Kiptopeke State Park, Cape Charles, Virginia
As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath (that is Bethlehem). ~ Genesis 48:7 These two sentences seemed a bit out of place to me, until I read my footnote. It seems the commentators for my NIV Bible believe Jacob mentions Rachel dying because he’s considering Joseph’s two sons to be taking the place of any other sons Rachel may have born him had she not died, and that’s why Jacob ‘adopted’ Ephraim and Manasseh. However, my ‘good friend’, commentator Matthew Henry has his own thoughts. That Jacob is simply remembering the passing of his beloved wife. He says that when nearing death, it is good for us to remember those loved ones who wait for us. I’m gonna go with Matthew Henry on this. I don’t think he was looking to replace sons who ‘may have’ been born. I believe he adopted Joseph’s two firstborn (and as far as we know his only children) in order that Joseph may have a part in God’s promised legacy.
It won ‘Photo of the Week’ and was published in The Jerusalem Post.
That’s quite a place Jacob built!
Actually, it seems the spot has been revered by Jews,
Christians and Muslims for more than 1,000 years.
From what I could tell, this building was erected in 1622.
You should Google it, the inside is pretty amazing.
There’s a five-mile paved bike trail here, so that was our goal today. Really, with the heat and humidity promising to climb close to 90⁰, it was our only goal.
I had some cards to mail, so we stopped at the office first to see about mailing them. I know that’s normally useless information, but read on.
It was there I made the mistake of asking the attending Park Ranger how to properly pronounce the name of this place. I was not only schooled in grammar, but then kinda condescended to when, at the end of our lesson, she said, “Most people get it right away.” Did you see my eyes roll? Hopefully she didn’t. But instead of being upset with her, Blaine and I had a decent chuckle about it. I’m thinking she used to be a school teacher in her younger days. So what’s the correct way? It rhymes with ‘Chesapeake’, so KIP-toe-peek. Butcha gotta say it fast. More like KIPtaPeek.
Off we go, into the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge.
Two-an-a-half miles later, we arrived at the Visitor Center, only to find it closed. They’re only open on weekends from noon to four right now. I’m thinking they’re short staffed because there are “now hiring” signs at the entrance to the State Park. However, that being said, our timing was perfect because a Ranger was just leaving and kindly took the time to give us tips and talk about another area to kayak in.
One of the places he mentioned was an old battery from WWII. Hard to imagine, but at the time, there was no vegetation here! The gun they have isn’t original, but it was brought over from somewhere else and is a real gun and ammo (useless of course).
Hard to believe it was open land not too long ago.
We were home by lunch again. On hot days like this, we’re thankful to both be early risers!
