Genesis 19-42 Book Report

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Genesis 25:19-36:42 – This begins with Isaac and Rebekah struggling to have children. Rebekah is barren until God answers their prayers and she conceives twins. Jacob, the younger brother, tricks Esau into giving him his birthright and later tricks his father Isaac into blessing him instead of Esau with the help of Rebekah. Jacob flees from Esau to his uncle Laban, where he falls in love with Laban’s younger daughter Rachel. However, Jacob is ironically tricked into marrying the older daughter Leah. Jacob is eventually able to marry Rachel as well and he in time has many sons and one daughter. All this time, Jacob is under God’s protection and even appears to have a physical encounter with Him. Jacob wrestles with a man that happens to be a heavenly being and comes out the victor. From then on, his name is Israel, which is the name for God’s people from here on out. …show more content…

Also, Anderson illustrates how the stories of Israel’s ancestors may have been influenced by the surrounding Mesopotamian cultures and religions (example “God of my father”). Miller (61-83) – Miller states that relying solely on the Hebrew Bible may not be a wise decision when attempting to recover an understanding of Ancient Israel from a historian’s viewpoint. Too many factors from multiple sources outside of the Bible such as folk-tale material and other stories may also contribute to the picture of what the ancient world was

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