Questions:
6.
a.
heaven’s dew, earth’s richness, abundance of grain and new wine, nations serve you, peoples bow down to you, lord over your brothers, sons of mother bow down to you, those who curse you be cursed, those who bless you be blessed
b.
Nations will serve you, 12:3 bless those who bless you, whoever curses you be cursed
7.
a.
regret is to feel loss or disappointment for an action or event. repent is to accept responsibility and choose to make a change to do differently in the future.
b.
Esau regretted the series of events and cried out. Isaac recognized something as wrong and set about making things right. He did not withdraw his blessing from Jacob, but instead set him on a straight path.
8.
a.
Esau regretted the series of events and cried out. Isaac recognized something as wrong and set about making things right. He did not withdraw his blessing from Jacob, but instead set him on a straight path.
b.
To benefit from God’s blessing requires a willingness to honor that blessing. People want the outcome of blessings, but do not want to bend a knee to the only one in control of providing such.
c.
He did seek to please his father. He demonstrated respect to him and accepted his word as law.
d.
trending in the correct direction. Plenty of potholes and detours along the way, but I think others see and hear my testimony to the Lord.
9.
They stood against Israel during the Exodus, but fell to David and his armies. During that time every living adult male of Edom was killed, but even at the time of cross and Edomite sentenced Jesus to the cross.
My Daily Journal:
One of the things that caught my eye today was the start of the blessing from Isaac bestowed upon Jacob: “May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness.” Why dew? Not rain, not water, but dew? This thought encouraged me to search for other dew references in the bible (don’t you love online bible references?) Evidently there are 35 times it appears and it is an interesting progression.
This reference in Genesis is the first appearance of the word in the bible. The next time we see it is during the exodus, each day the dew was followed by the presence of manna on the ground which fed the Isrealites (Jacob’s family) for 40 years. Next appearance is in the blessing Moses gave to the tribe of Joseph before Moses’ death. Next God uses dew on fleece in making a covenant with Gideon in Judges. David references the lack of dew when lamenting the death of God’s first appointed King Saul and his son Jonathan. There are references in Psalm and Proverbs equating dew with the abundant provision from heaven. The dew of heaven is a central feature in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar interpreted by Daniel. The last times the word is used in the bible are in the books of the prophets. Micah 5 prophecies the “promised ruler from Bethlehem” and ties the dew from the Lord directly to “the remnant of the house of Jacob”. Then the final time the word appears in the bible is in Zechariah 8:12 – “The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people.”
I love the way God plants these stepping stones for us to follow leading to the redemptive birth of His son, Jesus. A simple word, like dew, something that can be counted on and expected as a daily occurrence, is woven in and through stories starting with a promised inheritance to Jacob and then being brought full circle to the remnant of that house and the promised ruler from Bethlehem who is the vine that yields everlasting fruit.
The Notes are Good 