Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 31:33-44.  Let’s go!

Genesis 31:33-34 (NIV)
33  So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent.
34  Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing.

On verses 33-34:  Laban painstakingly searches in the tents of his daughters and their maidservants for his household gods but is unable to find them.  Little did Laban know that his daughter Rachel, who had stolen the household gods, was hiding them inside her camel’s saddle and sitting on them.

What can we learn from this?  Here we find Laban frantically searching for his household gods and unable to find them.  But earlier the one true God was searching for Laban and found him, speaking to Laban in a dream (see v24).  That’s a major difference between the God of the Bible and the gods of many other faiths.  With many other faiths, philosophies and religions in the world, it’s about human beings searching for God.  But in the Bible, God searching for human beings.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 31:1-16.  Let’s go!

Genesis 31:1-5 (NIV)
1  Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.”
2  And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.
3  Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
4  So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were.
5  He said to them, “I see that your father’s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me.

On verses 1-5:   Jacob hears God’s Word telling him to go back to the land of his fathers and to his relatives.  In response to God’s Word, Jacob speaks to his wives Rachel and Leah about going back. 

As part of his pitch to go back, Jacob tells of how his father-in-law Laban had acted deceitfully toward Jacob.  His attitude toward Jacob changed from one of welcoming and warmth to one of coldness.  But Jacob also had a Heavenly Father who acted faithfully toward him.  As Jacob says in verse 5, “your father’s attitude toward is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me.” 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 30:14-24.  Let’s go!

Genesis 30:14-18 (NIV)
14  During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15  But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?” “Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”
16  So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.
17  God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18  Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

On verses 14-18:  “Mandrakes” were a rare Middle Eastern plant that were traditionally thought to be an aphrodisiac, and were known among Greeks as “love apples” and among Arabs as the “devil’s apples”.  Leah’s son Reuben finds some mandrakes and brings them to his mom.  Rachel wants some of the mandrakes, so Rachel and Leah strike a bargain where Leah gets to sleep with Jacob that night and Rachel gets the mandrakes.  Later Leah gets pregnant and bears a fifth son, whom she calls Issachar, meaning “reward”.  Leah sees her fifth son as a reward from God for her giving her maidservant Zilpah to her husband.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Genesis 29:15-35.  Let’s go!

Genesis 29:31-35 (NIV)
31  When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
32  Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.”
33  She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon.
34  Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.
35  She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

On verses 31-35:  Now both married to the same man Jacob, the two sisters Leah and Rachel begin the most heated rivalry ever recorded in the Bible between two sisters.  Leah is jealous and saddened that Jacob loves Rachel more.  It seems that with each baby she bears for Jacob, Leah somehow hopes it will cause Jacob to love her more.  Leah is desperately longing for her husband’s love and affection, but can’t seem to win it no matter what does.