The Two Brothers

Isaac and Rebecca lived very happily together, but they didn't have any children. 

At last, Isaac prayed to God for a son. God heard his prayer and, after some months. Rebecca gave birth to twin sons, whom she called Esau and Jacob. 

God told her that they would become the founders of warring nations and that Jacob, the younger of the twins, would rule over his elder brother.

The boys grew up into strong young men. Esau became a hunter who loved to search the hills for wild animals to cook into tasty stews. 

Jacob preferred to stay near the tents with his mother. Rebecca, who loved him the best of her two sons.

When Isaac was very old, he grew blind. One day, he called Esau to him. 'My son, he said; 'I'm old and don't know how much longer I shall live. 

Go hunting, kill a deer and make it into the tasty venison stew that I enjoy so much. Then I will give you, as my eldest son, my special blessing.

Overhearing Isaac say this to Esau. 

Rebecca wanted Jacob to have his father's special blessing instead. When Esau went off to hunt in the hills, she told Jacob to bring her two young goats which she would make into a stew. 

As soon as the stew was cooked, she told Jacob to take it to Isaac, pretending to be Esau.

Jacob did as he was told. He dressed up in some of Esau's clothes, and took the stew and some wine to old, blind Isaac. 'Here's your stew, father. I've made it just as you like it, said Jacob. 

''Is that you. Esau? asked Isaac, 

'Yes, lied Jacob.

Isaac ate the stew, and then said; 'Come here, my son. 

He prayed to God and gave his special blessing to Jacob.

When Esau came back from hunting with the meat for the stew, he soon found that Isaac had already eaten, and had given his special blessing to Jacob. Esau was so angry. 

Rebecca was afraid he would kill Jacob. To save her son, she persuaded Isaac to let Jacob go to her family where he would be safe, and where he would find a wife.

Jacob left at once on the long journey north, alone and very scared. That evening he reached a deserted valley and lay down, to sleep with only a stone for his pillow. 

During the night, he dreamed that he saw a huge ladder reaching up to Heaven. Angels were climbing up and down it. At the very top was God. 

God said to Jacob. 'I will give the land you lie on to you and to your family, which will grow into a great nation. 

I shall always be with you. 

I will look after you, and bring you back to this land.

When Jacob woke up very early the next morning, he was very frightened, because he felt that God was in this place and it was the gate to Heaven. 

But he remembered what God had said to him and he promised that he would always be faithful to God. 

Then he went on his journey to find his mother's family.


↪The Two Brothers

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Beginning

Image
Every day should be a holy day Long ago, before there was any time. God created the heavens and the Earth. At first there was nothing but a vast dark space of swirling water.  God looked at the darkness and made the light. There was now the light of day and the dark of night. This was the very first day. On the second day, God made the sky. He put some of the water in clouds in the sky, and the rest of the water He made into the seas. In between the sky and the seas was the air. Then God collected the seas together so that there was dry land between them. He ordered all kinds of plants and trees to grow on the land to produce seeds and fruit. That was the third day. On the fourth day. God put the brilliant golden sun in the sky to shine during the day, and the silver moon and stars to shine at night. Together they marked the seasons of the year. Next God created all the fish and creatures that live in the seas, and all the birds and creatures that fly in the air. He blessed them, and t
Read more

Who's who in the Bible

Image
↪  Aaron  the brother, companion and helper of Moses. He spoke to the King of Egypt on behalf of Moses, asking him to let the Hebrews leave Egyp. According to the Book of Numbers, Aaron died at 123 years of age, on Mount Hor, in the fortieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt. Deuteronomy, however, places these events at Moseroth. ↪   Absolom   son of David, who fought his father for the Kingdom. At Caesarea, in Cappadocia, the holy martyrs Lucius the Bishop. Caesarea Absolom, Lorgius, is a part of the William Blackwood & Sons published English language version of the Roman Breviary, the liturgical book of the rites of the Catholic Church containing hymns, readings, notations, and other religious material. What does Revelation 1:8 mean? In this verse John identifies Jesus as the Alpha and Omega. These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.  The designation emphasizes Jesus as eternal—the beginning and the end. As someone correctly observed; &
Read more

Ruth and Naomi

Image
I'll talk to him tomorrow When they reached Bethlehem, it was harvest time for the barley. Naomi and Ruth were very poor. To get food. Ruth walked out to the fields each morning and picked up the barley the reapers had left behind. Elimelech lived in the little town of Bethlehem. in Judah, with his wife, Naomi, and his two sons. There had been bad harvests and everyone was growing hungry.  To save his family. Elimelech took them on the long journey across the Jordan River to the country of Moab, where there was plenty of food. There Elimelech's two sons grew up, and married two girls, named Orpah and Ruth. Then Elimelech died and, later, the two sons also died.  Naomi was left alone with her daughters-in-law. When she heard that the crops were good again in Judah and there was plenty of food, she longed to go back to Bethlehem and be with her own people. 'Let us come with you', said Orpah and Ruth, and together the three women left their homes and began the journey back
Read more

From Origin

The word 'Bible', is the equivalent of the Greek word biblia (diminutive from bı́blos, the inner bark of the papyrus), meaning originally 'books.' The phrase 'the books' (ta biblia ) occurs in Daniel 9:2 (Septuagint) for prophetic writings. 

In the Prologue

to Sirach it designates generally the Old Testament Scriptures; similarly in 1 Macc 12:9 ("the holy books"). The usage passed into the Christian church for Old Testament (2 Clem 14:2), and by and by (circa 5th century) was extended to the whole Scriptures.

Bibliotheca Divina

Jerome's name for the Bible (4th century) was "the Divine Library" (3) Afterward came an important change from plural to singular meaning. In process of time this name, with many others of Greek origin, passed into the vocabulary of the western church; and in the 13th century, by a happy solecism, the neuter plural came to be regarded as a feminine singular, and 'The Books' became by common consent 'The Book' (biblia, singular), in which form the word was passed into the languages of modern Europe" (Westcott, Bible in the Church, 5).