Just as we know that Jesus had twelve disciples, we know that Israel had twelve tribes, right? Jacob (also known as Israel) had twelve sons and each son became a tribe, right? Well sort of. Even though Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son, there is no tribe named Joseph. Instead Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, […]
In the Bible there’s the story of Jacob, who rolls away the stone from the well to water Rachel’s sheep. They get married. Then there’s Moses. He rescues some shepherd girls when they are being harassed and provides water for their flocks. He marries one of them. It’s just not a guy thing, either. Rebekah […]
In a love story, culturally distant and a bit strange to us, Jacob is enamored by the fetching Rachel. In an act of service, to garner her attention, he rolls away a stone from the mouth of a well to provide life-sustaining water for her sheep. It works and she becomes his bride. In another […]
In the story of Jacob’s son Joseph, we read that Joseph had a couple of dreams. The implicit meaning of his dreams was that his older brothers would become subservient to him, as would his father and mother. To his family this no doubt seemed to be mere wishful thinking of a young boy who […]
Levi was one of Jacob’s sons (the third of twelve). The Bible doesn’t tell us much about him; what it does say, doesn’t bode well. The short version is that Levi’s sister, Dinah is raped. Levi and brother Simeon exact revenge by killing the perpetrator, his family, and the whole village, plus taking all their […]
Moses gave a curious command: “Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” This seems to be an excessive response when one is wronged, but given the culture of that day, it was actually a move towards moderation. For example, when Jacob’s daughter Dinah was […]
Lessons from Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Jesus A reoccurring statement in the Bible is “Here I am.” This was often said to God when he calls out or speaks to one of his children. Abraham, Jacob, and Moses were all expectantly ready to listen to God.We need to do the same. Later Jesus said, “Here […]