Today's Reading:

Genesis 30
Genesis 31
Genesis 32
Genesis 33

 
Throughout Scripture, one of the most interesting points of God’s grace is when He chooses to bless the younger over the older sibling. Each time we read about an expectation on privilege and birthright, God changes the course. Abel’s offering is accepted while Cains’ the firstborn was rejected. Then Seth, not Cain, carried the promised line. Isaac was chosen over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, and this continued into the future. Even Rachel, who was highly loved was exalted, while Leah who bore more children lived behind the scenes. God’s favor does not follow human rules with seniority, it falls where His grace leads onto those with no claim, all for His glory to shine. So, the next time you see a middle child who feels overlooked, remember, God has been writing His story with the overlooked, the younger, and “the not first” since the beginning of time, and He is not done yet.

Only God can give the blessing of offspring. In Genesis 30:2, Jacob was angry that Rachel said, “Give me children, or I’ll die.” Through her jealousy, Rachel gave her servant Nilah as a wife to bear children to Jacob. Leah then countered with her own servant Zilpah as Leah had stopped conceiving. After a few rounds of back and forth between wives, Leah’s young son was playing in the fields and found mandrakes which were thought to help with fertility. Rachel then bargained and traded a night with her husband (he stayed with her more often) for Leah’s mandrakes. They were literally trading sex for superstitious mandrake roots to help conceive and Jacob had no say. This was a story of a broken family, rivalry, and competition. Leah who had been barren for a while, now conceived again. Finally, “God remembers Rachel” and she had a son Joseph. God had not forgotten about her; He now decided to act on her sadness with a blessing He was going to give her- Rachel’s time had arrived. It is always in God’s timing as He patiently prepared us for Rachel’s prayer.

Jacob was later tricked, just like he had tricked others for his dad’s (Isaac) blessing. Laban wanted him to stay on as a farmhand because he knew God was blessing Jacob and through him Laban was blessed. Jacob proposed that he would keep only the speckled, spotted, and dark animals from the flocks (they were usually rare). He used a folk tale method of placing branches stripped of the bark to make them appear to have stripes in order to have the flocks visually imprint when mating. In actuality this was selective breeding, and Jacob was mating the strongest of the goats and animals. It came time for Jacob to flee with his family; Rachel stole her father’s idols and hid them in her camel’s saddle. God appeared to Laban after 7 days of chasing down Jacob and his family with a stern warning to watch what he said to Jacob whether good or bad. Laban accused Jacob of stealing not only his daughters, but also his flocks and idols. During a search, Rachel claimed that she could not stand up as she was on her monthly cycle, which would have made the saddle unclean for anyone else to touch. Jacob claimed that Laban exploited him and so the two were at an impasse. They agreed to set up a pillar of rocks and that neither man would pass over or see the other again. This was an, “I can’t keep an eye on you, so I will let God watch you because I don’t trust you” moment.

About 32 years had passed, and Jacob, heading home, was worried about his brother Esau and the potential for him to still be holding a grudge. The angels said that God was with him, but an army of Esau’s men were headed out to meet them. Panic sets in- revenge? Jacob split his family and flocks into 2 camps as a safeguard then prayed to the Lord that he was unworthy of all of God’s kindness, begging for deliverance from Esau’s wrath. Jacob then wrestled with God the entire night. God renamed him Israel, which was now the name for the nations. At dawn, God left because He did not want to be seen. This was not a physical victory but a spiritual transformation—a shift from the lying, cheating, and deceitful Jacob to a man named Israel, one who was dependent on and reliant upon God. Just as Jacob (later Israel) had struggled with his rival Esau and been outmaneuvered by the scheming Laban, now he wrestled with God himself. Jacob walked away with a forever limp, a daily reminder (severed sciatica nerve or dislocated hip) that blessings are won with struggles and divine intervention.

Esau met Jacob with total forgiveness over rage (maybe the gifts helped soften his heart a bit), because God had been working on Esau’s. The wrong had been paid for, and now there was peace. The field near Shechem was the second piece of the Promise Land was bought- the plot where Jacob’s son Joseph would eventually be laid to rest. The reconciliation between Jacob and Esau marked the end of a long period of Jacob’s exile and brought a moment of hope and peace for God’s promise of a return to the Promised Land.

Today's Discussion question: 
Rachel stole Laban’s household gods (teraphim) and hid them, even using cultural taboos about menstrual impurity to avoid detection. Why do you think she took the idols—was it for protection, inheritance rights, lingering superstition, or something else—and what does it reveal about faith in this family?
Genesis 29-33 was full of scheming, struggles and surprising grace- what questions does this section raise for you?

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