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            The chapter begins with Dinah, the daughter of Leah being, basically, raped by Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite. The bible says that he took her and lay with her, and violated her. The, Shechem said he was in love with her and wanted her to be his wife, so his father went to Jacob and Leah and asked for Dinah to wed his son. Shechem and Hamor acted as if it was no big deal to sleep with Dinah even though it wasn't mutual and wanted by Dinah or her family. Sex out of wedlock was not ok, especially to a God fearing family.

            Instead of allowing God to make the problem right, Jacobs sons took matters into their own hand. They told Hamor that if their men were to become circumcised then they would agree to have not only Dinah wed Shechem but all of their sisters would dwell with their men and the families would become one. After the men got circumcised, Jacobs sons went through and killed all of their men to settle their revenge, causing Jacob to be disgraced by his sons actions.

            God set his people apart from the pagans, but that didn't mean he wanted His people to act better than everyone else, He still wanted Jacobs sons to be respectful to others. God wasn't consulted at any part of this terrible problem, they didn't go to God after Dinah was raped, or after they were approached to have Dinah wed Shechem, God was left out of the equation which is why Jacbos sons went to sin to make their anger and revenge justified. God is the one to justify the situation and make it right, not us, we should never sin to make ourselves feel better. Jacobs family was in the right to refuse the marriage and give Dinah to a man who honored God and wouldn't rape her, but they spiraled down when the sons made a deal that they never intended to honor and then murdered all of them.  If you make a deal with someone, honor it.

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            As they continued their travels Jacob saw angels of God, and he told the angels that his camp was Gods. Jacob then sent messengers to go talk to his brother Esau to let him know that Jacob was coming and had animals and servants and was ready to return home. When Jacobs messengers returned he was frightened by Esau’s response, that he was coming to meet Jacob with four-hundred men. Jacob didn't know what to do and was scared his brother still wanted to kill him, so he took half of all he owned and dived everything, even the people and said that if Esau killed one group then hopefully the other half would be able to escape unnoticed. He then prayed for God to protect him from his brother.

            Because Jacob tricked Esau into giving up his birthright, and then tricked their father by stealing Esau’s blessing, he didn't exactly have a safe home to go home too. He not only had to leave his mom twenty years ago but was never guaranteed peace when he returned. Had he just let Gods plan unfold he could have the same outcome but the journey to it would have been less chaotic and messy.

            Fearing the reunion Jacob sent a messenger out with gift first, hoping this would please his brother if there was still hatred present. That night Jacob sent his two wives, two female servants and his eleven sons and sent them onward. Then, the bible says that he wrestled with man all night until the man blessed him. The notes say he was wrestling with God, and that he was desperate for God to bless him so after showing his persistance God changed his name from Jacob to Israel, one who struggles or wrestles with God. Up till now, Jacob had a habit of achieving Gods plan through sin, now was the time for him to turn to God and put the sinning tendencies behind him.

            We may feel like we know what is best for us, but we dont know the future, only God does. Only He knows what is best for us, so we must always seek not only his solution for us in situation but how he wants us to solve the situation along the journey. We not only want the same solution, but we also want the same journey that God wants for us.

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           Jacobs brother-in-laws were very angry and bitter about Jacob receiving the animals he was told he could take. They felt that he was robbing their father and Jacob could see that he was no longer favored by his father-in-law as well now that he wanted to leave. Rachel and Leah were fine leaving, their father hadn't treated them well and didn't honor them by giving them an inheritance that was custom in those times, he kept it for himself. Their fathers selfishness made it easier for them to support their husbands choice to leave. Rachel however, acted out in anger and chose to steal her fathers idols when they left in secret. She didn't tell Jacob she took them, probably because she knew he wouldn't approve. They left in secret when Laban was gone because Jacob had seen how poorly Laban had treated him over the last twenty years by deceiving/tricking him, cutting his wages ten times etc. Jacob was afraid that if he tried to say bye, Laban wouldn't allow him to take his daughters and trick him again, so he acted out of fear and fled to avoid confrontation. Confrontation is never fun, but acting in fear is never the best solution.

            Laban got home and found them gone and his idols missing and went after them in anger, intending to cause Jacob harm. That night, in Labans sleep, God visited him and told to be careful what he said to Jacob. God was protecting Jacob even when Jacob didn't even know he needed protection. When Laban found Jacob he first accused him of stealing the idols and said he wanted to cause him harm but he wouldn't because God told him not too. Jacob allowed Laban to search for what he claimed was stolen and Rachel took the idols, placed them under her camels sack and sat on top of it so that way her father wouldn't find them when he searched the tents, she also lied about why she couldn't get up to great her father. Jacob had no idea what his wife had done and when he saw that Laban didn't find the idols he yelled at Laban for accusing him of something that he was innocent of. Jacob and Laban made a covenant to get along and the next day went their separate ways, Jacob still unsure of what his wife had done.

            We need to learn from this to not act out in anger and to never try to take a situation in our own hands to make them right. Rachel clearly didn't understand this and chose to make things right in her own way out of anger and jealousy rather than go to God.  She made things worse for her by doing this. When we feel betrayed or taken advantage of don't do what Rachel did, do what Jacob did and go to God and honor your word and seek God to make things right. The situation might not be made right over night, Jacob had to live in a foreign land for twenty years before he was able to take his family to their home, but in Gods timing it was made right, sometimes we need to be extremely patient as Gods plan unfolds.