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- †. Gen 29:1 . . Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the Easterners. The geographic region in Turkey where Jacob went wasn't actually east by his reckoning. It was just about dead north. But the people who populated that region had roots in the east. Here's another version...

- †. Gen 28:22a . . And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, shall be God's abode; Jacob's pillow stone wasn't really meant to be a dwelling or a container as we typically think of human habitat or animal cages. It was meant to be a sort of monitoring device. An 8th century BC Aramaic...

- †. Gen 28:20-21 . . Jacob then made a vow, saying: If God remains with me, if He protects me on this journey that I am making, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return safe to my father's house-- Yhvh shall be my God. What's he saying? That the Lord has not been his god...

- †. Gen 28:16-17a . . Jacob awoke from his sleep and said: Surely the Lord is present in this place, and I did not know it! Shaken, he said: How awesome is this place! Actually Jacob was very frightened. I believe that place gave him the creeps. It isn't unusual for an encounter with God to...

- †. Gen 28:15 . . Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Actually, hardly any of those promises were fulfilled in Jacob's lifetime-- his offspring didn't become as...

- †. Gen 28:12b . . a ladder was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it. The word for "ladder" is from cullam (sool-lawm') which is actually a staircase. This is the one and only place in the entire Old Testament where that specific...

- †. Gen 28:8 . . Esau realized that the Canaanite women displeased his father Isaac. Now that Esau no longer enjoyed the status of a pampered athlete, he's a little more attuned to the opinions of others around him; most especially to the dad who at one time gave the impression his eldest was...

- †. Gen 28:1a . . So Isaac sent for Jacob and blessed him. He instructed him: This is the first time, at least on record, that Isaac has shown any real interest in Jacob's spiritual condition. You just have to wonder if Jacob received any religious instruction at all from his dad. I would not...

- †. Gen 27:46 . . And Rebecca said to Isaac: I am weary of living because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, I might as well die. Abraham purchased a cemetery plot from Heth's clan back in chapter 23...

- †. Gen 27:43b-45 . . Flee at once to Haran, to my brother Laban. Stay with him a while, until your brother's fury subsides— until your brother's anger against you subsides —and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will fetch you from there. Let me not lose you both in one day! The...

- †. Gen 27:39-40 . . And his father Isaac answered, saying to him: See, your abode shall be [away from] the fat of the earth and [from] the dew of heaven above. Yet by your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restive, you shall break his yoke from your...

- †. Gen 27:30-33a . . No sooner had Jacob left the presence of his father Isaac-- after Isaac had finished blessing Jacob --than his brother Esau came back from his hunt. He too prepared a dish and brought it to his father. And he said to his father: Let my father sit up and eat of his son's...

- †. Gen 27:29c . . Cursed be they who curse you, blessed they who bless you. That the blessing upon Jacob was definitely the same as the blessing given to Abraham and Isaac is clear from the words spoken here in the final part. First, Isaac conferred the material aspects of patriarchal life...

- †. Gen 27:26-27 . .Then his father Isaac said to him: Come close and kiss me, my son. And he went up and kissed him. And he smelled his clothes and he blessed him, saying, Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of the fields that the Lord has blessed. Esau probably always smelled like that...

- †. Gen 27:14-15 . . He got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared a dish such as his father liked. Rebecca then took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were there in the house, and had her younger son Jacob put them on; The word for "house" is from bayith...

- †. Gen 27:5a . . Rebecca had been listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. We might ask: Why was Rebecca so concerned anyway? Didn't God decree the firstborn's rights to Jacob? Then Jacob will get them anyway; won't he? Yes. Jacob would eventually end up with the firstborn's rights anyway...

- †. Gen 27:3-4 . .Take your gear, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open and hunt me some game. Then prepare a dish for me such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my innermost blessing before I die. The part about "my soul" is a curious statement. The word for...

- †. Gen 27:1a . .When Isaac was old Just precisely how old Isaac was at this time, is difficult to tell. But I think we can come close enough for government work. Jacob spent 20 years with Laban. (Gen 31:41a) Joseph was born during that time. (Gen 30:22-24) At just about the time Joseph...

- Transubstantiation is a process wherein the elements of communion (a.k.a. species) are transformed into Christ's body and blood; which, if true, is a tremendous advantage for Catholics. Here's why. ● John 6:53-54 . . Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and...

- †. Gen 26:31-32 . . Early in the morning, they exchanged oaths. Isaac then bade them farewell, and they departed from him in peace. That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug, and said to him: We have found water! Ah, yes. It is always so pleasant to cap a...