Tag: Genesis

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 35-36 Listen: (9:33), Read: Mark 13 Listen: (4:32)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 35.9-10

9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.

Reflection: From Pejorative to Promise

By John Tillman

The number of people with name changes in the Bible is long and many of the changes are significant.

Abram and Sarai are renamed Abraham and Sarah.
Ben-Oni is renamed Benjamin.
Naomi renames herself Mara.
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are renamed Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
James and John are called Boanerges, the Sons of Thunder.
Simon is called Cephas or Peter, the rock.
Joseph is renamed Barnabas.

And, of course, Jacob’s name is changed by God to Israel.

All of the examples above, a changed name meant a changed identity. They said something about how they thought about themselves, how the world saw them, and about their God.

The name, Israel, doesn’t seem to stick the first time, so God comes to Jacob again, repeating the name change and the promise that goes with it. Jacob was a pejorative, meaning “heel grasper.” Israel is a blessing, meaning “contends with God” or perhaps a promise, “overcomes with God.”

Names still have power. We name ourselves and others. Twitter and Instagram handles, gamertags, and many other names function as self-description. The names we give ourselves can be encoded with inside jokes or vague pop culture references.

We also engage in damaging name-calling. Instead of validating a part of one’s humanity, name-calling strips it. Name-calling has been used heavily in politics of late, but its roots go much further back. Name-calling is an attack on the image of God in others and Jesus compared it to murder. (Matthew 5:21-22)

Dealing with a few famous name-callers would be bad enough. Some of us, however, are our own name-calling bullies. We bully ourselves with names like, Stupid, Fat, Worthless. These hurt us more than any other person’s name for us could.

The Bible tells us that Jesus has a name for us. (Revelation 2.17; 3.12) It is not a pejorative but a promise. When Jesus names us, he doesn’t badmouth us, he blesses us. Jesus, rather than call us names like “loser” or “deplorable,” give us new and good names.

He became a loser in our place when he died on the cross. He erased our deplorable sins, paying for them by his sacrificial death. He gives us new names of victory and holiness that only we may know. We can come to know his name for us by coming close, wrestling with him as Jacob did, holding on to him until he lovingly names us as his child.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; hearken, O God of Jacob. — Psalm 84.7

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

Read more: Identity Lost, Identity Gained

In Jacob’s preparation to fool his father he put on qualities that his father loved, covering his own unloved qualities.

Identity Lost, Identity Gained

Read more: Suffering for Our True Identity

It is not all right to be a Christian. And if we ask why, the answer is a sad one; Christians have given Christianity a bad name. — Madeleine L’Engle

Suffering for Our True Identity

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 32 Listen: (4:40), Read: Mark 10 Listen: (6:42)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Read: Genesis 33 Listen: (2:59), Read: Mark 11 Listen: (3:59)
Read: Genesis 34 Listen: (4:18), Read: Mark 12 Listen: (6:10)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 32.9-12, 24-28

9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’ ”

24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

“Jacob wrestled the angel and the angel was overcome.” — U2, “Bullet the Blue Sky”

Reflection: Wrestling Prayers

By John Tillman

Canaan was unsafe. So Jacob fled to Paddan Aram. Paddan Aram became unsafe. So Jacob fled to Canaan.

An old preacher joke I remember about Jacob at this point in his life is that he was “stuck between Iraq and a hard place.” However, on a more serious note, many today would identify with Jacob’s situation. He was a man with no country and no safe place to go.

From one perspective, Jacob’s mess was of his own making. He stole an inheritance and lost his home. He produced great wealth but at great cost and harm to others. His schemes enriched his family, yet made enemies that threatened their safety.

From another perspective, Jacob’s gains were part of God’s promises and Jacob’s deceptions part of God’s justice on Esau and Laban.

Esau was an impetuous, foolish man, ruled by his desires and showing no restraint in appetites for food, sex, and violence. Esau’s lusts led him off the path of God’s blessings and away from “the dew of Heaven.” (Genesis 27.38-40) Over centuries, his descendants followed in his footsteps.

Laban, the trickster and manipulator used everyone for financial gain. Everything and everyone was a source of profit or a cause of loss, including his daughters. Laban was victimized by his own venality. Being tricked by Jacob was a taste of Laban’s own medicine.

God helped Jacob outmaneuver Esau to take on Abraham’s blessing and helped him liberate ill-gotten gains from Laban’s wealth. However, God’s use of a deceptive person is not approval of their actions and God has a habit of paying back people who used wicked methods, regardless of whether those methods achieved God’s purposes. Jacob later experienced this. (Genesis 37.32-34)

Jacob alienated everyone, cheated everyone, wrestled with everyone—eventually he wrestled with God. The “man” Jacob wrestled was more than a man—it was God. (Genesis 32.30) The wrestling was more than physical conflict—it was prayer.

The prayer Jacob prayed (v 9-12) and the overnight wrestling match (v 24-31) were two parts of the same desperate, wrestling prayer: “Bless me as you promised! Be true to your promise despite my sin! Have mercy on my messes!”

None of us are innocent and many of our messes are of our own making. Yet, we can still grasp hold of God’s mercy and rely on his promises and character.

Don’t let go. Wrestle in prayer. And when the time comes, wrestle in action.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Come, let us sing to the Lord;…for the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. — Psalm 95.1, 3

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

Read more: From Esau to Jacob

God loved us when we were like Esau—sinners, rebels, and persecutors..we can become children of Jacob and brothers and sisters of Christ 

From Esau to Jacob—Readers’ Choice

Read more: Running to Forgive

May we also be willing to rush that forgiveness to those around us. Let us be faithful. Let us be just. Let us run to forgive.

Running to Forgive

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 31 Listen: (7:47), Read: Mark 9 Listen: (6:16)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 31.28-29

28 You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. You have done a foolish thing. 29 I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

Reflection: Fear and Power, Power and Fear

By John Tillman

The short list of people in scripture God spoke to in a dream gets shorter when we exclude people who worshiped God.

Abimelek was the first non-worshiper God spoke to in a dream. (Genesis 20.3-7) Laban is the second. In both cases, the followers of God deceived the powerful men because they feared violence and the men received a warning from God. Perhaps the last non-worshiper warned in a dream was Pilate’s wife. She begged Pilate not to “have anything to do” with the innocent man, Jesus. (Matthew 27.19)

Laban warned Jacob, and Pilate warned Jesus, that they had the power to harm them. (Genesis 31.29; John 19.10) In Laban’s case, he turned from whatever violence may have been in his heart to settle for scolding Jacob and complaining about the theft of his household gods. In Pilate’s case, he tried to settle for having Jesus flogged and released. But in the end, he was more fearful of political forces than of his wife’s dream. (John 19.12-16)

We will face many enemies threatening us with their power, often using language similar to Pilate’s and Laban’s. “I have the power to harm you.” “Be smart. Submit.” “I’m the authority here.” “You’ll regret disobedience.” Some may use God’s name to cause fear and assert power. “This is God’s will.” “He’s God’s man.” “You better get on God’s side.”

Fear and power. Power and fear. They go together. Fear is both a means to gain power and a tool to maintain power. In both cases, fear manipulates others into weapons.

Have you been threatened by the powerful? Have you been told by the powerful who to fear? Have you been weaponized by fear?

We may have reason to fear. We may need escape. We may need shelter. In some cases, like Jacob, we may not be wholly innocent. We can rely on God who proves to be a shelter from the powerful for the fearful—even those who aren’t blameless.

Like Laban, perhaps we have rashly set out to act in fear. We fear loss of power, community, or family. Let us hear the warning of God who protects those pursued by the powerful, and have mercy on the fearful.

Because of Jesus, we need not fear power. Like our Lord, no one can have power over us if not given from above and no power, not even death, can separate us from the love, care, and shelter of Christ.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Bow down your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and in misery.
Keep watch over my life, for I am faithful; save your servant who puts his trust in you. — Psalm 86.1-2

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

Read more: Urgent Desire for More

Do we trust what we will inherit by giving up our worldly possessions to benefit others?

Urgent Desire for More

Read more: Hot-Button Conundrums

The right answer to difficult issues is not always in “the middle.” But Jesus stands in the center of God’s will.

Hot-Button Conundrums

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 29 Listen: (4:45), Read: Mark 7 Listen: (4:28)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 29.9-14

9 While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd. 10 When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. 12 He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.

13 As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. 14 Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.”

Reflection: Laban’s Flesh and Blood

By John Tillman

Laban exclaims to Jacob, “You are my own flesh and blood.”

This could mean, “You are my kin,” but Laban did not say this when he met Jacob. He said it after hearing Jacob’s story of manipulation, deception, and trickery. It seems more likely Laban recognized a kindred spirit.

Game recognizes game.

No one appreciates a con artist like another con artist and Laban’s whole family had skills. Laban, Rebekah, Jacob, and Rachel all chalk up victories gained by deceit.

We probably think we would never use deception like Laban, Rebekah, Jacob, and Rachel, but we all have a little Laban in us. We like to get the better of situations. We want to get our way. We like to win. We hate to lose. The old sports truism, “If you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying,” is baked into our culture and into our hearts.

If we asked these tricksters why, they’d probably say they had no choice. Laban might say, “I was defending Leah’s honor.” Rebekah might say, “I was saving my son’s life and fulfilling God’s promise to me.” Jacob might say, “It was the only way to escape Laban’s unfair treatment.” Rachel might say, “I was protecting our family from my father’s gods.”

We might not be Laban’s “flesh and blood,” but we all have fleshly, sinful desires that grow stronger under stress. When threatened, a little bit of Laban may come out. Moral relativism creeps in holding fear’s hand.

But didn’t God use these things for his will? Yes. However, God’s use of a person or deed does not equal God’s endorsement of that person or deed and God’s will is not so fragile as to require our moral compromise to bring it to pass.

Beware those with Laban-like hearts. They will tell you, “We can’t afford to lose.” They will say “This is the only way to win.” They are wrong on both counts. God’s most glorious victories aren’t achieved by human deception, cheating, or schemes. In Christ, we can afford to lose anything for his sake and all things have been won on our behalf.

How Laban-like is your heart? How much do you hate to lose? What are you willing to do to win? We don’t have to give in to those Laban-like tendencies.

Instead of being recognized as Laban’s flesh and blood, let us be recognized by kinship with Christ.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Show us the light of your countenance, O God, and come to us. — Psalm 67.1

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

Read more: No White Hats

Jacob sinned by resorting to deceit and theft to gain what had already been promised by God.

No White Hats

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