The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Genesis 44:27-29,
"Your servant my father [Jacob] said to us [Jacob's sons], 'You know that my wife bore me two sons. One of them went away from me, and I said, "He has surely been torn to pieces." And I have not seen him since. If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.'"
Perhaps not so much in the context of the patriarchal society that Jacob and his family lived in, I wonder about the negative aspects of living in a family where two of twelve sons were elevated, loved, and thought more highly of than the others. It seems the other ten were treated as of less value or importance than Joseph and Benjamin.
The original family of God's chosen people just seems so dysfunctional to me. Certainly, with what we read of the oldest ten sons (Joseph and Benjamin were the youngest of the twelve sons of Jacob), there might have been cause for their father to not hold them in the highest regard, but might Jacob's attitude toward them have had some contributing factor with their shortcomings?
The two sons Jacob loved most were Joseph and Benjamin. Both were the only children of Rachel. The remaining sons were born to Jacob by Rachel's sister, Leah, and their two handmaidens (given Jacob when each appeared barren). Rachel was the woman Jacob loved, but was tricked into marrying her sister, Leah, first. I've always felt sorry for Leah as she was not as beautiful as her sister and was not treated the same by Jacob. She felt unloved.
Here is a family with four mothers, one treated better than the others, with twelve sons (and a daughter) who, likewise, were not all thought of and treated the same. Yet, it is this very family that God created his chosen nation from. An amazing nation that had all kinds of failures, yet was entrusted by God for important things. Paul enumerates some of these, "Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!" Romans 9:4-5.
Since God can use what appears to me to be a dysfunctional family, might not he be able to use any of us, regardless of our background?
A corollary to that thought is, just because any of us might be used by God, it doesn't necessarily indicate we don't have some serious shortcomings in our own lives that need to be dealt with.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
"Your servant my father [Jacob] said to us [Jacob's sons], 'You know that my wife bore me two sons. One of them went away from me, and I said, "He has surely been torn to pieces." And I have not seen him since. If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.'"
Perhaps not so much in the context of the patriarchal society that Jacob and his family lived in, I wonder about the negative aspects of living in a family where two of twelve sons were elevated, loved, and thought more highly of than the others. It seems the other ten were treated as of less value or importance than Joseph and Benjamin.
The original family of God's chosen people just seems so dysfunctional to me. Certainly, with what we read of the oldest ten sons (Joseph and Benjamin were the youngest of the twelve sons of Jacob), there might have been cause for their father to not hold them in the highest regard, but might Jacob's attitude toward them have had some contributing factor with their shortcomings?
The two sons Jacob loved most were Joseph and Benjamin. Both were the only children of Rachel. The remaining sons were born to Jacob by Rachel's sister, Leah, and their two handmaidens (given Jacob when each appeared barren). Rachel was the woman Jacob loved, but was tricked into marrying her sister, Leah, first. I've always felt sorry for Leah as she was not as beautiful as her sister and was not treated the same by Jacob. She felt unloved.
Here is a family with four mothers, one treated better than the others, with twelve sons (and a daughter) who, likewise, were not all thought of and treated the same. Yet, it is this very family that God created his chosen nation from. An amazing nation that had all kinds of failures, yet was entrusted by God for important things. Paul enumerates some of these, "Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!" Romans 9:4-5.
Since God can use what appears to me to be a dysfunctional family, might not he be able to use any of us, regardless of our background?
A corollary to that thought is, just because any of us might be used by God, it doesn't necessarily indicate we don't have some serious shortcomings in our own lives that need to be dealt with.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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