Bible Reading Genesis 31-32

On this Episode we read Genesis 31-32 where Jacob wrestles with God.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Alright, so we're starting on Genesis thirty-one. And uh yeah, this is when Jacob flees from Laban. So I guess I will jump into it. So, and he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our fathers, and of that which was our fathers hath he gotten all this glory. So Laban's sons are mad at Jacob because Jacob has actually gotten all the wealth over time.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

You want to do an intro?

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Uh sure. Uh how about you do it?

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Welcome to Faith Fiction and Folklore, or the Try A Podcast, where we try not to podcast up. And tonight we're going to read Genesis chapter 31. And uh Gary and Cody, how are you guys doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Very well.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Yeah, it's been kind of a crazy night.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Like crazy night.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Yeah, but we're we're I'm still alive. So all right. Yeah. Alright, so uh we'll do verse two. And Jacob beheld the count yeah, so Genesis 31, verse 2. And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as before. And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, and said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before, but the God of my father hath been with me. And ye know that with all my power I have served your father, and your father hath deceived me and changed my wages ten times. But God suffered him not to hurt me. And he said the if he said thus, if he said thus, the speckled shall be thy wages, then all the cattle cattle bear speckled, and if he said thus, the ring straight shall be thy hire, then bear all the cattle ring straight. So basically, every time Laban tried to cheat him, he God maneuvered the uh deal so that Jacob still benefited, is what that means. So I think this is irrelevant because in the previous chapter, for those who don't remember, it's kind of like up in the air whether or not God was doing a miracle or whether this was some kind of horticulture practice or some kind of agricultural practice. And uh I think this verse might suggest that this is more of a miracle thing, not something that actually works in real life. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah, so okay. So so God's doing something supernatural to make sure Jacob still profits. And the angel of the Lord spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob, and I said, Here I am, and he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ring strached, speckled, and grizzled. For I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointest the pillar, and where thou vowest a vow unto me, now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted of him, strangers? For he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. Are we not counted of him, strangers? Yeah, so the girls are ticked off at their dad. So, and Jess says, totally normal, too. Yeah, yeah, totally normal. So I'm not sure what you're referring to. I'm assuming the fact that their the daughters hate their dad so much, but I don't know. So tell us what you mean, Jess, if you wouldn't mind. So they're saying, Are we not counted of him strangers? For he hath sold us and hath quite devoured also our money. For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours and our children's, now then whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. So it looks like they're mad at Laban. That seems to be building on that. Then Jacob rose up and set his sons and his and his wives upon camels, and he carried away all his cattle and all his goods, which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padon Padan Ram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. And Laban went to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's, and Jacob stole away stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. So he fled with all that he had, and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face toward the Mount Gilead. And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had was fled. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey, and they overtook him in the Mount Gilead. And God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mount of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou what hast thou done? Thou that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives, taken with the sword. So this is a good example of Laban's wonderful temperament. His daughters clearly hate him, but Jacob is the one who has stolen them away. So wherefore didst thou flee away secretly and still away from me, and didst not tell me that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tablet and with harp, and hast yeah and hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters, thou hast now done foolishly in so doing.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

It is sucked so bad.

unknown 6:43

I know.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

He's a piece of crap. So it is in the power of my hand to do you hurt. But the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou soar longest after thy father's house, wherefore yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? Now that's bizarre to me. Because I'm pretty sure the other gods haven't visited Laban in a dream. Yet the real god shows up and he still wants his toy gods. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Laban's garbage.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Yep, and empiricism is bull crap. People don't believe things based on evidence, generally speaking. So they believe what they want to. So And Jacob answered and said un said to Laban, Because I was afraid, for I said, Peradventure, per yeah, peradventure, thou wouldest take by force thy daughters from me. With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live, before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee, for Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the two maid and into the two maidservants' tents, but he found them not. Then went he out of Leah's tent and entered into Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord, that I cannot rise up before thee, for the custom of women is upon me, and he searched, but found not the images. So and Jacob was wroth and choked with Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? What is my sin that thou hast so hotly pursued after me? Whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found in all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us both. This twenty years have I been with thee, the thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee. I bear the loss of it, of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was in the day, the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house, I have served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle, and thou hast charged my w changed my wages ten times. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had been with me, surely thou hadest sent me away now empty. God hath seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight. And Laban and Laban answered and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle, and all that thou seest is mine, and what can I do this day unto these my daughters or unto their children which they have borne? Thou for therefore now, therefore, come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou, and let it be for a witness between me and thee. And Jacob took a stone and set it up for a pillar. And Jacob said unto his brethren, gather stones, and they took stones and made a heap, made an heap, and they did eat thereupon the heap. And Laban called to it Jeger Sahadha Jeger Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galid. And Laban said, This heap is witness between me and thee this day, therefore was the name of it called Galhid. And Mitzvah for he said, and Mitzvah, for he said, The Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another. If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or thou shalt take over other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us. See, God is between God is witness betwixt me and thee. And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold this pillar which I have cast betwixt me and thee. This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto unto me for harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of thy of their father, judge betwixt us, and Jacob swear by the fear of his father Isaac. Isaac. Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount and called his brethren to eat bread, and they did eat bread and tarried all night in the mount. And early in the morning Laban rose up and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them, and Laban departed and returned unto his place. There you go. What a piece of crab. Yeah, he's terrible. Yeah, so even after all that, he's like, Yeah, these are my daughters, these are my kids, and those are my cattle. He's a very bitter man, apparently.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yeah. I might have put him in a hole.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Possibly. What do you think, Trevor?

SPEAKER_01 12:36

I got lost in all of these and those and that's and this is what I think I got the gist of the story.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

That sounds like like that's thou's problem. So yeah. Alright, moving on to 32. Alright, and Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host, and he called the name of that place Mahanaim. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, unto the land of Seir and the country of Edom. And he commanded them, saying, Thus that thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau. The servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Wab with Laban, and stayed there until now. And I have oxen and asses, flocks, and men's servants and women servants, and I have sent to tell my lord that I may find grace in thy sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thou to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks and herds, and the camels into two bands, and said, If Esau come to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidest unto me, Return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant. For with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am became I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the land from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. And thou saidest, I will surely do thee good, and make thy sea as the sand of the sea, make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. And he lodged there that same night, and took of that which came to his hand at present for Esau, his brother, two hundred she goats and uh and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine and ten bulls, twenty she asses and ten fowl, ten foals. And he delivered them into the land and the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves, and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou, and whither goest thou, and whose are these before thee? Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's. It is a present sent unto my lord Esau, and behold, also he is behind us. So he commanded the second and the third, and all that followed the drove, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau when ye find him. And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us, for he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face, peradventure he will accept me he will accept of me. So went the present over before him, and himself lodged that night in the company. And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabak, and he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent them and sent over that he said, and sent over that he had. And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hallow of his thigh, and the hallow of Jacob's thigh was at a joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh, and he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And Jacob and he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast yeah, has hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name, and he said, Wherefore is it thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Pinil, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Pinel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank. So that's the story of Jacob wrestling with God, which is why he's called Israel, because Israel wrestles with God. And then the first part is his plan to try to win Esau's favor. Any thoughts? Yeah. I like it because it's uh that second half, the the story of Jacob wrestling with God, because uh I think it's indicative of the nature of the covenant. It's kind of a foreshadowing of what's gonna happen. Men resist God, they wrestle with God, and there's this kind of tuggle war, but God always pursues.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Isn't that like what? Like when you try to follow the law and you don't accept Christ, isn't that wrestling with God?

SPEAKER_02 18:45

That's what Israel does in a sense, yeah. They wrestle with them and fight them over every little thing. Yes, it's like pulling teeth to get them to do whatever. It's the nature of the it's like a yeah, like a foreshadowing is probably the best way to put it. So yeah. What does he say in Exodus? They are a stiff-necked people.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

So the pineal thing too is uh interesting.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

So it's like uh so it's like all of this is like an allegory for wrestling with your thoughts, you kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

That's an interesting connection. So the pineal the pineal gland, is that what you said? Some part of your pin.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Pineal P-I-N E-A-O?

SPEAKER_02 19:40

I'm not sure. I wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

It look it looks like a pine cone. You know, pine pineal.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Pineal, okay. Let me see if I can look this up really quick. Hang on.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Pretty interesting. It's the gland that opens when you're deep in prayer, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

That is an interesting connection. I wonder if that was done on purpose.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

It's the same one that people call a third eye.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

Yeah. Okay, so this is what it says. This is the AI. It says the pineal gland is a small pine cone-shaped endocrine gland in the brain that primarily produces and secretes melatonin to regulate the body's circadian rhythm, the sleep-wake cycle. It releases more melatonin at night in response to darkness and decreases production in light. It also supports reproduction function and acts as an oxy as an antioxidant. So there you go. Pineal gland. That's interesting, I didn't realize it was a similar name. So you got let's see, the pineal gland and what do you call it? Pen Pineal. It's very similar. I'm just trying to find it. Yeah. Um place pineal, yeah. There you go. That's an interesting connection. But you got two different names. You got penial and then pinial. Oh, that might be a typo or something with the internet. Interesting. Huh. That might be actually a typo because it's spelled differently in different places here. I'm wondering if that's a gateway thing. Anyway. Interesting, Cody, that was a really interesting connection. So yeah. Trevor, you got any thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 21:53

So um people have asked me about. See if I can get their question right. How do we know that it wasn't just a person that he wrestled with?

SPEAKER_02 22:15

Because he said because he popped his hip out of place by just touching it for one thing.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

How did he wrestle all night and that's the only thing that happened?

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Mm-hmm. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

And he also wouldn't give his hmm. So was there a supernatural thing, or did he actually physically wrestle with it?

SPEAKER_02 22:38

I think I would suspect it was uh physical wrestling. Like he wrestled with like you could argue there's one or two ways to look at it. I I don't think it's an angel, because usually when God like someone asks God's name, he usually responds that way, you know. Um but also I completely lost my train of thought. I'm getting tired, I guess. So yeah, so there's the the hesitation to say the name, also the supernatural strength would suggest it's God, and also the the habit of renaming, you know? It's like that's another thing God often does, you know. God will take somebody who behaves bad in the past, and then when he's wanting to like kind of revalidate or re-establish a covenant or enter into a covenant, he'll rename the person.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Renew their mind.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

Well, you're it's it's that take off the old man, put on the new man archetype. You know, you're being renewed, you're becoming a completely new being. And so that's uh you know, so I would say a lot of the behavioral cues would indicate that uh it's God. And some so I don't think it's an angel, I think it's God, but also um some people speculate that it could be like Christ, like every time God shows up in human form, that's Christ. So some people speculate that as well. So apologies for completely losing my train of thought there. I must be burning out, but oh you're good, buddy.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

All right. I look at that like authority. Everybody's got like an argument over specifically what entity God used as a as a uh conduit. It's like it's just like it's God's authority, it doesn't really matter.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Yeah, he can do whatever he wants, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

So like, oh well, it couldn't be an angel here because it's Christ and there's a reference to the word or something. It's like it's just God's authority. He gave it to lots of people.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Yeah, yeah. So I just find it I it's just an interesting story because you know, Jacob spends all that time kind of being a snaky guy, crooked guy, then he gets really messed over by Late Laban. And then once he wants to kind of make things right with Esau, and you'll you know, he leaves Laban and all that, then after all, it's like it's like okay, now you learned your lesson, and now we're gonna start over, as it were, almost. Yeah. Maybe. But again, that's another interesting thing, and I I don't it's like the covenant in Genesis, like it gets repeated, you know what I mean? It's like it happens two or three times, and I'm not exactly sure why that is, and I hadn't caught that before, but you know, you You don't think it's a cyclical thing that happens? It could be, it could be. I don't I don't know. I've just like you know he gives these covenants, but like why is it happening again? Because he does it, you know, he does it once with the the ladder, Jacob's ladder, and then he does it again here with the wrestling and he renames him, and so it's like it's like these conditions keep getting added to the covenant, and these new details every time God visits. It's just an interesting thing. I'm not sure what it means. So but what do you think, Trevor? Um I do also think I I do want to remind or state again though, that uh I think it's very telling it seems like Isaac's blessing played some role, but I don't think Isaac's blessing by itself was sufficient to validate the covenant, as it were. Like God did have to affirm it or make it official or something like that. So I think I think that's an interesting and telling detail as well. That maybe that's maybe a reminder.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Maybe you maybe that's the thing. You have to have somebody selfless enough to uh carry out a covenant for God. Because like as as he increases, I decrease, right? So it's like if you're if you're bowing to the will of God, your life is um it gets harder. So it's like I mean, Christ is a great example, obviously, because I mean it's obvious, but um, so but like you have to God has to have a conduit that's willing to uh lower himself low enough to do God's will, and it's just it doesn't come around very often. So it's like when you hear these guys making these covenants, and then it takes another generation for that covenant to grow into God's covenant. So maybe that's what you're seeing, that's why it's cyclical, because you got these certain archetypes that come around every few hundred years or whatever, and and then they're like they're willing to lower themselves low enough to subject themselves to God's will, and then his his uh covenant comes through that person.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

You could be onto something there, so because you know obviously Joseph is next, and Joseph is going to be the one that actually secures Israel's position in Egypt and creates an environment where they can grow, but he's the one that long suffers the most out of all of them, and he's the only one that really like he was cocky as a kid when he had those dreams from God, you might say, but by the end, you know, he's he forgives and does the right thing wouldn't would have been to his advantage, or it would have been vengeance to throw them in prison and all the rest of it. But Joseph is the one that uh actually ends up breaking that cycle, I guess you could say that cycle of lying and that cycle of kind of duplicity that we've seen in the first three figures. So interesting, yeah. Nice, yeah. Well, I think that's a like I like it too. I think it's a good place to end on this one. On that one. Yep, we got one more. We'll talk about SPLC and then we will wrap up for the night. So the cypical.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

So thanks for coming, y'all. Hope you enjoyed our Bible's session tonight.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Faith Fiction and Folklore. If you did, we would love it if you would subscribe to us on YouTube or follow us on Rumble. We can also be found on X, Instagram, and Facebook. And we are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio. Thank you again very much for listening, and we'll see you next time.