ORIGINAL: RLSH700
There were a few things I had forgotten about, namely the route of the name "Semites." I think a lot of life lessons can be gained from all of this. Cheating and stealing from others can cause grudges and fighting that goes on for generations. Cheating on your spouse will come back and haunt you. The children from such a fling will resent their half siblings as they are not accepted as wanted. Reading though the relationship of Jacob and Esau always gets me irritated. Jacob was a very dishonest person to have stolen Esau's blessing and birthright, but Esau should have been smarter.
It also strikes me as ironic how God kept blessing such an immoral person as Jacob. He pretty much broke just about every commandment applying to how you treat other humans (granted they weren't written yet). He did not honor his father's wishes, he covitted his brother's blessing and birthright, he stole Esau's blessing, he committed adultry. About the only thing he didn't do is kill anyone (at least not from what I can remember).
Yeah he was dishonest and a jerk, but that is why I liked him he was a trickster just like David. His name means to supplant and it was foretold that the younger would rule over the older (you see this again with his son Joseph). The only thing is that I thought that esau forgave Jacob in
Gen 32 (1-19)
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, the country of Edom. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: 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 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 saidst 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 shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and 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 a present for Esau his brother;
Two hundred she goats, 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 foals.
And he delivered them into 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. And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.
Gen 33 3-4
1And Jacob lifted up his eye