Genesis 32:9-12

2009.Apr.03 17:00

Return

Read Genesis 32:09-12 | Full Chapter

Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord Who said to me, Return to your country and to your people and I will do you good, I am not worthy of the least of all the mercy and loving-kindness and all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant, for with [only] my staff I passed over this Jordan [long ago], and now I have become two companies.
(Genesis 32:09-10, AMP)

Jacob’s growing up, I think. He’s acknowledging Yahweh’s goodness and role in his success. More importantly, Jacob acknowledges that this favor is undeserved. He also recognizes that God has a will for Jacob’s life. And that perhaps is the biggest difference from the Jacob that fled his brother’s wrath twenty-plus years prior. His financial gains are rather nice, but that he can actually spend some time focused on acknowledging Yahweh shows spiritual growth. Not to imply that growth is near complete.

Deliver me, I pray You, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite [us all], the mothers with the children.
(Genesis 32:11, AMP)

Indeed, Jacob’s prayer is starting to sound similar to many of the Psalms, with the combination of reverencing God, but also acknowledging the difficulties of a current situation, seeking Yahweh’s delivering hand in them.

Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

(Psalm 40:13-14, KJV)

Like the Psalmist, Jacob understands that he is full of fear and that he alone is not sufficient against the forces (real or imagined) arrayed against him. Jacob is dependent upon Yahweh to survive this day. Yes, he will use his wisdom and/or cunning, and yes, Esau’s willingness to forgive should not be downplayed. But Jacob’s source now is Yahweh and Yahweh alone. Or, at least, it ought to be.

And You said, I will surely do you good and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
(Genesis 32:12, AMP)

And, now, Jacob refers to the “sand of the sea” descendants promise which plays a continuing role in the Genesis narrative. As had Abraham and Isaac (if I remember correctly), Jacob has received this particular promise from Yahweh, which with Jacob’s children is going to start branching out. Yahweh made this promise during the “Jacob’s Ladder” incident, now some twenty or so years prior. That Jacob references it now, during a time where he’s dealing with fear, shows a level of faith and maturity that was not then evident.

Jacob’s coming of age story is approaching it’s conclusion as he finds his way back home to Palestine.

Genesis 33:1-7

2009.Apr.24 17:00

Surprise!

Read Genesis 33:1-7 | Full Chapter

Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and with him were four hundred men. So Jacob divided his children among Leah, Rachel, and the two slave girls. Jacob put the slave girls with their children first, then Leah and her children behind them, and Rachel and Joseph last. Jacob himself went out in front of them and bowed down flat on the ground seven times as he was walking toward his brother.
(Genesis 33:1-3, NCV)

Before I start, I’d like to mention that I believe this is one of the first times I’ve quoted the New Century Version. It’s one of the easy-to-read versions. Since I don’t read it much, I can’t say if this next comment is generally applicable. But. “Slave girls”? WTF? Congratulations, you are at least old enough to have had multiple children, nevertheless, we question your adulthood. The phrasing in general seems demeaning to no purpose.

Anyway.

Okay, so we’ve spent the last chapter alternately dreading this moment and being reassured with the peace of God. Now Jacob looks up to see his brother Esau. I’m imagining the scene in Tombstone when Wyatt and company are walking towards the O K Corral. Esau being in the role of the heroes. Jacob, newly renamed Israel, is the the man at the end of the line, scared perhaps but sure he has to go through with whatever’s about to happen.

Yes, FromGenesis melodrama. Thanks, I’ll be here all week.

Anyway, Jacob makes yet another division, this time of his wives and children. In doing so, he clearly demonstrates the order in which he values the members of his family. Rachel and Joseph are still his favorites, all the scheming of the past years having accomplished exactly jack sh–. And, okay, it’s worth breaking out of the narrative a moment to make a few extra comments on this point, or at least some possible interpretations:

1. Our schemes and plans often have surprisingly little effect. Certainly compared to what just walking in faith and obedience can bring.

2. It may be no accident that Israel extends his favor based not on “works” (in this case quantity and order of male offspring) but on his prior choice.

3. Despite all this, Jacob is quite helpless to protect any of these women or children. He must, to once again mention faith, rely solely on the grace and favor of his God.

Jacob, in a rare moment of (more or less) impressing me, finally gets his a– in front of somebody. If Esau is to avenge the loss of his birthright, Jacob will be confronted before his wives, concubines and kids.

But Esau ran to meet Jacob and put his arms around him and hugged him. Then Esau kissed him, and they both cried.
(Genesis 33:4, NCV)

Wait! What? Um, where are the blood and guts here? Esau is just happy to meet his brother? The guy who kept cheating him?

Well, he is.

What were the years like for Esau? As we’ll find out shortly, he’s had a great deal of material success as well. But just because he’s doing okay does not imply he would have forgiven Jacob. Why he does so is probably impossible to say, except that I am confident Yahweh had a role.

It’s useful to remember that while Yahweh is accomplishing his works in my life, he’s not resting in the lives of others. To abuse the tunneling through a mountain analogy, my three feet in isn’t quite so futile when there’s millions others digging from other directions (What exactly is our apparent purpose is making an inverse funnel cake of this proverbial mountain?). Which is not to imply that I shouldn’t be moving forward in my own life as much as possible. Just that Yahweh’s work is not exclusive to me, but rather his work in me is also a part of his work in all believers, indeed in all humanity.

When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, "Who are these people with you?" Jacob answered, "These are the children God has given me. God has been good to me, your servant." Then the two slave girls and their children came up to Esau and bowed down flat on the earth before him. Leah and her children also came up to Esau and also bowed down flat on the earth. Last of all, Joseph and Rachel came up to Esau, and they, too, bowed down flat before him.
(Genesis 33:5-7, NCV)

I don’t have much comment to make here. All the family approach Esau and bow to him, introduced by Jacob. There’s a family-wide display of humility and that’s a good thing. Although, one can clearly imagine where some of the issues between Joseph and his older brothers originated.

Genesis 27:39-40

2008.Sep.19 20:00

The Blessing on Esau

Read Genesis 27:39-40 | Full Chapter

Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, "Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above. "By your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve; But it shall come about when you become restless, That you will break his yoke from your neck."
(Genesis 27:39-40, NASB)

Isaac has agreed to give Esau a blessing, after Jacob stole the intended blessing via deception. For whatever reason, Isaac considers his blessing on Jacob to be a done deal with which Esau is just going to have to live. One of the key points in the blessing of Jacob is that he would “be master of [his] brothers” (Genesis 27:29, NASB). Isaac, who is apparently too far gone to figure out with which of his kids he is talking, must remember this element of the blessing, because his blessing of Esau includes such an acknowledgement.

The blessing also says that Esau and his descendents will live with some trying elements. In particular, they will not live on particularly fertile land, and that they will have to be warriors. This isn’t all bad. First, the quality of Esau’s (and Jacob’s for that matter) is never mentioned. Happiness is not the concern of this blessing, but rather material success. Ability, likewise, is not mentioned. So, Esau’s father has not cursed him to unhappiness; I could say that he has rather blessed Esau with an alternative. “Life will have some difficulties, son, but you can thrive in this situation.” For Esau, survival by sword, instead of agriculture, might well be a blessing.

But there’s yet one more huge element. “It shall come about,” says Isaac, “when you become restless, That you will break his yoke from your neck.” Life, yes, will be full of challenges. Subject of your younger brother, your success will not be as easy. And, yes, you will even accept this for a time. But only for a time. There’s always the temptation to cry out “How long?” The Bible has several instances of this question. But there’s also the hope that what Esau lost by his foolishness will be ultimately restored.

Genesis 18:9-15

2007.Jun.04 01:29

Laughter

Read Genesis 18:9-15 | Full Chapter

Then they said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There in the tent.” The Lord said, “I will be sure to return to you at this time next year. And your wife Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old. They had lived many years. The way of women had stopped for Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “Will I have this joy after my husband and I have grown old?” Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘How can I give birth to a child when I am so old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” But Sarah said, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
(Genesis 19:9-15, NLV)

And God says, “Hey, y’all are gonna’ have a son”. And they’re like “uh, news flash, we’re geezers”. Again.

Trivia question: What percentage of the book of Genesis is about God promising Isaac to Sarah and Abraham? Because it seems like a lot. For a couple that exhibits a great deal of faith throughout their lives (and some failures), Jehovah seems to belabor this point. And Abraham and Sarah do reveal that their faith is not total, by having an increasingly hard time taking this seriously. What with prior discussions with Jehovah, Abraham seems to have accepted this promise. As far as I can tell, he simply accepts this time. Sarah, having not been around during Abraham’s most recent discussion with Jehovah, laughs. Hey, this is crazy. This is a by-no-other-means-than-God situation.

God–or a messenger of God, but I think actually God–makes the point that this is not impossible with Jehovah. Sarah, in her fear, claims she did not laugh. A moment before, she had said that having a child would be a joy, but she quickly turns to fear. Instead of being honest with God about her doubt, and her joy, she lies due to her fear. But God corrects by stating that she did laugh, whether she admit it or not.

This then is a situation of great, but incomplete faith. Sarah might have laughed and then explained her laughter instead of trying to hide it. She might then have chosen to believe regardless of the apparent absurdity. One way or another, she shortly does believe, and I think quite possibly before actually becoming pregnant. But in the immediate, she lets fear get in the way of letting her faith chase off her doubt. And for what? God does not smite her. In fact, he seems to simply leave it at ‘Yes, you did laugh’.

So, this is in part about faith overcoming fear, and specifically fear of punishment from Jehovah. How silly it seems from the outside to not act in faith just because earlier I had doubt, or even because I was disobedient, and yet I’ve done so. Letting guilt disrupt faith: not in God’s plan. But perfecting faith is in his plan, and that sometimes means taking those who are walking in a lot of faith and pushing them harder that seems right in order to grow them that next step. Something I’ll probably write a lot about when I get to Job…in say, forty years…

Genesis 22:3-10

2007.Dec.21 02:07

Obedience by Step

Read Genesis 22:3-10 | Full Chapter

So Abraham got up early the next morning and chopped wood for the fire. He put a saddle on his donkey and left with Isaac and two servants for the place where God had told him to go. Three days later Abraham looked off in the distance and saw the place. He told his servants, “Stay here with the donkey, while my son and I go over there to worship. We will come back.” Abraham put the wood on Isaac’s shoulder, but he carried the hot coals and the knife. As the two of them walked along, Isaac said, “Father, we have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” “My son,” Abraham answered, “God will provide the lamb.” The two of them walked on, and when they reached the place that God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and placed the wood on it. Next, he tied up his son and put him on the wood. He then took the knife and got ready to kill his son.
(Genesis 22:3-10, CEV)

“Faith without works,” James reminds us, "is dead" (James 2:26, NASB) . I’m not in the mood to focus on Abraham’s faith. Of course he had faith. He’d already sent off a son and a (former?) lover on the basis of God promising to take care of them. So, now he’s going to sacrifice one. Yay, he has faith. Okay, so what? I’m not sure it’s of any value to read this passage and just say, “Abraham had faith”.

After reading Mark 4 a few days ago, I had these thoughts:

Consistently have faith and be obedient. The farmer didn’t understand how the seed grew, but he had faith that it would and therefore did the work required of him, preparing, planting, fertilizing and harvesting. It requires consistency. Those who let their reception of God’s word be choked by cares of the world, those who spring up quickly with no root, could have never lasted to the harvest; in the former case, they probably wouldn’t have even obeyed to the planting. Faith and obedience are inseparable in the kingdom of heaven. In many ways, they are two sides of the same. But with such faith, the return can be incredible.

Here, Abraham has faith, but it is his obedience which makes that faith matter. He could have had faith that Yahweh could raise or rescue Isaac and not actually acted at all toward that end. Instead, he had faith, and then through that faith, acted in obedience. "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son" (Hebrews 1:17, NASB) .

This thought reminds me of an article by Joel Spolsky entitled “Fire and Motion”. The article talks about applying the fire and motion military strategy to software development. In his conclusion, Spolsky states simply, “you have to move forward every day”. I think that’s an important part of pursuing righteousness, of becoming more obedient. You simply aren’t going to get saved and be super-obedient person. Actually, you’re not going to be there 50 years later. And that can get discouraging. I don’t know Abraham’s frame of mind, but if I were in his shoes, I would not be thinking about being atop the mountain; I’d focus on getting there. Abraham starts by obeying, he starts by moving. Ultimately, Abraham has obeyed enough that he finds himself at the point of actually sacrificing his son. Fortunately, as it will turn out, Yahweh has no intention of Abraham carrying through with the act.

Often Yahweh asks people to do things we never think we could do. But if we’ll obey him in the first step, then the second, then the third…