January 11

OT – The stew that Jacob tricked Esau with is a classic dish in the Middle East. Lentils are the convenience food of the legume world and cook in less than 30 minutes. We have eaten this dish multiple times and my boys especially love it if there is some leftover roast from Nanny’s chopped up in it.
Combine in a soup kettle:
1 c lentils
4 c water
½ tsp cumin
Cook until lentils are soft, adding water if necessary for good soup consistency
Heat in skillet
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Add and sauté until soft
1 chopped onion
At very end, add one clove garlic minced
Blend in
1 tablespoon flour, cook for just 2 minutes
Add to lentils and bring back to the boil.
If adding meat, add now
From: More with Less, a Mennonite cookbook c2000

Regarding the Birthright, what is really interesting to me is that the Birthright was not Esau’s to sell. It was something the FATHER decided. Just earlier in the passage we read today, we read that Isaac inherited all of Abraham’s wealth although he did gift to his other children of concubines. Ishmael was the elder. He should have received the birthright. Abraham decided, rightly or not, that Isaac would be the one. Later, we will read of Jacob passing over Reuben for bad behavior and David passing over Adonijah for Solomon. In any event, Jacob doesn’t appear to have received anything other than his brother’s enmity for the whole escapade as he never gets anything of Isaac’s. Sounds like so many of the brother arguments I have heard in my life.
http://www.bible-history.com/eastons/B/Birthright/

NT – I have always wanted to know what happened to the men. Since everyone else in the town wanted Jesus gone, were they angry with the demon-less men for having destroyed their herd of pigs? Did they get to go home and go back to their ‘real’ lives? Or were they outcasts?
How do we think about these demon healings in light of our culture today? I personally am well acquainted with someone who has some serious mental issues to the point of paranoia and delusions. When this person is in the midst of an episode, she IS demon-filled. She calls names, behaves very badly, refuses help, and is clearly not in her right mind. I wish Jesus would heal her. When she is ‘normal’, there is practically no one that I would rather be around. Even if she were stabilized, there are wounds that she has created that will never heal. They go too deep. Did the men in Matthew experience that as well? Or does Jesus’ healing salve all the wounds?

And the Proverbs: I am still sick so clearly I am ‘wise in my own eyes’. I will try my best to be more humble although the Lord knows, that is a hard task…