Day 14 - BIOY

Why was Jacob having sex with everyone?! (in particular, his wives' servants)

At the time, it was not uncommon for a man to sleep with his wife's maidservant in order for the wife to have more children if she could not do it herself (reminded of Abram, Sarai and Hagar). It also said something like 'Rachel gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife', so it was not necessarily sex outside of marriage, just the fact that he was married to quite a few people. Also note, this was before the law was passed down through Moses, so it was normal for people to have lots of wives (though I was quite amused at someone's comment "Where did he find the energy?!").

Comments that amused me...

"Loads of deception, loads of sex, who said the Bible was boring?!"

"Eastenders meets Emmerdale meets Songs of Praise"

"Rachel, best chat-up line ever: 'Give me children or I'll die' (don't try this at the local club!)"

More serious comments...

Sometimes we don't think about how hard it must have been for Leah, who really wanted her husband to love her, but never really got her wish. It must have been particularly hard 'the morning after' when Jacob realised he'd married the wrong girl!

Someone also commented on how Jacob seemed to be trying to find his fulfillment in marrying Rachel, and Leah seemed to be trying to find fulfillment in getting Jacob to love her (through having lots of kids). Neither seemed to understand that they needed to find their fulfillment in God, not other people.

How on earth did Jacob's sheep thing work?!

This was one of my questions, I didn't pose it on the blog as someone had already done so, though I don't think there was a particularly satisfactory answer.

Basically, it wouldn't have worked, but God must have helped him. Someone commented about it being 'sympathetic magic', lol, the idea that if the sheep saw striped things while mating, they would then produce striped offspring. Interesting idea, I must say...

I liked: Matthew 11:28

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest"