Carson Village, Birmingham, Alabama
Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah (who was Rachel’s servant and the mother of Dan and Naphtali), and Israel heard of it. ~ Genesis 35:21-22 And this is all we get, until we get to Chapter 49, verses 3-4, where we learn that Reuben lost his firstborn birthright because of it. That birthright also skipped over sons two and three (Simeon and Levi) because of their misuse of the covenant seal of circumcision and their violent revenge following their sister Dinah’s encounter with Shechem. And that brings us to the fourth born, Judah, who fathered the Messianic line. These verses also demonstrate the importance of understanding the culture in order to understand the scripture. According to my NIV footnotes, “Reuben’s act was an arrogant and premature claim to the rights of the firstborn – here the right to inherit his father’s concubine. For this he would lose his legal status as firstborn.” Later, in the chapters about Joseph, it would seem that Reuben also lost the respect of his younger siblings. So what’s to be learned here, besides knowing and understanding Biblical culture? I think it’s the danger of pride. We should never think of ourselves more highly than we ought. Scripture teaches us this lesson over and over.
We were going to attend a church near David’s this morning, but since he got called into work, we opted for one closer to home – Pinson Baptist. Being as how today is the first Sunday of Advent, and being as how we attended their traditional service, we were expecting some hymns interspersed with Christmas Carols, and an advent wreath. But there were none. The only nod to the beginning of the Christmas season was a garland along the front of the platform, and a poinsettia wreath on the table up front. They were still focused on Thanksgiving. Very friendly church, but the pastor seemed more interested in talking about football games and his brother and their health issues than we was on presenting a message from Scripture. We’ll find a new place for next week. Maybe the one we were originally going to attend today.
David wasn’t at work long, so in keeping with this week’s theme, we went hiking at Turkey Creek this afternoon. It was not as warm as they said it would be, but it was still a very nice day. For whatever reason, I’ve been freezing for the past three days. Now I have reason to empathize with all the cold-blooded people I know – like my mom. 😊 By the way, you probably don’t remember, but this is the place I slipped on the rocks and fell into the creek last year. I was very careful today – mostly because it was too cold to take a chance on getting wet!
Blaine seems fond of taking pictures
of me taking pictures. : )
Another example of me taking pictures. : ) 
The rest of our hike looked much like the way down to the creek, so we didn’t take anymore pictures.
We’ll be on our own tomorrow – and most of the week. David’s vacation is over. ☹