If you’re interested, here are my Week 1 Impressions, and Week 2 Impressions, as well.
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Jan 17 Reading: Genesis 16-18
Somehow I can’t help but think that marriage is really intended to be ONE man and ONE woman, and when you start tinkering with that balance, then you get all kinds of troubles. Sarai and Hagar shouldn’t have been put in that situation. Another situation where the man could have stood firm, but Abram seems to have lacked faith in the Lord’s promise.
Jan 18 Reading: Genesis 19-21
I know it’s been said about this passage before, but Sodom and Gomorrah were really bad places if the men came out to abuse the visitors, and Lot offered his virgin daughters as a substitute for them. No wonder the daughters later took things into their own hands. If the terrible things eluded to in this passage happened on a regular basis (rape, sodomy, etc.) then the girls’ value was obviously nil (in their eyes and in the culture). It sounds like the culture that they grew up in had tainted their picture of what was ‘right’, as well, seeing as how they got their father drunk and slept with him. A lesson to me as I raise my children – what are they learning is acceptable by my behaviours and the behaviours of the people around us?
Jan 19 Reading: Genesis 22-24
I’ve always wondered about what kind of God Abraham must have thought he was dealing with after He asked him to sacrifice his son. In that moment, it would be seemingly contradictory to His promise, and could be confusing about His character. I guess the bottom line would be that God is God, and He has the right to ask anything of us at any time. After going through something like this, Abraham would forever be able to testify to God’s faithfulness and provision. For myself, up until the point where the ram was provided, I would likely have doubted His goodness and my own sanity for listening to Him – me of little faith. Still, here is a definite foreshadowing to Jesus, and we can know that the Lord most certainly understood what Abraham was feeling in that moment.
I was also struck by the fact that Isaac was 37 before they started looking for a wife for him, after his mother died.
Jan 20 Reading: Genesis 25-26
Isaac repeats the sin of his father, out of fear – he lies to the king about his wife. (I wondered if Isaac would have seen this happening and repeated it because of that, but Isaac would have known about it only if the stories were passed down because the other 2 stories with Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah both happen before his birth. I just find it interesting that it still works out for them in the end, with the king bending over backwards to cover over any offense that might have taken place and to ensure that no future offense can occur.
I found it interesting that Isaac dug wells that were argued about, and instead of pushing the issue, he dug another well, until there was no more argument. There’s wisdom in that – we don’t always have to push our way or stand firm on every issue when a ‘fight’ is not necessary.
Jan 21 Reading: Genesis 27-29
It seems to me like Rebekah is to blame over and above her sons for this situation – she’s the ‘brains’ behind the plan for Jacob to steal Esau’s blessing, so to speak. The traditions of the time would have taken the father’s blessing very seriously, as I understand it, and it would have been carefully thought out and prayed about, as well as non-transferable. So Esau was really left with ‘whatever’ Isaac could come up with, or whatever he was lead by the Spirit to share – that really does make me sad for Esau. When Rebekah tells Jacob that Esau is just waiting to kill him, and for Jacob to flee, it makes me think that Jacob might have been saying, “You crazy woman, it was you who got me into this, and now I have to leave everything I have ever known!?” Maybe, in a way, Jacob gets what he’s got coming when he has to work 14 years for Rachel because of Laban’s dishonest dealings with him. I have always thought it very uncool that Laban pulled the old ‘bait and switch’ trick – it’s not fair for anybody involved, except Laban. It set Leah up for Jacob to dislike her at the very least (ew, you’re not the one I really wanted), it set Rachel up for Leah to despise her (little sister is preferred over me), and it put Jacob between them.
And then I laugh and think, “This, Lord, is who you decided to call your people? Out of this mess you create a people unto yourself?” WOW! Of course, from this account we don’t know what other dealings of the time and in this area were like – this might be a ‘better’ situation than others around them. Even if it’s only a snapshot of what was going on at large, God is still a merciful God to choose to use these people to establish his presence and a people set apart for Himself. If He can use them, I suppose He can use just about anyone, eh?
Jan 22 Reading: Genesis 30-31
The very first thing that jumped out at me here is that Jacob is saying, “Am I GOD that is keeping you from having children?” and then Rachel jumps in and plays God, by giving her maidservant to Jacob to try to ‘fix’ it. We often want to play God when things aren’t going our way.
I’m not sure about the whole thing with the mandrakes… it just seems strange, but also lends evidence to my statement before about Jacob being stuck between his wives, with that rivalry between them. Not a good situation for anyone.
Laban took advantage of Jacob, and the Lord provided his right reward, since Laban wasn’t about to treat him fairly. Jacob was shrewd and clever, but he was not dishonest, and the Lord blessed Jacob.
Why Rachel took her father’s gods puzzles me… I am guess there would have been value in them.
I’ve always liked the Mizpah pledge: ‘It was also called Mizpah, because he said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. …” ‘ but I see it a bit differently now. When you stop there, it’s pretty cool – watch over us while we are apart. But the next verse shows that this is a challenge, a dare almost: ‘…”If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.” ‘ That’s not just a nice “watch over us, Lord” kind of thing. Why Laban was so concerned about his daughters after how he had treated them and Jacob is beyond me. I think he was just making a big stink, a big show, but I don’t believe he really cared about what happened to them.
Jan 23 Reading: Genesis 32-24
I find it interesting that Jacob wrestles with God in the middle of this whole “going to meet Esau” thing. I’m not sure why it happens here, but maybe it just puts things into perspective for us and for Jacob – we’re all worried about what’s happening next, when the bigger issue is how things are with God.
Praise God that He keeps working in the hearts of the other people in our situations even when we’re apart! As mad as Esau was at Jacob, only God softening his heart could make for the change that happened.
I always feel bad for Dinah – she’s kinda caught in the middle of the whole mess. I read “The Red Tent” which talks in detail about this (it’s a fictional book) and didn’t find that it fit well with the Biblical account, but did give a bit more insight into what it might have been like, and where Dinah was left at the end of it all. She may have been vindicated by her brothers, but she would always have been ‘damaged goods’ after this. In that day and age (well, in this one too, I guess) that would have meant a sad and lonely life for her almost definitely.
Some rough thoughts on the passages this week. I enjoy Genesis a lot, and it always spurs me on to understand more of their culture so I can understand some of the stories better.
