Introduction
Beginning with this chapter and throughout the rest of Genesis, the life, posterity, and activities of Jacob are the invariable theme. In this emphasis, he takes his place as "The Israel" of God; he was the father of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and remained at the head of the chosen race until they were favorably settled in Egypt, and where they would, in time, become the mighty nation that God had foretold in his promises to Abraham and Isaac.
The almost monotonous detail of this section is a strange mingling of righteousness and wickedness, of successes and disasters, of heroism and knavery, of strength and weakness, and of doubt and faith. The purpose of this detailed account would appear to be that of providing a window of observation, from which the clear and inevitable consequences of sin are manifested in the lives of Israel, with the necessary deduction that whatever happened to them provides a safe prophecy of what always happens when sin is indulged. Indeed, the N.T. flatly affirms this to be true:
"Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Corinthians 10:11).
"For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Romans 15:4).
The uniqueness and inspiration of this amazing narrative are inherent in the variety and completeness of the revelation. What men spoke in their own hearts, the true basis of their motivation, the secrets of their intentions, what they did in the loneliness of the field, or upon their beds with their wives or concubines, what they did when they were away from home, how they reacted to temptation, and why they acted as they did, how they cheated and deceived each other, what they dreamed, the vows they made, the sorrows they bore, the hardships they endured - on and on, the sacred record tells it all, without dwelling long either upon their heroic deeds of faith or upon their shameful acts of jealousy, envy or fraud. Where on earth has there ever been another history like this one about real people?
Fiction indeed relates many intimate and private actions of its subjects, but the design is never that of fairness in presenting a total picture; here in Genesis we have both private and intimate deeds, but also fairness and continuity which never appear in fiction. This priceless record of the Old Israel is a sacred and precious source book, loaded with everlasting benefit for the children of the New Israel, who, if they apply themselves, and are wise, may be able to emulate what was desirable and avoid what was shameful in the lives of the children of the Old.
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