Bible Reading Reflection from Genesis 31-40

[Originally posted in a WhatsApp group (LRAU), a reading update (reflection) from one chapter of the Bible a day]

𝔾𝔼ℕ𝔼𝕊𝕀𝕊 𝟛𝟙:𝟜𝟚

"If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He rendered judgment last night."

Certainly, you won't like to have Laban as your father-in-law. A selfish, greedy, irresponsible, reckless, and profligate man. Jacob endured him for 20 years. Sons-in-law may need to learn a lot from Jacob.

Jacob was protected, preserved, and prospered by God. Jacob saw the faithfulness of God in the life of his father, Isaac. Also, the faithfulness of Isaac towards God was what helped him to endure Laban. God intervened in the affairs of Laban and Jacob, warning Laban while saving and prospering Jacob!

 

𝔾𝔼ℕ𝔼𝕊𝕀𝕊 𝟛𝟚:𝟚𝟞-𝟚𝟠

"Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed."

Have you spent praying all night and prevailed like Jacob? Or spent fasting day and night till your prayers were answered, or till God opened your eyes to see something?

Jacob is a patriarch because he was such a man. He wrestled against all, even against God, and God let him win!

We are a bunch of lazy, weak, and timid people, right? 😬 Bunch of cowards. ☹ We love to talk about Jacob's deceit, but hardly about this virtue.

We are different from God, in that, God overlooked his deceit and blessed him! Jacob is far, far righteous than us! 🙂

 

𝔾𝔼ℕ𝔼𝕊𝕀𝕊 𝟛𝟛:𝟠

"And he said, "What do you mean by all this company which I have met?" And he said, "To find favor in the sight of my lord."

Perhaps, Jacob won Esau's favor by his trick again. At the least, he persuaded Esau to receive the gift anyway!

We may need a person like Jacob who can really persuade others, nah? And how sad when it's to cheat, deceive others; but how pleasant when it is to bring peace, harmony, and unity!

 

𝔾𝔼ℕ𝔼𝕊𝕀𝕊 𝟛𝟜:𝟚𝟜

"All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city."

The people followed the leader for their selfish interests. They wanted the favor of the leader. They wanted the properties of Jacob. It's a deal they don't want to refuse [Godfather’s dialogue 😎].

And they were all rightly punished!

If a politician or bureaucrat is corrupt, it's likely his supporters and followers are as well. And they shall be thrown out altogether.

That's why let's make our practice not to associate with people of blemish character!

 

𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕤 𝟛𝟝:𝟚

"So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments."

How God hates idols! Some idols were to have good luck. Some idols were for prosperity. Some idols were for fertility, etc. It's like Hindus who have different gods and goddesses for different desires.

They must trust God for everything. Well, when we put our trust in other things than God for anything, we are equally guilty as the Israelites. And remember how God hates them [foreign gods]!

We put our trust in money, degrees, jobs, this and that. Well, we must trust one another, but our trust has gone corrupt to the extent of forgetting to trust God. God is the one who upholds us!

 

𝔾𝔼ℕ𝔼𝕊𝕀𝕊 𝟛𝟞:𝟞

"Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob."

Esau was perhaps a good man. Instead of driving his brother away, he decided to move away.

Or was it because Esau saw Edom as a much better place, and Jacob persisted to endure in Canaan no matter what because it's a promised land?

Perhaps, the first one. Let's give credit to Esau at least in this! 🙂

 

𝔾𝔼ℕ𝔼𝕊𝕀𝕊 𝟛𝟠:𝟚7

"Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver."

First, God prevented his death by putting him in a pit that had no water. He wasn't drowned to death.

Second, God prevented his death by selling him to be a slave. He wasn't starving to death!

No trials, no temptations, no schemes of hell, no hatred of man, no policies of government can thwart the plan of God. The choicest son of Jacob is destined to be the choicest son of the land by God.

The schemes of Satan, his brothers, etc. and etc. turned the choicest son into a despised slave. Whom God is after, often, the devil is after; but God will win, and the man though he suffers will endure!

 

𝔾𝔼ℕ𝔼𝕊𝕀𝕊 𝟛𝟠:𝟚𝟜

"Now it was about three months later that Judah was informed, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot, and behold, she is also with child by harlotry." Then Judah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned!"

Judah wanted to burn Tamar for being unfaithful to the marital law. However, he himself had refused to fulfill it by not giving his son. He thought it was okay for him, but not for her! Hypocrite! Double standard. Double life. Evil. Wicked.

But he was shown his color by Tamar. And Tamar was not only vindicated, but God blessed her! Evangelist Matthew inducted her in the hall of the ancestry of Jesus Christ, the great Redeemer.

 

𝔾𝔼ℕ𝔼𝕊𝕀𝕊 𝟛𝟡:𝟡

"There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?"

Joseph's doctrine of God's sovereignty is what keeps him holy and godly.

His doctrine of sin is what makes him abhor sin.

His doctrine of sanctification is what makes him overcome temptation.

His doctrine of a high view of sexuality and marriage is what makes him flee away!

Watch your doctrine lest you fall!

 

𝔾𝔼ℕ𝔼𝕊𝕀𝕊 𝟜𝟘:𝟚𝟛

"Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him."

Notice the two important words, "Yet" and "but"

How sad! "How can you/he do this to me?" we would ask.

Forgetfulness! May we remember that!

My grandfather said years ago that “forgetfulness is a demonstration of Unlove.”

Don't forget!