Jesus tells the chief priests the Parable of the Wedding Banquet where Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a king preparing the wedding banquet for his son. Those who have been invited refused to come, even after the food was prepared. Instead, those invited killed the messengers. Thus, the king sent his army to destroy the murderers and burn their city.
Next, the king invites anyone on the streets to the wedding banquet. Many came, good and bad. However, one came who was not wearing wedding clothes. He was tossed out. The message is that many are invited, but few are chosen.
13) Jesus tells the chief priests the Parable of the Wedding Banquet where Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a king preparing the wedding banquet for his son. Those who have been invited refused to come, even after the food was prepared. Instead, those invited killed the messengers. Thus, the king sent his army to destroy the murderers and burn their city.
Next, the king invites anyone on the streets to the wedding banquet. Many came, good and bad. However, one came who was not wearing wedding clothes. He was tossed out. The message is that many are invited, but few are chosen.
14a) Isaiah 61:10 tells us that the clothes are the garments of salvation and of righteousness. Here, they are symbolizing the acceptance of Jesus.
b) He is telling them they will be destroyed and miss out on the kingdom of heaven if they don’t turn to him.
15) It’s hard to quantify. I am truly blessed to be a Christian and everything I have and am I owe to Jesus’s sacrifice and God’s grace.
This parable shows us that God never gives up on anyone. Jesus keeps pleaing with the religious leaders, telling them the consequences of their actions. Similarly, God never gives up on us, either.
Great reminder about God’s plans!
Jesus explains again in another parable (The Parable of the Wedding Banquet) the danger of rejecting him.
This is probably THE event of the year and decade here. A king’s son’s wedding! Think about modern royal weddings. An invitation normally would have been prized, indeed. There is no logical reason to reject such an invitation.
The king is God here. His Son is Jesus. The invitation is to accept Jesus and enter into eternal life with God.
The king tries again. Many historical scholars say that in ancient times, the Jews would send out an invite like a “save the date” card today. Then they would tell everyone when the day had arrived and everything was ready.
Note how everything is ready — it really is that simple when accepting Jesus.
They rejected the invite again; this time, the king brings judgment. We see Jerusalem’s future here.
Next, the king invites everyone (as the Gospel was extended to the Gentiles) out of grace.
Some commentators believe the king would offer his guests garments to wear. However, in this parable, we see no evidence of that tradition.
The point of the man in inappropriate clothing is that he came for the wrong reasons — for the food. He was not there to celebrate the wedding.
You can only be with God if you are clothed in righteousness (accept Jesus). Again, the man had a chance to accept Jesus when asked about his clothes. He was mute.
Those who don’t accept Christ, who are indifferent, antagonistic, and even unmoved can expect the same fate — to be bound and thrown out.
Take away: All are invited to accept the message of the Gospel. Few do.
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Jesus tells the Parable of the Tenants. A landowner rented out his vineyard. When it was time to collect the rent, he sent his servants to do so. The tenants beat one servant, killed another, and stoned a third. The landowner sent other servants who were treated the same way. Finally, he sent his son who was killed, too. Jesus asks what will the landowner do when he goes to his tenants. The response is he will kill them and rent out the land to others.
Jesus said that the stone that was rejected will be the capstone, quoting Psalm 18:22-23. He says the kingdom of God will be taken from them (the priests and teachers of the law) and given to a people who will produce fruit (Gentiles). The chief priests wanted to arrest Jesus but couldn’t because everyone saw him as a prophet.
10) The landowner is God. The tenants is Israel. The servants are the Old Testament prophets. The heir is Jesus. The vineyard is the land of Israel.
11a) Jesus is the cornerstone of Christianity. Faith in Jesus is the key to the kingdom of heaven. 1 Corinthians 1:23 says Jesus is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. Jesus is the stumbling stone to many to God. Those who reject Jesus will never gain the kingdom of heaven, which is Jesus’s message to the religious leaders. Those who accept Jesus (the Gentiles in Jesus’s parable) will bear fruit and gain heaven.
b) Every way. People reject Jesus’s message in every aspect of their lives, picking and choosing what to believe and what not to believe.
12) It makes life harder, that’s for sure. When people don’t do the right thing.
The message is one of how without Jesus, you are lost and do harm to others indiscriminately like how the religious leaders are persecuting and will kill Jesus. There are severe consequences for doing so.
More ways to help strengthen your prayer life!
The belief of the tenants was if they killed the heir, then they would be able to take over the vineyard for themselves. Instead, the owner would judge and destroy them.
The Old Testament uses the vineyard to represent Israel (Deuteronomy 32:32, Psalm 80:8, Jeremiah 2:21, and especially Isaiah 5:1-7).
Note how the owner (God) expects his son (Jesus) to be respected. Instead, the Son is killed. (a foretelling of his own death).
The message to the chief priests is clear — they can expect severe judgment for rejecting Jesus. The leaders have shown no fruit.
Leadership would now be given to the apostles and eventually to the Church (both Jewish and Gentiles).
Jesus asks the leaders if they’ve ever read the Scriptures. They are probably much offended by this since they obviously have.
The leaders answer to Jesus’s question has them condemning themselves.
Jesus is clearly laying out the consequences of rejecting him, and he is telling them that he is the chief cornerstone from Psalm 118.
We see the cornerstone here, too: Daniel 2:34, 44-45 Isaiah 8:13-15 Isaiah 28:16,
Jesus is telling the leaders to expect to lose their leadership to others. You can either be broken by submission to God or broken by judgment.
Jesus shows grace to the leaders by giving them multiple opportunities to come to him. Instead, the reject him and kill him.
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Jesus is questioned again by the chief priests and the elders while he was teaching at the temple courts about his authority. Jesus in turn asked them to answer one question first which was if John’s baptism was from heaven or from man. The elders conferred and couldn’t draw a good conclusion so they said they didn’t know. Thus, Jesus declined to answer their question since they could not answer his.
Jesus told the parable of the two sons. The father asked both sons to go to the vineyard to work for him. One said no, but went later in the day. The other son agreed to work, but never went. Jesus asks which of the two did what his father wanted. They answered the first. Jesus then says the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of heaven ahead of many for they believed John who showed the way of righteousness.
6a) They asked Jesus: “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” Jesus told them they must first answer a question he poses. Then he will answer their questions.
b) They were only taking into account the politics of their answer and what the people would think. They did not care what the real answer was to Jesus’s question. Since they couldn’t decide which answer would be better viewed by the people and would be “right” to say, they said they did not know. They did not care about the will of God.
7a) Probably in every aspect of my life. Really too many to say precisely.
b) Jesus has authority over the entire world. It should not be questioned.
8 ) The first son said no but had regrets and went later. This represents those who have accepted Jesus. The second son said yes but never went. The second son represents many Christians who and answer God’s call of “Will you follow me?” and they say “I will,” but in their hearts, they are not believers.
9) I’m more the first. My initial reaction is no because it’s usually something uncomfortable, but in the end, I follow. Human nature and sin prompt us to immediately say no.
I love the Parable of the Two Sons. How many of us do this? We say yes to God with no intention of following through.
Remember that the previous day Jesus had just cleansed the temple by throwing out the money lenders and price gougers. The priests were curious what right he had to do those things.
The answer to the question Jesus posed the religious leaders is the answer to the question of Jesus’s authority. The answer “men” would upset the crowd who revered John. The answer “heaven” would have shown them to be hypocrites since John believed Jesus to be the Messiah.
When the leaders failed to acknowledge Jesus’s authority, they rejected God at the same time.
God will reveal truth; all you have to do is ask.
Jesus knew this was another trap by the religious leaders. He had no compassion for them.
Remember a parable is a story that aims to reveal truth in an understandable way. Jesus’s parables are merciful to the receptive and informative of your fate if you reject him. At each parable, the religious leaders could have repented. They did not.
Since the sons lived in the father’s household, it was expected they work for him. He asked the sons individually, not collectively. He addressed them as son.
The first son said no but had regrets and went later. (This represents all of humanity).
The second son said yes but never went. (This represents the teachers of the law who profess obedience to God, but don’t accept Christ).
Both rejected the father’s authority (the father is God in this story).
The second son represents many Christians who and answer God’s call of “Will you follow me?” and they say “I will,” but in their hearts, they are not believers. You will forever be lost without acceptance.
Actions are what matter, not your words.
Tax collectors and prostitutes were regarded as the lowest class. This should have made those who don’t follow Jesus repent.
Jesus is on his way back to Jerusalem. He was hungry and hoped to find fruit on a fig tree. When he found none, he told the fig tree to never bear fruit again, so it withered. The disciples were stumped (no pun intended), so Jesus explained what had happened. Jesus told them if they have faith and do not doubt, mountains will throw themselves into the sea on command, too. If you believe, you’ll receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
3) Jesus was hungry, but when he found no fruit to eat, he told the fig tree to never bear fruit again, so it withered.
4a) The fig tree was supposed to have fruit for it had leaves. The fig tree reprenents those who are all show, but no actions.
b) They do not believe so they don’t bear fruit. They were all show with no real faith at all.
5a) Jesus told them if they have faith and do not doubt, mountains will throw themselves into the sea on command, too. If you believe, you’ll receive whatever you ask for in prayer. He encouraged them to ask and it will be given and they will bear fruit because of it. The miracle was an act of prayer with faith. He encourage his disciples to have this kind of faith, trusting that God will answer.
b) It both challenges me to have faith and helps me to ask for things in prayer and have faith, too.
This is an often-forgotten story of Jesus hidden in this chapter that serves to remind us to have faith in God to answer our prayers.
Great for strengthening your prayer life!
This is one of two destructive miracles of Jesus. We read about the first one when Jesus cast out demons into pigs Matthew 8:30-32
Note Jesus does not harm humans.
The fig tree represents those in Israel who do not accept him. Outwardly, they look like they are followers of God. Inwardly, they are not and thus they bear no fruit. Jesus knows their hearts.
Here, he judges the tree, as he will you and me. Those who fail can expect death.
Take away: Pray with faith to receive.
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Esau moved to a land some distance from Jacob because the land could not support both of their livestocks. Esau settled in Seir.
13) Esau intermarried with Canaanite women. God still blessed him as he had to move away from Jacob because their livestock were too great in number. Esau was the father of the Edomites.
Esau was important enough in God’s eyes to have all of his descendants listed in the Bible. He was loved despite his sins and blessed beyond what was deserved. God is faithful even when we aren’t! Can you imagine the blessings He has in store for those who are faithful?
Genesis lists the families not in the line of Messiah first. After this, we’ll hear no more of Esau and his line; it will be all about Jacob’s line.
Seir is the land south of the Dead Sea.
God blessed Esau because he was Abraham’s descendant and not for what he did. Again, God can do what He likes, even if we don’t agree with it. Kings came from Esau.
Fun Fact: Edom is mentioned more than 130 times in the Bible.
God loved Jacob and hated Esau (Malachi 1:2-3 and Romans 9:13).
Amalekites came from Amalek in this list. They were Israel’s enemies (Exodus 17:8-16; Deuteronomy 25:17-19; 1 Samuel 15:1-8).
It’s cool to see history played out.
God told Jacob to settle in Bethel and build Him an altar there. So Jacob and his household prepared to move, ridding themselves of their idols, purifying themselves, and changing their clothes. Jacob buried the foreign gods and their rings under an oak at Shechem. God protected them as they went so they would not suffer repercussions from the slaughter of Shechem.
No one pursued Jacob and his family when they left Shechem for God sent a terror upon them. Jacob built an altar at Bethel as instructed by God. Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died. God appeared to Jacob again and re-named him Israel.
God repeats his covenant to Abraham and Isaac to Jacob, saying to be fruitful and multiply for a nation will come from your body and He will give this land to his descendants. God left and Jacob set up a stone pillar.
Rachel died after they left Bethel giving birth to Benjamin. She was buried along the route. Israel moved on and stayed for a bit near Migdal Eder. Here, Reuben slept with Bilhah.
Jacob’s 12 sons are: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
Jacob finally arrived home in Hebron to see Isaac who was still alive. Isaac died at age 180 and was buried by Jacob and Esau.
9) God told Jacob to settle in Bethel and build Him an altar there. Bethel is the place where God appeared to Jacob in a dream, renewing His covenant with Jacob, promises to watch over him wherever he goes and bless the world through him.
10) He purged his household of idols and had everyone purify themselves. Then they set out to God’s command.
11a) 35:1: Authoritative, commanding, caring, leading, protecting
35:3: Answers in distress and is with you wherever you go.
35:9-10: God blesses and molds people
35:11-12: God keeps his promises and repeats them
b) God is with me. He leads. He helps in my distress. He blesses. He keeps His promises. He protects. He cares. He is my everything.
12) The repercussions of man’s first sin in the Garden: death of his loved ones: Rachel and Isaac. His son sleeping with his concubine.
Woah! Anyone else shocked that Jacob knew about foreign gods in his household and let them stay until God told him to move? Man, he is flawed, isn’t he? Yet, we see Jacob obey this time. He is growing with God.
A lot happens in this chapter that the Bible ploughs through.
Note how God is not mentioned once in Genesis 34. Yet, He reappears here, being mentioned over 10 times. God is with us, orchestrating, no matter what evil is going on in the world.
Jacob is in effect returning to God here. He is finally going to Bethel to be separate from others as he was supposed to do earlier. (Genesis 31:13). His whole family will benefit because of it.
Rachel probably still had the foreign gods she stole from her father, Laban. It appears more had foreign gods. Jacob gets right with God, all follow him.
Changing of the clothes signifies a return to God. Those earrings must have been pagan worship as well. Everything associated with pagans must go in a cleansing.
God ensured no one hurt them as revenge for Shechem Genesis 34:30.
Jacob obeyed God fully, building an altar. Nothing is more important than obedience to God’s call.
Deborah is mentioned for the first time. This is pretty cool. She was buried at Allon Bachuth or “oak of weeping.” I would have liked to have been mentioned. Note how Rebekah’s death was not recorded. Don’t confuse this Deborah for Deborah the judge in the book of Judges.
God appeared to Jacob again for the 4th time (apparently in bodily form i.e. Jesus) and reminded him of his new name, Israel. God wants to remind us of who we are to Him. Revelation 2:4-5 renewing his covenant.
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God blesses those who do what God tells us to do.
Drink offerings are found in several places in the Bible: Exodus 29:40-41, Leviticus 23:13, and Numbers 15:5-7 Or the pouring out of your life like an offering as Paul says (Philippians 2:17 and 2 Timothy 4:6).
Children are blessings, yet all Rachel saw was sorrow, naming her son, Ben-Oni, “son of my sorrow.” Jacob renamed him Benjamin “son of his right hand.”
Rachel was buried where she died, some distance from Ephrath. Rachel has been remembered in Scripture for her weeping. Jeremiah described the mourning of Assyrian exiles as Rachel weeping for her children (Jeremiah 31:15) and Herod’s murder of Bethlehem’s boys as Rachel as well (Matthew 2:18).
Your right hand is typically your strong one if you are right-handed. Of course, Jesus sits at God’s right hand.(Colossians 3:1). We see the right hand elsewhere in the Bible too: Exodus 15:6: Psalm 16:8 (Psalm 63:8) (Psalm 138:7).
We see Rachel’s death as a fulfillment of Jacob’s curse (Genesis 31:32). and as Rachel herself wanted to die if she didn’t have kids Genesis 30:1,
Life still happens, as does death and sorrow from man’s first sin.
Reuben, Jacob’s first son and the one seemingly to carry forth the blessings, sleeps with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine, the mother of Reuben’s brothers dan and Naphtali. It’s Judah who will bring forth the Messiah. This was a power act and nothing more.
Jacob’s family is most definitely dysfunctional
Jacob does get to see Isaac again. What a blessing. We need to remember this since we never know when we’ll see someone in our lives for the last time. Isaac dies at 180 and Esau returns for the burial. It’s good to see even in such dysfunctional families, love still remains.
We never see Jacob and Esau together after this in Scripture.
Jacob’s sons propose the Shechemites be circumcised to have Dinah as Shechem’s wife. They agree, and they convince the townspeople to become circumcised as well with the idea that then everything Jacob owns (livestock and property) will be theirs. Two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, slaughter all of the men in the town when they are still recovering from circumcision and are weak. They kill Hamor and his son, Shechem. They take Dinah back, looted the city of its wealth, and took all of the women and children as plunder.
Jacob chastized his sons (not for killing, mind you), but for now making them a target for other groups of people who may be afraid of Jacob or who may enact revenge as well. The sons uphold that they could not let the crime against Dinah go unpunished.
6a) Their motivation was revenge, plain and simple.
b) Obviously, innocent people were killed, lives were ruined, families were destroyed. Simeon and Levi have lost credibility as leaders with this action. Their tribes will be scattered. In fact, Simeon’s tribe ceases to exist, being absorbed completely in Judah. Levi’s tribe is scattered as well, but because of their faithfulness with the golden calf (Exodus 32:26-28), they would be a blessing to all of Israel.
7a) Negative ways are with violence against others, most of whom are innocent, by looting, pillaging, setting buildings on fire, etc. Positive ways are finding ways to change so it doesn’t happen again.
b) God is the one who will enact revenge for evil deeds, not you. Instead, overcome evil with good. Love your enemy and feed them. Live at peace with the enemy, and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
c) You pray about it. You ask yourself if your actions are in accordance with what the Bible says. You ask yourself if you are responding out of love or hate. You find peace with your actions.
8 ) Listen to God and do what He says. Don’t enact your own revenge. Don’t let anger get the best of you. Do what is right.
Now, Jacob had impetus to do what God says and return to Bethel because now they can’t stay there. I also find it interesting that Levi does this. His line is the one chosen by God for the priesthood. Ironic, isn’t it? The sons has this all planned out. They weren’t going to let the marriage take place, so they tricked them into circumcision so they would be easier to kill. This I find to be the worst part.
There is a reason that circumcison is performed on babies: it’s infinitely easier to recover from when you are a baby than when you are an adult. The procedure is more complicated and the recovery time is much longer. The area may remain swollen afterwards for 2-3 weeks, and it can take up to six weeks for full recovery.
Jacob’s sons had this planned from the beginning. They used Dinah and God’s sacred sign of circumcision and defiled it to enact revenge and evil.
Obviously, wealth was the reason Shechem and Hamor agree, and they use wealth to convince the other men.
Circumcision is painful, especially in adulthood. Odds are, the men are all recovering in their homes, lying around, letting time do its thing, when they are attacked.
Simeon and Levi commit a worse crime than Shechem did. They kill all the men, plunder the city, and take the women and children. Pretty sure God is not happy right now.
Not Jacob is called Jacob here, not Israel. Jacob is only concerned with what will happen to him, not at all about what his sons did.
Tragic scene with no remorse shown for annihilated an entire culture. I wonder what Dinah thinks of all this? She was obviously used, and although the brothers use her reputation as a reason for all this, it’s obvious they don’t care about her feelings. Maybe she did like Shechem. Now he’s dead. She goes from being raped back to Shechem and now back to Jacob. Her life is pretty much ruined after all this. In these times, women were objects, and no one cared what they thought or how they were treated, as seen here. Although we see the women of the Bible as strong, they are still second to men, and sometimes, they are not seen at all, as Dinah is here.
Dinah, daughter of Jacob, decided to go visit the women of the land (unsure why). Shechem, the son of the ruler of the area, Hamor, took her and raped her. He fell in love with her. Jacob and his sons were angry over this. Hamor asked Jacob for Dinah’s hand in marriage for his son, Shechem, and invited them to intermarry with them, trade, and own property in the land.
3) “They were filled with grief and fury.” Who wouldn’t be angry that their sister had been raped? Plus, Dinah would not be able to marry not being a virgin in that time.
4a) Shechem wanted to marry Dinah. Hamor offered Jacob and his family to settle among them, marry their daughters, live in the land, trade in it, and own property.
b) God’s people were called to not intermarry with the pagan cultures around them because then they will turn away from God to other gods.
5a) All cruelty bothers me.
b) Definitely pray about it. It can be overwhelming the sheer amount of evil in the world, but knowing God’s god it gives me peace. Help those I can.
Unsure why Dinah went to town in the first place, and it sounds like she went by herself so she violated that rule/culture at the time. Now, they had little choice but to let Dinah get married.
This story is used to prove the verity of the Bible. After all, who would record such evil deeds except God?
God had called Jacob to Bethel (Genesis 31:13), not Shechem. Inevitably, when you disobey God, bad things can happen.
It falls on Jacob for allowing Dinah to go unsupervised to the city. Yet, nothing is mentioned of that fact. In those times, it seems unsupervised women were raped. Dinah, as a teen, did rebellious things that have consequences as most teenagers do.
Was it love since Shechem raped Dinah? This was probably more a desire to have something more so than love.
Jacob’s sons are more angry than Jacob himself it seems. Jacob should have done something. Instead, the sons felt obligated to, and their choice was infinitely worse without guidance from the head of the family. In ancient times, however, the revenge of the brothers was commonplace.
The marriage proposal threatened God’s plan for all of humanity. God did not want intermarriage of his people, wanting them distinct from other cultures. The fix proposed by Shechem was not a fix at all. It would set a dangerous precedent.
They thought money could erase what happened. Imagine how Dinah felt. Being raped is one of the most vile crimes on this planet, leaving a lifetime full of sorrow and pain. Dinah probably wanted nothing to do with Shechem.