Arms Reaching

Greetings Everyone,

Today our journey takes us to Genesis 35-37 and details Jacob being renamed Israel, the deaths of Rachel and Isaac, the descendants of Esau; Joseph’s dreams regarding his brothers, Joseph’s robe of many colors (que Dolly Parton) and Joseph being sold into slavery. You can find today’s scriptures at:

https://www.biblegateway.com/reading-plans/beginning/2023/01/12?version=NIV

Things to Ponder Day 12:

What’s in a name, why does God rename people?

What is the significance of Esau’s descendants?

What is the significance of Jacob’s descendants?

Things to ponder from Day 11:

Why did Jacob prepare such a lavish gift for Esau? – Twenty years earlier when Jacob fled from Esau, Esau had vowed to kill his brother, yet now God was telling Jacob to return to his homeland. Jacob selected these gifts and had them precede his arrival in hopes that it would soften his brothers heart, basically offering gifts to win approval.

Did Jacob wrestle with God or an Angel of God? – The bible tells us in Genesis 32:24 that Jacob wrestle with a man, but Jacob assumes he has faced God. However the man/angel/God does not identify himself to Jacob directly. Many scholars believe that Jacob was wrestling an angel of God, in that several times angels have appeared in the form of a man to deliver a message or judgement on behave of God. (Sodom and Gomorrah for example) Others believe that the man is indeed God in the form of man because he changes Jacob’s name to Israel and each time someone’s name has been changed in scriptures God was the one doing it. Finally; others believe that this was actually a dream and that Jacob wrestle with God in a vision. I tend to lean toward a literal view of the bible, metaphors and alternate interpretations are interesting, but they should not dilute the original meaning of the scriptures. (in my opinion) Therefore, I will accept that Jacob wrestled with God (Yahweh was one of the three men to visit Abram earlier in Genesis). I can accept that perhaps these earthly visitations of God in human form were actually Jesus visiting mankind before his birth. All things considered whether it was God or an Angel of God, Jacob wrestled with them, as he has wrestled with his calling through his life to this point.

Were Simeon and Levi’s actions justified? – This is interesting in that both Simeon and Levi went to great lengths exact revenge on Shechem, to the point of eventually killing all the men of the city. As a father and brother I can understand their anger, but was their actions warranted? We will see later that Jacob will condemn their violence. Later in Deuteronomy we will see that the punishment for forced sex on a virgin is a fine and supporting the woman and her offspring for the rest of their lives. Was Simeon and Levi’s anger justified… absolutely, were their actions justified… probably not.

That’s it for today – see you tomorrow

Brother Jack