Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, "do not fear, for you have another son." And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which there to this day. Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it. now the sons of Jacob were twelve. The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.Genesis 35: 16-29 ESV
As I read this today someone from my circles left, and though we were not so close, as he was with others that I know, he was known to them as a good friend and I knew him as a hard worker. It is never so far removed from us though, because we all must succumb to that inevitable knocking that cannot be ignored.
Jacob has just lost his wife and gained a son, and all in the same moments. She is undeniably his favorite wife and the love of his life, so the joy of a new son is probably over shadowed by the pain of being severed apart. The closer someone is to me the more it is about life without them, and the further someone is, the more it is about death in general. And the older I get the more it is a reminder about today. You can ignore the thought, but you cannot ignore the moment, and some of us will never see him coming while others may fight battles long and hard. In the end of the finite death may seem to have its day, but those things we see and measure, in the dim light of dusk, had already been measured. You were a warrior and my prayers are with your family, but this is only the beginning.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting?" 1 Corinthians 15:54&55 ESV
As I read this today someone from my circles left, and though we were not so close, as he was with others that I know, he was known to them as a good friend and I knew him as a hard worker. It is never so far removed from us though, because we all must succumb to that inevitable knocking that cannot be ignored.
Jacob has just lost his wife and gained a son, and all in the same moments. She is undeniably his favorite wife and the love of his life, so the joy of a new son is probably over shadowed by the pain of being severed apart. The closer someone is to me the more it is about life without them, and the further someone is, the more it is about death in general. And the older I get the more it is a reminder about today. You can ignore the thought, but you cannot ignore the moment, and some of us will never see him coming while others may fight battles long and hard. In the end of the finite death may seem to have its day, but those things we see and measure, in the dim light of dusk, had already been measured. You were a warrior and my prayers are with your family, but this is only the beginning.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting?" 1 Corinthians 15:54&55 ESV
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