Author: Erin Newton

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 30 Listen: (6:10), Read: Mark 8 Listen: (4:29)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 30:16, 34-36

16 So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night. …

34 “Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.” 35 That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36 Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.

Reflection: The Cost of Scheming

By Erin Newton

The story of Jacob’s family and wealth is filled with tricksters. It is Jacob’s trademark personality trait—despite any attempts we make to find good features in the narrative.

Genesis 30 describes the expansion of his family, first through Leah but then through Rachel and two of their servants. Only these two women, Bilhah and Zilpah, bear no signs of scheming in the story. Like many of the stories in Genesis, servant women are used for the benefit of the ruling family—shamefully so.

Rachel and Leah have learned much from their father Laban’s schemes and their husband Jacob’s cunning practices. The chapter ends with Laban attempting to trick Jacob out of what is promised to him. And Jacob performs what can only be described as some sort of magic trick to produce his speckled flock.

The astonishing part is that it works. But is the result of one’s actions the litmus test of its acceptability?

With so many stories of trickery and scheming, is such behavior okay? Can Christians utilize schemes? It seems like God blessed Jacob despite such behavior, but it runs contrary to the biblical call to honesty.

Despite the blessing of progeny for Jacob and his wives, the children are born into a family where mothers are angry with one another, and soon the sons will find themselves repeating the same story of jealousy and deception.

The scheming and deception achieved the result they wanted, but at what cost? Women meant to serve the needs of the family are given as mere sexual favors and convenient wombs. The closeness of the immediate family is now built on how one can trick another for his or her gain. Futures built on deception breed more deception.

John Walton states, “One of the ways in which we suffer the consequences of our behavior is by passing our bad habits on to our children” (NIV Application Commentary: Genesis). Such is true of Jacob’s children.

Even through the deception, scheming, jealousy, and continual return to such behaviors, God is faithful to his promises, not Jacob’s or Rachel’s or Leah’s or Laban’s poor decisions. Walton concludes, “God is capable of overcoming the obstacles of character. . . . Our task is to make sure that we are part of the solution rather than the problem.”

Are we scheming in the supposed name of our God? At what cost?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

Protect my life and deliver me; let me not be put to shame, for I have trusted in you.

Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for my hope has been in you. — Psalm 25.19-20

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Resisting Culture’s Mold

We must never define our marriages, our sexuality, our politics, or anything else by culture’s mold.

Resisting Culture’s Mold

Read more: It’s In The Bible

Polygamy was never in the Bible because God approved of it. It was there because the culture approved of it.

It’s In The Bible

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 16 Listen: (2:18), Read: John 15 Listen: (3:20)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 16:6-7, 13

6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

Reflection: Her Voice from the Margins

By Erin Newton

“As a symbol of the oppressed, Hagar becomes many things to many people” (Phyllis Trible, Texts of Terror).

We are accustomed to comparing the two sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael. Even in the ordering of the names, we place the younger, chosen son before the eldest. There is an instinctual (or likely a learned) way of viewing Isaac positively and Ishmael negatively. Perhaps the mind wants to conclude: If Ishmael is not chosen by God, he is rejected by me.

Similar thoughts are carried on to their mothers: Sarah and Hagar. Sarah at the beginning is the sole wife to Abraham. It is the promise given to her that the grand ancestry of God’s people would be rooted. But she laughed, she doubted, she schemed.

There are many stories in the Bible that can, if we are still listening, furrow our brows in concern. At first we are reading with a smile watching God choose and bless this family, but then the frailty of humanity sneaks in and begins to warp the goodness. If we are too calloused to see it anymore, we might be tempted to shrug off this really bad idea as something that “works out in the end.”

Works out? For whom?

We have a rare glimpse into the aftermath of Sarah and Abraham’s scheme. We watch Hagar flee into the wilderness for solace. It is there that God comes to meet her. And for the first time, a character in the story calls her by name.

This is why Hagar means so much to so many—God knew her even when people abused her.

Phyllis Trible noted how Hagar represents the marginalized in our day: “She is the faithful maid exploited, the black woman used by the male and abused by the female of the ruling class, the surrogate mother, the resident alien without legal recourse, the other woman, the runaway youth, the religious fleeing from affliction, the pregnant young woman alone, the expelled wife, the divorced mother with child, the shopping bag lady carrying bread and water, the homeless woman, the indigent relying upon handouts from the power structures, the welfare mother, the self-effacing female whose own identity shrinks in service to others” (Texts of Terror).

Hagar reminds us of the importance of letting the marginalized speak. It is Hagar who names God, the One Who Sees. There is no monopoly of knowing God. Let us listen.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Save me, O God, by your Name; in your might, defend my cause.
Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth. — Psalm 54.1-2

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Countering Hatred

The gospel solution to hate is to love our enemies, overcoming evil with good.

Countering Hatred

Read more: Prayer for Outcasts

We pray, today, for those who flee. Aid their flight.
May they avoid danger, escaping the fowler’s snare.
May they find fair winds, lifting their wings and spirits.

Prayer for Outcasts — Guided Prayer

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 8 Listen: (3:06), Read: John 8 Listen: ((7:33)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 8:22

22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”

Reflection: Winters as a Sign of Mercy

By Erin Newton

As we brace for the blistering cold and possible inches of snow, we are reminded that we are in the middle of winter—not really a new year. This turn from one year to the next has been less than enthusiastic. I can’t seem to muster the energy to set goals or think of what I will achieve over the next few months. I’m not alone. I’ve seen posts and articles lamenting the awkwardness of New Year being in the middle of the cold and dreary winter weeks. But it won’t last forever.

It is the cyclical nature of seasons that brings hope. It reminds us of the promise ages ago that God would “never again” bring massive destruction to the earth in an effort to wipe out humanity. As long as the earth endures, there will be seasons. And that means there will be winter.

The “never again” promise from God should be a relief to humanity. Before the Flood, the narrative suggests that humanity’s wickedness could reach a point of no return or that there was a limit to God’s mercy. God saved a few in that boat, but God’s judgment was thorough. The surviving animals and humans were crammed into tight living quarters. Leisurely strolls to pass the time were probably mixed with the smell of manure or the squawks of cooped-up birds. I doubt it was much of a cruise ship.

But the waters receded, never again to cover the mountains. The steadiness of seasons was promised in return.

Winter is a promise of God’s providential care. No matter what we do, the cycles will keep on turning. There is no evil that will invoke “Flood: Round Two.” The beauty of God’s promise is not that it will be Edenic again. It’s not a heavenly promise of blue skies and sunny warmth. There will still be winters—periods of fallow and hibernation and dormant fields.

We experience this realistically as the axis of the Earth tilts away from the sun. But there is a spiritual and emotional component. Our ambition may lie dormant for a while. Our spiritual lives may chill every now and then. But the cycle of winter is nothing to fear. Winters are a sign of God’s mercy. Winter is God’s “never again” promise.

As we bundle up this week, we reflect on God’s providence—he cares for us beyond our mistakes and beyond our failings.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. — Psalm 86.4

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

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