Jacob is a very determined individual. He's aware of the dangers around him and wary of threats, yet at the same time seems happy and thankful for his blessings. What I noticed is that he is constantly looking to God for assistance and his persistence paid off... which is a theme I've seen in the books we've been through thus far. Often God is doing things on his own, but also quite often he does things at someones request. He doesn't seem to discriminate who he hears only that that ask fervently. To me, that persistence seems like it might be a measure of faith. I know often a lack of faith makes my prayers short lived and not overly enthusiastic.

I'm with you. A lot of the things we read in Genesis don't make any sense to me. One thing that I have heard as I've inquired is that God meets people where they are at, and communicates to them in ways that they understand. I think this must have made perfect sense to them at the time, even though now it seems absurd. Maybe in a thousand years people are going to look at us gathering in buildings worshipping with a band on stage as absurd, but we interact with God every Sunday and he meets us there and speaks to us there in a language that makes sense to us. For the Israelites, in these early days-this mythical and legendary encounters must have what they need to see or hear and what made sense to them. Thats about as good an explanation as I can find.