Genesis 34
Jacob’s family is spiralling out of control. Judah, the direct ancestor of the priests and Levites, is here seen in a killing spree. This is family dysfunction at its worst. A father with a weak resolve got pushed around by his sons who were blinded by their anger, a daughter with questionable night life, a bunch of unreasonable men whose revenge was far greater than the crime committed against them. At the last scene, Jacob was seen worrying more about their nighbors than the grave offense his sons did against God.
This hardly looks like a family from which the Messiah would be born. The story ended without a single reference to God.
Don’t we all have chapters like this in our lives? Times when we leave God out of our decisions, times when we let our feelings decide for us, times when we feel confident that we know better, times when we feel we’ve figured it all out because of some previous victories or encounters with God. This overconfidence could ruin us if we are not careful.
Jojo Agot 