Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Chapters 25-28, 32-33

Question 1
There are many problems that arise from these two firstborn sons.  Some examples are that the Lord made one stronger then the other.  Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.  Each son was favored but one person in particular.  Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game.  Rebekah loved Jacob.  I think twinship seems to compound the problems we have already seen with brothers because each son should have been equally loved by the same person and by creating extreme differences between the two, that would cause some sort of jealousy amongst each of the brothers.
Question 2
Both Isaac and Rebekah are parents who are looking for satisfaction out of there two sons.  Except Isaac favors Esau and Rebekah favors Jacob.  I would say that Isaac is a more straight forward kind of father.  He expects a lot out of his first born son but not so much out of Jacob.  Therefor he does favor one more then the other.  I think Rebekah feels bad for Jacob and wants him to be excepted by his father too.  She tells Jacob to go hunt for game and prepare it and then your father will bless you.  Jacob ends up hunting it and dresses up like Esau to trick his father into blessing him instead of Esau.  I dont blame him for doing what he did he just wants to be excepted by his father.
Question 3
When Jacob has his dream he dreamt that
there was a ladderb set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13And behold, the LORD stood above itc and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. 
To me this dream meant that Jacob had finally met with god face to face.  He had finally reached that place of acceptance of him and he was meeting him for the first time.  He also realized that god has been following him everywhere watching his every move making sure that god keeps to his promise.  Its a very powerful thing knowing the one person who has control over everything is right by your side.  I think throughout the whole story of Genesis each person of the family was searching for acceptance from god and they all had to prove something to him in order to be accepted by him, whether it was good or bad.  

1 comment:

  1. And your interpretation of #3 would be? Pasting a long quote from the original text is not analysis.

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