BIAY Day 13 - Reluctant Reunion
Genesis 33-36, Psalm 12
Welcome to the Bible in a Year for 2025. Intro to this series and resource links available here, plus here’s how I’m approaching this year.
Scriptures for Today:
Reflection:
The family drama continues. Estranged brothers meet again. Angry brothers avenge their sister. Going back to a faith milestone. Another generation passes the torch.
Here are some things I thought about as I read these chapters.
The stories we tell ourselves - Jacob was incredibly worked up and anxious about seeing Esau again. And why wouldn’t he be? After his scheming and deception, Esau might have been steaming for the past 20 years waiting for the opportunity to exact his revenge. But it turns out that all is well. Esau has moved on. God has provided for him too. Jacob has spent enormous amounts of mental and emotional energy unnecessarily. He had told himself a story about Esau, but that story didn’t turn out to be true.
Beware the sons of Jacob - The episode with Dinah and Shechem the Hivite is a reminder of the brutality of the world in which God is intervening to create a people for Himself. This is a tribal society governed by honor and shame and boy do the brothers of Dinah get retribution on this clan of Hivites who have committed sexual violence against her.
Back to Bethel - Jacob is called by God to return to Bethel, where he had the vision of the ladder between heaven and earth in Genesis 28:10-22. Jacob is returning back to where it all began in terms of his relationship with God. In preparation for their return, Jacob had everyone in his household rid themselves of their household gods. This feels like a sort of renewal. Much has come to pass since Jacob was last in Bethel. Returning to an early place or experience of divine encounter presents an opportunity to dedicate himself and have those in his household dedicate themselves to the Lord. Jacob’s words about God catch my attention (Genesis 35:2-3):
'So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.”’ (emphasis mine)
Strangely current - The opening words of Psalm 12 sound strangely current: “Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.” I wonder why each generation thinks that the times they are living are the ones in which things are getting worse. Doesn’t mean it isn’t true, but it does have a “the kids these days” kind of ring to it.
Questions:
When have you worked up a story in your mind about how bad something would be that didn’t turn out to be true?
What’s an early encounter you had with God? What’s it like to return to that place, if only in your mind?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for answering us in days of distress and being with us wherever we go. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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