What a jerk...

joannadandy

Ok so it always bothered me what a jerk Jacob was. He was a deceptive little cheater, and yet he was favored over his brother? I don't get. He used a blatant trick to confuse his obviously blind old father...how is he a Biblical hero?

That got me to thinking about brothers. And is it just common Bible theme for the second brother to be more favored than the older one? Like Cain an Able...(what God isn't a Vegitarian? Tho I did have a professor tell me once that Cain and Able was just a story to illustrate the struggle between farmers and ranchers--which makes sense in a way) And I was struggling with other little brothers who were favored over their older siblings...(couldn't think of any-but I know there are more)

Anyway, is it just me or did anyone else think Jacob was a jerk?

And is it just a mythological theme that the little peaon is who we root for? Go underdog, and all that?

I dunno, having a ponderous afternoon I guess...

RandomTask

Hmm, I will have to look into this. Never really thought of it that way. Now I have something new to think about.

Swan

Joanna, I agree!

I have always had a problem with a lot of the Bible characters. Yeah, they were imperfect, like us, but I still didn't think they were great heroes. Here are some examples of my least favorite Bible characters.

Jacob, for the same reasons as mentioned above. Poor Esau out there starving to bring the family food and that heel holding Jacob pulls a sneaky.

Lot, for offering up his daughters to be raped instead of the strangers. Hospitality is good, but I don't think you should ever offer up anybody to be raped. Male chauvinist pig!

Abraham, who treated Hagar and Ishmael like dirt, and favored Isaac. He should of told his wife, sorry, you gave her to me to have a child by, so I'm going to take care of them, not send them off into the wild.

Paul, who had some real issues before he converted, and still needed counseling even after he talked to Christ. Talk about dysfunctional. He didn't just go and visit those places, he later wrote them letters telling them about all of the gossip he heard and that they better knock it off. What a control freak! After Jesus went on and on about not judging people. No wonder Barnabas didn't want to go out in the service with him anymore. And what about this thing between Paul and Timothy? Is this where pedophilia in congregations first started?

One the other hand, I think Jonah had the right idea. There were many times I didn't want to go out in the field service.

I also liked Peter, who was kind of a likable bumbler.

Tammy

dsgal

Lot's daughters-horny little b****es,huh?And was he really THAT drunk?

Dismembered

and then there's Solomon who died an "apostate". If that's true, why is his history part of the Bible?

revdrjohnson

The name "Jacob" means 'Trickster'

Hebrew parents named their children according to expectations about their [future] character. That's why God had to change his name:

http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/words/1028671345.html

03290 Ya`aqob {yah-ak-obe'}

from 06117;; n pr m

AV - Jacob 349; 349

Jacob = "heel holder" or "supplanter"
1) son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham, and father of the 12 patriarchs
of the tribes of Israel

Gen. 32:24 And Jacob was left alone. And a Man wrestled with him until the ascending of the dawn.
25 And He saw that He had not prevailed against him. And He touched on his hip socket, and Jacob's hip socket was unhinged as he wrestled with Him.
26 And He said, Send Me away, for the dawn has ascended. And he said, I will not let You go unless You bless me.
27 And He said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And He said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have wrestled with God and with men, and have prevailed.

03478 Yisra'el {yis-raw-ale'}

from 08280 and 0410;; n pr m

AV - Israel 2489, Israelites 16; 2505

Israel = "God prevails"
1) the second name for Jacob given to him by God after his wrestling
with the angel at Peniel
2) the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob
2a) the name of the nation until the death of Solomon and the split
2b) the name used and given to the northern kingdom consisting of
the 10 tribes under Jeroboam; the southern kingdom was known as
Judah
2c) the name of the nation after the return from exile

revdrjohnson

Dismembered:

and then there's Solomon who died an "apostate". If that's true, why is his history part of the Bible?

Because everything in the Bible may not be right, but everything written there is TRUE. So it was necessary to report even the bad things.

Because overall Solomon's life was a testimony

1 Kings 11:9 And Jehovah was angry with Solomon, for his heart had bent away from Jehovah, God of Israel who had appeared to him twice,
10 and had given a charge to him concerning this thing, not to go after other gods; and he did not keep that which Jehovah commanded.
11 And Jehovah said to Solomon, Because this has been done by you, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes that I charged on you, I shall surely tear the kingdom from you and shall give it to your servant.
12 Only, I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I shall tear it out of your son's hand.
13 Only I will not tear away all the kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for my servant David's sake, and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.
14 And it happened, Jehovah raised an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the seed of the king in Edom.

2 Chron. 9:22 And King Solomon increased more than any of the kings of the earth for riches and wisdom.
23 And all the kings of the earth were seeking the face of Solomon, to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart.

And because Jesus' natural descent was from Solomon's bloodline

Matter 1:6 and Jesse fathered David the king. And David the king fathered Solomon out of her who had been the wife of Uriah,
7 and Solomon fathered Rehoboam, and Rehoboam fathered Abijah, and Abijah fathered Asa ...
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon until the Christ, fourteen generations.

roybatty

Joanna,

What I get from the story of Jacob is that even a man as mean and sneeky as he was can change and find favor with God. The way he treated his brother and the relationship with his father-in-law showed that Jacob was far from perfect. BUT God saw something in him and later Jacob became a better man. If you look at the account where his name is changed to Israel, there is more to the story. Jacob became a better man. He went and made peace with his brother and also repaired the relationship with his father-in-law. I guess what I take from this account is that people can change and those who are supposedly "good" can even do better.

Mike

SixofNine

I think the real reason the most high god (emphasis on "high") put these stories in the bible is for the purpose of separating people; good from bad, intelligent from idiotic, insane from lucid.

For instance, just in this thread, one can determine who is morally inclined, who is lucid, vs those who are insane and mean, by the way they either choose to believe the account or not.

Big wink at the crazies

berten

The biggest jerk is no doubt Jehover himself.Why?
One example:One of his prophets is laughed at by
some children because of being bald.
Jehover's solution? Send out two female bears to
kill the kids.Nice one Jehover!Why not just use your
thundering voice with some nice lightshow effects,and
tell the kids that such a thing is not very nice?
(Why female bears BTW? And why is this "fact"
specifically mentioned instead of just "bears"?)

What a jerk...

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