The day with dianne Louise

The Lord spoke to Moses: "consecrate every firstborn male to Me, the firstborn from every womb among the Israelites, both man and domestic animal; it is mine." The significance of what The Lord said was the act He had just done, killing every firstborn in Egypt. It was an act of remberance. Jesus gave us a new commandment: that we should love one another just as He loves us. However He gave us one ritual, day I say ritual because that is what it has become, in Communion. He told His disciples: " do this in remberance of Me," his ritual also was bathed in blood, not the blood of animals but His own. He asked us to take communion and remember Him. Why did He do that? Jesus' sacrifice revolves around grace, grace holds it all together and without it the act would be as legalistic as the Old Testament command above.  In the verse above there is a legal requirement to remember by doing. In communion we are draw to Christ as we remember it was He who gave up His life ...

Now at midnight The Lord struck every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharoah who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the livestock. During the night Pharoah got up, he along with all his officials and all the Egyptians, and there was a loud wailing throughout Egypt because there wasn't a house without someone dead. He summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, "Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites, and go worship Yahweh as you have asked. Take even your flocks and herds as you asked and leave, and also bless me." Exodus 12:29-32 Pharoah so typifies his lord, Satan. Satan is hell bent on destruction, so much so he sacrifices his own. Pharoah, in hardening his heart, allowed his own son to be sacrificed and those of all his loyal followers to the cause of hatred and destruction of another. Satan's nature has not changed in all time. When he possesses a man ...

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: "this month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year.  I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I am Yahweh; I will execute judgements against all the gods of Egypt. The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when ai strike the land of Egypt. Exodus:1,2; 12,13 This event was a new beginning for the Israelites, their deliverance. They were to be dressed ready to go and to eat in a hurry. The Egyptians would thrust them out, they had had enough. God had thoroughly chasten the Egyptians, they were now believers. Yet God's plan was to take them out of Egypt forever. The blood on the doorpost is a type of Jesus, the godly lamb. His blood totally sets us free and liberates us to know...

The Lord said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague on Pharoah and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go he will drive you out from here. Now announce to the people that both men and women should ask their neighbours for silver and gold jewelry." The Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. And the man Moses was highly regarded in the land of Egypt by Pharoah's officials and the people. Exodus 11:1-3 Why did God choose 10 plagues? Why did he harden Pharoah's heart? I imagine that through the demonstration of His power He was making a name for Himself, for Moses and for the Israelites. In all of history there would be no other population that this happened with, it would be remembered and perhaps lay a foundation for some Egyptians to seek the living God, we know some went with the children if Israel. I would have gone, how about you? Not only did the Egyptians now believe but so did the Israelites. They now knew th...

On the day the  lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, He said to Him, "I am Yahweh, tell Pharoah king of Egypt everything I tell you." But Moses replied in the Lord's presence, "Since I am such a poor speaker, how will Pharoah listen to me?" The Lord answered Moses, " see, I have made you like God to Pharoah, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharoah so that he will let the Israelites go from his land, but I will harden Pharoah's heart and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. Exodus 6:28-30; 7:1-3 A reluctant representative and a stubborn king. What a mix! Yet God! who is good at being God by the way! perseveres. God wanted to show the Egyptians what they were missing out on. He wanted to display His glory. He had planned 10 plagues and even though Pharoah hardened his heart, God was still in charge. God knew what the end would be, He knew how P...

Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, " I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abrham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty, but I did not reveal my name Yahweh to them. I also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as foreigners. Furthermore, I have heard the groanings of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered My covenant. Therefore tell the Israelites: I am Yahweh, and I will deliver you from the forced labour of the Egyptians and free you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgement. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am Yahweh your God, who delivered you from the forced labour of the Egyptians. I will bring you to the land that I swore to give Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am Yahweh." Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of the...

Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharoah, "This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel says: "Let My people go, so that they may hold a festival for Me in the wilderness." But Pharoah responded, "Who is Yahweh that I should obey Him by letting Israel go? I do not know anything about Yahweh, and besides, I will not let Israel go." Then they answered, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three day journey into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God, or else He may strike us with plague or sword." The king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why are you causing the people to neglect their work? Get to work! Pharoah also said, "Look, the people of the land are so numerous, and you would stop them from working." Exodus 5:1-5 Pharoah did what any natural man would do, challenge Moses and Aaron that their request was ridiculous. God was going to have to establish His authority and that of ...

Now the Lord said to Aaron, "Go and meet Moses in the wilderness." So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and about all the signs He had commanded him to do. Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites . Aaron repeated everything the Lord had said to Moses and performed the signs before the people. The people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had paid attention to them and that He had seen their misery; they bowed down and worshipped. Exodus 4:27-31 God had kept His word to Moses; Aaron did come; he did agree to help; and the people believed him. Much to Moses disbelief, God was right. God still has the same character, He is not fickle, a liar or unfaithful. The Old Testament saw Him keep His word, in the New He fulfilled His word in Christ. You may be just like Moses, reluctant and disbelieving, this does not change God. If you dare to go, He will go ...

The Lord instructed Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, make sure you do all the wonders before Pharoah that ai have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he won't let the people go. Then you will say to Pharoah: This is what Yahweh says: " Israel is My firstborn son. I told you: Let my son go so that he may worship Me, but you refused to let him go. Now I will kill your firstborn son!" Exodus 4:21-23 This language would rankle Pharoah who saw himself as a deity and worshipped as such. Moses appears out of nowhere and demands that the Israelites be allowed to go three days into the desert to worship their God. The Israelites were the slave labour force, who, in their right mind would listen to a Hebew demanding that the people be let go? Pharoah represents a spiritual power. This power had God's people just where it wanted them, in subjection. Moses was sent to bring breakthrough and confront this power with God's power. Yet the spirit did...

But Moses replied to The Lord, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent- either in the last or recently or since You have been speaking to Your servant- because I am slow and hesitant in speech." Yahweh said to him, " Who made the human mouth? Who made him mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I , Yahweh? Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say." Moses said, "Please Lord, send someone else." Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses, and He said, "Isn't Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you. You will speak with him and tell him what to say. I will help both of you to speak and will teach you both what to do. He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and you will serve as God to him. And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with." Exodus 4:10-17 Have you ever dealt wit...

Then Moses asked God, " If I go to the Israelites and say to them: the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask, "What is His name?" What should I tell them?" God replied, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you." God also said to Moses, "Say this to the Israelites: "Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, this is how I am to be remembered in every generation." Exodus 3:13-15 The Israelites knew of the gods of Egypt, they saw their masters worship all manner of things but none was a single God over all. Their God was claiming to be I AM. He did not rule over just water, or fire, or earth or animals or harvest. He was Lord over all. Up until now He had not been named. He was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but now He was I AM, their God, revealing Himself to them. As New Testament bel...

But Moses asked God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" God answered: " I will certainly be with you and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God at this mountain." Exodus 3:11,12 Moses was to learn it was not: 'who he was' but who God was that would enable him to do what God was calling him to do. We so easily judge our ability to do God's will on what we have rather than what He is adding to the equation. I remember when Go told me to go back to financial planning I did not want to go. I had set my heart on a career of nursing as I knew I could do that, I was confident I could do that and knew I would be paid well. To tell a 50 year old woman to give up financial security and step out on the water was nothing to God because He knew He was able but I had to learn that He would be faithful, and He has been. I had to learn th...

Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro's, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Then the angel of The Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. So Moses thought: I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn't the bush burning up?" When The Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, "Moses, Moses!" "Here I am," he answered. "Do not come closer, " He said, "Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Then He continued, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Exodus 3:1-6 He's back! The God who walked with the patriarchs reappears and Moses is the next man with whom God  forms a relationship. A...

After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labour, and hey cried out, and their cry for help ascended to God because of their difficult labour. So God heard their groanings, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the Israelites, and he took notice. Exodus 2:23-25 The time had come. I am sure the Israelites had groaned before but perhaps the tone changed. Perhaps the time of evil was fulfilled and now it was show time. Now God was about to enter centre stage. The Israelites knew about Him but now they would be challenged to know Him. Most of the Israelites pushed back and only wanted a second hand knowledge of God. They were happy to have the leader know Him and pass on His messages but He wanted them to know Him. The conflict began. The children of Israel wanted freedom but freedom only came through God and He wanted them. They wanted freedom and food. They got freedom and manna and God. Slaves cannot mak...

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. Then some shepherds arrived and drove them away, but Moses came to their rescue and watered their flock. When they returned to their father Reuel, he asked, "Why have you come back so quickly today?" They answered, "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock." "So where is he?" He asked his daughters, "Why then did you leave the man behind?" "Invite him to eat dinner." Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. She gave birth to a son whom he named Gershom, for he said, "I have been a foreigner in a foreign land." Exodus 2:16-22 Again Moses rescues, this time nothing to do with the oppression by Egypt but also unfair treatment of a group of people by another. He is behaving true to his calling. ...

Years later, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their forced labour. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. Looking all around and seeing no one, he struck the Egyptian dead and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting, he askd them what was wrong, "Why are you attacking your neighbour?" "who made you a leader and judge over us?" The man replied. "Are you planning to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses became afraid and thought: what I did is certainly known. When Pharoah heard about this he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the Pharoh and went to live in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well. Exodus 2:11-15 Moses repeated the foley of Levi by killing the offender. The interesting thing was he was then attacked at the level of his future. He would indeed be a leader and judge over his own people. Moses fled to the land of the Midianites, where Sau...

Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman. The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him coated with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. Then his sister stood a distance in order to see what would happen to him. Pharoah's daughter went down to bathe in the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. Seeing the basket among the reeds, she sent her slave girl to get it. When she opened it, she saw the child- a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, "this is one of the Hebrew boys." Then his sister said to Pharoah's daughter, "Should I go and call a woman from the Hewbrews to nurse the boy for you?" " Go, " Pharoah's daughter told her. So the girl went and called the boy's mother. Then Pharoah's d...

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other apish, "When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she may live." The Hebrew midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them, they let the boys live. Exodus 1:15-17 Isn't it interesting that up to the end of the book of Genesis God met with individuals and built relationships with one man. Yet here in Exodus we see that the midwives feared God. I wonder what that looked like? Who taught them such things? What was their understanding? It is also interesting that fearing God caused the midwives to allow the baby boys to live. In other words  murder was taboo even before the law. How did they know it was wrong? On what basis did they know that fearing God meant protecting innocent lives? I could now ask: what has gone wrong? Why do people find it so easy to kill...

Then Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died. But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous so that the land was filled with them. A new king who had not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt. He said to his people, "Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are. Let us deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and if war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country." So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labour. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharoah. But the more they oppressed them the more they multiplied and spread out so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. Exodus 1:4-12 The descendants of Jacob are here called the Israelites, their name taken from what Gid changed Jacob's name to. They were not called Jacobites and therefore did not partake of hi...

Joseph and his father's house remained in Egypt. Joseph lived 110 years. He saw Ephraim's sons to the third generation; the sons of Manasseh's son Machir were recognised by Joseph. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die  but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land He promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath: " When God comes to your aid, you are or carry my bones up from here." Joseph died at the age of 110. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt. Genesis 50:22-26 Joseph's pinnacle was the interpretation of the Pharoah's dream and then the instigating of a plan to save the country from starvation during the great famine. We do not hear of any other achievements after that, but I am sure a man of his character had plenty to do in the employment of Pharoah. Joseph appears to be a good man, not ravaged by the extremes of anger of Simeon and Levi portr...

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, "if Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we have caused him." So they sent this message to Joseph, "Before he died your father gave a command: 'Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brother's transgressions and their sin- the suffering they caused you. Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father," Joseph wept when their message came to him. Then his brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, "We are your slaves!" But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You planned evil against me;God  planned it for good to bring about the present result- the survival of many people. Therefore don't be afraid. I will take care of you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Genesis 50:15-21 Joseph coul...

Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine beside a spring; it's branches climb over the wall. The archers attack him, shot at him, and were hostile toward him. Yet his bow remained steady, and his strong arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the shepherd, the rock of Israel, by the God of your father who helped you, and by the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lie below, and blessings of the breasts and the womb. The blessings of your father excel the blessings of my ancestors and the bounty of the eternal hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the prince of his brothers. Genesis 49:22-27  When Jacob was ready to die he spoke over his sons a prophesy. Those he spoke over the other 11, apart from Judah were varied and spoke of what they would do and where they would live. The word over Reuben was more like a curse because he had invaded his father's be...

Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of a pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph left Pharoah's presence and travelled throughout the land of Egypt. During the seven years of abundance the land produced outstanding harvests. Joseph gathered all the excess food in the land of Egypt during the seven years and put it in the cities. He put food in every city from the fields around it. So Joseph stored grain in such abundance- like the sand of the sea- that he stopped measuring it because it was beyond measure. Two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine arrived. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On, bore them to him. Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, meaning, "God has made me forget all my hardship in my father's house." And the second son he named he named Ephraim, meaning, "Godhas made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." Then the seven years of abundance in the land of Egyot came to an end, and seven years of famine began, ju...

Two years later Pharoah had a dream. He was standing beside the Nike, when seven healthy-looking, well fed cows came up from the nike and began to graze among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, cam up from the Ni,e and stood beside those cows along the bank of the Nile. The sickly, thin cows ate the healthy, well-fed cows. Then Pharoah woke up. He fell asleep and dreamed a second time: seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, came up on one stalk. After then seven heads of grain, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven plump, ripe ones. Then Pharoah woke up, and it was only a dream. When morning came he was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharoah told them his dream but no one could interpret it. Then the cupbearer said to Pharoah, "today I remember my faults. Pharoah had been angry with his servants, and he put me and the chief baker in the custody of the c...

But The Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. He granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warden. The warden put all the prisoners who were in prison under Joseph's authority, and he was responsible for everything that was done there, the warden did not bother about anything under Joseph's authority, because The Lord was with him, and The Lord made everything that he did successful. Genesis 39:21-23 Joseph was in prison for a number of years. We know that he was 17 when he was sold by his brothers. He was about 28 when the Pharoah threw his cupbearer and baker into prison. Although he interpreted their dreams for them and one was restored to his previous position, although Joseph had asked to be remembered, he wasn't. What a test of faith. On one hand he was given favour in prison but on the other he was still in prison. The favoured son who himself had a dream from God was sold into slavery then wrongfully imprisoned. How would he feel? Despised? Rejected?...

Now Joseph was well built and handsome. After some time his master's wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, "Sleep with me." But he refused. "Look," he said to his master's wife, "with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority. No one in this house is greater I am. He has withheld nothing form me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?" Although she spoke to him day after day he refused to go to bed with her. Now one day he went into the house to do his work and none of the household servants were there. She grabbed him by his garment and said, "Sleep with me!" But leaving his garment in her hand, he escaped and ran outside. When she saw that he had lef his garment with her and run outside, she called the household servants, "Look," she said to them, "my husband brought a Hebrew man to ma...

Joseph found favour in his master's sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority. From the time that he put him in charge of his household and all that he owned, The Lord blessed the Egyptian's house because of Joseph. The Lord's blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields. He left all that he owned under Joseph's authority; he did not concern himself wih anything except the food he ate. Genesis 39:1-6 We can see a pattern here. When God's hand is on someone then even though they may have been themselves enslaved by forces beyond their control, God blesses the house in which they serve. We can look at our own circumstances with narrow vision at times and assume God has forsaken us when all that is happening obscures the big picture. Yet here Gkd was working in Joseph but blessing his master at the same time. Joseph could well have said, "What abou...

When a Joseph came to his brothers, ey stripped of his robe, the robe of many colours that he had on. Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty and there was no water in it. When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt. Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharoah and the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.  Genesis 37:23,24;28; Genesis 39:1 Just because you are brothers or sisters does not mean you will get along and at you can deal with your issues. Joseph's brothers hated him and were envious of his place in his father's heart. Reuben tried to preserve Joseph but when his back was turned the others decided not to kill him but free themselves from him by selling him and lying to their father. Joseph ends up where he needs to be, in Egypt  he went through a ...

Then Jospeh had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him more. He said to them, "listen to this dream I had. There we were binding sheaves of grain in the filed. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to the sheaf." "Are you really going to reign over us?" His brothers asked him. "Are you really going to rule us?" So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. "Look," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and 11 stars were bowing down to me." He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him. "What kind of dream is this that you have had? He said. " Are your mother and brothers and I going to come and bow down to the ground before you?" His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept this matter in mind. Genesis 37:5-11 Joseph was 17 when he was dreami...

At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of abilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colours for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him. Genesis 37:1-4 Envy again! It comes up a lot doesn't it? As Christians we have Christ's Spirit in us to help with this nasty beast. As with anything that besets us we have to rely on the Holy Spirit to give us the victory, we are unable to do it ourselves. On the surface we could say: ' Jacob should not have favoured Joseph; Joseph should have not dobbed on his brothers' but would it have mattered? I know that I will eventually upset most people in my world at some time and vice v...

Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre in Kiriath-Arab (that is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. Isaac lived 180 years. He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Genesis 35:27-29 When I was reading the account of Jacob's return I wondered why he did not go and visit his father first. Now he may well have. Esau had met him on the way and asked that he come at his own pace but it was not mentioned that they had been in contact, yet we find later they must have been because there was not enough room for them all to live in the one place together. In the last part of this chapter we see Jacob's name changed by God to Israel yet now the account of his visit to his father, the scripture  calls him Jacob again. We meet people who change their names at times, some prefer their middle name, some, like my daughter, prefers her nick name. My sister is Anne Cecille, I have always known her as Cec...

Israel set out again and pitched his tent beyond The Tower of Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Rwuben went in and slept with his father's concubines Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Reuben you are my firstborn, my strength and the first fruits of my virility, excelling in prominence, excelling in power. Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel, because you got into your father's bed and you defiled it. Genesis 35:21,22;49:3,4 Reuben may have been exerting his authority, showing he was the man and the next in command. However, althoughg Israel did not address it when it happened he now curses his son. Many people take matters into their own hands and think nothing of their behaviour. They may have been blessed with the ear of a leader but did not know the true value and therefore trampled it underfoot. When the leader withdraws they are amazed, hurt or offended. I remember Pastor Phil Pringle teaching on honour. He said that when he goes into the presence of t...

God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-Aram, and He blessed him: Your name is Jacob, you will no longer be named Jacob, but your name will be Israel. So he named him Israel, God also said to him: I am god Almighty, be fruitful and multiply.  A nation indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you, And kings will descend from you. I will give you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. I will give the land to your future descendants. Then God withdrew from him at the place where he had spoken to him. Jacob set up a marker at the place where he had spoken to him-a stone marker. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it wih oil. Jacob named the place where God had spoken to him Bethel. Genesis 35:9-15 Although there is great blessing in God's words, the saddest things is: 'God withdrew from him'. I am grateful that Jesus came and that I now have His Spirit living inside. He is my light and salvation, my guide, counsellor, navigator. When God mee...

Dinah, Leah's daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see some of the young women of the area. When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivitem a prince of the region, saw her, he took her and raped her. He became infatuated with Dinah, daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke tenderly to her. "Get me this girl as a wife," he told his father. Jacob heard Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent until they returned. Genesis 34:1-5 Why was Dinah out alone? She can't have been very old, perhaps a young teenager at most. What was Shechem thinking that he could take what he wanted and then smoothe things over afterwards? As a young teenager I remember walking to the movies and home again late at night. There were two instances where I could have been in trouble. One was a strange youth who endeavoured to walk with me, there was a strong wind that night and I sensed danger so I rushed on and he...

God said to Jacob, "get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau." So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes. We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me everywhere I have gone." Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem. When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob's sons. Genesis 35:1-5 Isn't it amazing what holiness and obedience can bring about? By rights Jacob's sons were a target from all the inhabitants because of how they slew all the men in Shechem for disgracing their sister Dinah. The acts of holiness were: putting aside all foreign gods Purifying thems...

Jacob went on his way, and God's angels met him. When he saw them, Jacob said, "this is God's camp." So he called the place Mahanaim. Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not defeat him, He struck Jacob's hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip. Then he said to Jacob, "let Me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." What is your name?" The man asked. "Jacob," he replied. "Your name will no longer be Jacob," he said. "It will be Israel because you have wrestled with God and with men and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked, "what is your name?" But He answered, "Why do you ask My name?" And he blessed him there. Genesis 32:1,2; 24-29 Jacob has a God encounter of a different kind. Fancy wrestling all night with God! Jacob was faced with an attack from his brother Esau. He had sent ...

Now Jacob herd what Laban's sons were saying: "Jacob has taken all that was our father's and has built this wealth from what belonged to our father." And Jacob saw from Laban's face that his attitude towards him was not the same. Then The Lord said to him, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you." Genesis 31:1-3 Envy had taken root. Although Laban cheated and changed the rules 10 times god blessed Jacob. God was blessing Laban while Jacob worked for him and although Laban agreed to give Jacob the spotted and speckled sheep and goats he endeavoured to cheat by removing them. The Lord showed Jacob in a dream what to do, but still Laban strived to contrive and failed. Once Jacob began to take possession envy began. Living with envy is not pleasant. Fellowship is broken and hatred begins. Jacob wanted out.  God uses the wicked to steer His people at times. They may be going down one path but the road block of envy bump...

After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so that I might return to my homeland. Give me my wives and children that I have worked for, and let me go. You know how hard I have worked for you." But Alabama said to him, "If I have found favour in your sight, stay. I have learned by divination that The Lord has blessed me because of you". Then Laban said, "name your wages, and it will pay them," So Jacob siad to him, "You know what I have done for you and your herds. For you had very little before I came, but now your wealth has increased. The Lord has blessed you because of me. And now, when will I also do something for my own family?" Laban asked, "What should I give you?" And Jacob said, "You needn't give me anything! If you do this one thing for me, I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock, let me go through all your sheep today and remove any speckled and spotted sheep, every dark colour...

Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my shame." She named him Joseph: "May The Lord add another son to me." Genesis 30:22-24 Rachel had been married to Jacob for nigh on 20 years when she gave birth to Joseph. This is a long time to be frustrated by barrenness. Rachel may have been beautiful outside but she was full of envy and deceit inside, she may have had her husband's heart, but she struggled to have the Lord's. In fact when Jacob takes his family away she steals her father's idols. This shows that she is also a thief and an idolater. Not a good mix. However, the son she bears is favoured by The Lord. Joseph would be a good man who suffers greatly at the hand of his brothers and sold into slavery. Yet he had a destiny, one of God's making. He was used to protect God's people and provide for them in Egypt in a severe drought. Rachel would not see him fo...

When The Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was unable to conceive. Leah conceived, gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben, for she said, "The Lord has seen my affliction; surely my husband will love me now." She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, "The Lord has heard that I am unloved and given me this son also." So she named him Simeon. She conceived again, gave. Birth to a son, and said, "At last my husband will become attached to me because I have borne three sons for him." Therefore he was named Levi. And she conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, "This time I will realise The Lord." Therefore she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children. Genesis 29:31-35 Isn't it interesting that God used an unloved woman to bring forth the line down to Christ. Jesus is called 'the Lion of the tribe of Judah.' How good is God? God hardly ever chose the famous, the bold, the beautiful ...

Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my time is completed. I want to sleep with her." So Laban invited all the men of the place to a feast. That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her, and Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave, when morning came, there was Leah! Sp he said to Laban, " what is this you have done to me? Wasn't it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?" Laban answered, "it is not the custom in this place to give the younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn. Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me." And Jacob did just that. Genesis 29:21-28 What a travesty! Jacob would have needed to have been drunk not to notice the eyes. For it was the eyes that drew him to Rachel. The trickster had been tricked and compelled to work seven more years...

After Jacob had stayed with Laban a month, Laban said to him, "Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be." Now Laban had two daughters: the older was names Leah, and the younger named Rachel. Leah had ordinary eyes, but Rachel had shapely beautiful eyes. Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, I'll work for you for seven years for your younger daughter Rachel." Genesis 29:14-18 Fancy volunteering to work 7 years for a wife. What possessed Jacob to be so generous? Jacob would have been close to 50 when he married. What restraint! Definitely not a modern man. The seven years later became a time period that as slave would work for his master before being freed. What does this teach us? Was there a code of conduct that has been lost? How would Jacob gotten to know Rachel in 7 years? I imagine quite well. They would have worked together with the sheep. Living outside in fresh air, working and communicating, I imagin...

Jacob continued his journey and went to the eastern country. He looked and saw a well in the field. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from the well. A large stone covered the opening of the well. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the opening of the well and water the sheep. The stone was then placed back on the well's opening. Jacob asked the men at the well, "My brothers! Where are you from?" Do you know Laban grandson of Nahor?" Jacob asked them? They answered, " We know him." "Is he well?" Jacob asked. "Yes," they replied, "and here is his daughter Rachel, coming with his sheep." Then Jacob said, "Look, it is still broad daylight. It is not time for animals to be gathered. Water the flock, then go out and let them graze." But they replied, "We can't until all the sheep are gathered and the stone is rolled from the ...

 Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it and named the place Bethel, though previously the city was named Luz. Then Jacob made a vow: "if God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, if He provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return safely to my father's house, then The Lord will be my God. This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God's house, and I will give You a tenth of all you give me." Genesis 28:18-22 In the night Jacob had a dream about a stairway to heaven upon which angels went up and down and The Lord appeared to him and promised him He would bless him, much the same as He had promised Abraham and Isaac. When Jacob awoke he knew that the place was special and therefore set up a marker, poured oil on it and renamed the place Bethel. Jacob was the first thus far to use oil as a significant tool of dedication. Oil was used in annointing thro...

Jacob left Beer-Sheba and went toward Haran. He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, and put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. And he dreamed. A stairway was set on the ground with it's top reaching heaven, and God's angels were going up and down on it. Yahweh was standing there beside him, saying, "I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on. Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out towards the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the people of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have " When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, "surely The Lord is in this place, and ...

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, "My son." And he answered, "Here I am." He said, "look I am old and do not know the day of my death. Take your hunting gear, your quiver and bow, and go out into the field to hunt some game for me. Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I can bless you before I die." Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac said to his son Esau. So while Esau went to the field to hunt some game to bring in, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau, he said, 'bring m some game and make a delicious meal for me to eat so that I can bless you.' Now obey every order I give you my son. Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father- the kind he loves. Then take it to your father to eat so he may bless you...

When Esau was 40 years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basmath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. Genesis 26:34,35 Abraham had been very particular that his son obtain a wife from his own people back in his home country. Why had Isaac not been as particular when the result of his father's protective choice been so good for him? Was it a laziness? Was is indolence? What ever the reason his lack of attention to this detail this was going to cause Isaac and Rebekah much grief. Modern families tend to allow their children to marry whomever they wish. However loving guidance can help shield them and us from much heartache. I remember when my daughter was a teenager, she was and still is very beautiful. the boys swarmed like flies. My then husband and I were on guard and swatting the files with vigilance. We talked to our children about the type of spouse to pick. Being young they were bound to be influe...

From Gerar Isaac went up to Beer-Sheba, and The Lord appeared to him that night and said, " I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of My servant Abraham." So Isaac built an altar there, called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. Isaac's slaves also dug a well there.  Now Abimelech came to him there from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army. Isaac said to them, " Why have you come to me? You hated me and sent me away from you." They replied, "We have clearly seen how The Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties- between us and you. You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done what was good to you, sending you away in peace. You are blessed by The Lord." So Isaac prepared a banquet for them, and hey ate and drank. They got up early in the morning and swore an oath ...

Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him, and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy. He had flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him. The Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father's slaves had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with dirt. And Abimelech said to Isaac, "leave us, you are much too powerful for us." So Isaac left there, and camped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there. Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham had died. He gave them the same names his father had given them. Then Isaac's slaves dug in the valley and found a well of spring water there. But the herdsman of Gerar quarrelled with Isaac's herdsmen and said, "the water is ours!" So he named the well Quarrel becaus...

There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that occurred in Abraham's time, and Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. The Lord appeared to him and said, "do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about; stay in the land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm My oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My mandate, My commands, My statutes, and My instructions." So Isaac settled in Gerar. Genesis 26:1-6 Famines happens to the righteous. Why? They lived in an earth subject to a curse. Yet God was with Isaac. He appeared to him and told him not to go to Egypt, however it appears it was okay to go to the land of ...