Thursday
Dear Elsie
I’ve been reading about a family’s strife. It’s quite a story of conflict and bitterness and it continued through at least 3 generations. Things started becoming tense when the husband took on a mistress because his wife couldn’t fall pregnant. It sounds like such a bad idea, but that’s what happened with Abraham and Sarah. Hagar entered the equation, was given to Abraham and Ishmael was the outcome. The Bible gives us such a large perspective of life. This epic account covers the highs and lows of the lives of the major players of the time. Sarah tolerated Hagar and Ishmael until after Isaac was born. When he was weaned they threw a massive feast, but during it, there was an incident that clearly resulted in tempers flaring. “Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking”. What that entailed is not divulged but it left Sarah fuming, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son,” she instructed Abraham. Abraham didn’t know what to do because Ishmael was his flesh and blood after all. He was reassured that God would take care of him & he send Hagar and Ishmael away.
Fast forward 40 years and Isaac is now 40 and needs a wife. The account of Rebekah is one of the Bible’s great sweet love stories. It takes Rebekah about 20 years to fall pregnant, so I guess she was 40 when she had the twins Jacob and Esau. It was when they were young adults that the first cracks appeared. On a whim, back from a trip and starving hungry, Esau asked Jacob for some of the food he was making. Jacob who was born second, said “first sell me your birthright.” Esau, weak and feeling like he was going to die, agreed & so the privilege that came with the firstborn was passed to Jacob. It included leadership of the family and a double portion of the father’s inheritance.
Time passed. Esau did not marry within the family faith as was hoped for. He found himself two Hittite wives. With new foreign daughters-in-law in the family, angst was at an all time high. “They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah”. Things were about to get worse. Isaac was on his death bed when Rebekah manipulated circumstances so that Isaac gave Jacob his blessing instead of Esau. The deceit created a deep hatred and Esau planned on killing Jacob. When the plot was overheard, Jacob left post-haste heading for Rebekah’s brother Laban. Safe at Laban’s, Jacob fell in love with Rachel. Laban, also one to be deceitful, snuck Rachel’s sister Leah into the marriage tent and Jacob found himself having married the wrong girl! A week later he married Rachel as well.
Two wives don’t work. There was such conflict between Leah and Rachel as they vied for the affection of Jacob & tried to grow his family through themselves and their maidservants. The conflict & jealousy knew no bounds. And, then there was Laban, Jacob’s father-in-law. There didn’t seem to be teamwork between them either. Eventually, Jacob takes his whole family and leaves. Rachel even steals her father’s idols on the way out. 12 sons are born to Jacob and this massive family with huge numbers of livestock head back to where Jacob first lived – and in that region is his brother Esau, who hears he is coming.
Decades had passed since Jacob deceitfully took his brother’s inheritance and Esau wanted to kill him for it.
Talk about strife in the family.
Jacob was very uncertain about meeting Esau again. When he heard Esau was coming with 400 men, he was petrified. He allocated 550 animals plus the young of the camels as a gift for Esau. “Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him”. They wept. Esau accepted all the livestock and then they parted. They do meet again when Isaac dies and even after that there is a reference, “He (Esau) moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob. Their possessions were too great for them to remain together.”
As I read this whole account what occurred to me is:
- Family strife is normal, not ideal, but normal.
- There is nothing new under the sun.
- Time can heal relationships.
- Even in the messiness God revealed Himself.
- Regardless of family strife, God can use the people involved & it doesn’t stop Him working out his plan.
What’s tough is the strife in Abraham’s family is recorded for all time. Those chapters in Genesis are something to chew over.
For me today, I took off for an early morning windy walk.
There were still people in the sea – the regulars enthusiastically using their body-boards and enjoying the waves. For me, I need a flat sea to enjoy a swim. I walked 6.66km, so that got me my steps easily enough.
8 hours of work later, my blog is done and now it’s time for dinner.
It’s always good to encounter this Bible verse in my reading.
Matthew 11:28
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
It’s not about now – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂
