This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 33-35.

    I find the negotiations between Jacob and Esau in this passage interesting. First, when Jacob hears that Esau is coming to meet him with 400 men, he is afraid that Esau is still angry. So, he sends a gift for Esau on ahead of the rest of his entourage. Then he divides his group up, putting his servant wives and their children first, then Leah and her children, and finally Rachel and Joseph. When they meet, Esau expresses his joy at seeing his brother once more.

    Esau and Jacob then have an exchange where they establish their relationship. It starts with Esau questioning Jacob’s relationship with the people he is traveling with. Are these people to whom Jacob owes loyalty? Jacob responds by explaining that they are people who owe loyalty to him. Next Esau tells Jacob not to beggar himself by giving him a gift. Jacob replies by telling Esau that he can spare the gift and wants to express his desire to live in peace with Esau. Then Esau offers Jacob the opportunity to join his household, but Jacob declines. Finally, Esau offers Jacob the opportunity to at least come under his protection (thus owing some fealty to Esau). Jacob declines. It is clear to me from this exchange that Esau was not expecting Jacob and his family to join him in Seir.

    There is more to the story about the rape of Dinah shows us something about the attitude towards women of the surrounding culture. An attitude which is still common in much of the world. Schechem saw a woman in the market who did not have any protectors which he thought he needed to be concerned about. After all, he was the ruler’s son and heir. When he and/or his father realized whose daughter Dinah was, they decided to try to take advantage of the situation. They saw it as an opportunity to bind Jacob’s interests, and his wealth, with their own. If they could convince Jacob to give his daughters and granddaughters to their sons as wives and his sons and grandsons to take their daughters as wives, they could assimilate Jacob and his family. Thus gaining control of their wealth and power. Jacob’s sons recognized the plan for what it was and refused to allow their sister to be used in this manner. Once again we see a different perspective on how women should be treated between the people of God and the culture in which they lived/

This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 31-32.

    Over time, Jacob’s success aroused jealousy from his brothers-in-law. In addition, as Jacob’s wealth increased, Laban became less and less friendly. So, Jacob decided to return to the land of his father and grandfather (the passage tells us that God promised to be with him if he did so). So, Jacob told Rachel and Leah of his plans. They both fully supported his decision. Leah and Rachel expressed no concern over leaving their father. As a matter of fact, they seemed convinced that their father had no concern for their well-being, or that of their sons. Once again, we see it hinted that Laban considered women to be just another asset to be used to increase his wealth.

    We even see that in Laban’s reaction to Jacob leaving. While the passage does not give us numbers, the description of Laban’s action is very similar to what Abraham did when Lot was taken captive. Laban was not concerned about the well-being of his daughters or grandchildren. He set out to reclaim what he thought was his own. We see this in Laban’s statements after he failed to find his stolen idols. He told Jacob that everything Jacob had was really his, not Jacob’s. It is clear that the only reason Laban did not reclaim what he believed was actually his property was because he did not believe that he could do so.

    I may be reading too much into this but Jacob and Laban appear to have had different attitudes toward women. Laban viewed them as assets to be used to gain wealth. Jacob viewed his wives as partners to be consulted when he made important life decisions.

This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 29-30.

    Every time I read this story, I am reminded of the complications which arrive from straying from the monogamous marriage model laid out in the Garden of Eden. Despite the love the three apparently had for each other(Leah and Rachel, as sisters, Jacob for Rachel, as indicated, Jacob for Leah, as the mother of his sons), there was still jealousy and conflict. There is plotting and manipulation and even Jacob gets treated like an object (when Rachel and Leah negotiate between them whose bed he will spend the night in).

    Another thing we learn from this story is that the ancestors of the Israelites, God’s chosen people, were deceivers and cheaters. They kept the letter of their agreement, but not necessarily the spirit. This is not the first time that Laban attempted to cheat Jacob (after all, that is how Jacob ended up married to both Leah and Rachel), but it does show that that was not just a one off. This story, and yesterday’s, suggests that Laban did not value women. Otherwise, why would he be willing to cheat his son-in-law, who was married to both of his daughters, and was his nephew, in favor of his sons? (I will visit this idea again when we get to Jacob leaving Laban). This stands in contrast to the way in which Abraham and Isaac treated their wives and later how Jacob’s sons reacted to the mistreatment of their sister.
    I do not want to move on from this passage without noting that Jacob cheated his father-in-law right back. It seems probably that Jacob would have done something like this even if Laban had treated him fairly.

Starting on New Year’s Day (well, technically, on New Year’s Ever), I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 26-28.

    The passage tells us that Isaac moved into the land controlled by the Philistines during a drought after being told by God not to go to Egypt. While among the Philistines, Isaac followed a strategy which his father, Abraham, had used. He, initially told everyone that Rebekah was his sister. However, Isaac could not help himself and treated Rebekah like a wife in public and Abimelech, the king of the area, saw this. It is interesting that Isaac told the same lie about his wife which Abraham had used twice. Both Abraham and Isaac are held up as men of great faith, yet both of them felt the need to lie about their relationship with their wives out of fear of what men would do to them. Perhaps, my faith is not as weak as I fear.

    When Isaac was getting old, losing his sight, and beginning to be in poor health, he decided to bestow his blessing upon Esau. However, Rebekah conspired with Jacob to steal that blessing for Jacob. Despite his deceitful behavior, God appeared to Jacob at Bethel as he fled from his brother’s justified anger. The key message in these stories is that even with our flaws God can use us to accomplish His great things.

Starting on New Year’s Day (well, technically, on New Year’s Ever), I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 24-25.

    As I was reading this today, I was struck by the fact that, while Abraham wanted Isaac to marry a woman from among his relatives, he emphatically did not want Isaac to visit them. There is little in the passage to explain his reasons. It is even interesting how it came about that Abraham expressed this. When his servant asked him if he should take Isaac there to live if none of the young women were willing to travel to Canaan, Abraham not only told him no to that, but he told him to never take Isaac there. It reads to me that Abraham was afraid that if Isaac visited his relatives, Isaac would never want to return to Canaan. I think that this points up something we often overlook. Abraham’s father, Terah, had begun moving to the land of Canaan, but settled down before he got there. This passage suggests to me that God had spoken to Terah, just as He did to Abraham, but something about Haran caused Terah to not continue. Perhaps Abraham feared that if Isaac went to Haran, he would be seduced by the same thing which kept his father there.

    The story of Esau selling his birthright is a classic example of allowing the desire for instant gratification to overcome our long term best interest. Esau was hungry, Jacob had food. Esau traded away his birthright, which had many long term benefits for him for a quick bowl of soup. He came to regret doing so. We need to be careful not to make the same mistake.

Starting on New Year’s Day (well, technically, on New Year’s Ever), I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 21-23.

    God fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Sarah. Sarah gave birth to Isaac at the time He said that she would. However, we see in this passage more of the consequences of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar decision. Sarah demanded that Abraham get rid of Ishmael and Hagar. Abraham was hurt by Sarah’s request because he loved his son, Ishmael, but he did as his wife asked. He gave Hagar some supplies and sent her away. It is worth noting that God assured Abraham that He would care for Ishmael and Hagar before Abraham sent them away and that He fulfilled this promise. Nevertheless, I cannot help but feel sympathy for Ishmael who suffered because of Sarah’s jealousy about a situation which she created (Abraham and Hagar share responsibility for this situation as well).

    The passage tells us that Abraham lived among the Philistines for a long time. At some point during that period, he felt compelled to sacrifice Isaac as an offering to God, showing his devotion to God. This would have been similar to practices among the Philistines of sacrifice their children. I do not know in what manner Abraham received the instruction to sacrifice Isaac, but I am convinced that at least part of that message was a product of the practices of the people among whom he lived. However it came to be that Abraham got the message to sacrifice Isaac, God made it clear to Abraham that He is not a God who desires us to kill our children. That message is the point of this whole episode.

Starting on New Year’s Day (well, technically, on New Year’s Ever), I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 19-20.

    When the angels arrived in Sodom, they made plans to spend the night in the city square. From several passages in the Bible and other sources we learn that it was an expected norm that travelers could and would “camp” in the city square as they passed through a town. Lot insisted that the men stay with him because he knew it was not safe for them to stay in the city square. When the men of the city discover what Lot has done, they demand he send the men out to them. I do not think the men outside of Lot’s door were all of the men of the city, but none of the rest were willing to stand up to this gang. The key factor here was that it was not safe to be a stranger in the city of Sodom. When I read this passage I think about stories I am seeing about many cities in this country. Cities where increasingly it is not safe to be a stranger. Any city where it is not safe for strangers to visit will be destroyed. Perhaps not as dramatically as Sodom, but nevertheless destroyed. There are cities which are dying, which everyone knows are dying. There are discussions about what went wrong, but in every case, those cities gained a reputation that it was not safe to visit them.

    Once again Abraham was afraid that the people of a land would kill him in order to take his wife, Sarah. So, Abraham concocted the story that she was his sister (a story with apparently some truth to it: Abraham told Abimelech that they had the same father but different mothers). Once again, God prevented Sarah from being made another man’s wife. Abraham had seen what God had done in Egypt when the Pharaoh tried to take Sarah as his wife. This is yet another example of how Abraham, a man held up to us as a man of great faith, struggled with trusting God to protect him. Reading this reminds me that God will forgive me for the times when I fail to fully trust Him…and that He will still act to protect me even then.

Starting on New Year’s Day (well, technically, on New Year’s Ever), I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 16-18.

    Abraham is held up to us in the Bible as a man of great faith. Faith which we are called to emulate. While he was still Abram, he had sexual relations with Hagar in order to have a son. He did this at his wife’s prompting. Sarai wanted Abram to have a son, so she encouraged him to have sex with her servant Hagar. Abram followed her advice, despite the fact that God had promised him a son. Things did not turn out well for any of the people involved. All three thought they were entering into a consensual relationship, but it still ended badly. There is a lesson here for “polyamorous” individuals. It will end badly.

    When God renewed His promise to Abram, changing his name to Abraham and Sarai’s to Sarah, Abraham did not believe that he could have a son through Sarah at their advanced ages. He asked God to fulfill His promises through Ishmael. God told Abraham that He would bless Ishmael, but His promise stood; Abraham would have a son by Sarah. Here is where Abraham demonstrates his faith. He did not fully believe God, nevertheless he acted as if he did. In response to this latest promise, Abraham followed the instruction that went with it and circumcised himself, at the age of 100, and all of the men of his household. We are often called to do similar. There are times when, in our hearts, we do not fully believe God’s promises. Faith is doing the things which we would do if we truly believed, even when we have doubts.

    Every time I read this passage I am struck by two aspects of Abraham’s conversation with God about the destruction of Sodom. First, I am struck that Abraham bargained with God. It is OK to argue with God (not that Abraham was exactly arguing with God here). God was not offended by the argument which Abraham made. The second is how few righteous people it would have taken to save Sodom. God agreed that if He found 10 righteous people in Sodom He would not destroy the city. I do not know what the population of Sodom was, but sources I have seen suggest the population would have been between 500 and 1000 people. That would mean that 10 people would have been 1-2% of the population of the city. That is all it takes. If 2% of the population is righteous, God will not destroy a city/nation, no matter how wicked the rest are.