Genesis 31-43: Wrestling, tattling, and selling out your brother

Sharing a few thoughts from each day's reading. Feel free to jump in and share your own!

- Family meeting:  Love how Jacob consulted with his wives, Rachel and Leah, before decided to pack up and move. Only when they agreed did he make his decision. And this is back when women were considered possessions!

- Wrestling with God:  Jacob wrestled with God, who was in the form of a man. This is how Jacob got his name Israel, or "God Wrestler." Wondering if the man who wrestled with him was Jesus, pre-incarnate. Also, didn't Jacob and Esau wrestle in Rebekah's womb?
- Love is in the air:  Esau married Canaanite women. His twin brother Jacob married Hebrew women. Significant? Yes. Esau's descendants were ungodly and destructive.
- Tattletale:  Joseph was his father's favorite and tattled on his brothers. As a result, they sold him to a caravan of Ishmaelites headed for Egypt. Those merchants were descendants of Ishmael, Abraham's son who was the father of the Arab tribes. Never noticed that connection before.
- The plot thickens:  The story of Joseph and his brothers is full of intricate detail and timing is everything. The idea of Providence, God working his plan out in the details of history, is so evident here.

Genesis 19-30: Angels, stew, & a stairway to heaven

Sharing a few thoughts from each day's reading. Feel free to jump in and share your own!

- Depravity:  I don't quite know what to think about Lot offering his daughters to the men of Gomorrah. Lot was supposedly a godly man. Sigh....Perhaps it's an illustration of how deep the depravity was at this soon-to-be-destroyed city. I don't know, but to me it's one of the most horrific events in Scripture.

- God hears:  The angels tell Lot that "the outcries of victims here to God are deafening!" (Gen 19:12-13). I love this--it shows that God listens.
- Stuck:  Lot did not want to leave Gomorrah, even though the angels told him to his face what was going to happen. They had to drag him out to safety.  Am I this way? Do I have to be dragged from sin at times? Do we need to be dragging others away from sin? Hmmm.
- Laughter:  Sarah says that laughter is a blessing. Can you picture God laughing? I bet he laughs at me a lot!
- Crying:  God heard Ishmael crying in the wildnerness. Again, God listening. Love this.
- Tribes:  Ishmael had 12 sons who were the founders of 12 tribes. This mirrors Jacob's 12 sons and 12 tribes, coming up in our readings.
 - Hungry Jack:  Esau's stomach led him astray when he traded his birthright for some stew.
- Naming:  You can see the significance of names in the Scriptures, with special notice given to names of people, places, cities, and even wells. The meaning of the name is often noted and tied to a significant event.
- Tithing starts here in Genesis, with Jacob vowing to give God 10% after he sees the entrance to heaven in his dream at Bethel.
- Rolling away the stone:  I don't ever remember reading this story before, but Jacob rolled away the stone from the well, singlehandedly, after he saw the gorgeous Rachel. The other shepherds had said "It takes all of us to roll the stone away from the well." Quite an adrenaline rush! (Gen 29:9-13)
 - Jacob was tricked by Laban, just as Jacob had tricked his father, Isaac.
- Misery:  Again, God listens and noticed Leah's misery. He cares!

Genesis 1-18: Evil, rainbows & circumcision

I'll share a few notes from each day's reading. Feel free to jump in and share your own!

- Did you notice that God made the light (Day 1) before he made the sun (Day 4). Where did the light come from? Perhaps from God himself?

- Another murder: Five generations after Cain, another murder was committed by one of his descendants, named Lamech. Revenge was the motive. But interesting how sin seemed to run in that side of the family.

- Evil: "Human evil was out of control" is how the Message Bible puts it. But Noah was different. (Gen 6) I'm glad I didn't live in those times.

- The earth is on God's timetable. The seasons, days, and climates will not stop "for as long as the earth lasts." That gives me a lot of hope in times when the environment seems beyond our control. (Gen 8:22)

- "Live Bountifully!" is God's blessing to Noah after the flood. This earth is not our home, but we can still live bountifully and enjoy life here (Gen 9:7).

- Convenants: Already, in just this first day of reading, God has made two covenants with men. 1) With Noah & his descendants, that never again will there be a flood that destroys the earth. Symbol: Rainbow. 2) With Abram, that the Promised Land belongs to him and his descendants forever. Symbol: Circumcision.

Now, I'm about to dig back into Genesis for today's reading. Can't wait!