We are at Genesis 27-28 now, doing some serious Bible study through the Bible's contradictions, i.e., their different textual traditions, at http://contradictionsinthebible.com. Many of you have joined un the discussion. Thanks !! Should finish up the book of Genesis in March.
Did Jacob steal the blessing by deceiving his father or not? Did he flee Beersheba to avoid Esau or to get married? etc.
by srd 5 Replies latest jw friends
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hoser
Good for you srd for reading the bible. We do this for our "family worship" also. It is a great way to find out what the bible really teaches.
Most of the Watchtower heros (Jacob, Lot, David, Solomon, Abraham) were either theives, perverts, con artists and very greedy.
And yes! according to the account in Genesis Jacob conned the inheritance and blessing from his brother esau by deception with the help of his mother. If you read further in the book when Jacob came back to meet up with Esau he was scared for his life because he knew he had screwed over his brother. I will also add coward to the list because he put his lesser loved wife and children out front to meet up with Esau so if there was bloodshed they would be killed first.
hoser
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LouBelle
Jacob was actually invovled in fraud, he knowingly misrepresented himself to his father in order to gain the blessing.
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Ding
How are these contradictions?
People can have multiple motives and employ multiple strategies, not all of them honorable.
Esau sold Jacob his birthright for a bowl of stew, but Jacob still needed to get it from his father, Isaac. He and his mother deceived Isaac.
Jacob left home because he feared Esau.
In fleeing home, he fled to his relative, Laban, where he got married.
I think accounts like this give the Bible more credibility.
It doesn't pretty up its heroes to make them seem more virtuous than they were.
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THE GLADIATOR
Did Jacob ever exist - or was he just cream crackers?
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blondie
Esau did sell his birthright to Jacob for a meal...and Jacob took advantage of that. Neither one told Isaac about this transaction when it happened to make it legal and open to the family. Because Jacob did not tell his father this, he felt he had to trick him into giving it to Jacob with his mother's help. She didn't like it that Esau had married Hittite women. What a happy marriage that was, Rebekah lying to her husband and Isaac saving his own skin by claiming his wife was his sister. At least when Abraham did that regarding Sarah, she was at least his half-sister.
