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Genesis 29: Jacob got to Arabia and meet Rachel, his
cousin and daughter of his mother's brother, by the well. He helped to
water his uncle's sheep that Rachel brought as a Shepard and he introduced
himself as the son of her aunty, Rebekah. Laban, his uncle, was informed by
Rachel immediately and he came to meet Jacob. Jacob and Laban agreed that
Jacob works for 7 years to get Rachel as wife. Laban oldest daughter was Leah,
but she had weak eyes, but Rachel was the second daughter and was beautiful.
After working for 7 years, Laban deceived Jacob by giving him Leah instead
and required that Jacob work for another 7 years because it was their tradition
to marry the oldest daughter first. So Jacob worked 14 years to get both
Leah and Rachel, and Laban gave them two maidservants as well, Zilpah and Bilhah,
to assist his daughters.
Those who deceive others will also be deceived by others. Leah was not loved but gave birth to 4 sons, but Rachel was barren.
It
seem all the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob, had issue with
barrenness (generational curse), but they eventually gave birth.
Genesis 30: Three generational curse of the patriarchs led to a
similar situation of Sarah, where Rachel asked Jacob to sleep with her
maidservant (Bilhah) to have children through her. Bilhah gave Jacob two sons,
then Leah gave Jacob her maidservant (Zilpah) too as wife and she bore two sons
as well. Leah then gave birth to two more sons and a daughter making it
a total of 7 children - 6 boys and a girl. God then listened to Rachel and God
her a son, Joseph, and she prayed for another son. Jacob informed Laban that it
was time to return with his family to his homeland, but Laban wanted him to stay
because God had blessed him because of Jacob. Jacob then told Laban that he
wanted nothing except to take the spotted animals as his possession to take with
him. So Jacob strategically breed the stronger animals for himself and the
weaker ones for Laban, and got extremely wealthy. |
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The Political & Spiritual Purpose of the
Holy Land
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Genesis 31: Laban's sons noticed what Isaac had done and informed their
father. God then told Jacob to return to the promise land and he will be
with him. So Jacob called his wives and informed them about how their
father had cheated him in his wages 10 times and they agreed that the spotted
animals will be mine, but God gave me your father's livestock. Jacob then
revealed to them that it was an angel of God that gave him the breeding strategy
and advised him to return to his father's land. His two wives agreed to go with
him as God commanded because their father had sold them away for labor, used up
all that was paid for them, and their father's wealth now belongs to them.
Jacob escaped without telling Laban and Rachel stole Laban's gods. Laban
then chased Jacob for a week and ask why he left without saying goodbye properly
as well as why he stole his gods. Jacob said he was scared of Laban and he
was allowed to search for his gods, but swore death for whoever had stolen it.
Laban could not find them because Rachel sat on them in a saddle and claimed she
could not stand because she was in her period. Jacob asked what his crime
was after all the mistreatment he received from Laban for 20 years (14 years for
the daughters and 6 years for the flocks). Jacob also concluded that he would
have been sent away with nothing if not for God's guidance for his labors and
that is why God warned Laban in a dream the night before not to harm him.
Jacob had not peace in the last 20 years as a fugitive because you will
always pay for your evil. So
they made a pillar of peace before God and agreed not to harm each other and
they went their separate ways in peace.
Genesis 32:
Jacob sent words to Esau through his messengers and addressed Esau as
"master" and wanted forgiveness from him as his "servant", but they returned to inform Jacob that
Esau was coming to meet them with 400 men. Jacob was scared to death, so he divided all he had
into two groups, so that one group can escape if Esau attacks the other. He then
prayed to God for protection against Esau and set aside about 550 animals as
gift to Esau, which were to be presented ahead of him in a distance to pacify
Esau's anger against him. This shows that wicked cheats never
have peace of mind and they too get cheated by others unless they repent
and come to God. That night, a man wrestled with Jacob while he was alone till
daybreak. Jacob refused to let go until the man blessed him, so the man changed
his name to Israel, which means one that struggles with God. Till this
day, the Jews still wrestle against God by failing to accept Jesus Christ as
their Messiah. |
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