Genesis: Something I forgot to mention previously is that when someone from back then says “Here I am” in response to God, it is the way a servant would respond.
I like the way the story is switching emphasis from Jacob’s great son Joseph, back to Jacob–God is addressing Jacob the way he did when Jacob was fleeing Esau and Laban…every time Jacob is scared and has to move, God reassures him. As my friend Jonathan said in home group on Sunday…”This is no tribal God”…he is not confined to one locality, but is with us everywhere. Regarding the genealogy–I’m wondering why Tamar’s children are considered Judah’s, rather than Er’s? Because that custom was not Judah’s intention?
It’s crazy how this is all the set-up for the Israelites enslavement in Egypt, and God’s rescuing them away back to the Promised Land through Moses and the plagues, and the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. All the talk about Jacob’s/Israel’s bones eventually returning to Canaan feels like foreshadowing…the tool of a good writer.
Job: After Job’s great, wise speech, God actually replies to him (out of the whirlwind, which is something that hits home for me). I would summarize it thus: You have completely misjudged my motives, because your view of me is too limited. Perhaps there are greater motives for my allowing your suffering that do not have to do with your being my enemy–motives of which you cannot even conceive.
Ichthus77 