I'm a visual learner, so I made this sweet chart to see how it works out.
Click to enlarge.
Showing posts with label Esau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Esau. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Ge. 36: Esau! What have you been up to!
Chapter 36 is the account of Esau, and all the goings on with him.
I'm a visual learner, so I made this sweet chart to see how it works out.
Click to enlarge.
I'm a visual learner, so I made this sweet chart to see how it works out.
Click to enlarge.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Ge. 33: The Meeting and the Reconciliation...?
After wrestling God, and now beset with a limp, looking up and seeing Esau and his posse rolling up was probably the last thing Jacob needed. After putting his group in order, Jacob hobbles up to the front, and begins bowing before Esau, still not knowing how he was going to react.
I know the feeling. I am not a fan of confrontation. It is agonizing to me. And there is nothing worse for me than letting something simmer for a long time, and when I was growing up, there was nothing I wanted to hear less than, "Wait till your father gets home." That was not pleasant. That's how I imagine Jacob felt, with the knots in his stomach, and the shortness of breath...just can't wait for it to be over.
But he could breathe easy. Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him. What a relief. Have you ever been so relieved about something that you just wept?
Esau sees the entourage Jacob brought with him, and like a long-lost uncle, wants to meet the wife...wives. And the nephews. The family he hadn't met.
After 20 years, Esau more or less accepted the idea that his younger twin received his birthright. Esau had to go out and make it happen for himself, and it sounds like he did pretty good for himself, in how he responded to Jacob telling him all these animals were gifts for him. He flatly refuses to accept them, but eventually does when Jacob insists, citing that it was God who was the source of his wealth.
Esau is excited to be with his brother again, so he wants to travel with him. Jacob tells him the little ones...human and non...need to go slow, so he tells Esau to go ahead of him, and Jacob will catch up to him in Seir. Esau wants to leave some of his men with Jacob...probably to aid him in protection. Jacob will have nothing of it, saying he wants to find favor in the Lord. Either Jacob is plotting something, or he wants to be like his grandfather back in chapter 14, not accepting help or assistance from anyone but God. Clearly, he does not want to have Esau with him. I do not know why this is...this is a sudden change of pace, from wanting only to find favor in Esau's eyes, to know doing his best to get rid of him.
So Esau heads to Seir like he said, while Jacob heads somewhere else. He builds shelters for his camels and calls it Succoth. Then he goes and camps by the city of Shechem in Canaan. He buys the plot of land where he camps from Hamor, and builds an altar, calling it El Elohe Israel...God is the God of Israel.
Jacob still must not be trusting of Esau. Maybe he had good reason. Esau probably didn't hold ill will in his heart toward Jacob, but Jacob had no way of knowing that, and it's too bad. It didn't have to be this way. Esau didn't have to be all over dramatic and shortsighted, and Jacob didn't have be deceptive to someone in the worst way. It's easy for me to like Esau more than Jacob here, but God chooses who He chooses, apparently, regardless of their likability. Which is good for me.
I know the feeling. I am not a fan of confrontation. It is agonizing to me. And there is nothing worse for me than letting something simmer for a long time, and when I was growing up, there was nothing I wanted to hear less than, "Wait till your father gets home." That was not pleasant. That's how I imagine Jacob felt, with the knots in his stomach, and the shortness of breath...just can't wait for it to be over.
But he could breathe easy. Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him. What a relief. Have you ever been so relieved about something that you just wept?
Esau sees the entourage Jacob brought with him, and like a long-lost uncle, wants to meet the wife...wives. And the nephews. The family he hadn't met.
After 20 years, Esau more or less accepted the idea that his younger twin received his birthright. Esau had to go out and make it happen for himself, and it sounds like he did pretty good for himself, in how he responded to Jacob telling him all these animals were gifts for him. He flatly refuses to accept them, but eventually does when Jacob insists, citing that it was God who was the source of his wealth.
Esau is excited to be with his brother again, so he wants to travel with him. Jacob tells him the little ones...human and non...need to go slow, so he tells Esau to go ahead of him, and Jacob will catch up to him in Seir. Esau wants to leave some of his men with Jacob...probably to aid him in protection. Jacob will have nothing of it, saying he wants to find favor in the Lord. Either Jacob is plotting something, or he wants to be like his grandfather back in chapter 14, not accepting help or assistance from anyone but God. Clearly, he does not want to have Esau with him. I do not know why this is...this is a sudden change of pace, from wanting only to find favor in Esau's eyes, to know doing his best to get rid of him.
So Esau heads to Seir like he said, while Jacob heads somewhere else. He builds shelters for his camels and calls it Succoth. Then he goes and camps by the city of Shechem in Canaan. He buys the plot of land where he camps from Hamor, and builds an altar, calling it El Elohe Israel...God is the God of Israel.
Jacob still must not be trusting of Esau. Maybe he had good reason. Esau probably didn't hold ill will in his heart toward Jacob, but Jacob had no way of knowing that, and it's too bad. It didn't have to be this way. Esau didn't have to be all over dramatic and shortsighted, and Jacob didn't have be deceptive to someone in the worst way. It's easy for me to like Esau more than Jacob here, but God chooses who He chooses, apparently, regardless of their likability. Which is good for me.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Ge. 27: Con-Man in the Family
By this time, Isaac is doddering around the tent, and mainly just being old. The word says his vision was failing, so basically all he could do is taste and smell.
He calls in Esau and tells him to go hunt him some of his favorite game, and cook him up something tasty so that Isaac could deliver his blessing. Isaac still favored Esau here, in spite of the LORD telling Rebekah in Gen 25:23 that Jacob would be served by Esau. Rebekah as we know favored Isaac, so she planned to have Jacob deceive his old man. The ruse: Dressing up as and smelling like Esau and bringing Isaac some goats prepared from their own flock. Jacob did not need to be coerced at all by his mother Rebekah. He basically went along with it from the beginning. But this was different from back in chapter 25 when Jacob took advantage of the short-sighted and hungry Esau by trading stew for his birthright.
And the Bible doesn't editorialize here. It reports. I decide. I decide that Jacob is a jerk for taking advantage of Esau, and then falsely claiming God provided for him when Isaac asked how "Esau" got the food so quickly, and Rebekah is just as conniving, and I wonder what changed between who she is here, and the camel-watering servant girl from chapter 24. Wealth?
So the trick works, and Isaac doles out this magnificent blessing upon Jacob, ending with "May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed." I wonder what ran through Jacob's mind as he heard these blessings spoken, realizing they were not intended for him, and what would have been.
So Jacob bails, and Esau returns, bearing tasty game. Sure enough, a horrified Isaac realized he's been tricked, but there's not much he can do now. It was heartbreaking to read how Esau reacted, bursting out with a loud and bitter cry. This was it, this was major, and how his future would be directed. And it was gone, and Esau knew it. So maybe he made some wrong decisions along the way, it doesn't detract from my sympathy for him.
"Bless me - me too, my father." I can imagine Esau weeping aloud in his desperation for something great from his father, anything good.
Isaac simply says, "Jacob took your blessing."
Esau refers to Jacob's name apparently meaning deception, in that he grasps the heel. He refers to the stew episode.
As Isaac gave Jacob everything, he could give Esau only servitude, poverty and violence. What a downer. So much so that Esau looked forward to mourning his father so he could kill Jacob. Rebekah found out about it, and warned Jacob to go hide with her brother Laban until Esau gets over it. Which...is going to take some kind of cosmic miracle.
Then, in order to cover for Jacob, she tells Isaac she's sick of these (local) Hittite women, creating a story that Jacob went to live with Laban to find a wife. Rebekah just has all the bases covered.
OK, so, I'm seeing a lot of intermarriage here, and close relatives hooking up. I don't mean to skim over it, just that I assume it was a better option than marrying pagan women outside of God's covenant. I don't mean to skim over it, because I shudder at the thought of marrying a half-sister or something, but this was how they did it back then, and apparently it simply wasn't as taboo as it is today.
He calls in Esau and tells him to go hunt him some of his favorite game, and cook him up something tasty so that Isaac could deliver his blessing. Isaac still favored Esau here, in spite of the LORD telling Rebekah in Gen 25:23 that Jacob would be served by Esau. Rebekah as we know favored Isaac, so she planned to have Jacob deceive his old man. The ruse: Dressing up as and smelling like Esau and bringing Isaac some goats prepared from their own flock. Jacob did not need to be coerced at all by his mother Rebekah. He basically went along with it from the beginning. But this was different from back in chapter 25 when Jacob took advantage of the short-sighted and hungry Esau by trading stew for his birthright.
And the Bible doesn't editorialize here. It reports. I decide. I decide that Jacob is a jerk for taking advantage of Esau, and then falsely claiming God provided for him when Isaac asked how "Esau" got the food so quickly, and Rebekah is just as conniving, and I wonder what changed between who she is here, and the camel-watering servant girl from chapter 24. Wealth?
So the trick works, and Isaac doles out this magnificent blessing upon Jacob, ending with "May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed." I wonder what ran through Jacob's mind as he heard these blessings spoken, realizing they were not intended for him, and what would have been.
So Jacob bails, and Esau returns, bearing tasty game. Sure enough, a horrified Isaac realized he's been tricked, but there's not much he can do now. It was heartbreaking to read how Esau reacted, bursting out with a loud and bitter cry. This was it, this was major, and how his future would be directed. And it was gone, and Esau knew it. So maybe he made some wrong decisions along the way, it doesn't detract from my sympathy for him.
"Bless me - me too, my father." I can imagine Esau weeping aloud in his desperation for something great from his father, anything good.
Isaac simply says, "Jacob took your blessing."
Esau refers to Jacob's name apparently meaning deception, in that he grasps the heel. He refers to the stew episode.
As Isaac gave Jacob everything, he could give Esau only servitude, poverty and violence. What a downer. So much so that Esau looked forward to mourning his father so he could kill Jacob. Rebekah found out about it, and warned Jacob to go hide with her brother Laban until Esau gets over it. Which...is going to take some kind of cosmic miracle.
Then, in order to cover for Jacob, she tells Isaac she's sick of these (local) Hittite women, creating a story that Jacob went to live with Laban to find a wife. Rebekah just has all the bases covered.
OK, so, I'm seeing a lot of intermarriage here, and close relatives hooking up. I don't mean to skim over it, just that I assume it was a better option than marrying pagan women outside of God's covenant. I don't mean to skim over it, because I shudder at the thought of marrying a half-sister or something, but this was how they did it back then, and apparently it simply wasn't as taboo as it is today.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Ge. 25: The Greatest Stew in the History of Man
Chapter 25 opens describing how Abraham took a second wife: Keturah. I think this is for a couple of reasons. The first is that maybe he was still trying to kick God's promise into gear. After all these promises, after all these signs, could he really be trying to take over and do it himself? To help God out perhaps? As we have seen previously, forcing God's hand can lead to problems. See Hagar. And let's not forget that in Gen. 17:19, God says He will establish His covenant with Isaac anyway.
The other reason, possibly, is that Abraham needed a companion. What's wrong with taking a second wife in case of death? He could have been lonely, and needed that type of intimacy. After all, "things" have only been "working" for a few years.
Anyway, Keturah gives Abraham a quintet of sons...maybe some daughters, but unless I'm mistaken, only in the case of Rebekah have daughters been mentioned. Crazy sexist Bible. Would these sons ally themselves with Isaac, or be enemies to Abraham's descendants? I don't know yet. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say probably not.
Abraham probably didn't endear himself to Keturah's sons by leaving all of his vast wealth and land to Isaac, although he did offer them some nice parting gifts before sending them on their way.
Abraham kicked off after 175 years, a good old age indeed as prophesied in Gen. 15:15. Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury their old man in Machpelah with Sarah. Apparently still on friendly terms with the Hittites.
Ishmael, as God promised, was fruitful and had 12 sons with the wife from Egypt that Hagar found for him as mentioned in Gen. 21:21.
Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 12 sons. Just as the Angel of the LORD said to Hagar in Gen 16:12, they lived in hostility toward their brothers. Well, I guess that answers my question.
Isaac didn't have it as easy to begin with as Ishmael. Rebekah, as hot as she was, turned out to be barren. So he did what Abraham exemplified, Isaac took it to the LORD in prayer. Abraham must have raised Isaac in the culture of prayer, and walking with God daily...Chapter 22 being the most amazing example.
As promised, God heard Isaac's prayer and Rebekah became pregnant. With two. With two jostlers, who wrestled in the womb. This was all weird and scary to Rebekah. She asked God about it as well.
"What's the deal?"
"Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." Kind of cryptic sounding, but actually pretty clear. That kind of thing would be hard for me to hear. I'd want my kids to get along, and be friends for life, especially if they were twins. So...not only will they possibly not get along, their whole lines will be at each other's throats.
The first on the twins to come out was all red and hairy, so he was named Esau, which I guess means "red" or "hairy" or a combination of both. Good thing he wasn't pink. The next little fella came out grasping Esau's heel, so he was given the name "Jacob," meaning heel-grasper. Hmm...where else have we heard about heels? Possibly unrelated, but there is some importance to the heel.
Esau grows up to be a skillful hunter, while Jacob kind of mellows out and hangs around the tents. Isaac, who loved the taste of wild game preferred Esau, but Rebekah favored Jacob.
OK, this one time, like Esau came back from hunting all starved, and momma's boy Jacob had made some red stew. Esau could not wait to get that stew in him. He's all like, "Quick, give me some stew." Jacob realized it was time to be an exploiter, and told Esau to sell him his birthright...his inheritance, you know? Drama queen Esau was like, "I'm dying anyway, what good is my birthright?" So he swore an oath to Jacob, that for a bowl of stew, Jacob would receive all Isaac owned. Nice deal, Esau, way to be.
Questions for God:
1. Wow, I...cool. I'm glad I can just ask for something. Why would you want to keep hearing the minutia begged for by all of humanity. Well, not all humanity...those who call upon you?
The other reason, possibly, is that Abraham needed a companion. What's wrong with taking a second wife in case of death? He could have been lonely, and needed that type of intimacy. After all, "things" have only been "working" for a few years.
Anyway, Keturah gives Abraham a quintet of sons...maybe some daughters, but unless I'm mistaken, only in the case of Rebekah have daughters been mentioned. Crazy sexist Bible. Would these sons ally themselves with Isaac, or be enemies to Abraham's descendants? I don't know yet. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say probably not.
Abraham probably didn't endear himself to Keturah's sons by leaving all of his vast wealth and land to Isaac, although he did offer them some nice parting gifts before sending them on their way.
Abraham kicked off after 175 years, a good old age indeed as prophesied in Gen. 15:15. Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury their old man in Machpelah with Sarah. Apparently still on friendly terms with the Hittites.
Ishmael, as God promised, was fruitful and had 12 sons with the wife from Egypt that Hagar found for him as mentioned in Gen. 21:21.
Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 12 sons. Just as the Angel of the LORD said to Hagar in Gen 16:12, they lived in hostility toward their brothers. Well, I guess that answers my question.
Isaac didn't have it as easy to begin with as Ishmael. Rebekah, as hot as she was, turned out to be barren. So he did what Abraham exemplified, Isaac took it to the LORD in prayer. Abraham must have raised Isaac in the culture of prayer, and walking with God daily...Chapter 22 being the most amazing example.
As promised, God heard Isaac's prayer and Rebekah became pregnant. With two. With two jostlers, who wrestled in the womb. This was all weird and scary to Rebekah. She asked God about it as well.
"What's the deal?"
"Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." Kind of cryptic sounding, but actually pretty clear. That kind of thing would be hard for me to hear. I'd want my kids to get along, and be friends for life, especially if they were twins. So...not only will they possibly not get along, their whole lines will be at each other's throats.
The first on the twins to come out was all red and hairy, so he was named Esau, which I guess means "red" or "hairy" or a combination of both. Good thing he wasn't pink. The next little fella came out grasping Esau's heel, so he was given the name "Jacob," meaning heel-grasper. Hmm...where else have we heard about heels? Possibly unrelated, but there is some importance to the heel.
Esau grows up to be a skillful hunter, while Jacob kind of mellows out and hangs around the tents. Isaac, who loved the taste of wild game preferred Esau, but Rebekah favored Jacob.
OK, this one time, like Esau came back from hunting all starved, and momma's boy Jacob had made some red stew. Esau could not wait to get that stew in him. He's all like, "Quick, give me some stew." Jacob realized it was time to be an exploiter, and told Esau to sell him his birthright...his inheritance, you know? Drama queen Esau was like, "I'm dying anyway, what good is my birthright?" So he swore an oath to Jacob, that for a bowl of stew, Jacob would receive all Isaac owned. Nice deal, Esau, way to be.
Questions for God:
1. Wow, I...cool. I'm glad I can just ask for something. Why would you want to keep hearing the minutia begged for by all of humanity. Well, not all humanity...those who call upon you?
- Noah: 1046 - 1996
- Shem: 1548 - 2148
- Flood and the shortened lifespan - 1646
- Arphaxad: 1648 - 2086
- Shelah: 1683 - 2116
- Eber: 1713 - 2143
- Peleg: 1747 - 1956
- Reu: 1777 - 2016
- Serug: 1809 - 2039
- Nahor: 1839 - 1987
- Terah: 1868 - 2073
- Abraham: 1938 - 2113
- Ishmael: 2024 - 2161
- Isaac: 2038 -
- Jacob: 2098 -
- Esau: 2098 -
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