zoarabile

I think I am more like Rebekah who tends to help God instead of leaving all to his doing. God though is working on me to be patient and wait for his timing because I have learnt that no matter what I do if its not in accordance with his will it will come to nothing. A lot of mistakes can happen and do happen when we help God to expedite the implementation of his will in our lives or those of our beloveds.

Once kids sense preferences you have, it creates enmity between them. I experienced it and it made me sad as we re all grandchildren. However because our God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, he worked it out somehow for my own good. I became the most well behaved, trustworthy, responsible and intelligent in the family an din not time my grandparents' favourite and my grandma's confidant. I have learnt that in most cases we do pass our experiences to our children. I have 2 sons but I realise that my feelings for the elder have been adversely impacted by his performance as per my expectations. I do ask God to be merciful and help me to appreciate that he is different from me and the younger one. Involving, training and giving room for kids to be different and make mistakes is important as it helps to appreciate them closely. The challenge is that we tend to be drawn and love those people who are more like us. I still need guidance on this matter though.

Isaac is a man of integrity and firmly upheld the traditions. He believes in the spoken word and as a head of the family he has to live by the consequences of his utterances and be exemplary. This also shows God's ability to orchestrate events in accordance with his will, for nothing is impossible with God. And in the instance we see Isaac as an instrument used by God to effect God's will.

I do not think the fact that God told her that Jacob the younger will rule over Esau meant that she should take matters into her hands to effect that. The end do not justify the means particularly if the means are such that one has to trespass God's law. Jacob is equally to blame because he was presented with a choice when his father directly asked him if he was really Esau and he answered in the affirmative. I do not think just because the mother told him to deceive he should obey. Today we are told in Ephesians 6:1 that "children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right". So we ought to obey our parents in what the Lord wills. So Jacob equally bears the responsibility in the deception.

Rebekah was indeed a spiritual woman because when she encountered a problem she knew that God is the one who could give her right answers and hence enquired of God. Isaac too was a spiritual man because when the wife could not conceive he knew that God was the one who held the key to his future generations and hence prayed for his wife. I think Rebekah was more spiritually sensitive because she believed God even though what God was saying was out of the ordinary. Jacob besides knowing he was the youngest believed what his mother told him concerning God's utterances and hence looked for every opportunity to actualize that in his life. He was very bold as to ask his brother for the birthright in exchange for a meal. Esau on the other hand is only interested in instant gratification and shows no regard to his birthright no foresight.

Q1 a) Esau was godless hence did not see the importance of his birthright. Selling birthright represented lack of appreciation for its worth in his life. This also shows that choice is one of the rudimentary rights which God gives us and it is the basis upon which God judges us. c) Esau is a man of instant gratification who would opt for fulfilling his desires besides controlling himself. d) Jacob is a shrewd mana who will use whatever opportunity he gets to acquire that which he holds dear or useful to him.

Hello everyone! My name is Oarabile Zhikhwa. I am from Gaborone in Botswana. The Life of Jacob is the first of the series that I will be taking. He is a fascinating character to me and I hope to learn a lot from our interactions as you share your insights. (: God bless!