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Summary: Abraham marries. He has children. Genealogy listed. Jacob and Esau are born. Esau sells his birthright to Jacob.
Personal Reflection: This is an interesting story to think about, but it gets more interesting as we get a little bit further into it (read the next several chapters). I often wonder if families today are really any more strange than families were back then. Abraham marries and has children when he is really old. These days we would consider a man Abraham's age marrying someone young enough to bear children really strange. I wonder if there was anything like that back then.
I wonder why it was that only Rebekah got the news that Jacob was to be served by Esau. In later chapters, it becomes apparent that Isaac doesn't really know that Jacob is supposed to be the birthright son.
I also often wonder what the events were around the selling of the birthright. It seems like it was probably a more complicated story than we are privy to. If it was just a trivial thing how would they still have the information. Or perhaps it's one of those stories that just happens to survive. Or maybe Jacob kept a journal. Or maybe the story was re-revealed by God.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Marriage
Since the last post was really a rewrite of a post I was supposed to write before, I thought I would post the short paper that I had to write for my Old Testament class about this chapter of scripture you'll find it (unedited) below.
I have had a lot of good examples of marriage (and family) in my life, and I count myself very lucky. In fact, it wasn't until I moved away from home that I really knew that I knew anybody who had really hard family experiences that could easily turn them away from the idea of marriage. Since then, I thought about marriage a lot, what makes a good marriage, and how I could do my utmost to add to the stability of my future marriage, but I never came to any particularly concrete conclusions. Mostly, I came to the realization that it couldn't be done alone and had to involve both partners equally to sustain such a marriage. So, I was really glad to see these insights.
Number one, for me, seemed self-explanatory. Marrying within in the covenant (another Latter-day Saint) seemed a foregone conclusion. To work strongly together, a couple must have the same foundation on which they are built. For example, if a house were built right on a fault line, it would have the tendency to shift and pull apart. I think that's a good analogy for why it is important to marry within the covenant.
I think one of the harder concepts for me, is the concept of making myself as attractive as possible. I can also see why this would be an important element. I sincerely believe that although the Lord looketh on the heart, we ought to make our outward appearance as reflective of our "inward parts" as possible, and in some ways they can't help but be inextricably connected since our mental, spiritual, and physical health are connected. However, my mother is a person very concerned with outward appearance. I am the only girl in the family, and I seem to have caught the brunt of that concern. When I was growing up, the arguments between my mother and me centered on four areas: my weight, my hair, my makeup, and my clothing. In all of these areas, as far as my mother was concerned, I fell short. This focus has caused me some to deal with some self-worth doubts. So when I feel that I ought to make a change in any of these areas of appearance, it is hard for me to know if it is truly a change that needs to be made, or if it is part of my early education about appearance. In other words, I am still working on finding the most attractive me.
All in all, though, I find it comforting that God has promised to guide the process, and that he is involved in this very important decision. Most of the process seems to be, really, a fulfillment of the covenant between God and man. We promise to remember God (e.g. pray for his spirit, try to involve him), he promises that we will always have his spirit to be with us (e.g. miracles will occur, the spirit will bear witness of the rightness of the choice), and our choices will have bearing on future generations.
I have had a lot of good examples of marriage (and family) in my life, and I count myself very lucky. In fact, it wasn't until I moved away from home that I really knew that I knew anybody who had really hard family experiences that could easily turn them away from the idea of marriage. Since then, I thought about marriage a lot, what makes a good marriage, and how I could do my utmost to add to the stability of my future marriage, but I never came to any particularly concrete conclusions. Mostly, I came to the realization that it couldn't be done alone and had to involve both partners equally to sustain such a marriage. So, I was really glad to see these insights.
Number one, for me, seemed self-explanatory. Marrying within in the covenant (another Latter-day Saint) seemed a foregone conclusion. To work strongly together, a couple must have the same foundation on which they are built. For example, if a house were built right on a fault line, it would have the tendency to shift and pull apart. I think that's a good analogy for why it is important to marry within the covenant.
I think one of the harder concepts for me, is the concept of making myself as attractive as possible. I can also see why this would be an important element. I sincerely believe that although the Lord looketh on the heart, we ought to make our outward appearance as reflective of our "inward parts" as possible, and in some ways they can't help but be inextricably connected since our mental, spiritual, and physical health are connected. However, my mother is a person very concerned with outward appearance. I am the only girl in the family, and I seem to have caught the brunt of that concern. When I was growing up, the arguments between my mother and me centered on four areas: my weight, my hair, my makeup, and my clothing. In all of these areas, as far as my mother was concerned, I fell short. This focus has caused me some to deal with some self-worth doubts. So when I feel that I ought to make a change in any of these areas of appearance, it is hard for me to know if it is truly a change that needs to be made, or if it is part of my early education about appearance. In other words, I am still working on finding the most attractive me.
All in all, though, I find it comforting that God has promised to guide the process, and that he is involved in this very important decision. Most of the process seems to be, really, a fulfillment of the covenant between God and man. We promise to remember God (e.g. pray for his spirit, try to involve him), he promises that we will always have his spirit to be with us (e.g. miracles will occur, the spirit will bear witness of the rightness of the choice), and our choices will have bearing on future generations.
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