One of the things that I believe points to the truth of what the bible represents is its unvarnished depiction of the men and women that God used to create Israel and the church. These stories that we are reading in Genesis are filled with the failure of people to be obedient to God and yet he continues to love them and use them in supernatural kinds of ways. If we were writing a book to convince folks to follow us and be obedient to us, we would use much more heroic figures.....folks who were easier to like, but not the writer of the Holy Bible.....all of the warts are there for us to see as well. I think that makes the Bible difficult reading for some, but it encourages me. If God could work salvation in the lives of these folks, there is a chance that he can do a miracle in me as well.
The story of Jacob wrestling with God should tell us that it is all right to have questions, to even wrestle with doubt.....the key is not to give up in our wrestling.....don't let go until understanding comes and with it will come the blessing. God has a blessing for each one of us....let's not quit until we have secured it.
The story of Dinah and the slaughter that accompanies it is a most difficult passage. I have heard only one Pastor preach from that 24th chapter. What do you say? Do you speak of the rape, the massacre, the violation of a sacred symbol of Judaism (circumcision) or how Jacob's biggest concern is how the surrounding neighbors will respond and put him in harm's way. It is a story of the failure of society when God is not in the center of it. It is the story of man's inability to control his own behaviors. We are inhabited by a blood lust that seeks revenge. We want what we want and we will take it if we can. Nothing can save us from Adam's sin unless God intervenes and perhaps that is the lesson of these stories filled with evil. When we have failed again and again and again.....God is still faithful.
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