6
In this chapter we have God deciding to change the average lifespan of human beings. This raises the question of whether God can change Its mind, which would seem to imply that at one point God did not know Its mind. An all-knowing being would be incapable of not knowing Its mind.
27
Jacob lied to and deceived his father, to secure said father's blessing. The Lord smiled upon Jacob and his generations, thereby smiling upon deceit. This will be an excellent example to recall during future entries, when the consistency of the Lord's blessings or punishments will come into question. In some cases (Leviticus 7:25-27, for example), divine punishment will be given out for "nicer" behavior than that shown by Jacob here. And pardon my picky memory, but...wasn't there some kind of official decree, a "commandment" perhaps, pertaining to honoring your father? Maybe i just imagined it.
30
Jacob has two wives and two mistresses, all of whom bear him children who are blessed in the eyes of God. Nothing unreasonable in that. However, it is interesting to hear biblical "followers" profess monogamy as divinely mandated, when polygyny and out-of-wedlock children are obviously equally smiled upon. For any polyandrists out there, the Bible has no love for you. Maybe try the druids?
35:5
This is the first verse to suggest that humans may not have free will, or that we have only partial free will. I wonder whether the people upon whom God's "terror" descended realized that they were being paralyzed by the will of God?
1 comment:
Jesus/Paul may have done away with a lot of old Testament rules (ie not eating pork), but they didn't prohibit old practices like polygamy or circumcision.
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