BRAGADAYJAH 97

Now Rachel was so set on having children for her husband Jacob that she gave her handmaiden Bilhah unto Jacob and commanded him to go in unto her so that she would conceive and so her child would be hers. This may sound strange to the modern ears and eyes; but at that time and even down to Roman times, the principle of what I call fructus, was at large. By fructus I mean that a maid, like a fruit tree, or not to put too fine a point on it, a horse, or a cow, was in the power and possession of the owner. Accordingly any fruit of the tree, fructus, was also in the power and possession of the owner of the tree, the horse the cow, the maid; so that any offspring of Bilhah was by law and custom, the property of Rachel the owner of the maid. So what would God do? Would he allow Bilhah to conceive? Surely He did; for Bilhah conceived and bore a son; and Rachel said, “The Lord has judged me and has also heard my voice;” so therefore, she called his name Dan. And when after Dan, Bilhah bore another son, Rachel said, “With great wrestling have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed; therefore, she called this second son Naphtali.” There are great lessons to be learnt from this brief account. Firstly, that the Lord God Almighty is the Master of all creation. It is he and he alone who is the giver of life. Rachel thought that all Jacob had to do was to produce seed and a child would come forth, and so she was angry with her husband because she could not conceive. But finally, when she saw that God gave children to her made she finally came to the realization of where babies come from. Secondly she was spending her time, in expending useless energy wrestling with her sister instead of wrestling with God; for as will be seen later, until she learnt to wrestle with God, her life remained barren. Thirdly that God always have a plan and a purpose for everything that happens in our lives. Suppose for instance it was Rachel who was fruitful and Leah was not. One could see Rachel demanding that Jacob put her away. But since Leah was the one who was bearing Jacob’s children it was less likely even very unlikely that, as much as Jacob disliked Leah at the start, he could have been persuaded to send her away. So that it is a reasonable inference that God was looking after Leah to prevent any grave injustice befalling her. More.

BRAGADAYJAH 96

So at last Jacob had the wish of his heart. He had already consummated a marriage with Leah; but now he was given Rachel also. Predictably, he loved Rachel more than he loved Leah. Indeed he hated Leah, understandably because she was not his wife of choice. It would be always something of a bitter memory to him; he was cheated and Leah was thrust upon him unknown in the dark of night. Of course, the cold hard fact is, Leah had done nothing for which she should be hated; and so the Lord, while stopping up Rachel’s womb, caused Leah to conceive, and she bore a son whose name she called Reuben because she opined, the Lord looked with favor upon her affliction, and perhaps if she gave a son to Jacob, he may love her. In the course of time Leah had a second son, and she said, "of a truth, the Lord sees how much I am hated without a cause;so He continues to bless me;" so she called the name of her second son Simeon. And when she gave birth to a third son, she felt sure that they were all blessings from the Lord; the Lord she felt was trying to show her husband she was a fruitful woman, greatly to be loved and not despised as she was; so she called this third son Levi. When she had a fourth son, she was beside herself with praise; so she said, now I will praise the Lord, and she called the name of the fourth child, Judah. Now Rachel could not understand what was going on. She could not understand why Leah was being so fruitful while she was barren; so naturally, she turned on her husband. “Why can’t you give me children? What are you doing for her that you are not doing for me? Surely I am a woman and I can make children too." Not only was Rachel very jealous of her sister Leah, she was angry with her husband also. So when she threatened to kill herself if her husband did not give her children, Jacob asked her, in a state of anger, “Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?” More

BRAGADAYJAH 95

Some men may say, if Jacob loved Rachel so much, why was he prepared to wait seven years to marry her? Of course in terms of modern times, and the impatience of our day, Jacob’s offer to wait 7 years may seem strange. But it is asserted, that at that time, men were patient in love and patient in service. On the other hand, Jacob’s willingness to serve Laban for seven years highlights and extenuates the deep love he had for his future wife and the high value he placed on acquiring her. So it is said, the seven years seemed as nothing compared to the great love he had for Rachel. Accordingly, the thought of what lay at the end of the rainbow must have been very exciting and gratifying indeed, and so he labored and waited. But alas, at the end of the seven years when it was time to receive the prize, something untoward happened. When Jacob demanded his wife, Laban threw a party as if celebrating the wedding. But when it was night, Laban took unto Jacob, not Rachel his daughter for whom Jacob toiled, but his older daughter Leah. When morning came, and Jacob was able to see his wife’s face, it was Leah, not Rachel his first love he beheld. With disappointment, he protested to Laban, who justified by saying that in his country, it would go against custom to give the second daughter in marriage before the first. Jacob’s words to Laban were interesting as he asked Laban, “Why did you beguile me?” And so it was indeed that so Jacob himself beguiled his father, the word Isaac used was “subtlety,” so now is Jacob beguiled by Laban. It is commonly said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” While that saying is pregnant with wisdom, it may be better said, “Do not do unto others, what you would not like done unto you.” More The end result was that Laban told Jacob; “If you want Rachel so much, then fulfill your week with Leah,” that is to say, complete the period of consummation; “then work another seven years for Rachel,” which Jacob did. More

BRAGADAYJAH 94

Needless to say, Jacob was delighted to meet Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban; so departing somewhat with watering protocol, he rolled the stone away from the well’s mouth and set about watering the sheep in Rachel’s care, sheep belonging to his uncle Laban. So overwhelmed was Jacob indeed that he kissed Rachel and wept. Emotions were well in order. His journey had been a long and weary one. He had met the Lord on the way and the Lord had promised to be with him and prosper his journey, and he had offered prayers to the Lord. But now he could feel in his heart that God was indeed with him. He had found his mothers, family; so overcome with emotions he wept. Jacob told Rachel who he was and so she ran and told her father Laban. And Laban in turn could not wait to meet Jacob Rebekah’s son, so he ran to meet him. Having met, the two kissed and embraced and then returned to Laban’s house. Jacob then resided a month with Laban, in the meantime doing chores and helping with work on the farm. At this time Laban asked Jacob how he wanted to be reward for his labor; for though they were flesh and blood, Jacob could not be expected to work for nothing. As it happened Laban had two daughters. Jacob had already met Rachel at the well; but she was the younger of the two girls the other being Leah, who was older than Rachel. They were both beautiful girls; but Jacob loved Rachel who was even more beautiful; so he told Laban he would work 7 years for the privilege of marrying Rachel the younger daughter; and Laban agreed to Jacob’s offer, so that Rachel was promised to him in return for his labor. More

BRAGADAYJAH 93

So here we have it that the very next morning after God had appeared unto Jacob in a dream, and had promised him everything he could ever hope for, Jacob was on his knees praying to God and promising Him that if God would provide for him, sustain him and shield him, and bring him home again, he would give unto God a tenth part of everything that he acquired So the question may be asked again, why? Did Jacob not trust God, did he not believe that God would act unilaterally to fulfill his promises without anything coming from the promisee? The answer in part is that not knowing who God is was part of Jacob’s problem. But it is suggested that Jacob’s mistrust of God was more because he Jacob did not think himself worthy to receive such goodness from God if for no other reason he had a bad conscience over the way he deceived his father and acquired Esau’s birthright and blessing. What of course Jacob did not know was that bad as his conduct so far was, God saw in him as a bad penny that could be made to sparkle again whereas, Esau was Edom, a thoroughly bad and worthless penny. So Jacob was saying in fact, “Yes God I hear you; and if you are really serious with me, I promise I will be serious with you.” So Jacob journeyed on until he came to a well in a field, and beside the well, he saw three flocks of sheep. As he looked on, he noticed that there was a large stone placed over the well’s mouth and one by one, each flock was watered; and at the last the stone was rolled back in place to cover the well. At that stage, that is to say after the flocks were watered and the stone put into place, Jacob approached them and asked them where they were from, whereupon they answered and informed him that they were from Haran. Upon hearing they were from Haran, Jacob asked them if they knew Laban, Nahor’s son, and they said yes, they knew him, and further, his daughter Rachel now comes with her father’s flock of sheep. More/

BRAGADAYJAH 92

Waking out of his sleep, and remembering his dream, Jacob became afraid and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it. O how dreadful is this place. It is none other than the house of God, the very gate of heaven.” Jacob, therefore, took the stones he had used for a pillow and formed them into a pillar and poured oil unto the top of it. And having done so, he called the place, which up to that time had been called Luz, Bethel, that is to say, House of God. Having built his altar, Jacob set about worshipping God, and he vowed unto god, that if He should provide him with food and water, and clothes on my back, and keep me safe and lead me back again to my father’s house, I will serve the Lord, and he will be my God. And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God’s house; and of all that thou gives me I shall give thee the tenth part. Clearly Jacob as a young man was abiding under his father Isaac’s blessings. He had not experienced God for himself. Certainly he knew of the God of his father Isaac and of his grandfather Abraham. But he up to this time had no personal experience of God for himself. In his dream just that past night, God had revealed to Jacob a vision of who He was and had made him promises which went far beyond what he was now vowing conditionally to God who had made to him unconditional promises; for God had promised him. “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places wither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; I will not leave thee until I have done to thee that which I have spoken to thee of.” So, then in truth and in fact Jacob’s promises were redundant, since God had already given to him assurances to which God had not attached any conditions. More

Pope Marxism is Wrong

A Strange Philosophy Maybe its just me; but I find it most strange that when asked, the current Pope said, it was not up to him to say whether homosexual Priests is right or wrong. I say strange because I believe it is the calling of every child of God to know what the Word of God says, and to rightly and properly line it up, to measure conduct, whether such conduct is consonant with God’s word, right, or contrary to it, wrong. God’s word condemns homosexual conduct in both the Old and the New Testament; so there is no question in my mind that it is wrong. On the other hand I say strange, because when asked recently, the same Pope pronounced Marxism to be wrong. Well its been over 50 years since I have read men like JEM Joad, Engels, Kant, Karl Marx and others and perhaps teachings, philosophies and concepts have changed; but as I remember, Marx fundamentally says, the most efficient means of production should be pursued by the State, capital and labor being organized and managed to that end, so that the greatest good may be achieved; that every man must contribute according to his ability; and that he should be rewarded according to his needs. The last part of Marxism then runs counter to the modern day economic practices of Capitalism which has no regard for the needs of the working man. Yet the good Pope saw fit to condemn it as wrong; but God’s prohibition? Well he just could not judge; strange, very strange I say. The real danger with Marxism we are told is that it is a form of COMMUNISM. And what is wrong with communism (the early Apostles adopted a sort of communal living), is that it is not exactly a happy bedfellow of democracy; as a matter of fact the two are mortal enemies. But which is better? Communism is projected as ostensibly oppressive; but Capitalism is subtly corrupt, manipulative and repressive. So which is better? Which system is right and which is wrong? It depends on who is tossing the coin and who is calling heads and who is calling tails. And in the final analysis, I just have to admit that maybe the Pope is more versed in the things of the world than I am.