Genesis 28-30 More about marriages. Esau disappoints by marrying his cousin; Jacob is told not to marry "one of those Canaanite women".
Jacob's dream while he has a stone under his head for a pillow. "We are climbing Jacob's ladder"...
God promises his presence! (28:15ff)
Jacob meets Rachel; the trickster tricked; and some of the most complex marital relations imaginable.
I find the story of Leah heartbreakingly sad: 29:32--"surely now my husband will love me...", 29:33--"because the LORD has heard that I am hated", 29:34--"now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons".
Psalm 10-- A wonderful WHY? psalm--the wicked prosper, the righteous suffer, God seems far away. The psalmist practically shouts in God's ear, "WAKE UP!!!" in v. 12. And as is so often the case in the psalms, the psalmist reconsiders in v. 14:
"But you do see! Indeed you not trouble and grief,
that you may take it into your hands;
the helpless commit themselves to you;
you have been the helper of the orphan
Matthew 10 12 apostles named. Then they're sent out (which is what the Greek verb means).
The realities of persecution are on Jesus' mind.
Jesus says, paradoxically: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." (10:34). Of course we do all think Jesus came to bring peace. The angels in Luke 2 do, also. And the entire biblical witness invites us to come to that conclusion. Yet there is no peace until/unless? there has been tremendous unrest first. Yet life in the Kingdom of God has its rewards.
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