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Jacob to Israel

Genesis chapter 35 is interesting. God moves Jacob from Shechem to Bethel. He also changes his name from Jacob to Israel. God reiterates the Abrahamic covenant and protects Jacob as he makes his move. 

What I see as interesting is the amount of time that God spends with this weird man called Jacob. Just the chapter before this one two of Jacob's son murder all the men in a village. Then just after God tells him that he is going to be moving, Jacob cleans house of all of the foreign gods that his family has accumulated. What? How was that? 

This guy, one of the Patriarcal leaders, is a real piece of work. The phrase, How odd of God to choose the Jews, comes to mind. 

Yet we see God, time and again, working with the Jews. They are always doing the wrong thing and God gives them another opportunity to do right. This whole scenario kind of reminds me of me. 

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