Transcript

Week 4 (Days 22-28): When Bible stories make us angry

From The Bible Recap · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 37 min · 6,528 words · 160 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Week 4 (Days 22-28): When Bible stories make us angry", an episode of The Bible Recap published January 28, 2026 (37 min, about 6,528 words). It mentions 12 people, works and ideas, including Genesis, Jennifer Jacob, Emma Daughter, Kirsten McCloskey, Israel.

What this episode is about

The discussion focuses on the significance of names given by Leah and Rachel to their children in Genesis 30, emphasizing that these names reflect the personal struggles and aspirations of the mothers. The analysis suggests that understanding the meanings behind these names not only provides insights into the children's identities but also reveals the deeper emotional contexts of Leah's and Rachel's experiences and relationships.

Key takeaways

  • Names in the Bible are more than labels; they're emotional snapshots of motherhood and cultural context.
  • Think 'Good Fortune' and 'Honor': Leah's choices show her hopes, just as much as her struggles.
  • Naming in the Old Testament is like social media; each name shares a story waiting to be uncovered.
  • Jacob to Israel: Name changes aren’t just semantics; they signify transformed identities and divine relationships.
  • Don't glaze over names—each one could hold the key to understanding a character's essence and narrative arc.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Genesis, Jennifer Jacob, Emma Daughter, Kirsten McCloskey
  2. – 10:00: Genesis, Yahweh, Laban, Emma Daughter
  3. – 15:00: Yahweh, Genesis, Jennifer Jacob, Emma Daughter
  4. – 20:00: Genesis, Kirsten McCloskey, Israel, The Bible Recap
  5. – 25:00: Genesis, Israel, Esau
  6. – 30:00: Genesis, Dina, Emma Daughter, Israel
  7. – 35:00: Genesis, Israel, Dina, Abram
  8. – 36:41: Genesis

Notable quotes from "Week 4 (Days 22-28): When Bible stories make us angry"

  • Hey Bible readers, welcome to TBR Deep Dive. I'm Kirsten McCloskkey and I'm Emma Daughter. We are super excited to be with you today and let's jump right in.
    about Emma Daughter · at
  • Sheep. She shear his sheep. Laban had gone to shear his sheep and Rachel stole her father's household gods.
    about Laban · at
  • And what's been promised. like that I think is definitely a possibility. because Yahweh had promised the inheritance to Abraham, then to Isaac, and then to Jacob.
    about Yahweh · at
  • So in this text, Jacob wrestles through the night with a quote unquote man. But the story itself and what we read elsewhere in scripture shows us that this is not an ordinary guy. He's.
    about Jennifer Jacob · at
  • Demands a blessing. And so, so far in his life, he's only gotten blessings by being deceptive. So, he stolen the birthright from his brother, Esau.
    about Esau · at
  • This story and telling it to their kids and passing it down is I think is pretty clear that Israel's ultimate victory would come not by the usual way that nations gain power but through the power of divine blessing.
    about Israel · at
  • Specifically it comes from the text Genesis 34 which is a heavier story. So in Genesis 34 we read about this very tragic moment within Jacob's family.
    about Genesis · at
  • But that doesn't change the fact that I can read this story and empathize with Dina and be sad or be angry that this happened. So what do I do when the Bible makes me sad or angry?
    about Dina · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Jennifer Jacob — Person · Primary biblical figure discussed · 3 mentions · first at
    Central figure in the Genesis passages discussed (marriage dynamics with Leah/Rachel, Laban conflict, wrestling with God, father of Dinah).
  • Emma Daughter — Person · Co-host · 5 mentions · first at
    Co-leads the episode’s Q&A deep dive on Genesis, offering interpretive framing and pastoral application.
  • Kirsten McCloskey — Person · Co-host · 3 mentions · first at
    Introduces the show and co-leads the discussion, answering listener questions about Genesis and interpretation.
    Hey Bible readers, welcome to TBR Deep Dive. I'm Kirsten McCloskkey and I'm Emma Daughter. We are super excited to be with you today and let's jump right in.
  • Yahweh — Person · Deity referenced as the true God in the discussion · 5 mentions · first at
    Presented as the covenant God of Genesis who protects, blesses, and reveals himself (including in the wrestling narrative).
  • Dina — Person · Biblical figure discussed (Jacob's daughter) · 3 mentions · first at
    Central to the Genesis 34 discussion about violence, injustice, God’s presence in dark narratives, and how readers should respond emotionally and spiritually.
  • Laban — Person · Biblical figure discussed (Rachel's father) · 2 mentions · first at
    Appears in the Genesis 31 discussion as the owner of the household gods and as part of the inheritance/conflict context with Jacob’s family.
  • Abram — Person · Referenced biblical figure (patriarch) · 3 mentions · first at
    Cited in the covenant/inheritance storyline (promises to Abraham → Isaac → Jacob) and as the result of Abram’s name change.
    And what's been promised. like that I think is definitely a possibility. because Yahweh had promised the inheritance to Abraham, then to Isaac, and then to Jacob.
  • Esau — Person · Referenced biblical figure (Jacob's brother) · 2 mentions · first at
    Used as an example in the discussion of name meanings and later referenced in Jacob’s history of deception and blessing.

Books & papers

  • Genesis — Book · Referenced work · 17 mentions · first at
    Primary biblical text discussed throughout the episode, focusing on stories and themes from Genesis.

Companies & orgs

  • TLC — Company · Incidental mention · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned briefly at the beginning of the episode without further context.
    Hey Bible readers, welcome to TBR Deep Dive. I'm Kirsten McCloskkey and I'm Emma Daughter. We are super excited to be with you today and let's jump right in.

Concepts & topics

  • Israel — Concept · Core topic · 7 mentions · first at
    Discussed as both a name given to Jacob and as a concept representing struggle with God.

Media & podcasts

  • The Bible Recap — Media · Referenced work · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a source of inspiration for a question about the theophany in Genesis.
    A theophony? Was this a pre-incarnate Jesus? I love it. So this is a question that I would suppose a recap in had listened to the Bible recap episode and was Hey, I want to double click on this like ter.

Full transcript with timestamps

Hey Bible readers, welcome to TBR Deep Dive. I'm Kirsten McCloskkey and I'm Emma Daughter. We are super excited to be with you today and let's jump right in.

Let's do it. All right. So our first question today is coming from day 22, Genesis 30 11 and 20. So let me read the question and then we'll get into the verse. How important are the names Leah and Rachel give their children. So a couple of examples of these women naming their children. In verse 11 of Genesis 311, Leah said, "Good fortune has come." So she called his name Gad. And then in verse 20, Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good endowment. Now my husband will honor me because I have borne him six sons." So she called his name Zebulun.

So these are the kind of details in the Old Testament that can cause our eyes to glaze over, especially when we're reading a long list.

But they can be very important. Arguably they are because they're at a minimum helpful clues about who these women were because they reflected their personal struggles.

Yeah. So the names give you a give you insight not just into the child that's being named, but also the mother who's naming the child. And in Genesis 3:11, for example, as you just read, she names her son Gad, meaning good fortune or a troop comes,

expressing joy that God has blessed her through the maidervant, which is which is interesting to consider. Then on the flip side, Genesis 30:20, she names another son, Zebulun, meaning honor or dwelling,

hoping that her husband, Jacob, would honor her. Right? So the name is not just uh speaking some sort of memo or message into the life of the child. It's a reflection of what's going on in the life of the mother. She wants her husband to honor her.

Yeah, that's super interesting. And I feel like Oh, okay. So, I think too, let's just zoom out briefly and kind of talk about names in the Old Testament just in general. So, what we're seeing here is the biblical concept of naming someone actually mirrors what the ancient practice would be as well. So what was common at that time which was that a name expressed essence

and so to know the name of a person was to know that person's character or nature and it also like I think this makes sense with what we're seeing with these women personal names for the for their children can express hope for the future um or it could be based on the circumstances of their birth. So with Reuben that means look a son which I think is so fun. [gasps] And then look a son. And then if we think of like Esau for instance with Jacob and Esau Esau means Harry. So it was just a characteristic about him.

Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. I think [gasps] you could see it both ways, right? Because at the end of the day we're saying what's what's possible versus what's likely or what is just an observation we can make. So what I'm sharing is more of an observation. We can look at this and see the emotions and circumstances of the mother being tied to the names, but we can also study and say culturally there was a pattern as to how children were named.

Yeah. And the answer is probably somewhere in the middle. So are the names significant?

Yeah. They're helpful. They at least teach us something about a character, if not two characters,

right? Yeah. Well, and I think too that the names, what can be cool is that names can really give us that insight.

We don't want to put something into the text that's not there. I think that's what we're kind of trying to guard against. So, it's like maybe we don't need to look at every single name and think

like, whoa, this must mean this and this and this. But it's definitely we definitely see I would say kind of overall in the Old Testament that names are really important. And so I think that's kind of the general principle is that yeah names are really important. And so that is sometimes something you want to pay attention to.

The other thing that I was thinking about with this is that again zooming out a little bit further from just the Rachel and Leah story is that names sometimes are also changed. And so that can be fun to look at too. Um, like we see for instance when God changes Jacob's name to Israel. So that's a really important moment and that's something that we see God do kind of throughout Genesis. He changes Abram's name from Abram to Abraham. So yeah, I think names in general they can represent a few different things which works we've sort of already covered. So they they can reveal the true nature of the person. So that essence quality they can clarify a relationship between between people and so when God changes somebody's name that actually is like a relational

an indicator of a change in relationship or change in calling perhaps right and then like what you were always what you were already saying we can see it as insight into someone's personal struggle what they have going on at that time and so totally yeah I think that's

what Kirsten what tips would you give listeners as they're getting ready to not getting ready, they are continuing to read through the Old Testament and are going to encounter a lot of names.

Yeah, I think yes, that's such a good question and that was another thing that I was thinking about with this question is this can be a really fun area of study. So, if you want to dive even deeper,

we know you do. We know you do. So, if you want to dive even deeper, that can be a fun thing to look at as we progress through the biblical story. There's the names of places which can be really and then names of people

and what the names mean. And this even can be fun like when we get in the prophets,

their names are very important and there's meaning behind their names for the way that God is

speaking through them and what message he has to give to the people. So, I think it's just a fun thing to pay attention to and like go on your little deep dive and do some do some name research yourself, but don't, you know, don't don't go crazy. Maybe

or do I don't know. Uh it's great. Well, the next question comes from day 22 and it specifically comes from Genesis 31:19 which reads, "Laben had gone to shear his sheep." That is such a tongue twister. Laban had gone to shear his sheep. She

shear his sheep. Laban had gone to shear his sheep and Rachel stole her father's household gods.

And the question, why did Rachel steal her father's household gods? What were the gods? quotation mark with a little G.

Yeah, very good question. Very good question. So, I think sometimes this story we're sort of like, wait, why does Rachel have gods? Like, this is so weird, right? It feels It feels weird.

And why would she want to take them, right? Exactly. Yeah. So, such a good question. Um, one possibility is that she might have believed that whoever possessed these gods held the rightful claim to her family's inheritance. So that would have been a cultural understanding at the time. And so since she was a daughter of Laban and not a son of Laban, like the sons would have been the designated heir and the family gods would have never been legitimately transferred like over to Jacob, meaning the inheritance wouldn't have never come to Jacob.

Um, and it wouldn't have gone to the daughters either. And so this maybe could be a way that Rachel is trying to ensure that she has some part of the

to strengthen her claim to the inheritance. Right. Right. Yeah. Which is kind of interesting, too, because I mean they're leaving.

Uhhuh. You know, so I'm not sure. It's interesting that she she cared about it enough to take

Right. Yeah. So that's so that's one thing. I don't know. What did you find? I I found the same that in some ancient Neareastern cultures, people believed that possessions of the having possession of the family gods could

strengthen your claim to inheritance. So because you had the gods, you were more entitled to get from the father and that she might have wanted to secure Jacob's rights, which you just said, against her father. Like she might have been recognizing, okay,

I am not a man, but I'm married to a man, and so let me see if I can get him Yeah. some portion of it.

Perhaps, I mean, this is just speculative, but perhaps she thought, "Hey, he's worked for my dad for so long. He's earned

he has earned this. I've watched him struggle and faithfully complete all of these jobs,

right? I'm going to up the stakes, like make it a little more likely that things will finally go well for this guy."

Yeah. Well, and it's Yeah. It's just interesting because I think part of what we're seeing here is just all throughout the Genesis story, people are struggling to understand. They're struggling to trust. They're struggling to know Yahweh.

Yep. And it just feels like this is another example of Rachel not either. She doesn't know the blessing that Jacob carries. She doesn't know who Yahweh is and what's been promised. like that I think is definitely a possibility. Um because Yahweh had promised the inheritance to Abraham, then to Isaac, and then to Jacob.

But Rachel in doing this is trying to in kind of a scheming way, which is interesting because Jacob is such a schemer, but in her own kind of scheming way look out for herself in some sense, look out for the family. And again, this could have been like a very normal

uh uh not custo, right? That maybe to us seems so foreign, foreign, which it is. But

yeah, it raises a a great question, which is what were these household gods? What what was the purpose of them? What what were they?

And it's the the Hebrew word for terapim. So this would be suggesting figurines that were used for several read reasons all of which might point to our motives. So one of them is the inheritance claims

but another would be a shared family religion or superstitious practices. So if it's the religious use, they were literally small idols made by human hands for household worship or divination. M uh and she may have taken them because she still had lingering ties to idolatry. That's an option. Like there's there's a world where this was just a sinful choice that she 100%. And I think kind of along that uh one thing that I was looking up was saying that she might have actually been afraid that these household gods would have helped Laban find them.

Yes. Associated with protection and blessing. So if if Laban had them, well then he gets the protection and blessing and we want that. So we should we should take them.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think like why is this little piece in this story important? I think it's telling us what happened in these people's lives. So remember Genesis is not like how to be the people of God right now. Like that's we're not that's not what we're focused on. We're it's we're learning the story

of how God took Abraham and blessed him and then is continuing that storyline throughout.

Right. And so we're just seeing the way people are kind of either aligning themselves with that or not

or growing in understanding it. Like we know that Jacob's God, Yahweh, was the true protector and that he was learning that. Y and maybe you could arguably say had mostly learned that,

but Rachel may not have been fully convinced yet. She might not have been there.

Right. Right. And so, yeah, I think it's just God is calling them into relationship with him. And there's a lot of steps on that journey. And there's, you know, these women are happy enough to leave their homeland and follow Jacob, but maybe they don't again have that full trust or full understanding of who Yahweh is. And he is so patient with them and with this story and how it's unfolding. And you know, so I think my favorite thing about this story is that it actually really just demonstrates how silly these non- goods are. You know, like she took this thing, like you were saying before, that she thought would protect her, but she is now following

Yahweh, who is the ultimate protector, and these gods, they can be hidden under a saddle. They were made by human hands.

Um, they could be stolen. Yep. Like Yahweh can't be stolen. He can't be taken to this new place. So it's just so different than who we actually see Yahweh as the true God presenting himself in the story to. So it's kind of a fun contrast to see there. So yeah.

Good. All right. Should we move on to next question? Let's do it. Okay. So our next question comes from day 23 and it's from Genesis 32:22-32. And so if you remember this is the story of Jacob wrestling with God. And so the question is, how does TLC know this was a theophony? Was this a pre-incarnate Jesus? I love it. So this is a question that I I would suppose a recap in

had listened to the Bible recap episode and was like, "Hey, I want to double click on this like ter. [gasps] How'd she get there?"

Yeah. Yeah. So in in this text, Jacob wrestles through the night with a quote unquote man. But the story itself and what we read elsewhere in scripture shows us that this is not an ordinary guy. He's he's not a he's not your average dude. There's something different about him.

So what does the Bible actually say? Let's pause on the conclusion Terry came to. Verse 30, Jacob said, "I saw God face to face and yet my life was spared."

So Terry Le's right to come to the conclusion that she does. This verse is why interpreters or theologians call this a theophony, meaning an appearance of God.

Uh and and this mysterious man had supernatural power because he dislocates Jacob's hip with a touch.

Yes. And gives him a new name. Y Israel. So what else then does the Bible say about this this guy?

Mhm. Hosea 12 3-4 looks back at this event, reflects on it and says, "Jacob struggled with God and the angel." So, there's a lot of varying views on what what that means and why Hosea would speak that way, but at a minimum, this confirms that Jacob's opponent was a spiritual being. So, whether this guy he wrestled with was an angel

or was actually a theophony, meaning an appearance of God, this was a unique occurrence. [snorts]

Yes. in a later prophet confirmed that it was a spiritual being of some kind. It wasn't an everyday guy. So, is it a pre-incarnate Christ? That would then be the next question.

That takes it a step further to kind of Yes. So, Terly said theophony. Okay, let's go Christophony, an appearance of Christ. Some theologians do believe it is that this is pre-incarnate Jesus wrestling with Jacob. Uh because Jesus why why would they think that is the vis Jesus is the visible manifestation of God. John 1:18 Colossians 1:15 he is the image of the invisible God.

Whereas others would say no this is God's angelic representative acting on behalf of God himself

and scripture doesn't explicitly say it was Jesus. So it is okay to come to that conclusion that it's a christophhony but

um you're you're taking all the pieces of the puzzle divine being giving the blessing Jacob's response and saying this is God himself and because Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God it must be then a chrisphony. So those three things point

to it it being God himself. Yes. Yeah. And so again, the the most restrictive way that we can think of a theophony is that it's a visible appearance of God. And

yeah, like if you boil the definition down, what is it's a manifestation. It is someone seeing God in a way that's tangible to their human senses. I think that's kind of interesting because again, we don't really know what exactly that looks like. I mean, if Jacob is being described as wrestling with God, then you there has to be, right, some kind of form or some kind of

Yeah, he's wrestling. I mean, watch a wrestling match on TV and it's like this is a

this is two people, right? And so again, we don't know exactly what the tangible experience to our human senses would be, but it's just kind of interesting to think about that in this story, but I do think that

it's not bad to question whether it's oh, if it's a theophony, then is it also a christophony? I do think that in asking that though, we don't want to get so focused on debating whether it's one or this or that, right? when we when again we don't know like we know that it's some sort of a theophony because even later uh the man so in Genesis 32:28

the man says to Jacob so again the man the theophony says to Jacob your name shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel which means he strives with God or God strives for you have striven with God and with man and have prevailed. So the God God theophony piece is definitely in there. I think the question for the christophony is just like okay do we really need to nail this down and say this is what it is and is it adding

is that changing your interpretation or adding something to it and it's it's probably

not necessarily although I don't know I'm trying to think what would be the implications if we think that it is a chrisphony

I suppose it's evidence of like God's consistent pursuit of people like that he would even in a theophony Well, it would, but what is the ultimate picture of God's pursuit of mankind sending the son?

Okay. So, if you're saying all of these theophanes in the Old Testament, like you could throw in MelkiseDC,

right? Okay. Let's say Mel if we say MelkiseDC's a Chrisphony and we say Jacob wrestling with God as a Chrisphony. Okay. Well, now we can say, oh, God has been consistently pursuing his people by sending Jesus to them.

That's so interesting. Now, I don't think that minimizes the character of God if it's not because the pinnacle of God pursuing mankind is still God sending Jesus, the whole Christmas story, everything we celebrate on Easter.

Yeah, that's still the pinnacle of God's pursuit. But if you want to argue for a consistency of God pursuing mankind in that way,

you could point to Christophanes. I think at the end of the day, Terry Lee on the Bible recap episode can confidently and appropriately say this is a theophony

and hold that as her personal conviction. And maybe even I don't know, she's not here. Maybe she thinks it's a christophhony, but it's helpful for her to present the more general view that we can be more certain of

than to say, I'm going to be I'm going to take a really firm stance and draw a line in the sand and say it's Jesus. when we just don't know.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think the amazing thing about this and you kind of mentioned this talking about the Chrisphony, but God is choosing to reveal himself to creation.

Yes. In the whole story. And this is one of the ways where he shows up and does this in a very tangible, unique,

kind of crazy, miraculous way. And it's just really cool. Yeah. It grows our awe of God.

Yes. It's like our awe his in so noticing his intentionality um with the world with the people that he created like he is very personal

in general and we see in this story kind of this personal encounter I mean it's just really cool I think

yeah absolutely really cool all right okay let's move on to our next question so this question comes from day 23 and it is from Genesis 32:22 24-2. And so we're still talking about Jacob wrestling with God. So this is a second question about this. So I'm going to read the verse.

Love it. A dive a dive deeper moment. A dive deeper moment. Exactly. So we're going so deep. Okay. So the verse is Genesis 32:24-2. So Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. So the question is, why did God even wrestle with Jacob? Couldn't he have won? Couldn't he God have won that wrestling match easily? So good.

Yes. There's the question is the answer to the second part. Yes. God could have won the wrestling match.

Yeah. God. Yeah. Let's just stick with that one right now. Yes. God could have won that so easily. snap of a finger just like in an instant with the touch. Yeah, it's Yes. Yes. So,

there's quite a few reasons why God did this or may have done this. Again, anytime we ask a why question, if the scriptures don't explicitly state the answer yeah

we're we're drawing inferences. Yeah, we're we don't know why God does almost everything, right? Let's be real. But here's here's some awesome. It's fun to think about. Yeah, it's fun to think about and it does help us, I think, uh, better understand God's character when we reflect on why God might do things

and like where he's at. I think it's always helpful, too, where are we at in the story and so what what is he trying to show about himself

to people at this time? Yes. So, one option is that God wanted Jacob's surrender,

not domination over him. So, the act of wrestling, it I don't know a whole lot about wrestling. I don't watch a whole lot of wrestling, but

if we've got wrestlers out there, yeah, you let us know those comments on YouTube. Just go wild. But [gasps] the act of wrestling is is revealing to us that Jacob wouldn't have easily relinquished self self-reliant striving. Yeah.

So, if we're wrestling, it's different than playing basketball on a team or playing soccer with a team or whatever team sports were played back back then. But it's a it's a individual sport. Yeah. So my success in this match is entirely dependent on my effort and my performance compared to your effort and your performance. So God allowed Jacob to struggle until God decided he'd be physically unable to continue

forcing him to cling in dependence by placing displacing his hip. Right? So only in Jacob's weakness did true blessing and transformation occur. It wasn't until the match was over that we see God's response to this this situation. So, I think it's it's highlighting God's purpose of re reshaping perhaps Jacob's heart.

Yeah. More than demonstrating, hey, let me show you how powerful God is. He can

whip Jacob into shape in a moment's notice or let him struggle for a while and then show him who's boss. That's not the heart of God. The heart of God is loving and caring toward his children, but he also cares about our sin deeply,

right? And he wants to teach us. Yeah. And I think the other thing that I was that was interesting to me thinking about this is that once Jacob figures out who he's wrestling, he demands a blessing.

Demands demands a blessing. And so, so far in his life, he's only gotten blessings by being deceptive. So, he stolen the birthright from his brother, Esau. um he was slippery in his interactions with Laban and just the things that he did there like he is he is the king of deception

and so God does bless Jacob in this moment and it's kind of a confirmation of that blessing that Jacob had tried so hard

to like deceptively get his whole life get Yes. Yes. So some commentators say that this act symbolized transformation and identity change because then what happens? His name changed. His name meant deceiver but through this encounter God renames him Israel.

Yeah. And that that name Israel is commonly understood as one who struggles with God.

Yeah. With God being the key word. So this renaming is representing this profound shift from a reliance on the schemes as you just pointed out to a reliance on God because we're now struggling with him.

Mhm. Yeah. Well, and that's so interesting because we're already talking about names already. So this is such a good example of Yeah. This is a really powerful and important name change for this individual and God is the one who changes his name.

Yes. And I think the point of this story for Jacob and for the people of Israel who are going to be hearing and reading this story and telling it to their kids and passing it down is I think is pretty clear that Israel's ultimate victory would come not by the usual way that nations gain power but through the power of divine blessing.

That's right. Yeah. And so that just puts a whole different spin on again we've got the Jacob story but then we also have what is Israel supposed to know what is about this this blessing well

and then I think we can say what is Israel supposed to know then we can go practical what is this what does the shower teach us what can we learn from Jacob's experience and we see that spiritual growth often like most frequently we see this also in Romans 5

comes from prolonged struggle that the wrestling match It's an illustration of this. So spiritual maturity may require extended raw encounters with God where we do struggle, but that struggle should push us to him. And so maybe somebody out there listening, you can relate to this in a personal way because you're walking through a struggle right now. And so me saying we often grow in prolonged seasons of struggle is not what you want to hear because we're often looking for our struggles to be alleviated, which is so natural because we long for a restored world where we don't have to struggle.

But if we cling to Jesus and are willing to wrestle with him in the struggle, we grow.

Yeah. Or we learn or we're disciplined or we see God's character more clearly and we're left in awe of him. Like you could look at somebody like Jeremiah as an example who struggled his entire ministry. He didn't see fruit in the sense that his audience was responding.

Yeah. You know, in droves. Yeah. But he clung to God at a greater and greater level of intimacy through his struggle. And that alone is such a prize.

Yeah. compared to staying the same rather than becoming transformed either in our character or our relationship of God and understanding of who he is.

But [sighs] we got to go on to the next question. Okay, perfect. The next question comes from day 23 and specifically it comes from the text Genesis 34 which is a heavier story. So in Genesis 34 we read about this very tragic moment within Jacob's family. his daughter Dina goes out. She's she's visiting women and Sheckchham, the son of the local ruler, saw her, took her and violated her in an incredibly inappropriate way. [snorts] And so what follows is this heartbreaking picture of sin and injustice. Jacob's sons respond with deceit and violence, revenge, killing people. It it it becomes just an incredible mess in the stories raw and painful. We see devastation caused by sin and the danger of responding to evil with more evil.

Yeah. So the question is, where is God in a story that is so dark and unfair? What should I do when parts of the Bible make me feel sad or angry?

Yeah. And that's a really good question because there's a lot of stories in the Bible where we could be asking this question. Y

and there's going to be more to come, you know. So, we're in Genesis. Um there's there's definitely going to be more to come. So, it it's good to wrestle with

a question like this. Um we see in this story and again at various other places in the Bible, we see humanity at its worst. So, humanity in general is depraved, sinful, and evil.

And what makes many of these stories so painful is that many of the people who are taken advantage of are people that can really do nothing to defend themselves. And that's what we see in this story with Dina.

But another thing to keep in mind is that the stories in the Bible are telling us what happened. Mhm.

They're not telling us what should have happened. They're not telling us what God specifically wanted to happen.

These stories aren't telling us what we should do. They're not telling us what we should do.

Validating the tragic behaviors we're reading about. Right. Right. And so just because a story is recorded in the Bible doesn't mean that God condones the behavior. And often times when when there's no mention of God in a story or maybe a set of stories like ding ding ding, we should be we that should be something that we notice

because God while God is always at work, there are certain times where he's not in that story.

Yeah. Or the people have forgotten him. Mhm. So like his name isn't mentioned in this chapter, but Genesis as a whole book

reminds us that God is sovereign over every event, right? So and he's working through these people.

Yes. And he's working through these people. So the silence can also highlight when we don't see God's name mentioned how tragic life becomes when people act without him.

Yes. He's in control. Yes. But he also gives us gives us meaning mankind freedom to make decisions. And sometimes people choose wrong,

right? And it shows us as well just I think it shows us the contrast between the goodness of God himself and the goodness he desires for humanity and the evil that humanity produces.

The evil that humanity lives in and and is running towards without God. And so we're also seeing how much we need God to step in and intervene because otherwise things like this happen. You know, can we think of it that way? Do you think that's fair?

Yeah, I think that's fair. And it's it's also helpful to recognize that the [snorts] Bible, especially the Old Testament,

does not airbrush the failures of God's people. Yes. Like we are going to see their failures on full display very clearly. it it's God showing us the brokenness of humanity in full view. And I think that's that's helpful because it's relatable.

Like somebody out there listening has probably personally experienced something like this and God sees that and he hates it.

So why is the story in the Bible? Well, God confronts sin of all kinds and it helps us long for his justice and redemption. Like also think about this. How how frustrating and alienating would it be if when we read the Bible, we never saw any people sinning or suffering,

right? That would be incredibly unrelatable. And I mean, entirely un unrelatable

because it's not the world we live in. The world has been broken by sin. But as believers, we get to see a throughine of God working to redeem it. Like that should encourage us both when we sin

when we learn about other people sinning and when we're sinned against. Yep. Yep.

So for example, even even through this incident where God's people both sin and are sinned against.

Yeah. No one is good in this story. No one's really coming out. God preserves Jacob's family, the the very family through whom the Messiah will come. And the darkness makes the light of Christ all the more necessary. Yep. Yep. I know. That's so good. And what I think we do want to see in this story that there is a little bit of a recognition of how evil and outrageous this act was. So, it's not like nobody cares.

Um, in Genesis 34:7, the sons of Jacob are very angry because they say what Sheckchham had done was an outrageous thing in Israel. Such a thing should not be done. So there is definitely this recognition of

this is wrong. This is wrong. We think it's wrong, but then we the problem comes as well. So we've got that horrible evil deed, but then the response of Jacob's sons

also horrible and evil. Um and their response wasn't justice. It was it was just another example of the fallenness of humanity.

Yep. Yeah. So then I think the question is okay the scriptures acknowledge that this incident was wrong.

Mhm. But that doesn't change the fact that I can read this story and empathize with Dina and be sad or be angry that this this happened. So so what do I do when the Bible makes me sad or angry?

Mhm. Number one, it's okay to lament before God like the psalmist. I mean, bringing those raw emotions to the Lord is is encouraged because he welcomes our tears and meets us with with compassion and wants to hear our questions. Uh, and I think remember the big story. Yeah.

Because Genesis 34 points to our need for a redeemer. When we feel angry at injustices, we're echoing God's own heart against sin. He wants He He didn't want it to be this way. Y

he wanted it to be different. That's a really good point. I [snorts] think we can let the the text grow our compassion. So stories like this remind us that our world is still full of victims of abuse and violence all over, not just in our country, but the entire world

is full of victims of abuse and violence. So instead of looking away, God God calls his people to be agents of healing and hope and justice.

Micah 6:8. Yeah. So what do we do? We fix our hope on the cross. On the cross, Jesus entered entered the worst injustice and violence of all and he triumphed. So because of him, sin and darkness don't have the last word.

Yes. Revelation 214 and 5. So when scripture stirs up sadness or anger, we don't want to run from those feelings. We want to bring them to God. Let them deepen our longing for Christ and then let them move us

toward compassion for those who suffer. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's so good. And like where is God in the story? Back to that kind of how, you know, where is he? Why did this happen? The

the reality is God is always at work. God is always there. He's always redeeming a broken world full of evil people. And I think our response of really wanting justice cuz that's what we feel when we're sad or angry about

we want to make the wrong right, right? We want justice. The reality is that God himself is bringing that. And it might not be immediately, which is generally when we want it,

but it is the long-term redemption plan [clears throat] that justice will be served. And so remember we're

we started it, you know, Genesis 1 and 2 were great. We were, yay, Genesis 1 and 2, now Genesis 3 and through the rest of the story. It's a long way to get back.

Yes. Exactly. It's a long way to get to Revelation. So, there are some really difficult and confusing things along the way. and that's okay. But the reality is God is making all things new, both in the already and in the not yet that's still to come. Thanks for taking a deep dive with us and we will see you next week as we continue to read, understand, and love the Bible and the God who wrote it.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Week 4 (Days 22-28): When Bible stories make us angry"?

Kirsten McCloskkey (Host), Emma Daughter (Host).

What is "Week 4 (Days 22-28): When Bible stories make us angry" about?

The discussion focuses on the significance of names given by Leah and Rachel to their children in Genesis 30, emphasizing that these names reflect the personal struggles and aspirations of the mothers. The analysis suggests that understanding the meanings behind these names not only provides insights into the children's identities but also reveals the deeper emotional contexts of Leah's and…

What is mentioned in this The Bible Recap episode?

12 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Genesis, Jennifer Jacob, Emma Daughter, Kirsten McCloskey, Israel, Yahweh. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Week 4 (Days 22-28): When Bible stories make us angry"?

The episode runs 37 min; the transcript is about 6,528 words in 160 timestamped sections.

More from The Bible Recap

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 29, 2026.