Daily Genesis

†. Gen 37:29-30 . .When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he rent his clothes. Returning to his brothers, he said: The boy is gone! Now, what am I to do? Precisely where, and why, Reuben wasn't present when his brothers sold Joseph isn't stated. Reuben wasn't...

†. Gen 37:21-22 . . But when Reuben heard it, he tried to save him from them. He said: Let us not take his life. And Reuben went on: Shed no blood! Cast him into that pit out in the wilderness, but do not touch him yourselves-- intending to save him from them and restore him to his father. The...

†. Gen 37:9-11 . . He dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers, saying; Look, I have had another dream: And this time, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me. . . . And when he told it to his father and brothers, his father berated him. What; he said to him; is this...

†. Gen 37:1-2a . . Now Jacob was settled in the land where his father had sojourned, the land of Canaan. This, then, is the line of Jacob: Genesis doesn't list a big genealogy right here like the one for Esau in chapter 36, but rather, it's going to "follow" the line of Jacob from here on in to...

Chapter 36 is mostly a genealogy, so I'm only going to do just twelve of its forty-three verses. †. Gen 36:1 . .This is the line of Esau-- that is, Edom. Edom is from the Hebrew word 'Edom (ed-ome') which is the color red; and was the tag hung on him back in Gen 25:30. †. Gen 36:2-7 . . Esau...

†. Gen 35:21 . . Israel journeyed on, and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder. Although Israel is Jacob's spiritual name, it's also the name of his whole household (e.g. Gen 34:7) so that when Genesis says "Israel journeyed" it means everybody associated with Jacob was on the move. An...

†. Gen 35:16b . . Rachel was in childbirth, and she had hard labor. Rachel was no longer a spring chicken. Rueben, Jacob's firstborn, is now old enough to fool around with grown women. It's probably been in the neighborhood of 40+ years since Rachel's first meeting with Jacob back in chapter...

†. Gen 35:13-14 . . God parted from him at the spot where He had spoken to him; and Jacob set up a pillar at the site where He had spoken to him, a pillar of stone, and he offered a libation on it and poured oil upon it. The pillar that Jacob erected on this same site back in Gen 28:18 received...

†. Gen 35:6-7 . .Thus Jacob came to Luz-- that is, Bethel --in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. There he built an altar and named the site El-bethel, for it was there that God had revealed Himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. Bethel is located...

†. Gen 35:1 . . God said to Jacob: Arise, go up to Bethel and remain there; and build an altar there to the god who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau. So now; God is sending Jacob back to the place of his initial enlightenment, and ordering him to establish a worship...

†. Gen 34:25-26 . . On the third day, when they were in pain, Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob's sons, brothers of Dinah, took each his sword, came upon the city unopposed, and slew all the males. They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword, took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went away...

†. Gen 34:8-9 . . And Hamor spoke with them, saying: My son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him in marriage. Intermarry with us: give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves: The only problem is: whose religion would be taught to Dinah's children? Would...

†. Gen 34:1 . . Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. It's difficult to ascertain Dinah's age at this time, but she, being the only girl in a family of eleven boys (Benjamin wasn't born yet), surely must have longed to hang out with a...

†. Gen 33:20 . . He set up an altar there, and called it El-elohe yisrael. El-elohe-yisrael is actually 'Eel-'Eloheey-Yisraa'eel which is a compound of three separate words. 'Eel is from 'el (ale) and means strength; as an adjective; viz: mighty. 'Eloheey is from 'elohiym (el-o-heem') and...

†. Gen 33:12 . . And [Esau] said: Let us start on our journey, and I will proceed at your pace. Jacob undoubtedly told Esau his ultimate destination, which was probably Hebron, the place where their dad would later die. Isaac's last known address was Beer-sheba. Why he moved 26 miles north to...

†. Gen 33:5 . . Looking about, he saw the women and the children. Who, he asked: are these with you? He answered: The children with whom God has favored your servant. Because Jacob's response drew Esau's attention to the lads rather than the women, Jewish folklore proposes that Jacob did that...

†. Gen 33:1-2 . . Looking up, Jacob saw Esau coming, accompanied by four hundred men. He divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maids, putting the maids and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. Well; that might suggest the value Jacob put...

†. Gen 32:25b . . And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. There's been some speculation regarding the identity of this man. Some say it was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. Some say it was Esau's evil angel. Some say it was one of God's holy angels. And some say it was God himself...

†. Gen 32:14a . . After spending the night there, No one knows yet just exactly where Mahanaim was located. According to a Jordanian tourism web site, it was north of the river W. Zarqa (N. Yaboq) up in some elevated ground a few miles east of Deir Alla. If your map doesn't show Deir Alla; then...

†. Gen 32:4 . . Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, The Hebrew word for "messengers" is the same word often used for angels. Since that word has such wide application, some have proposed that Jacob dispatched the holy angels on ahead to meet...