Chapters 29 - 32

How's everyone going...this blog's been a bit quiet the last couple of days? Everyone is probably just so busy, I know we are!...hope we are keeping up with our readings, even if we don't post on here...I have to admit sheepishly that I am a *touch* behind...but I will catch up, I promise! Maybe hold me to that...by Sunday I will back on track and caught up. Make sure you ask me and badger me to see if I am!!

Ok, so first interesting bit for me is how much physical emotion was shown in those days - I don't think Jacob had ever met Rachel or Laban, yet he kissed them and wept for meeting them!
Next thing I thought is Jacob turns up and stays a whole month...and by the end of that month it seems he is in love with Rachel. How about that - so love can happen fairly quickly it seems...sometimes we think it needs a lot of time and years of getting to know each other, etc. but for some people well it just seems to be right.

And wow, what a love Jacob must have had for Rachel, to wait 7 years to marry her! That is amazing patience and incredible endurance...he must've really loved her.

Then how awful that Laban deceives him and gives him Leah instead...honesty really is the best policy, really couldn't they just have talked this through without him having to lie to Jacob? I guess its all coming back to bite Jacob - he deceived his father and in turn he is now being deceived! We reap what we sow.

Well at least he didnt' have to wait another 7 years - but only the bridal week, before he was able to have Rachel too (at least that's how I read it?). He did have to work another 7 years after that but I'm pretty sure he got Rachel before the 7 years. So that's 14 years of work for one woman! She must've been pretty amazing.

I do feel a little sorry for Leah, I mean it probably wasn't her fault that her father deceived Jacob in that way. She just wanted to be loved and she thought once she had children she would be, but it seems Jacob still loved Rachel more, even though she was barren.

Then Rachel finally has children - but by her servant - and one of the children she calls Naphtali - "I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won" - How sad that it has become a competition and a show of jealousy between two sisters. Guess this is one reason that bigamy or polygamy is never a good option! God knows best, one man, one woman. And then it follows that Leah actually "hires" her *own* husband to sleep with her...strange.

Also what struck me how God open and closed wombs back then...I guess he may still do that today? Grant some people children and others not? I am not sure if it all works the same as it did back then.

What did others think about the goat thing with Laban & Jacob? How strange that the sheep bore speckled/striped goats if they "did their thing" in front of the speckled poplar branches...does this seem strange to everyone else or just me? How does that work? Hmm...maybe have to ask a goat farmer sometime.

Anyway, so once again, now Laban is the one who has been deceived, now he's reaping what he sows. Jacob takes off with his daughters, etc. and Rachel steals Laban's idols. Another example of how the spoken word had such power is how Jacob says But if you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live" ...you will find out in later chapters that Rachel does end up dying because of what she's done - seems Jacob's word has come to pass. Not sure when that chapter comes. Sorry if I spoiled that for you but I'm sure you all know the story?

It was nice that Laban & Jacob seem to settle their differences before Laban leaves and they set up a pillar as a witness between them and God. How sad that Laban had to kiss his grandchildren and daughters goodbye, maybe never to see them again? yet I guess that's what happened a lot in those days, people moved around and had to leave their families.

Then next Esau comes to meet him - I think Jacob is more than a little scared! Great that in his time of distress, he cries out to God, just like we should be doing in time of need (and even in times of not-so-need!) It was some gift he gave Esau - two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys - that is a BIG gift! Maybe he was trying to show just how much he wanted to come in peace and make amends. I like how it says "I will pacify him with these gifts". :)

And then the next part, where Jacob wrestles with God..or God wrestles with Jacob.that's incredible. Imagine God becoming a man and wrestling with you until daybreak - and in the process your hip is dislocated. And before you stop wrestling with God, you demand him to bless you...I don't understand much of this bit, but there must be some reason for it in there! Anyone have any thoughts on what really happened here? This website has an interesting commentary on this passage http://www.unionchurch.com/archive/100399.html

Anyways, i'm off to bed, sorry for length of this post...I was reading the chapters as I posted my thoughts. Look forward to hearing from everyone else soon!