God's Altered Promise

'
Background
After having a blaspheming half-breed stoned to death in Leviticus 24, God continues on in Leviticus 25 with laws regarding the selling of land and the buying of slaves. That nearly completes God's list of laws in Leviticus, so now it is time to reveal what the Chosen People will receive for obeying the laws, and what disobedience will cost them.

God's Altered Promise
There is a mark of a man of integrity: you can believe his word. If he says he will do something, then he will do that very thing. He will not delay, put conditions on it, or make you jump through hoops before he will do it. His word is golden, and his respect is thereby earned. One should expect no different behavior in God, for how can a man be better than God. Let us take a look at Leviticus 26, and consider God's integrity.

Leviticus 26:1-2 lay down the final two of a long list of laws which began in Leviticus 1. Do not worship any images, such as Jesus on a crucifix for example, and respect the Sabbaths and the Sanctuary.

With the laws complete, God outlines the great benefits for obeying this long list of laws Leviticus 26:3-13. These include abundant harvests, safety from beasts and enemies, and many offspring. Maybe the best benefit of all is that God would dwell with them, and they would be His people. In Leviticus 26:13, God reminds them that He brought them out of the Egyptian slavery, yet He conveniently fails to remind them that they were slaves in Egypt because of Him!

God then reveals the punishments for not obeying His laws in Leviticus 26:14-39. First God will bring “sudden terror,” harsh illnesses (some of which will cause blindness and death), and they will be captured by their enemies (Leviticus 26:14-17).

If they then do not repent, God will punish them “seven times over” by making their harvests minuscule (Leviticus 26:18-20).

If they then do not repent, God will punish them “seven times over” by making wild beasts attack their flocks, their children, and the people themselves until the population is scarce (Leviticus 26:21-22).

If they then do not repent, God will punish them “seven times over” by making enemies attack them, capture them, and cut off their food supply (Leviticus 26:23-26).

If they then do not repent, God will punish them “seven times over” by making them so hungry they resort to cannibalism, destroying their cities and sanctuaries, and laying their land to waste. The remnant that survives will be scattered among foreign nations, and where they will live in a state of fear and submission to their enemies (Leviticus 26:27-39).

Finally, if they repent, then God will remember His covenant which He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Leviticus 26:40-42). Perhaps we should take a closer look at those covenants.

God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:4-21 stating that his offspring would be innumerable, that his offspring would be enslaved and mistreated 400 years, and that they would come out of their enslavement with great wealth and then occupy the Promised Land.

God promises Abraham in Genesis 17:4-14 that he would have numerous offspring which became nations and kings, and that as an everlasting promise God would be their God and they would have the Promised Land forever. Circumcision was required for this covenant.

Then, after Abraham nearly sacrifices his son, Isaac, at God's request, God promises in Genesis 22:15-18 that He will surely bless Abraham's offspring, that they will be innumerable, that they will capture their enemies' cities, and that all nations of the earth will be blessed through them.

As for Isaac, God promises him in Genesis 26:2-5 that his descendants will get the Promised Land which was promised to Abraham, that his offspring will be innumerable, and that all nations of the earth will be blessed through his offspring. Why? Per Genesis 26:5:

"because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My requirements, My commands, My decrees and My laws." NIV

Mind you, Abraham did not have many requirements, commands, decrees and laws to follow from God, at least not that the Bible recorded.

Isaac's son, Jacob, gets his promises from God in Genesis 28:13-15, that his descendants will get the Promised Land which was promised to Abraham, that his offspring will be innumerable, and that all nations of the earth will be blessed through his offspring.

God also tells Jacob in Genesis 35:11-12 that nations and kings would come from his offspring, and that they will get the Promised Land.

Now, did you notice anything in all of those promises? First, you may have observed that they came about due to God's approval of Abraham's actions. Second, you may also have realized that, other than circumcision, there were no conditions required for Abraham's offspring to inherit these blessings.

Coming back to Leviticus, we just read that if and only if the Israelites obey God's long list of laws and regulations, which now spans the books of Exodus and Leviticus, will God follow through with the promise that He made to Abraham. And furthermore, if they do not obey, not only will God not keep His original promise, but He will also punish them severely.

In effect, God is making a new promise, a new covenant with the Israelites. God has altered His original promise to Abraham by adding new terms and conditions which effectively null and void the original covenant, because they provide God the opportunity to fulfill that covenant only when it is pleasing to Him.

A man of integrity will fulfill his promises despite the costs involved. I guess you cannot say the same for God.

Do not get me wrong. I do understand why God would not want to fulfill His promise to a wicked and undeserving people. Yet if God is not bound by His word despite any circumstance, what real hope is there of an eternal Salvation?

Biological Semblance

'
Background
Without question, science has made some blundering errors due to inappropriate assumptions, erroneous interpretation of results, and inadequate tools. However scientific knowledge has evolved, and continues to evolve, ever revealing better functioning models and more accurate depictions of the truth.

Just like scientific knowledge, Biblical knowledge has evolved too. Like the constant laws of the universe, the Bible's text is constant (at least at this time). It is only man's interpretation that is changing and evolving.

However, unlike science, new interpretation of the Bible never seems to reveal any new, practical universal concept. Instead, we find that science leads the way, like in disproving a geocentric solar system, while Bible scholars lag behind until a new interpretation can be found which reconciles itself with the scientific truth.

Points in the Bible that can't be reconciled by semantics are quite often dismissed as being poetic metaphors or hyperbole, or in other cases they are said to be miracles. In this post, we examine one of these irreconcilable differences.

In a previous post, we studied Jacob's polygamist marriage to two of his cousins at his uncle Laban's estate. After that, a tale of bawdry involving Jacob, his two wives, their maidservants, and some mandrakes, yields Jacob a large family to support. Jacob is then anxious to leave his uncle Laban's estate and begin to establish his own household, but Laban doesn't want Jacob to leave just yet...

Biological Semblance
In Genesis 30:25-43, Laban pleads with Jacob to stay at his estate, because Laban has discovered by divination that he is being blessed by Jacob's presence. Jacob decides to stay for awhile, building his wealth in a manner that would make Gregor Mendel, father of modern genetics, turn over in his grave.

As pay for tending the flocks, Laban agrees that Jacob will now own “every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat”, both those in his flock now and those that will be born in the future. In that way, Jacob's “honesty will testify” for him, because his own flock will be easily identified.

Well, Jacob's honesty isn't worth much, as he sets out to actively change the odds of producing a motley flock. How? I'll let the Bible explain in Genesis 30:37-39:

Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. NIV

In other words, what parents see at the time of conception directly influences the genetics of the offspring. Clearly this is what Jacob believed. This is a prime example of where the Bible portrays the cultural beliefs at the time as a truth, as opposed to the actual truth.

To be fair, Jacob does sort of get some concepts of genetics correct a little bit later down, with regard to creating strong progeny in Genesis 30:41-42:

Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. NIV

At best, this represents only a primitive understanding of genetics. It suggests that certain traits are inherent from the parents physique, while other traits are relative to the environment at the time of conception. This is about the limit of what man could discern at that time due to a lack of scientific methodology. It would have been obvious that strong animals tend to have strong offspring, but what exactly controls the finer traits, such as fur color, would have remained elusive largely due to the presence of recessive genes that appear only when homogeneously paired, or produce some blended result or become completely obscured when they are heterogeneously paired. Thus, factors of superstition, such as influence based on what parents saw during copulation, would have been suspected as having influence over those fine traits.

The only possible recourse for the modern believer is to say that Jacob's motley flocks were produced from the divine hand of God, not by Jacob's actions. There is no explicit reference to God's involvement to support this belief. God neither explicitly provided instructions for Jacob to increase his pay disproportionately nor explicitly involved Himself in the production of the offspring at this point in the story.

However, when you continue the story into Genesis 31:1-21, God does stick His hand into the motley flock equation. Then does this explain everything? Not exactly. In Genesis 31:6-7, Jacob says:

"You know that I've worked for your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. If he said, 'The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, 'The streaked ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked young." NIV

On the surface, we see God's hand in all of this. But remember that according to Genesis 30:43, Jacob seems to have gotten rich by his own efforts. We can deduce that Laban was angered and/or frustrated by Jacob's ever-growing wealth compared to his own ever-dwindling wealth, and that provided the impetus to change Jacob's wages. Prior to the change in wages, it seems God was not involved. God stepped in when the wages changed. This becomes evident when we study a divine dream that Jacob had, relayed in Genesis 31:10-13. God reveals the timing of His actions in Genesis 31:12:

"And [God] said, 'Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.'" NIV

God got involved because of all that Laban was doing to Jacob. This reads with a negative connotation referring to how Laban has been changing Jacob's wages. After all, this is the only mentioned specific gripe that Jacob had against Laban. Indeed, it would seem that Jacob would need divine help to match the prescribed changing wages. The account in Genesis 30:37-39 suggests that Jacob could only make streaked or speckled or spotted offspring, but could not particularly make only streaked, or only speckled, or only spotted offspring. That would require God's help, and that's where we see God step in.

In summary, I believe that this story, with particular emphasis on Chapter 30, has fossilized an ancient misconception of how genetics worked. And with that nugget of bad scientific knowledge encapsulated in a body of text that claims to be the Truth, one must wonder if the Bible really does contain the Truth.

In fairness, it is possible that all of the motley offspring may have come about due to God's divine hand, despite a lack of explicit text, due to an implicit execution of God's promised blessing of Jacob back at Bethel in Genesis 28:10-22. However, note that God Himself does not provide that reason when He appears in Jacob's dream.

Jacob's Two-Timing Marriage

'
Background
Having just stolen Esau's blessing, Jacob flees so that his brother, Esau, will not kill him. His mom tells him to go live with her brother, Laban. His father, Isaac, tells Jacob that he should marry one of Laban's daughters. In other words, Jacob is told to marry one of his cousins.

So, Jacob heads to Laban's place. He meets his cousin, Rachel, at a well, and it was love at first sight. What unfolds is another chapter of Biblical marriage values.

Jacob's Two-Timing Marriage
In Genesis 29:15-30, we find the heartwarming story of Jacob's marriage to his cousin, Rachel. Jacob agrees to work for seven years for his uncle, Laban, in exchange for the hand of Rachel in marriage.

Laban had two daughters, Rachel and Leah. From the description given in Genesis 29:16-18, it seems that Rachel was quite sexy and beautiful, while her older sister Leah was, well, not.

Seven years fly by in the labor of love. The time has come in Genesis 29:21:

Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her." NIV

It's no mystery what goes on in a marriage. Still, most people have more tact than to tell their soon-to-be father-in-law that the time has come to have sex with their daughter. Or perhaps this is evidence of the culture of the time; that women were just possessions to be used.

Moving on, Laban throws a big wedding party. After the party, in the dark of night, Laban brings Leah, instead of Rachel, to Jacob. Jacob has sex with Leah. In the morning, he wakes up shocked and angry that it is Leah in his bed, not Rachel.

What?!? This is a bit hard to swallow. Having recently deceived his father, Jacob should have been sensitive to deceptions. He should have figured out this deception sooner than morning. He knew both Rachel and Leah for seven years. Seven years!!! Surely he could tell their differences.

Jacob wasn't blind, so he could have recognized Leah by lamp light, but we'll give the Bible the benefit of the doubt and say that he had no lamp and that it was pitch black. Jacob could have recognized Leah was not Rachel by scent, but we'll assume Leah had bathed that night so she didn't have much scent.

Jacob should have recognized Leah's voice. His own voice was almost the end of his deception to his father, so he should have been rather sensitive to that. However, it's not uncommon to have siblings sound alike, and it is certainly possible that Leah learned to mimic the sound of Rachel's voice. So even different voices could be dismissed.

There is still one infallible piece of evidence that should have given Leah's deception away. While all women look the same in the dark, all women do not feel the same in the dark. As documented in the text, Leah and Rachel were physically different. Jacob had probably been fantasizing about having sex with Rachel for the whole seven years, studying every detail of her body in anticipation. He definitely should have felt the physical differences of Leah.

This leaves me wondering; did Jacob realize it was Leah, and, in the heat of the moment, just decided to have sex with her and discuss the matter with Laban in the morning?

In the story's conclusion, Jacob confronts Laban. Laban says that the older daughter needed to be married first. After the bridal week with Leah, Laban gives Rachel to Jacob in marriage in exchange for yet another seven years of labor.

But wait, there's more! In Genesis 29:31-35, it seems that Jacob didn't love Leah, but that didn't stop him from having sex with her. God punishes Jacob for not loving Leah, the one he didn't even want to marry to begin with, by granting her children while making Rachel barren.

In psychology, they call this behavior displaced aggression. That's when someone (God) is angry with something or someone (Jacob), but that angry someone takes out the anger on something or someone else that is completely innocent (Rachel). In those times, it was a very shameful thing for a woman to be barren. That disgrace fell only on the wife, not the husband.

Displaced aggression is an all too common flaw in man. One should expect more from a perfect God.

I find it interesting to note also that two of the four children born from this loveless sex with Leah wind up being the fathers of the two most significant tribes of the Jews. Her son Levi spawns the Levites, which are the priestly class of the Jewish nation. Her son Judah breeds the lineage of King David and Jesus. Well, sort of the lineage of Jesus.

Jacob Steals a Blessing

'
Background
Blessings have long history, and blessings were an important part of life. Certain blessings were thought to be crucially important, as they were thought to have great influence over destiny. One of those types of blessings was the blessing of a father on his sons.

Isaac and Rebekah had fraternal twins, Esau and Jacob. According to Genesis 25:21-28, Esau, who was born first, was very hairy and red skinned, and was a real man's man that was loved dearly by Isaac. Jacob was smooth skinned and was generally more of a mommy's boy, and was dearly loved by Rebekah.

In this study, we see how through treachery, Jacob, who is later to be renamed Israel by God and father the twelve tribes of the Israelites, steals his brother Esau's blessing.

Jacob Steals a Blessing
In Genesis 27, we find Isaac well advanced in years, blind, and close to death. He decides it is time to bestow his blessing on his sons, or at least on his favorite son, Esau. He tells Esau to hunt down some wild game, make him a stew, and then he will bless Esau.

This arrangement seems a little odd; too quid pro quo. You would think that Isaac would just go ahead and bless Esau as opposed requiring Esau to get this meal first. It proves to be a big mistake.

Isaac's wife, Rebekah, overhears Isaac's instructions to Esau, and she devises a plan for Jacob to get Esau's blessing. She tells Jacob to kill a couple young goats from his flock, she will then make a stew from the goats just like Isaac likes it, and then Jacob will bring the stew to Isaac to get Esau's blessing.

Jacob, claiming to be Esau, shows up with the stew so quickly that Isaac questions Jacob about how he found the hunted game so quickly. Jacob lies, saying that God gave him success in the hunt.

Isaac suspects that it is Jacob because he recognizes Jacob's voice. That should have been enough right there to end the blessing process for this impostor right then and there, but it doesn't.

Instead, Isaac tells “Esau” to come close enough to where Isaac can touch him to feel Esau's hairy self. Rebekah had circumvented this problem by tying goat skins to Jacob's neck and hands. Esau must have been really, really, really hairy for this to have worked; like hairier than any human that has ever been. When Isaac touched the goat skins, he thought it felt like Esau.

Somewhat satisfied by the touch, Isaac eats the stew that Jacob brought. Then, because Isaac is still not 100% convinced because he still hears Jacob's voice, he asks “Esau” to give him a kiss as a covert manner of getting a whiff of him. But fore-guessing this possibility too, Rebekah had thwarted the scent problem by having Jacob dress in Esau's clothes. Isaac happily smells Esau's scent.

Isaac is convinced enough by these two easy tricks to out way the fact that “Esau's” voice was that of Jacob, so he blesses Jacob with the blessing that he had intended to give to Esau (Genesis 27:28-29). Most significantly, the blessing is to be rich and rule over his brothers.

When Esau finally arrived, Isaac soon discovered that Esau's blessing had been stolen by Jacob. Esau begs for a blessing. So does Isaac grant his favorite son a blessing; telling him he too will be rich, or prosperous, or live in peace, or will be well contented into old age? No, not really. He gives Esau blessing, but it is basically the negative image of the blessing given to Jacob, which is not much of a blessing at all (Genesis 27:39-40). Apparently, you can only bless one person to have a good life. Doh!

There are a few things that make this yarn particularly interesting.

One point of interest is Jacob's character. Jacob is one of the great patriarchs of the Israelites. In fact, God renames him Israel, and his sons are supposedly the seeds that build the twelve tribes of Israel. Here we find Jacob to be far from honest. Not exactly a good role model or a patriarch to be proud of.

Then there is the issue of interrelation of prophesy. You see, back in Genesis 25:23, God revealed that Esau would serve Jacob. We find that Isaac had wanted to bless Esau such that his brother Jacob would serve him. So basically, Isaac wanted to go against prophesy made by God. But through lies and deception, the blessing went to Jacob and was therefore in accordance with God's prophesy. As we find when continuing through Genesis, God does honor this blessing.

This raises all sorts of interesting hypothetical and philosophical questions, such as: If Isaac had blessed Esau before the hunt, would God have honored that blessing or kept to His original prophesy? Did God know this blessing would be caught by deception, and made the prophesy accordingly, or did He “move” Rebekah to orchestrate the treachery to make the prophesy true?

Or, perhaps the most interesting, does God honor the words that come out of someone more than what is in their hearts? Obviously in this story, that seems to be the case. It was in Isaac's heart to give the blessing to Esau, but his words fell upon Jacob, and it was Jacob that God empowered and blessed.

Well, just in case, I guess I'll hedge my bets. I believe that I am a worthless sinner and I need God's grace, mercy, and forgiveness in my life. I believe Jesus Christ died for my sins and was resurrected by God. In Jesus' name I pray, God, have mercy on my eternal soul.

Whew! I guess if it turns out that the unbelievable is true, I am now saved by my words. I feel so... normal.