Vayetzeh (He Went Out) - B'resheet (Genesis) 28:10 - 32:2 - Notes

Scriptural Observations

  • The first night after Jacob leaves Beersheba for Haran, God appears at the top of the ladder from Earth to Heaven, on which angels ascend and descend. This night is when God first promises to Jacob the promises of Avraham and Yitzchak. He inherits the promises to Avraham. These are expanded and more personal.
    • The land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendnats.
    • They shall be as the dust of the earth.
    • You shall spread from west to east, to north and to the south.
    • In you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
    • I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.
    • I will bring you back to this land.
    • I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.
    • [How are these promises similar to and different from the promises made to Isaac and Avraham? How are they specific to Jacob's situation?]
  • Jacob's response
    • Commemorated the place: anointed it and named it.
    • Made a vow (first vow to God in scripture): if God will be with me and keep me in the way way I am going and provide for me, and I come back to His fathers house in peace (with his brother), then...
    • The Lord shall be my God,
    • This stone shall be God's house,
    • I will give a tenth of all you give me.
  • Despite all that God promised, Jacob's desire is to be at peace with his brother. It seems he inherited his father, Isaac's, propensity for peace. Also, he knows how his father pursued peace with the nations (Abimelech) and the price he continually paid for it; but now he feels he is the instigator of conflict (and warring nations) within his father's own house. Perhaps he perceives that God's promises will always be plagued with strife should the conflict with his brother endure.
  • v16-Jacob was unaware that God was "in this place." Every spot on earth may be for man the gate of heaven; God's revelation is not restricted to sacred places or places he's already been. God can appear, reveal, and bless in any place and in any situation.
  • Interesting how Jacob is now the nephew who departs, as Lot was the nephew of Avraham. But this time the nephew is the righteous one, and Laban is the devious one.
  • As Jacob plans to depart from Laban and shares his intent with Leah and Rachel, they explain they will go with him because they have no reason to stay; they have no inheritance left from Laban because God has taken all his wealth from him and given it to Jacob, despite Laban's intent to exploit him. What is interesting is how this shows that these women who were joined to Jacob and God's covenant had their original inheritance vanish, to be replaced by the inheritance of Jacob. It is like this for we who join ourselves to Jacob today.

Directional Thoughts

  • Even when part of God's plan and seeking to serve His will, sometimes the timing of the reward for our faithfulness can seem unfair or even hopeless.
  • While we are waiting and working for the reward God has for us, we can experience "fringe" rewards now if we allow ourselves to trade urgency (or impatience) for trust in God's faithfulness and content in God's provision, even while exercising diligence. If we don't, we may miss part of the blessing God intends for us to experience.
  • Sometimes even perfect faithfulness to and exceeding blessing on those we serve is not enough to receive the reward we have earned, because their heart is set to exploit rather than to bless; however, because it is God who we are truly serving, He is our reward, and the giver of our reward; and He will be faithful to reward us according to His grace and perfect and sovereign will.
  • Jacob was unaware that God was "in this place." Every place on earth and every situation in life may be for man the gate of heaven. God's revelation is not restricted to sacred places or places he's already been; nor to holy moments or to patterns of life. God can appear, reveal, and bless in any place and in any situation. Knowing this gives us hope, strength, and confidence in times and places when it seems God could never be present.

Worship Responses

  • When it seems our rewards are being withheld seek God's help to replace resent with content in what He has provided and confidence in what He has promised.
  • Treat God as your reward, and treat His rewards as His expressions of love.
  • Seek God's strength to pursue diligence and seek God's presence in every situation; even in times and places where it seems he would never appear.

Theme Words: reward, diligence, presence, service

Vayetzeh (He Went Out) - B'resheet (Genesis) 28:10 - 32:2 - Summary

B'resheet 28:10-22 - Jacob Inherits the Promises to Avraham
  • Jacob leaves Beersheba for Haran, and God appears in a dream beside him and speaks to him the promises he made to Avraham; but these are expanded and more personal.
  • Jacob commemorates the place by anointing it and naming it (Beit El / Bethel), then makes a vow to the Lord. If God will return him to his father's house in peace, the Lord will be his God, and he will give a tenth of all that is given him.

B'resheet 29 - Jacob Loves Rachel

  • Jacob journeys to the land of the East (Arabic lands) and finds Rachel at the well when inquiring about Laban.
  • Jacob determines to work for his place in Laban's home so he is not indebted to him. He also offers to work seven years to earn Rachel (the younger daughter) as his wife.
  • v20 So Jacob served seen years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.
  • Laban deceives Jacob and he marries Leah to him. After fulfilling her marriage week, he then gives Rachel to him, for whom he works another seven years.
  • The Lord saw Leah was unloved so he opened her womb. She bore Rueben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.

B'resheet 30 - Jacob's Family Grows

  • Bilhah, Rachel's maid bears on her behalf Dan and Naphtali.
  • Leah gives Zilpah her maid to Jacob and she bore Gad and Asher.
  • Reuben finds mandrakes in the field and gives them to Leah his mother. Rachel asks for them. She agrees to let Jacob lie with Leah for the mandrakes. Leah bears Issachar. She conceives again and bears Zebulun; and again and bears a daughter, Dinah.
  • God remembers Rachel and and she conceived and bore Joseph, saying "God has taken away my reproach."
  • When Rachel bore Joseph, Jacob tells Laban to send him away to go to his own place and his own country. He has earned his wives and children, and is ready to make provision for their future.
  • He works another six years to earn and raise a flock, and though Laban tries to defraud Jacob again, Jacob is strategic in thwarting Laban's intents. He increased exceedingly.

B'resheet 31 - Departing From Laban

  • Laban and his sons become envious of Jacob's success. The Lord tell sJacob to return to the land of his fathers, and He will be with him.
  • He shares his dream in which the Lord spoke to him with Rachel and Leah; they do not protest leaving since they have no inheritance through their father Laban; God has taken it and given it to them through Jacob.
  • Jacob and his house steals away while Laban is in the fields; Rachel steals his idols.
  • On the third day, Laban learns of their departure and pursues. They catch up on the seventh day, but God has spoken him and warned him not to speak good or bad of Jacob. Laban was not to entice him by offers of kindness, nor force him to return by threats.
  • Laban accuses him of stealing all that he has, including his gods. Jacob allows him to search everywhere for the idols, but Rachel cleverly sits on them to conceal them.
  • Jacob rebukes Laban for pursuing him despite the 20 years he worked for all he has earned, and how he was blessed while Jacob was in his service; for unjustly changing his wages ten times.
  • Jacob says were it not for God and the Fear of Isaac being with him, surely Laban would have sent him away empty-handed. But God has seen his affliction and the labor of his hands, and rebuked Laban the night before.
  • Laban still sees everything of Jacob's as his own, but understands he can do nothing. He makes a covenant with Jacob that they will not cross the boundary to do harm to one another. Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

B'resheet 32:1-2 - Meeting With Angels

  • Laban departs, and Jacob continues on. The angels of God met him and he said this is God's camp. He called the place Mahanaim, "two camps".

The Challenges of Creative Motivation

It's often difficult to conjure in the moment of need, yet so frequently it strikes when you least expect it--which often means it's at an inconvenient time or place. It is a fleeting and seeming uncontrollable thing, with an ebb and flow as changing as the ocean tides.

Creative impulse. It's truly a perplexing phenomenon.

We have all had the experience of true inspiration, which came from an unexpected source, experience, or stimulus that triggers a new perception or emotion. We can see the perfect expression in completion in our minds--but alas, where is my pen? --or, typing on my iPhone is such a pain! Or maybe you document your idea on the closest thing at hand--a napkin, or on your hand--but when you need it you can't find it or remember it to save your life. 

What strikes me about great artists and composers is they not only had the innate ability to have great ideas form in their minds, they were also somehow able to capture or retain their inspiration until they could develop it. Making the most of creative impulse and inspiration is largely dependent on our ability to be artists disciplined in the art of "idea capture."

Creative Motivation Requires Great Ideas

After completing the "Ruth" ballet this past May, I knew I was going to need to take creative time-off to give my brain a break and let my creative impulse recharge. I didn't know it was going to take months to start feeling the urge to create again, but it did. Here I am, the day after Thanksgiving, and only now have I had the right idea for the worship album--that so many people have been asking me for so long to make--that excites me, and is continually giving rise to more related ideas.

Reflecting on this, I have these thoughts and observations:

1) What excites and motivates me to create is not the demand for what I can create, it's not the creative process, nor is it the satisfaction of completion; it's the idea itself.

2) I know it's the right idea to invest in creatively when I see how it lines up with the things I value. For me, those values are uniqueness, impact, and the opportunity to use skills unique to me--and even to challenge and stretch them more.

3) Great art is great because once viewers or listeners are exposed to it, it can't escape their mind, and they can't escape the idea or emotion completely. Great ideas are the same for the artists; if it's truly great, you can't shake it. You don't have to capture great ideas, because they capture you.

Listen to Your Motivation

In the past six months, I've had many creative ideas for music. I knew, though, when I had them, that they were just ideas to put on a list of possible experiments, and as interesting as many of them were for me, they didn't even motivate me enough to write them down.

Motivation2
At least in the realm of creativity, true motivation has a life and personality of its own--it can't be passed on, and it can't be created; it can only be awakened by what it was meant (created, planted, designed) to accomplish. I'm learning to let motivation be the measure of worthiness of effort, and a compass to point me in the right direction. 

When I caught this idea for a worship album, my creative motivation went from zero to...something--enough to write it down and more as they came to me, and to test them by sharing them with those closest to me, and with those who can give objective feedback. I'm applying patience in parallel to my motivation to see how well the idea endures.

My cat is snoring. Good grief.

I think even more important than "idea capture" is to "idea filter." If we can develop our own unique way to filter good ideas from the great ideas at the moment of incidence, we can simplify and streamline our creative processes to make the most of the great ideas that capture our imagination and inspiration. Let motivation be your filter, and your creative process won't be a pressured one, but a peaceful and exciting one!

In a future post, I'll share practical approaches and principles for getting and making the most of great ideas.

Shalom.

SI Article Spotlights Bills QB's Ability to Connect

Bills_on_si_cover
This great article, "Fitz Magic" spotlights one of the keys to Fitzpatrick's leadership success: his natural ability to connect. Whether teammates, neighbors, or media, he learns what makes others tick, how to communicate on their level and in their language, and he knows how to push their motivational buttons. Above all, his down-to-earth common-man disposition and his respect for others reinforces their respect for him, instilling the desire to trust him as a leader they can "bill-ieve" in. His ability to connect puts the "Magic" in Fitzpatrick. - Eric

October 03, 2011

Fitz Magic

The Bills are a shocking 3--0—take that, Pats!—thanks to a Harvard-bred quarterback and a spirit of togetherness that reflects their city

BEN REITER

Each afternoon following Bills home games the neighbors converge at a house 10 miles southwest of Ralph Wilson Stadium. Crock-Pot Sundays, they call the get-togethers. The gray house is mainly distinguishable from the other tract homes that line the treeless street by the patch of brown grass that the owner can't quite coax into green. The neighbors—among them a beer distributor, a prison guard, a DEA analyst, a physician's assistant and a woman in medical equipment sales—enter through the open garage, drawn by the aroma of chili and pulled pork that the host's wife, Liza, slow-cooks all game long. They bring pies and cream-cheese dip and drink Labatt Blue. They talk about their jobs. They talk about the 40-foot-by-80-foot ice rink one of them is planning for his backyard. They talk about their kids, nearly all of whom are blond. Someone counted 103 children living on the street, and they all seem to show up on Crock-Pot Sundays. They chase one another around the living room sofa like a school of fish, and joyful screams from the basement confirm that it too is stocked with a horde of towheads.

Last Sunday the talk centered more than ever on the Bills. The Bills, who a few hours earlier had shocked the Patriots with a last-second 34--31 win. The Bills, who had goaded Tom Brady into a career-high four interceptions, matching his total for all of 2010, and beaten their AFC East rivals for the first time in 16 tries and 2,941 days. The Bills, who had become the first NFL team to overcome deficits of 18 points or more in consecutive weeks to win. The Bills, who had put a city desperate to love them through 11 seasons without a playoff appearance but who are now 3--0 and on top of the division. In the middle of it all—dishing out his wife's cooking, apologizing for the dead grass, grinning through his thickening beard—was Crock-Pot Sunday's 28-year-old host. As usual, Ryan Fitzpatrick had beaten his neighbors home from the stadium. They like to stick around the parking lot for some postgame revelry, but NFL quarterbacks don't tailgate. Though on Sunday, Fitzpatrick might have liked to.

FITZPATRICK, 6'2" and 220 pounds, had the physical abilities to be an NFL quarterback—that much was certain when the Rams chose him out of Harvard in the seventh round of the 2005 draft. "On our level he was Tim Tebow, only a better passer," says Tim Murphy, the coach at the school, which has produced 45 Nobel laureates but before Fitzpatrick no one who'd thrown an NFL pass. Still, he saw only spot duty in two years in St. Louis and two more in Cincinnati. It wasn't until he wrested the Buffalo starting job from Trent Edwards for good last season—the lesser of two evils, really—that Fitzpatrick showed that what he lacks in arm strength he makes up for in quick, smart decisions. "If you can release the ball a second earlier," says Bills coach Chan Gailey, "it gets there at the same time as the guy with the strong arm."

Another aspect of Fitzpatrick's success is harder to measure. He is a natural community builder, a connector, in ways that extend beyond neighborliness. "Even though he's from Arizona, he's like a Midwest kid," says Murphy. At Harvard, Fitzpatrick endeared himself to his teammates with his competitiveness: Sent into his first game with directions to run out the clock, he knocked a Holy Cross defensive back out cold on a naked bootleg. An economics major, Fitzpatrick won over the rest of the student body with his charisma and easy manner. "I feel like I can relate to everybody," he says. "Part of that was from Harvard. All the different types of people, all the different types of backgrounds." One of those people was Liza Barber, the All-America captain of the soccer team, now his wife of five years and mother of their three kids.

In Buffalo, where Fitzpatrick signed a three-year, $6.9 million deal as a free agent in February '09, he set about molding a group of castoffs and misfits—of the top three receivers, just one was drafted, Stevie Johnson in the seventh round—into a cohesive whole. "Each player is unique," he says. "As a quarterback you have to be able to manage all those personalities, and relate to all of them."

With running back Fred Jackson and fullback Corey McIntyre, Fitzpatrick talks about superheroes. With wideout David Nelson he talks about family. With Johnson—and most of the Bills—he talks about rap, though he's not personally a fan. "I'll memorize a line and spit it out in front of them and they'll all start laughing," he says. "I usually just pick the most vulgar thing."

"He has the kind of persona that allows him to come up to a defensive lineman, approach a receiver, and find common ground," says Nelson. That, says Fitzpatrick, isn't uncalculated. "The off-the-field stuff totally translates to the field," he says. "It's cool."

The Bills are simply a group of pals from whom nobody expects much, so they might as well do all they can to win. Gailey's mismatch-exploiting offense has spurred the resurgence, which began last season with a 4--4 finish after an 0--8 start, but at times he has wisely yielded to the force of Fitzpatrick's personality and analytical skills. Two weeks ago against Oakland the Bills scored on all five of their second-half possessions to erase a 21--3 deficit, with Fitzpatrick often improvising in the huddle. "He was pretty much drawing plays in the sand," says Nelson, who caught the winning touchdown. "Stevie, you go inside here; David, you go outside there. We were calm, collected, we felt like we knew what we were doing."

Last week's comeback against the Patriots was less freestyle, but it was similarly spurred by Fitzpatrick's poise, which he'd displayed years ago in equally improbable comebacks against the likes of Dartmouth and Brown. "They just seem to keep happening to me," he says. "Some of it is, I'm not a guy that gets too high or too low."

He is also a guy who will never hold a teammate's failings against him, and so twice on the Bills' final two drives he threw deep to Donald Jones, whose first-quarter muff led to an interception that contributed to New England's 21--0 lead. Jones caught both of those late passes for crucial gains of 48 and 29 yards.

Fitzpatrick, who threw for 369 yards, second highest in his career, didn't beat the Patriots by himself. He had help from Jackson, the undrafted back from Division III Coe College, whose late 38-yard catch-and-run set up Rian Lindell's winning field goal, and from a defense that stiffened in the second half. To counter Brady's fearlessness in throwing over the middle, Buffalo defenders focused on keeping their hands up and otherwise blocking the passing lanes. Of their several deflections, one produced Drayton Florence's 27-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown return.

But there was no mistaking the primary source of the comeback. "The confidence continues to get higher," said Fitzpatrick in a jubilant locker room. "Who knows where we can go?"

Sunday afternoon was melting into early evening, and Fitzpatrick stood among his guests in his driveway, the long paper banners the towheads had made for him—RYAN IS AWESOME!—fluttering on the lawn. He admired photos of babies thrust at him on iPhones. He chided Markus, the prison guard, for overgrooming his beard, which he had vowed to let grow until season's end in solidarity with Fitzpatrick. ("I work in a respected profession!" Markus protested.) A little boy named Jack ran up to Fitzpatrick and asked him to spin him by his arms. "Last time he swung me around when I had to go pee, and he made me pee my pants," Jack explained. "There will be no spinning today," said Fitzpatrick, mock-sternly.

As he watched the genial chaos and reflected on the day, Fitzpatrick smiled the smile of a man who has found his home. Understated and unflappable, he has emerged as a hero in a city starved for one, a hero who, down to his cold-weather beard, shares Buffalo's ethos. Fitzpatrick and the Bills are reportedly discussing a long-term extension, which would ensure many more Crock-Pot Sundays. "I get to play with my buddies, work our way up together, and then I get to come home and be with my family and friends," he says. "It's just fun, isn't it?"

via sportsillustrated.cnn.com