I particular like Genesis 33. It tells a great story of how a brother can forgive another brother. The sins committed between the two were very large and held significant meaning in their time period. Then all of a sudden we meet Esau who has his arms wide open to accept his brother Jacob. The way they talk it sounds as if God has blessed both of them with numerous amounts of livestock and children.
Genesis 34 is a furious chapter. We first learn that one of Jacob's daughters is defiled. Now, I can understand how Jacob and his sons must have felt. If anyone were to defile one of my children I do not know how I would react but it would most likely not be a pleasant thing. Now the sons of Jacob take it upon themselves to get revenge. Hamor comes to meet them and tell them that his son, the one that defiled Jacob's daughter, has fallen in love with her and would like to have her as his wife. Well, Jacob's son agree to allow this on one condition. All of the men in Hamor's town must be circumcised. Hamor and his son agree to this and have it done to every man in their village. As the village men are recovering Jacob's sons attack and kill every male in the city. When Jacob hears of what his sons have done he becomes scared because he is afraid that the people of the land will come together and wipe his family out. Jacob must be furious as to what his children have done. I wonder what I would feel if I were in Jacob's place? On the one hand I can see why he is mad at his children but on the other I think I would feel grateful that they felt it was necessary to look out for their siblings.
Genesis 35 shows us Jacob moving is family, servants and livestock from their current location to that of Bethel. God puts fear in those not belonging to Jacob so that no one will follow them. They then establish their place where God told them to go. The last portion of this chapter is a little more genealogy and sadly the deaths of Rachel and Isaac. Rachel dies while giving birth to another son who Jacob names Benjamin. Isaac then dies and is buried by both of his sons.
The first part of our Matthew reading is Jesus predicting his death. He has predicted this before and mentions it to all of his disciples as they travel into Jerusalem. The next portion of this chapter has a mother asking that her two sons be able to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus in Heaven. Jesus tells that this is not possible as he is not the one to decide who sits in those places. He tells that his Father will decide those who are worthy to sit in such a place. He then tells the disciples that it is better to serve then to be served, at least that is how I interpreted that little discussion with the disciples. The last portion of this chapter has two blind men receiving the gift of sight. Jesus has compassion on them as they are being persecuted by those in the crowd following Jesus. He touches their eyes and immediately they have sight and get up and follow Him.
Tomorrow's reading is:
Genesis 36, 37, 38 and Matthew 21:1 - 22
33. I really like Esau in this chapter. He was forgiving and kind. I'm sort of worried future chapters will ruin this image I have of him.
ReplyDelete34. The scheming, the brutality of Jacob's sons! I understand their anger, but it seems so mean to sneakily break down the men's defenses and then attack them when they aren't able to fight back. Frighting thought that this is how people use to live their lives. Any entire town paid for the actions of one spoiled, (I'm guessing) not to bright, violent man.
35. I think it is a testament to how forgiving God can be that He is still leading and protecting Jacob. Very sad that Issac died, but I was kind of surprised he made it this long. I mean, he was giving Jacob a blessing on his death bed like 18 years ago.
20. It must have been so scary to hear Jesus predict his death. Especially know that everything else he's been telling you has come true.
I sometimes have to wonder if the disciples even caught on that he was predicting his own death. I think it became clear to them towards the end but at the beginning I can just see them going "Who is this one you are talking about?"
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