Kethuvim

I was reading the story of the most fertile man in all of the Bible, Jacob. Jacob is the man who's name would later be changed to Israel, who would then found a nation of the same name. You may have heard of them. So anyway I'm reading the story, and it actually made me laugh out loud.

If you don't know the story, let me give you a quick rundown. Jacob sees a girl named Rachel. Rachel is the youngest daughter of a guy named Laban. Laban has another daughter named Leah. Any questions so far? Good. Jacob likes what he sees in Rachel, so he makes a deal with Laban. If I work for you seven years, you will, in enchange, give me Rachel to be my wife. Laban thinks this sounds like a good plan. He works seven years, and this is what he says at the end of his tenure: "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her."

HA! That's beyond hilarious. If I would have said something like to my would-be father in law seven years ago, he would have done one of two things, 1)Cave my head in with a crowbar (he's capable of this by the way) or 2)Cave my head in with a crowbar, remove my genitals with something sharp, and then eaten my soul. At least Jacob didn't hide his intentions.

So the story says that Laban tricks Jacob into sleeping with Leah (the older one), Jacob then marries her. He isn't in love with Leah, but he apparently has no problem sleeping with her. After a long and drawn out process, Jacob marries Rachel as well, who turns out to be barren. Jacob then start impregnating anyone who walks within arm's reach (or the reach of something else). He has twelve boys and a girl with (get this) FOUR DIFFERENT WOMEN! The boys would form the tribes of Israel, thus founding the nation of Israel.

So if any little Israeli child looks at their mother and says, "Who's my daddy?" The mother can trace it all the way back to Jacob, who apparently knocked up half of the Middle East at the time, and thus became the babydaddy to an entire nation of people.

Here's the thing I love about this story...it's messy. The Bible is full of the stories of people who were bigger trainwrecks than Brittany Spears, and yet God does great things through them anyway. The moral of the story is that you're never far from God. You're never too big of a mess to be loved by him. You're never too far gone. All it takes is the realization that tere's something out there bigger than you, and that bigger something happens to love you as you are. The reality is that you can't be a bigger mess than Jacob...or David...or Moses for that matter. You're loved whether you believe it or not.