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A stone for a pillow!

In the book of Genesis, Chapters 28-29 there is a story of a righteous man, running from his older brother: the brother/sibling was angry enough to do some serious harm. This man saw a vision of God when he was running. Asleep on a stone, he saw God standing at the top of a ladder stretching from Earth to Heaven. The meaning of this dream was a confirmation by God that this new family would be a community He was going to create, through this runner. The Angels going up and down the ladder was God actively working through his people. The man running was named Jacob and he was “getting out of Dodge.” Jacob had swindled his brother out of his birthright. Tradition has always been a pain in the side of righteous people. No doubt, Jacob made better use of the birth-right as Esau wanted nothing to do with his father’s desires, he only wanted the money that came with the position. If “Tradition” wouldn’t have been around, there wouldn’t have been a problem, it could have gone to whomever the father thought was the better candidate. Remember Tevya in “Fiddler on the roof?” Tradition was always getting in his way of everyday progress. To do what he wanted, he had to create a new tradition to overcome the old one. Safety wasn’t the only reason Jacob ran, he was to go to his Aunt’s side of the family and choose a wife. There was less chance of genetic failure from the mother’s side. Once there at Laban’s home, he did find a woman he wanted but he had to work seven years for the right to marry her. It was in this arrangement that Jacob realized others could be deceitful, too. Uncle Laban tricked him at the marriage bed. After seven years, by the time he got everything worked out and headed back to his home country, he had spent twenty-plus years away from his immediate family. When Jacob arrived back in Israel Esau was no longer angry at him. God continued to work through and bless the Hebrew nation. Through Jesus we have been adopted into the same family. May your faith serve you well.

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