Twenty Seven....

Another beautiful day of paddle boarding, bible study in the morning and now home to rest before work.

What I ate, greek scramble, scone fruit, sonic for lunch: chicken sandwich and tots, rice with turkey burger.

What I read.... Genesis 27

So, a great deal of deception and lies and stealing go on in this chapter... Isaac is getting old and thinks he's going to die so he tells his son Esau to go kill him some tasty game and then he will give him his blessing. So Esau goes out, meanwhile, scheming Rebekah and Jacob come up with a plan to steal the blessing, the cook some goats to taste the way the Isaac likes, then dress him up and make him a hairy man and slather him him goat skins to make him hairy and smell like Esau... Isaac is not quite positive, but eventually falls to the deception and delivers the blessing to Jacob...

“Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the LORD has blessed.
²⁸ May God give you heaven’s dew
and earth’s richness—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
²⁹ May nations serve you
and peoples bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed
and those who bless you be blessed.”

So Jacob receives the blessing. It is slightly amazing to me how important the blessing is to his children, where the birthright meant nothing to Esau before, not it means everything. Where a blessing nowadays does not seem to pack the same punch that it did back them. I know that my parents pray for my siblings and me, however, I do not think at the time of their death they will call us to their bedside to deliver a blessing, nor do I think they would hold favoritism between us and deliver one child a more favorable blessing than the other. But than again, my father was not told by God that he would be the father of many nations. However, now that I've written this, if my parents do read this I would not put it past my father to give us blessings, if he can remember to his dying days, which I hope is many decades from now. I can see it now...

"ah the smell of my daughter

like lavender and rose oil

from a Fred meyer shelf

May God give you an abundance of rain

for your living in a Texas drought

May you serve many people

as your nursing skills improve.

Be charge nurse over others

and may you bow down to others in servanthood

May those who curse you be cursed

and those you bless you be blessed.

Ok so I totally made that up and my father would probably never say that... nor do I think servanthood is an actual word. But sometimes, it's interesting to think of your life in Bible times. As the story goes on Esau gets to his fathers bedside with the game and now the blessing is gone, he gets the crap blessing I guess you could say. He gets angry and vows to kill his brother, when Rebekah hears of this she sends him away. Now everyone is happy... try NOT! Isaac is dying and giving away blessings, Rebekah tells her favorite son to deceive his father and now for fear of losing him he has to run away. Esau, already sold his birthright for a cup of soup and now is wanting to kill his brother because he got the good blessing and Jacob- spineless Jacob, listens to his mother and deceives his father and runs away. I'm not really sure who is the most wrong in the picture, but I can tell you one thing. At least the Lord redeems us and are sins are forgiven and forgotten. I don't know how much I learned from this chapter. It is not good to have a favorite child, for it will tear apart the family, the couple, and in the end someone might end up dying and another in exile, while those remaining are left with bitterness, anger and rejection. But hey at least the Lord forgives!!

God Bless and Good Night!