January 12, 2022 Bible Study — Jacob Keeps His Promise To God

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Genesis 33-35.

When Jacob and Esau met Jacob acknowledged that the bad blood between them was his fault.  Esau, on the other hand, made it clear that he forgave Jacob and invited Jacob, and his family, join his household.  Jacob politely declined Esau’s invitation.  I point this out because when this passage was explained to me as a child it was used as an example of Jacob’s trickery.  Those who explained it to me believed that Esau intended to force Jacob to become subordinate to himself.  I read this instead as Esau offering Jacob his protection.  In fact, the very next story highlights this.  If Jacob had accepted  Esau’s offer, Jacob would never have been in a position where Shechem would have raped his daughter.  Really, this story is really about Shechem and his father trying to force Jacob to accept a relationship with them similar to the one he rejected with his brother.  Jacob’s sons pretended to be intimidated into going along with Shechem’s plan, but not too intimidated.  Yet, after his sons gained their revenge, Jacob feared that the rest of the locals would come after him and his family.  And what was the result of all of this?  Jacob was reminded of the oath he swore at Bethel when he was heading to Haran all of those many years ago.  Jacob returned to Bethel and had his family begin to practice monotheism, worshiping only God.

 

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.