Brady

It’s not uncommon to see people in Scripture building altars. Moses built one after the defeat of the Amalekites (Exodus 17:15). Noah built one after the flood (Genesis 8:20). Joshua built one after crossing the Jordan to conquer Canaan (Joshua 4:19-24). This wasn’t even the first time that Jacob built an altar…or the last. He […]

The scene in Genesis 33 is dramatic. It’s a reunion of sorts between two brothers who were previously at odds: One who had “stolen” a birthright, and the other who vowed to kill him in revenge.  With that in mind, it’s easy to overlook the supposed negatives of this chapter. We get so caught up

It’s easy for us to assume the worst-case scenario at any one given time. I know I’m guilty of this. If there’s something coming up — whether good or bad — I’ll sometimes start down a path of assuming everything will go wrong. This won’t work, that person won’t like me, the situation will go

Normally, when we talk about this event of Jacob wrestling with God, we phrase it exactly like that — Jacob wrestled with God. Let’s be clear here, though. According to Genesis 32:24, it says that the instigator was “the man,” not Jacob. Jacob is completely alone; it’s “the man” that wrestles with him. So who

Every one of us, at some point, has to confront the past. Whether that’s poor decisions on our part (or someone else’s), loose ends that need to be tied up, or conversations that need to be had, I would imagine every person reading this has something in their past that they could probably confront. Don’t

20 years have passed since Jacob has left his father’s camp. He’s now married to two different women (with two more concubines), and thirteen total children. He saw God ascending and descending a ladder to Heaven. He’s increased his wealth from that of sleeping with a rock for a pillow to having more flocks and

After nearly 20 years of deception by his father-in-law, Jacob had finally had enough. First, he agreed to work for seven years for Rachel, only to wake up one morning and find himself married to Leah. Then, he agrees to work another seven years for Rachel (again), only to be swindled into working six more

With his eyes and his face fully set towards his homeland, Jacob forgot one important detail in his departure: Not saying goodbye to Laban. The Text plainly states this as a deception (Genesis 31:20). Curiously though, the Hebrew literally states that Jacob “stole the heart” of Laban in fleeing. Whether “heart” is personified as Rachel,

After Jacob, Leah, and Rachel decide to leave Laban’s house, the only question that remains is when. The cynic in us would say that they should just leave whenever. They’re all adults, after all, and Jacob is a much wealthier person than he was when he first arrived. Genesis 30:42-43 states that Jacob had become

After Laban’s double-dealing with Jacob in forcing him to marry both of his daughters and work for 14 years for the right to do even that, it’s fair to say that there is a bit of a mistrust between Laban and Jacob. Are they friendly? Sure. As a matter of fact, Genesis 31:2 clearly states