Author: MFM Kubwa
Jacob Wrestling the Man Until Daybreak
The messengers had returned with terrifying news. Esau was coming with four hundred men. The brother he had cheated twenty years ago, the hunter whose blessing he had stolen, the hairy man whose venison his father loved, was marching toward him with an army at his back. Jacob had sent gifts ahead, waves of goats…
Rachel Sitting on the Hidden Household Gods
Jacob had fled across the river. While Laban was away shearing his sheep, Jacob had gathered his wives and his children and his flocks and his goods and set out for the land of Canaan. He did not tell his uncle he was leaving. He simply went, slipping away like a man escaping from a…
The Striped Rods Pushed into the Watering Troughs
The years had passed, and Jacob had served his time. Fourteen years of labor for his two wives. Six more years of tending the flocks of Laban, building the wealth of his uncle while his own household grew. Eleven sons had been born to him by his wives and their handmaids. Daughters too, though Scripture…
Leah Waking Up the Morning After the Wedding
The feast had lasted seven days. The wine had flowed. The music had played. The guests had eaten and drunk and celebrated the marriage of Jacob to the woman he loved. He had worked seven years for her, seven years of tending flocks in the heat of the day and the cold of the night,…
By the Blood of the Covenant, I Walk Out of Every Trap
As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee. – Zechariah 9:11-12 (KJV) By the Blood of the…
O God, Break the Chains That Limit My Advancement
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I…
Rachel Coming with the Sheep as Jacob Kissed Her
Jacob lifted up his feet and went on his journey. The vision at Bethel was behind him, the stone pillar standing alone on the stony ground, the oil drying on its rough surface. He had made a vow to the Lord, and now he walked eastward toward the land of the people of the east,…
The Ladder Touching the Ground at Bethel
He was running for his life. The blessing had been stolen, the birthright had been taken, and his brother Esau was waiting for the days of mourning for their father to end so he could kill him. Rebekah had heard the threats and sent Jacob away to her brother Laban in Haran, far to the…
Isaac Feeling the Hairy Arms Under the Goat Skin
The old man was blind. His eyes, which had seen the ram caught in the thicket and the smoke rising from Sodom and the stars scattered across the night sky like sand, could no longer tell light from darkness. Isaac sat in his tent, his body heavy with years, his hands groping for the walls,…
Esau Selling Everything for a Bowl of Red Stew
The boys had been fighting since they were in the womb. Rebekah felt them struggling within her, two lives wrestling in the darkness, and she asked the Lord what was happening to her. The answer came back hard and clear. Two nations were in her womb. Two manner of people would be separated from her…
