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January 8 + Daily Notes & Readings

DAY 8

Week 2, here we come!

If you found reading the Bible everyday hard last week, get yourself ready for this week.  It's not that the Bible gets more complicated.  It's just that following through with a new commitment takes, well, commitment, and it's too easy to let other things get in the way.

I'm praying for you.  

DAILY READING

DAILY NOTES

Genesis 25:5-6
  • Isaac is favored.  Abraham gives "all he had" to him.  To his other children, however, Abraham gives gifts, too.  So, even though they are sons of concubines, they are recognized as children of Abraham; these are the Arab nations.
Genesis 25:11
  • The blessing of Abraham passes to Isaac.
Genesis 25:17
  • Literally, parenthetically, Ishmael's life is wrapped up.  Although it is acknowledged, he isn't given the same kind of description Abraham received, i.e. "good old age," and "full of years."
Genesis 25:21-22
  • With Sarah, barrenness was addressed by the three men.  Rebekah's is not addressed through prayer.  We learn in a few verses that Isaac prayed 20 years before she had a son.  How committed our we to prayer?
  • A rough, literal translation could read: They bruised themselves within her.
  • Rebekah cries out to God in a painful way.  In later verses, we are told her life is made bitter by Isaac's other wife. 
Genesis 25:25-28
  • Esau's name means hairy.
  • Jacob's name means grabber.  
  • So, yes, Grabber gripped Hairy's heel.
  • What could possible go wrong when both parents love (favor) a different child?  
Genesis 25:29-34
  • There's a part of me thinks this story was written a bit tongue-and-cheek.  How could someone be so willing to quickly give up something as sacred as a birthright for "some of that red stuff"?  
  • How long had Jacob planned for a day like this one?
  • Did he despise it because of his actions?  Did he despise it for another reason and that is why he was quick to sell it? Or is verse 34 just a commentary on what he did?
Genesis 26:1-4
  • Much of what we read about Isaac is a repeat of what happened to Abraham.  There's a promise of blessing, Isaac and Rebekah have issues with another wife, Isaac plays the same she's-my-sister game, he gives a final gift to his sons, Isaac makes a covenant with another person about security.
Genesis 26:5
  • Since Abraham was faithful, you should be, too.  
Genesis 26:19-22
  • I assume, since he named them, Isaac kept the wells.  
    • Esek=Contention
    • Sitnah=Enmity
    • Rehoboth=Room
Genesis 26:24
  • Why would he be afraid?  god had already appeared to him.  Often in scripture, the first response of people who are visited by God or angels is fear or terror.  
Genesis 27:5-8
  • This is Rebekah's plot.  She even makes every preparation for Jacob.  He does as he is told.  She is willing to accept the curse of Isaac if they are caught.
Genesis 27:20
  • I take Jacob's response as a form of taking the Lord's name in vain.  But, maybe not.  In the last chapter, God's word to Rebekah is that the older son will serve the youngest.  Is this just the way it comes to be and, therefore, his response is, practically, true?
Genesis 27:35-36
  • What Isaac suspected, he now quickly confirms.  Maybe he should have waited a bit, if he had such doubts.
  • Grabber has grabbed again!  He is living up to his name and his reputation.  That's how names work in the Bible.
Genesis 27:38
  • He despised his birthright, but here he weeps because of loosing his father's blessing.
Genesis 27:44-46
  • How is she sure that Esau's anger will turn and he will forget what Jacob has done?
  • Now, Rebekah turns her attention to what is eating at her. 
Genesis 28:1-5
  • There is no sense of Isaac condemning or chastising Jacob.  The blessing has been given and cannot be rescinded.  
Genesis 28:8-9
  • Could anyone blame Esau for marrying just to spite his father?  
    • Or was this an attempt to make things right?  Too little. Too late.
Genesis 28:11
  • Mount Moriah?  
Genesis 28:12-17
  • More like steps than a ladder we would think of.
  • The blessing he has received before becomes his now.   
  • If he had known the Lord was in this place, he probably wouldn't have slept there!
Psalm 8
  • Think of how awesome God is and then consider how awesome it is that God thinks of us.  

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

It is a sacred task to make faith yours.  Your parents or grandparents showed you faith.  They probably brought you to church more times than you wanted, and they might have had all the Bible talk you can stand.  But that was their way of sharing and spreading their faith to you.  There is a time you must inherit faith for yourself.  Jacob seems to have a moment like this.

What about you?  

Would you say you own your faith?  Is it yours?  How do you know?

Stay blessed...john

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