Hi, and thank you for joining me at 144Judah! Today's blog is the continuation of the story of Issac's child, "Jacob". From our last blog on Genesis, which was a while back, we learned of Jacob and his dream of the ladder. (Jacob's ladder) Today, we turn the page and start at Genesis 29 in the KJV where Jacob is on a journey and meets his uncle Laban, his mother's brother, and his two daughters Leah and Rachel.
His uncle puts him to work and agrees to pay him by giving him one of his daughters. He chooses Rachel and works seven years.
"And Jacob served seven years for Rachel: and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her." Genesis 29:20
Now, seven years later, Jacob goes up to Laban, and asks for his wife... "And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her." (A little graphic for a son-n-law to a father...but ok)
So, Laban gathers everyone up for a feast, and later that evening he brings his daughter, Leah, the first born daughter, and Jacob goes into her....
WAIT, WHAT?!
So, in the morning, Jacob notices what had happened... and goes to Laban,
"What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?" (Genesis 29:25)And Laban answers with this, "It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn." Genesis 29:26
WOAH... now this is total deception. Not only did Jacob serve for seven years for his wife, but then he was deceived knowingly. Although, since I didn't read the bible at the time, I have known a lot of these customs as I have read Jane Austen. lol)
What is even sicker is this next sentence... "Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years."
And guess what? He did. So, after he fulfilled this week, he gave him his other daughter Rachel to also be his wife. And Also Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
No wonder we got to this point in life where evil just runs rapid. I can't imagine my dad doing that to me.
Genesis 29:30- "And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years."
"And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.
And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon.
And she conceived again and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.
And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing." Genesis 29:31-35
So... wow... God did bless this woman with four sons. Now, if you remember from previous blogs, The Twelve Tribes make up the End Time Saints with 12,000 coming out of each tribe. This also makes up the true ISRAEL that will be gathered by God in the End of Days to Jerusalem to fight at the Gog and Magog battle - Armageddon.
So, we have the first four sons and this woman is now done because with her last son, JUDAH, she praised God The Most High. When she lifted up in Glory she did something super important! She gave praise and out of this line of people will be born David, and down a little further....YESHUA! (JESUS)
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah.... 4 names, 4 meanings
Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction, because the LORD hath heard I was hated, and my husband will be joined unto me, and now I will praise the LORD.
Genesis 30 - "And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?
And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.
And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.
And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son.
And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan.
(Wow...this is super telling for later!)
And Billah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son.
And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.
Now we have Dan and Naphtali.... For God hath Judged me, and I have prevailed.
When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.
(This is insane)
And Zilpah Leah's maid barer Jacob a son.
And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.
And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son.
And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.
Gad and Asher...A troop cometh, for the daughters will call me blessed.
So now it gets a bit weird, if that were even possible...
So, now we see Reuben, Leah's firstborn, and he is picking up some mandrakes in a field, and he brings them to his mother. Well, Rachel sees this, and wants the mandrakes, and Leah is like, hey, isn't it enough that you already sleep with my husband and now you want these plants, too? (And I tend to agree on this one...it is rather messed up.) Anyway, Rachel says, hey if you give me the mandrakes, you can have the hubby for the night.
Hmm.
She says, okay, gives her the mandrakes, and shacks up with Jacob... and guess what happens?
You've guessed it...a fifth son.
Genesis 30: 17-21 "And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.
And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.
And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.
And afterwards she bare a daughter and called her name Dinah. (Dinah's name means Justified and God will Judge)
So, now we have two more boys, and sorry to Dinah, but she doesn't count! Don't you know, Dinah, that you don't count! lol
Anyway, Issachar and Zebulun.... God hath given me my hire, and God hath endued me with a good dowry.
So now we are back to Rachel, since it seems to be a contest...
"And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.
And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country.
Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.
And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?
And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me I will again feed and keep thy flock:
(At this point and a few paragraphs later, Jacob does some underhanded stuff with the herd of cattle. We didn't really know at this point that Laban was keeping him on and not paying him what he was supposed to. not only that, he also kept him for 20 years... 7 for each daughter and then another 6 for his animals...)
So, in verses 4-16, Jacob talks to his wives and appeals to them about leaving. He tells them how Laban has cheated him and gone back on his word. He describes how God revealed to him that he would multiply his holdings at the expense of Laban because of his original promises and dishonesty. God also tells him to return to the land of his fathers and to his kindred and HE will be with him, so he heads there.
Genesis 31:17-22 "Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels; And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padan-aram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.
And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's and Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.
So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face toward the mount Gilead.
And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled."
So, needless to say here, Laban is miffed. Jacob pulled a fast one on him and basically took all of his flock, and his daughters and his grandkids and the two handmaids. And he did this without saying goodbye, and apparently Rachel took her father's images (this means idols-- so their gods that they had prayed to. So now Laban packs all of his stuff and his family that's left and heads out to find Jacob. It takes him 7 days and leads him to Gilead where he has a dream about The Most High God and He tells Laban not to talk to Jacob, good or bad, so what does he do? He goes to attack him and tells him about God, then mentions the gods that he stole...)
So, Jacob doesn't seem to believe him so he says, "With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live: before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them."
If you know anything about words, you should know that they have the power to harm, to do wonders, to do anything.... "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God." -John 1. The word has the ability to create. That is why they call it a spell... spelling.
So, Laban goes into the areas and searches for the 'gods' and Rachel hides them, and at one point is sitting on them in the camel's furniture.
So now Jacob is ticked because they have been "falsely" accused by Laban as Laban hasn't been able to produce anything. So he mentions all of the things that he has done for Laban, and later that night he takes his two wives and his two womenservants and his eleven sons and they head toward the land of his fathers.
Genesis 32:23-30 "And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Jacob and God fighting Face to Face
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
(THIS IS ISRAEL...NOT THE PLACE...IT IS WITH THE PEOPLE)
"I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved"
Whoa... wait a minute. Peniel.... "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" Genesis 32:30
The main function of the pineal gland is to receive information about the state of the LIGHT-DARK cycle from the environment and convey this information by the production and secretion of the hormone melatonin.
The Third eye chakra is located in the middle of the forehead between the eyebrows (also called the brow chakra). It is associated with intuition, insight and mysticism. The third eye is the sixth out of the seven chakras that control the meridian of the body, mind and spirit. It can take us to a place of higher consciousness and enlightenment.
Back to the story...
So, God is wrestling with Jacob... or Jacob is wrestling with God rather, and of course, God would win... no doubt about that. So, it is interesting as it is mentioned earlier in the script that it was at night and throughout the night he wrestled... so Jacob isn't a dummy. If he was in his right frame of mind and it was during the day he would have seen the Glory of God and realized it was dumb to fight him, and would try to avoid conflict, but instead he didn't see him and it was at night, God gets him to do the "sensible" thing from a man's perspective and fight back.
Now, obviously, God is holding back, so when we read the part about God putting Jacob's hip out of socket in Genesis 32:25, we find out that Jacob was wounded by a soft touch.
I didn't understand this verse, so I looked it up and it made so much more sense.
from :ligonier.org/learn/devotional
"The Lord withholds His full might for a time to let Jacob think he is winning. But just when the patriarch thinks he has the upper hand, God puts his hip out of joint. The Almighty did not tear Jacob's leg from its socket, as the Hebrew indicates he was wounded by a soft touch. Jacob clings to the Lord and begs Him for a blessing, as the force of this nudge begins to reveal the identity of this "man". After all, only God has the strength to crush with a delicate tap.
For too long, Jacob has assumed his skill is the primary factor in his success. In defeating the patriarch so easily, the Lord shows Jacob who has the power and who truly holds the key to his future. By implication, the wounding also teaches Jacob that he was really fighting against the Lord's holy character when he used dishonest tactics to secure Esau's birthright, even if the blessing was rightfully his.
So now what? So, after his wrestling with God and his renaming, Esau marches in with 400 of his men, and Jacob sees his face and realizes right away that he has forgiven him.
In Genesis 33, Esau comes with 400 men, and Jacob arranges his family in front of him and has them kneel.
First the handmaids with their children.
Then Leah with her children.
Then finally Rachel with her children.
Esau wants to know the meaning and who the people are, Jacob tells him, and Jacob bows seven times to Esau, it's a respect thing to show him that Esau is the Lord even though he stole his birth right and blessing. Esau forgave him, says he has more than enough, and leaves shortly after.
Now do you remember why Esau isn't blessed and Jacob is even though he stole the birthright of Esau?
Esau disregarded God's law, married women outside of Israel, and didn't respect his birthright. (He actually gave it for a bowl of soup.) I've done some pretty stupid things for food before, but this kind of takes the cake... I wonder what Esau would do for a Klondike bar? lol
So, Esau was excluded from the line that would lead to Christ. Instead, God chose Jacob, who was flawed, yet faithful to carry on his promise to Isaac and Abraham.
However, he is not excluded from the dreadful bout of karma...
Jacob deceived his father and cheated his brother, so Jacob was deceived and taken advantage of by Laban. Jacob's sons deceived their father by killing/selling Joseph, his favorite.
What are the 3 promises of God to Jacob?
* To be with him
* To make his family into a great nation
* And to bring them back from Egypt
I know this is a long blog, but we still have one more son!
So, after all of this, they go into a town and there are other people living there.
Esau then leaves with his people to Seir, and Jacob goes to Succoth, and builds a house, and makes booths for his cattle, and that is why they called the place Succoth.
Fun fact:
Sukkot[a] is a Torah-commanded holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which those Israelites who could were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. In addition to its harvest roots, the holiday also holds spiritual importance with regard to its abandonment of materialism to focus on nationhood, spirituality, and hospitality, this principle underlying the construction of a temporary, almost nomadic, structure of a sukkah.[2]
The names used in the Torah are "Festival of Ingathering" (or "Harvest Festival", Hebrew: חַג הָאָסִיף, romanized: haġ hāʾāsif)[3] and "Festival of Booths" (Hebrew: חג הסכות, romanized: ḥaġ hasSukkoṯ).[4][3] This corresponds to the double significance of Sukkot. The one mentioned in the Book of Exodus is agricultural in nature—"Festival of Ingathering at the year's end" (Exodus 34:22)—and marks the end of the harvest time and thus of the agricultural year in the Land of Israel. The more elaborate religious significance from the Book of Leviticus is that of commemorating the Exodus and the dependence of the Israelites on the will of God (Leviticus 23:42–43).
"And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-aram; and pitched his tent before the city. And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Schechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money. And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel. (Mighty One; God of Israel)
"And Dinah the daughter of Lea, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country , saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her." Genesis 34:1-2
So, we learn here that Dinah is raped by the owner of the land's son, and Jacob finds out, and this guy and his son go to offer him whatever he wants, and offers Jacob to make marriages with them--with his daughters and to take their land and their possessions.
He says, "Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife."
But Jacob's sons answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said because he had defiled Dinah their sister: And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us."
So, they get these people to circumcise themselves, and the people that agreed did it to get all of Jacob's wealth... instead, they got Levi and Simeon's swords.
They killed all the males, took all of their livestock as well as their women and children.
After this, Jacob told his sons that they made him stink and was worried that now he would be a target of the Canaanites and the Perizites, and they weren't big enough in number to fight them, but God said unto Jacob, "Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother." Genesis 35:1
So, they leave, and Jacob comes into Beth-el and makes a new altar, and called it El-beth-el: because God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
And there, once again, God appears to Jacob and says that his name is Jacob. "...thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel." Genesis 35:10
Here's a promise to Israel...
Genesis 35:9-13
9 "And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him.
10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
13 And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him." (So now, those of you that have heard that the last time he was talking to an angel, you can see it confirmed here...)
So, Jacob then sets up a pillar in the place where he talked with God, even a pillar of sone, and pours a drink offering there and he pours oil as well.
Jacob then calls the name of the place where God spake with him, Beth-el.
Then he leaves there, Ephrath, and Rachel is going through a hard labor... (yes, she is having yet another kid)
But the labor was too hard on her, and after she has her baby, she calls him Ben-oni and then passes.
Ben-oni means "Son of Pain" but Israel changes it to Benjamin meaning "son of the right hand". (Once again, Israel is giving the glory to God.)
Then Rachel passes. (Remember earlier when Jacob said to Laban? "With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live: before our bretheren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them." Genesis 31:32 (this is the fulfillment)
Genesis 35:19-21 "And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Beh-lehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar."
Comparison of the southern view of the Tomb in the early 20th and 21st centuries, showing the fortifications
Though Rachel's Tomb has been a common site of Jewish pilgrimage since the twelfth century, in the modern era, a cult with uniquely Rachel elements developed. In contemporary Jewish society it is now considered the third holiest site in Judaism and has become one of the cornerstones of Jewish-Israeli identity. Although Rachel's Tomb is a site holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians, it has effectively been closed to Muslims and Christians. And Since UNESCO adopted a resolution reaffirming a 2010 statement that Rachel's Tomb was: "an integral part of Palestine." On 22 October 2015, the tomb was separated from Bethlehem with a series of concrete barriers.
So, now you have officially met the 12 tribes... with an exception to Joseph's (Ephraim and Manasses) You will learn this in the next blog. :) Until next time, friends! I hope you enjoyed meeting Jacob and Rachel and all of our ancestors... WE ARE ISRAEL. ISRAEL was scattered throughout the nations. God loves us all.
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