June 1, 2025
Jacob sojourned in Paddan-aram for over twenty years serving his uncle Laban. In that time Jacob married Laban's daughters Leah and Rachel and fathered eleven of his twelve sons and at least on daughter by his two wives and their two maid servants Zilpah and Bilhah.
August 28, 2024
Fleeing to his mother's family in Paddan-aram from his brother Esau who had sworn to kill him when their father Isaac died, Jacob stopped overnight at Luz. There he dreamed of a ladder going up to Heaven. From the top of the stairway, God reiterated to Jacob His promise to his grandfather Abraham that through their descendants all the families of the earth would be blessed. The next morning, Jacob renamed that place Bethel - the house of God.
August 4, 2024
Genesis 26 tells the story of Isaac lying to Abimelech King of the Philistines that Rebekah was Isaac's sister just as Isaac's father Abraham had done years before. Afterward, Abimelech and Isaac swore oaths to live peacefully together in the land of the Philistines. In Genesis 27, we read how Isaac's wife Rebekah and his younger son Jacob deceived Isaac into giving his double-portion inheritance blessing that should have gone to Isaac's firstborn son Esau to his younger brother Jacob instead.
August 3, 2024
This map shows the territories of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the Southern Kingdom of Judah, and the surrounding peoples during the reigns of Uzziah (a.k.a. Azariah) King of Judah and Jeroboam II King of Israel circa 780-740 BC. Significant events during the reigns of these two kings are also annotated.