Lord God, bless your Word as I study it today. Make it a word of power and peace for my troubled heart. May Your Word pass from my eyes to my heart, from my heart to my lips, and from my lips to my life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it; through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Today we read our Psalm and our Genesis chapter in the opposite order of normal.
Lest any man's sinful nature tempt him to think of Jacob as a lucky man, climbing into bed over and over again with 4 different women, consider the headache and heartache of that house! The constant bickering, the fierce competition, the grieving, and anger, and the hurt. The sisters, it seems, are full of hate and rivalry. And not to put all the blame on them. It seems Jacob does little or nothing to promote peace in the house. Rather he is led to think with his hormones instead of his heart.
And so we see that God works in spite of us on many occasions. Is this the only way Jacob could have become a multitude? Most certainly not! But this is the course of action that sinners chose. And this is what God has to work with.
And God did choose to work with Jacob, didn't he? God continues to bless, and he provides 12 sons that would become the 12 tribes of Israel. And also, we see God do miraculous things to provide Jacob with plenty, possessions, and prosperity. Some might criticize the Bible and declare that putting striped sticks before the flock is no way to produce sheep with spots or streaks! But the inclusion of this strange story does not show the Bible to be a child's myth, but rather it shows that God was with Jacob, providing for him in miraculous ways. Laban has tricked Jacob before, and now he tries to cheat Jacob out of the offspring of the flock. But God provides for Jacob. He is the one who receives the promise.
So too, we have bickering, rivalries, hate, anger, competition, headache and heartache in our homes as well. If not in our immediate families, then certainly in our extended families and in our church families. We do so little to promote peace, and rather give into our short-fused emotions.
Yet, we are still children of the promise. By faith we are heirs of the promise with Abraham. We are baptized into God's family, being now his sons and daughters - siblings of Jesus Christ. God continues to provide for us and bless us, sometimes in ordinary ways, sometimes in extraordinary ways as he did for Jacob.
Are you seeing a theme throughout Genesis? God is gracious. God is merciful. God is faithful to keep his promise even when sinners do all they can to mess things up. God does the same for you. He certainly does the same for me. Thanks be to God.
I love this psalm! We have no need to fear enemies, even if an army encamps around us! And at times it certainly seems like the Devil has us surrounded. But the Lord hides us under his cover. He lifts us up out of the mire. He places us upon a rock, a solid foundation. That rock is Christ.
How I delight to learn God's ways, to be in his household of faith, to inquire in his temple (a.k.a. - place where he comes down to meet me in grace - in church!). Though it is hard for me to wait for the Lord, I am reminded twice in the last verse of the psalm that I should be patient, wait for him to work, and to trust.
The Lord is my light and salvation. Indeed, Jesus says, "I am the Light of the world!" And so our closing prayer will be from (another) one of my favorite hymns. It is an Epiphany hymn that praises Jesus for being this Light that shines in the darkness. The author of the text and tune is Philipp Nicolai. The tune to this hymn, and another tune he wrote (Wachet Auf) are considered the King and Queen of chorales (I forget which is which). And as great as the tune is, the text is even better. And it is for the glory of God.
Ask Yourself:
What do I do to promote peace in my immediate family? Extended family? Church family?
How do I contribute to the competition, bitterness, headache, and heartache of others?
How does Christ shine in my darkness? How can I shine (reflect) his light to others as well?
Pray:
O Morning Star, how fair and bright!
You shine with God's own truth and light,
Aglow with grace and mercy!
Of Jacob's race, King David's son,
Our Lord and master, You have won
Our hearts to serve You only!
Lowly, holy!
Great and glorious,
All victorious,
Rich in blessing!
Rule and might o'er all possessing!
Come, heav'nly Bridegroom, Light divine,
And deep within our hearts now shine;
There light a flame undying!
In Your one body let us be
As living branches of a tree,
Your life our lives supplying.
Now, though daily
Earth's deep sadness
May perplex us
And distress us,
Yet with heav'nly joy You bless us.
(LSB 395:1-2)
Study with me tomorrow,
Pastor Jon
Soli Deo Gloria!
Is this the first mention of multiple wives? Also, did the pagan world take multiple wives back then?
ReplyDeleteI think it is safe to assume that others were taking multiple wives at this point. Actually, we first heard of Esau taking multiple wives (see Genesis 26:34). Abraham "partnered" with Hagar, but I don't she was ever considered his wife. And he married again, but only after Sarah died. So I guess we can't say he had multiple "wives."
ReplyDeleteHowever, there may have been an allusion to it in Genesis 6, where it talks about the men taking any wives they chose. I think that allows room to understand that they choose multiple wives if they felt like it. The character of that age was that people did whatever they felt like. Sound familiar?
Genesis 1 and 2 show us the pattern that God intended: Male and Female. One husband, one wife, and they are joined together. And Jesus says, "Let man not separate" what God has joined together.
The plan was never polygamy. However, I think God in his grace was patient with the patriarchs who fell into this trap of the culture. We too fall into the trappings of our sinful culture. God's ways are always intrinsically opposed to the sinful nature. And where sin is abundant and commonly accepted, then we can know that God's ways will also be counter-cultural.
Actually, Lamech, a descendant of Cain, had two wives. See Genesis 4:19.
ReplyDelete