The Bible Challenge: Day 10

The scripture read is Genesis 25-27, Psalm 9 and Matthew 9.

Genesis 25. One of those footnote or trivia answer people: Keturah, Abraham's second wife. And he has 6 kids by her! Stuff you only learn if you read the whole Bible. And we get the descendants of Ishmael. But more importantly, we get the story of Jacob and Esau, battling it out in the belly of their mom. And once they are grown up we see see Esau (or Hairy, as Peterson translates his name) is a man of action and one who doesn't think too far ahead. Jacob is crafty, though, convincing his brother to give up his birthright as the elder son (if by seconds) for some stew.

Genesis 26. Isaac has taken a page from his father's book but he is caught because he can't keep his hands off of Rebekah, his "sister." Once again Abimelech is more upset over the cover up and possible consequences of inadvertent adultery. Still eventually Isaac has to move away. This town ain't big enough for the two of us, says Abimelech. And we get the origin of a city that will continue to play a role in the Bible, Beersheba (Oath-well.)

Genesis 27. Jacob pulls a con on his poor old blind father--with the encouragement and help of his mother! Is Rebekah getting back at Isaac over that whole "she's my sister" thing? This whole identity theft is her idea. Again some masterful storytelling. The secret is the details--Esau's clothes, the goatskin hair, Isaac using his remaining senses to try to verify it is Esau. Even so, Isaac is suspicious. Some nice suspense here. Jacob pulls it off and gets the blessing.

But then big dumb Esau returns and the comedy ends. Esau's reaction is poignant. "Don't you have a blessing for me, Father?" And now Esau can't wait for his father to die so he can kill Jacob. Rebekah is quite the eavesdropper and sends Jacob to her brother, Laban, far away. She will never see Jacob, her favorite son, again.

Psalm 9. A song to the justice of God. "The Lord is a haven for the oppressed...For he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted...Not always shall the needy be ignored, nor the hope of the afflicted forever lost..." God is watching how we treat the least of these, Jesus' brothers and sisters.

Matthew 9. More healing and another disciple called, Matthew the dirty lowdown tax collector. Peterson does a good job on Jesus' reply to the Pharisees, apoplectic over the company he keeps. "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: 'I'm after mercy, not religion.' I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders." Jesus would never make it past a Call committee.