were born. Esau already traded his birthright to Jacob in an earlier passage, and now Jacob (at the behest of his mother) deceitfully steals their father's blessing. It is no wonder that Esau is enraged, but I suppose God's will comes about one way or another. I wonder if Isaac had simply planned to bless Jacob rather than Esau, in accordance with the words God had said to Rebekah in chapter 25, what would have happened. I've always looked at this as a bad act on the part of Rebekah and Jacob, but perhaps Rebekah was acting this way because of what God had told her - trying, in her own way, to obey God. That is a rather odd way of looking at it, but without more details into what each person involved was thinking I suppose it is a possibility.

On a lighter note, how hairy must Esau have been that the best way to mimic his feeling was to strap goat hide to Jacob? Seriously, I've never seen or heard of anyone else with such an abundance of hair! Hairy backs and chests are one thing, but on his hands and his neck? Yikes...

Genesis 26

Well, the apple does not fall far from the tree they say - and it certainly seems true with Abraham and his son, Isaac. When Isaac moves into a new land he tries to pull the same "my wife is my sister" trick that his father used twice. Just the same as before, though, it falls flat. Will these guys never learn? The thing I find most odd about this, though, is that God does not chastise them for lying. I suppose in Abraham's case it was at least somewhat true (Sarah was his half-sister), but the same cannot be said for Isaac and Rebekah; at best they are cousins, if I read the preceding chapters correctly.

Much of the rest of this section is taken up by the digging of wells, the filling of wells, and arguing over wells. I suppose the important bit is that God led Isaac and his family to a region which was not contested, and where the covenant between them would be fulfilled. There is also a renewal of the peace treaty that Isaac's father had with the leaders of the Philistines.

At the tail end of this chapter we see that Esau married a pair of Hittite women, when he was around age 40, and this did not sit well with his parents. Because there isn't much in the way of details, I have to assume that their concerns were due to the region and people those women were from; I suppose it could also be that he married twice, but given the relationships their other son (Jacob) will have with a total of four women I doubt that is the problem.