Session – 28

The Book of Genesis

In Sessions – 27, we learned that a blessing is a blessing, whether it comes from God or your father. The same goes for favoritism.

Chapter 28

God Blesses Jacob

And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Pa’-dan-ar’-am, to the house of Be-thu’-el, thy mother’s father; an take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. And God almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people. And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham (Gen. 28:1-4).

Wow! I guess a father’s love for a son who lies, steals, and is deceitful, knows no bounds.

And Esau seeing that the Daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; Then went Esau unto Ish’-ma-el, and took unto the wives which he had Ma’-ha-lath the daughter of Ish’-ma-el Abraham’s son … (Gen. 28:8-9).

This means that Esau marries his cousin, which the Bible allows and is accepted behavior during ancient times. In other words, what we do today define as incest may not have been incest during ancient times due to the size of the population within certain societies, which may have been small, and kinship in nature among the population widespread. Initially, this would have been standard practice, God or no god.

Incest is defined as sexual intercourse between persons too closely related to marry legally. As of February 25, 2023, 19 States within America allow cousins to marry. Whether or not cousins fall under that umbrella is a matter of where one lives, their education, and how they were raised. One must remember that the children of your aunt and uncles are your cousins, and the children of your brother and sister are your nieces and nephews.

Along the way to Uncle Laban’s house, Jacob gets tired and lies down and falls asleep. While sleeping he starts to dream: And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land wherein thou liest, to thee will I give it, and thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all families of the earth be blessed (Gen. 28:12-14).

After hearing all this in his sleep, Jacob wakes up and starts to bargain with God like he’s haggling with a camel jockey: And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on. So, that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God (Gen. 28:20-21).

Really! Is this Jacob a real sport? Gee, will you be my friend too? The creator of the universe, earth, life, and everything seen and unseen is reduced to a hagler living out of a potato sack by some Jewish Hebrew Scholar who once again lost his way after smoking hashish and going off script.  

This can only come from a book where the dots don’t line up with the product being preached or sold; the Bible.

Ivan Peter Kovak