family ⁽²¹⁹⁾

Genesis 14:17–20, Hebrews 5:1–4, Acts 13:1–3 The calling of God is mysterious. The Levitical line produced the priests, but who would be called was something different. The calling of pastors is equally mysterious (including to the pastors). How and why God calls certain people to…

Exodus 23:3, Deuteronomy 21:15–17, James 2:1–9 Favoritism generally does not result in good things. By good things, we don’t mean financial gain. The normal “benefits” of favoritism is gaining influence or wealth to the detriment of another, usually by showing preferential behavior to an individual.

Genesis 35:9–15, Genesis 37:1–2 While the “rest of the story” appears to mostly be about Joseph, it is incredibly important to understand that from a familial perspective, this is the continuing story (in comic book terms, the “origin” story) of Israel, both the man (born…

Genesis 29:21–30:24, Genesis 35:16–20 Jacob’s family relationships (as we read yesterday) were already a mess. His Uncle Laban did not help relational stability by setting up his own daughters to have discord in their marriage. The consequence is that sister wives fought over their husband.

Genesis 25:19–34, Genesis 27:1–45 If you have siblings or multiple children, you probably understand the tension that exists between siblings. Often, the tension may seem completely silly, but it is still there. Rabekah’s War in the Womb was definitely a precursor to the strife between…