Jacob Changes name

Genesis 32:24 - 31

24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled
with the man.
26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
27 The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob, " he answered.
28 Then the man said, "your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggle with God and with men and have overcome."
29 Jacob said, "please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip."

Further Reading
Jacob's departure from Laban continued - Genesis 31:33 - 55
Jacob's apprehension before his reunion with Esau - Genesis 32:1 - 23
Jacob wrestles with angel - Genesis 32:24 - 32
Jacob's name changed - Genesis 35:10
Jacob meets Esau - Genesis 33:1 - 16
Dinah's defilement - Genesis 34:1 - 12

For Thought
Have you ever stopped everything and said this one thing God - your name? What is your name?Ego?Fear?Resentment?Self - pity?
A new name doesn't come until we say the old one. In other words, confession is catharsis.

Contemplation
"...I will also write on him my new name." (Rev. 3:12). "...rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (Lk. 10:20)

Esau's history

Genesis 28:6 - 9
6 Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him,
"Do not marry a Canannite woman, "
7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram.
8 Esau then realised how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac;
9 so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.

Further Reading
Esau marries Mahalath - Genesis 28:6 - 9
Esau's marriages and descendants - Genesis 36:1 - 30, 1 Chronicles 1:35 - 42
Kings of Edom:Bela, first king - Genesis 36:31 - 33, 1 Chronicles 1:43 - 44
Other Kings - Genesis 36:34 - 39, 1 Chronicles 1:45 - 50
Chiefs of Edom - Genesis 36:40 - 43, 1 Chronicles 1:51 - 54
Jacob's departure from Laban - Genesis 31:17 -32

For Thought
God often accomplishes His purpose with us despite our waywardness and sturbonness. But how much grief we would spare ourselves if we would learn to wait on God, and follow His bidding to the letter.

Contemplation
"If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand."
(Psa. 37:23 - 24)

Jacob's history

Genesis 29:21 - 30
21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."
22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast.
23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her.
24 And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.
25 When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I?
Why have you decieved me?"
26 Laban replied, "it is not our custom herre to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.
27. Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for the another seven years of work."
28 And Jacob did so. He finished out the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife...
30 Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years/

Further Reading
Jacob sent to Laban's house - Genesis 28:1 - 5
Dream at Bethel - Genesis 28:10 - 22
Arrives in Haran - Genesis 29:1 - 14
Works seven years to get Rachel - Genesis 29:15 - 20
Marriage to Leah then to Rachel - Geneis 29:21 - 30
Twelve children born while working for Laban - Genesis 29:31 - 30, 24
Jacob's closing days with Laban - Genesis 30:25 - 43, 31:1 - 16

For Thought
Have you heard of the "Laban Principle"? It says that those who scheme to have thier own way as opposed to God's way, often
have a head-on collision with someone who is theier equal as a schemer.

Contemplation
"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9)

The Death of Abraham

Genesis 25:21-26
21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became
pregnant.

22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to enquire of the Lord
.
23 The Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be
stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."

24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.

25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.

26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Easu's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.


Further Reading
Isaac marries Rebekah - Genesis 24:1 - 67, 25:20
Abraham's children by marriage to Keturah - Genesis 25:1 - 4, 1 Chronicles 1:32 - 33
Isaac heir of all things - Genesis 25:5 - 6
Death of Abraham - Genesis 25: 7 - 10
Death of Shem - Genesis 11:11
Isaack blessed - Genesis 26:11
Ishmael and his descendants - Genesis 25:12 - 18, 1 Chronicles 1:28 - 29
Birth of Esau and Jacob - Genesis 25:19, 21 - 26
Death of Eber - Genesis 11:17

For Thought
No matter how effecitve and important a man may be, his time and work on this earth are limited. How gratifying, therefor, to know that
though God buries His workman, He always carries on His work.

Contemplation
"...Jesus answered, 'before Abraham was born, I am!" (Jn. 8:58)

Incidents in Isaac's life

Genesis 26:6 - 10
6. So Isaac stayed in Gerrar.
7. When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said "she is my sister, "because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife."He thought, "The men of this
place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful."
8.When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistine looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
9. Se Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "she is really your wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?"
Isaac answered him, "Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her."
10 Them Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would habe brought guilt upon us."

Further Reading
Sale of birthright - Genesis 25:27 - 34
Esau marries two Canaanite women - Genesis 26:34 - 35
Famine and covenant renewal - Genesis 26:1 - 5
Isaac lies about Rebekah - Genesis 26:6 - 10
Isaac's success at Gerar - Genesis 26:11 - 16
Isaac the well - digger - Genesis 26:17 - 22
Isaac makes alter at Beersheba - Genesis 26:23 - 25
Isaac's truce with Abimelech - Genesis 26:26 - 33
Jacob obtains Esau's blessing - Genesis 27:1 - 46

For Thought
When we lean upon our own reason rather than on God's clear commands, we run counter to the design of the universe.The theory that end
the end justifies the means may be part of man's order, but it is not part of the eternal scheme.

Contemplation
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
(Prov. 3:5 - 6)

Incidents in Abraham's life

Genesis 21:8 - 13
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But sarah saw that the son
whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son,
for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."

11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the
boy and your maidservent. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
13 I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring."

Further Reading
Lot's daughters five birth to sons - Genesis 19:30 - 38
Birth of Isaac - Genesis 21:1 - 7, 1 Chronicles 1:34
Conflict of Isaac and Ishmael - Genesis 21:8 - 13
Hagar and Ishmael cast out - Genesis 21:14 - 21
Death of Shelah - Genesis 11:15
Ishmael's Childrean - Genesis 25:12 - 16, 1 Chronicles 1:29 - 31
Abimelech's covenant with Abraham - Genesis 21:22 - 34
Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac - Genesis 22:1 - 19
Abraham learns of Nahor's family - Genesis 22:20 - 24
Death of Sarah - Genesis 23:1 - 20

For Thought
Faith never quibbles at God's demands, even though those demands sometimes go against reason. But what is faith? No greater definition of faith has ever
been given than that contained in the the simple acrostic:Forsaking All Trust Him.

Contemplation
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Heb. 11:1)

The Birth of a nation

Genesis 19:24 - 29
Then the Lord rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the Lord out of the heavens.
Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities - and also the vegetation in
the land.
26 But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
28 He looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah, towards all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Further Reading
The Lord appears to Abraham and Sarah is promised a son - Genesis 18:1 -10
Sarah's unbelief reproved - Genesis 18:11 - 15
God reveals to Abraham the impending destruction of Sodom - Genesis 18:16 - 22
Abraham's intercession for Sodom - Genesis 18:23 - 33
Angels warn Lot - Genesis 19:1 -22
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot's wife - Genesis 19:23 - 28
Abraham's prayer for Lot answered - Genesis 19:29
Abraham's later years: lies to Abimelech - Genesis 20:1 -18

For Thought
How do God's true servants react in times of emergency or great crisis? They react, as did Abraham, by turning to God in fervent, believing
prayer. Lifes' best outlook is a prayerful uplook!

Contemplation
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we
know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him."
(1 Jn. 5:14 - 15)