Jan 16 - Jacob reunites with Esau

Today Jacob is afraid his brother Esau is going to kick his butt when they meet up and he's coming to see him with 400 men. Jacob sends out ahead of him servants with goats, camels, cows and a slew of other animals as a gift to his brother in the hopes that his brother will be forgiving when they meet. He makes sure each servant tells Esau "Look, he is coming right behind us." That night Jacob wrestles with a man until dawn and the man touches Jacob's him and wrenched it out of its socket. Then the man said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!" Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man tells Jacob "Your name will no longer be Jacob. From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have one." How you like them apples he wrestled with God all night long! "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared." You WWF Smackdown'd with the big cheese and didn't lose! Now when Jacob meets up with Esau he is met with open arms!

There's more crazy stuff that goes on that stems from one of Jacobs daughters being raped and avenged by her brothers. Basically the entire town gets circumcised in order to marry Jacobs daughters and to have their daughters marry Jacobs sons. Well while the town is healing from the little soldiers haircuts two of Dinah's full brothers, Simeon and Levi, go into the town and kill all the men to avenge the rape. Jacob says to Simeon and Levi "You have ruined me! You've made me stink among all the people of this land- among all the Canaanites and Perizzites. We are so few that they will join forces and crush us. I will be ruined, and my entire household will be wiped out!" The retorted angrily "But why should we let him treat our sister like a prostitute?" I personally have to side with the brothers on this one.

In Matthew today Jesus is talking about John the Baptist and how he is the greatest person to ever live. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is! He goes on to denounce the towns where he had done so many of his miracles, because they hadn't repented of their sins and turned to God. OK, now this is what I don't get. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure if some guy comes to town and starts doing all kinds of great miracles, like healing the sick and raising the dead, I believe I would listen to what he's got to say and repent.