Isaac has two sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau is older and should receive the inheritance and blessing. Jacob bought the inheritance earlier for a bowl of soup. Now, he and his mom trick his father into giving him the blessing as well. He puts on his brother's clothing so he smells like him, and goat skins so he will feel like his hairy brother. (Just how hairy is this dude, anyway?!) Since Isaac is blind, it works. When Esau comes home and finds out what has been done, he begs his dad for a blessing. The blessing Esau gets is that he will have to live in the desert, he will be a warrior, and his brother will rule over him, but eventually he will get sick of it and rise up. Okay, really? This is the dad's blessing?? That's horrible on so many levels.
Jacob runs for it, and flees to his relatives far away. He goes to find a wife there. When he gets there, he falls for third cousin named Rebekkah. She is beautiful, and he wants to marry her. He agrees to work for seven years to gain permission to marry her. The Bible says it seems like a few days because of his love for her. Awww, isn't that romantic? Well, hold on. It goes downhill again. The wedding comes, and Jacob gets so plastered that his uncle sends in Rebekkah's older sister, Leah. Guess what? She's blind too. So, he sleeps with her, and doesn't know it's not Rebekkah. Yeah, he's not THAT romantic if he can pull this off. So then he has to work seven more years to get Rebekkah.
Meanwhile, his bro back home realizes that his parents don't like his wives, and he marries someone more acceptable to impress his parents. He was so blind to what was going on, he didn't realize his parents didn't like his wives.
So now Jacob has two wives. He loves one and not the other. Leah, the unloved, is given four sons. So Jacob doesn't love her, but they are still able to conceive four boys.
Everytime I read these stories, I get mad. These guys are heroes of the faith? They are Jerry Springer rejects! They are selfish, conceited, deceitful, angry, murderous, lying, hateful, dysfunctional people. ALL of them are. These are Jesus' great(x20) grandparents for pete's sake!
BUT, God uses them. They found the nation that saves the world. God speaks directly to them. Why? Not because they earned it. It's because of Him. Through the whole story, with the "blind" motif seen over and over, it says that God sees what is going on, and gets involved. He keeps promises, He shows grace, He works miracles, He cares for the broken. Why? Because that is who He is. Our junk can't stop him. Ever.
That's the real story here. Not the Malcolm in the Middle level of dysfunction. The unbelievable, beautiful, awe inspiring, powerful, over arching Grace of God.
And He offers it to us. To our friends. To our enemies. To the people on Springer.
Always.
Everyday.
He comes to us and offers Grace.
Amazing Grace.
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