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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Gen. 34
I hear it – Satan’s lie in Hamor and Shechem’s request. “Intermarry with us…. Live with us. The land is before you. Settle here, move about, and acquire property in it.” (Gen. 34:9a, 10). Hamor offered Jacob what God had already promised Him. This is the same lie Satan used with Eve in the Garden of Eden and with Jesus in the wilderness at the start of His ministry. And it is the same lie he uses with us to draw us away from God. We need to remember that everything we have comes from God to guard against such lies. Our God is good and He knows our needs. We never need to take matters into our own hands or compromise our faith on our own behalf. We need only to seek God, trust His word, and obey His command.
Gen. 35
Jacob had a problem. God had an answer. The way I see it, that answer can be boiled down to one simple statement from God. “Run to me.” God sent Jacob back to the place where they had met at least twice. And I love Jacob’s whole-hearted response. He didn’t just run to God, he left everything else behind in the process.
Gen. 36
I don’t know the purpose of tracing Esau’s lineage here. The only thing that comes to mind is that it highlights the contrast between Jacob and Esau with regard to following God. I noted the other day that God’s chosen line from Abraham through to Jacob’s sons all originated with Terah and his household. And we just saw in Genesis 34 how Jacob and his sons refused the offer to intermarry with the locals of Shechem. Not so with Esau. Not only did he take foreign wives, but he clearly intermingled with the locals of Seir. The two families became one, and Esau’s connection to God’s chosen line through Abraham became very indistinct. Essentially, instead of following God, Esau went his own way.
Thus, Jacob and Esau are yet another representation of our only real choice. It is the choice that has been from the beginning and will be at the end. It is the choice between life or death. Esau did his own thing, abandoning the God of his fathers and settling in with the culture around him. From the sale of his birthright, to the loss of his blessing, to his foreign wives, Esau chose death. Jacob, on the other hand, stuck with the God of his fathers until he finally accepted God as his own. Jacob chose life. Each one of us faces the same choice. Will we worship God and choose life? Or will we worship the no-gods of our surrounding culture and choose death. With Joshua, I say, “As for me and my family, we will worship the LORD.” (Josh. 24:15b).