Gen.29-31
1 – Jacob, the lying, the false, the cheat… with God’s blessing, reached Laban’s house. Gen.31,3-13 ; 32, 10-13 but, according Talion Law, the human curse, will accompany him, for all his life.
- Jacob, by words trusts in God but, in reality he trusts only in his human power w.10 and many wiles , tricks, cunnings.
* Draw close to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you…
Purify your hearts… Recognize your distress and weep…Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will raise you up. Jas.4,7-10
* Blessed is the man who puts his trust in Yahweh. Jer.17,7-8.
* Happy the one who finds wisdom… she is of more value than pearls, silver and gold. Pr.3,13-15.
* The arrogant, cannot stand before you… God hates all who do evil. God destroys all who speak falsehood… and live on lies… God bless all who live in righteousness. Ps.5,5-13. Gal.6,7
*Do not be fooled.God cannot be deceived.You reap what you have sown.
* Fill your minds with whatever is truthful, holy just pure lovely and noble.
Put into practice what you have learned. Phil.4,8-9.
* If we endure with Jesus we shall reign with Jesus 2Tm.2,12.
2 – Jacob, from Betsabea reached Kharran, Bethel where he had a dream…
- After that, he left for Mesopotamia. Gen, 29, 1 to Laban’s house.
- Bethel = God’s house 28, 19 but…the heart of Jacob is fully for money and power. Gen.25,31
* If God helps me, for this.. that.. those things,Yahweh shall be my Lord. 28,21
* Religion is a treasure if we are content with having food and clothing...
Those who strive to be rich fall into temptations and traps. ..
Love of money is the root of every evil… bringing afflictions. 1Tim.6,6-10.
* You rich weep… Your wealth has rotted away… Your gold and silver have corroded… The wages you withheld from the workers … are crying…
You have murdered the righteous… Jas.5,1-6.
- God, does not force us, to be good or accept the teaching of Jesus Christ but,
He offers, to meet God. Zac.8,23… And to be free from evil. Mt.8,28-34.
He offers his salvation to all. Lc.9,51-56 ; Acts. 16,25-34
3 –All the teachings above, seem the photocopy of Jacob’s life.
- He became very rich as we can see. Gen.31,1-54 ; 32, 15-16 but,
- Because of his hunger for money he has to suffer a lot in Laban’s house and in the future , from his own children. Gen.37,31-36
- Where your treasure is, there also your heart will be. Mt.6,21
- Rachel ( = mother sheep ) and money were the real Jacob’s treasure and, because of them, he neglected Lea (= antelope ) and invented new wiles with fresh branches of poplar to deceive Laban. 30,37-43.
- The writer disagrees with these dirty tricks just saying that
Rachel was sterile.29,31… God cannot bless you. With your wiles, you can get cattle but not children.
* Blessed is the one whom God corrects… He cure the wounds has inflicted
He strikes but, he also heals, if , we do not reject his lessons.Jb.5,17-18.
- At the beginning, all the tricky methods invented by Jacob, to deceive Laban seem to work well, with the blessing of God but, after a while everything became a boomerang against Jacob.
4 – As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, he felt in love for her 29,9-11 with the blessing and joy of the greedy Laban, who could have a very strong man and a clever shepherd, working free, for him, for 20 years. 29,9-20.
- But the boomerang started to work immediately, in fact, Jacob could not get married with the beautiful Rachel, but instead, he got as wife her older sister and squinting Lea. 29,15-30.
5 –The wedding reception lasted for 7 days with many witnesses w.22
So, Jacob could not deny the marriage with Lea…
So, he has to work for 7 more years, before to get Rachel.
- The rivalry between the two sisters started immediately 30,14-24 and ended with four wives and more than 12 children.
* Once again, the authors disagree about all these wiles but, they have to accept the situation because, they have to tell about the origin of the 12 tribes of Israel and, the meaning of the names of those children.
6 – From Jacob’s stories, we have to learn many things.
- The polygamy, does not resolve the problems of love but it will be the source of jealousy , hate, injustice, revenge, burden for the society and division in the family Gen.30,1-24 as we will see in Joseph’s story .Gen.37-50.
- The revenge will create a chain of suffering for all and for the heirs.
- Dina’s story and the revenge of Simeon and Levi teaches us that the behavior of the parents, will be a bad example for the children which will do the same for their safety and the humiliations of enemies. 34,1-31.
7 – Do nothing through rivalry… Let each of you gently consider the others as more important than yourselves. Do not seek your own interest but rather that of others… like Jesus Christ. Phil. 2,3-5
8 – Chinese ’s statistics say that after 1.2 million tied the knot, in a mass wedding, a total of 1.96 million couples applied for massive divorce
9 – In the past to be rich 30,43, to have many wives and children was a blessing of God and, it was a must, for taking care of herd.
10 – The revelation, little by little, will teach to those people and to all of us that the will of God, the nature, the dignity of women, the good of children request monogamy, responsible fatherhood and motherhood, and a single, total, eternal love between couples and for their children.
11 – St. Gaspar Bertoni. - Seek God alone and see God in all creatures Jan.11
- This earth is indeed ready to receive authentic humility but, is incapable of producing it. Jan.12
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