Rachel gives birth to Benjamin, tragically dies, while Isaac dies as well, setting the stage for the rise of Joseph.

I became a Christian in 1972 and began a focused, committed walk with Jesus in 1973. As my wife and I surrounded ourselves with Christian friends, we studied the Word of God, sang worship choruses and prayed together. One of the worship songs we sang was “We are One in the Spirit” by Peter Scholtes: “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord”. . . “We will work with each other” . . . and “We will walk with each other.” The chorus proclaimed, “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.” I doubt that anyone would seriously declare that this chorus reflects evangelicalism in 2022. Evangelicalism is a fractured movement at war with itself; a movement often reflects bitterness, recrimination, discord and division—not love.

Compassion is an important biblical term that means having pity on or showing mercy to someone. It is a character trait of God. The Old Testament speaks of having compassion on the “orphan, the widow and the stranger” (Deuteronomy 10:18) and on the “poor and afflicted” (Micah 6:8; Psalm 141:9). Compassion is used by Jesus at several critical moments in His ministry (e.g., Luke 15 of the father of the prodigal son; the Good Samaritan in Luke 10). One should not necessarily expect to see the virtue of compassion among unbelievers, but it is reasonable that one would see it powerfully among believers; among those who name Christ’s name.

Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, is raped by a Canaanite leader; as spiritual leader of his family, Jacob does nothing but his sons respond with an evil act of vengeance.

Anti-Semitism has an ugly history. It was central to the plans of Pharaoh Ahmose who enslaved the Hebrews (see Exodus 1). It was a key element in Pharaoh Amenhotep I’s policy of genocide recorded in Exodus 1:15-22—to kill all Hebrew boys at birth. It was the driving force in Haman’s motivation to ask the Persian emperor Xerxes in 474 BC to issue a decree annihilating all Jews in the Persian Empire (see the book of Esther). In the 20th century the genocidal policies of the Nazi movement in Germany reached its apex with two monumental strategies

God wrestles with Jacob, breaks him of his rebellious will and changes his name to Israel, after which he is reconciled to Esau in a wonderful demonstration of God’s grace.

It is nothing short of astonishing that a few ultra-conservatives still regard Vladimir Putin as a messianic, heroic figure. For such people, in the early decades of the 21st century, Putin is a valuable ally because he seeks to replace the multiracial, multilingual global order with strong nation-states. Putin’s ideologist, Alexander Dugin, writes: “We must create strategic alliances to overthrow the present order of things, of which the core could be described as human rights, anti-hierarchy and political correctness, everything that is the face of the Beast, the Antichrist.” Right-wing ideologist, Steve Bannon, concludes that “We, the Judeo-Christian West, really have to look at what [Putin] is talking about as far as traditionalism goes, particularly the sense of where it supports the underpinnings of nationalism.”

Jacob, under God’s protection and care, leaves his uncle Laban, with his wives, his children and wealth, and heads for the Promised Land.

The war in Ukraine has upset the world order resulting in the rethinking of past assumptions and perceptions. To provide the context for this observation, let’s go back to the opening of the Chinese Winter Olympics in early February: Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a high-profile summit meeting in which they pledged friendship and solidarity. At the end of their meeting, they issued a joint manifesto.

The Birth of Jacob’s children form the basis for the 12 tribes of Israel.