Tag: children

Depths of Wickedness

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 32:11 is showing us the depth of wickedness. These verses are all saying the same thing.

Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.
Genesis 32:11 (NIV)

“Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
Exodus 34:26 (NIV)

Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day.
Leviticus 22:28 (NIV)

If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young.
Deuteronomy 32:6 (NIV)

Priorities of the Righteous

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels…
Genesis 31:17 (NIV)

Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the members of his household…
Genesis 36:6 (NIV)

I’m so enthralled by the Jewish studies and interpretations of the Torah.

Look closely at Genesis 31:17 and Genesis 36:6. The rabbis note that Jacob’s priorities were his children, and then his wives, whereas Esau’s priorities were his wives, and then his children. This was written this way intentionally, to teach us something.

What do you suppose it means?

Now, I am a little influenced by some of the Jewish writings on this, so my answer isn’t entirely my own, but I do have my own spin on it.

I think that the Children of Israel are a picture of a promise, and this promise is about the future. They are the hope. The wives, on the other hand, are a symbol of *right now.*

Jacob is thinking on the promise; Esau is thinking on his current and ever-present appetite. Food, sex, and violence.