The sermon this Sunday morning was from Genesis 28:10-22. This is the first interaction between God and Jacob; 13-15 is God making promises and in 20-22 is Jacob making a deal. At first, I was only counting pronouns in God’s side of the narrative, but a small Voice urged me to contrast with Jacob.

Translators had to take ancient Hebrew and convert it into something we can read with ease. I started in the NIV, used Bible Hub’s text analysis, the KJV, NASB, and EVS versions to get a good count ratio. At first, I counted I (God speaking), you, and your. (KJV was thy, thee, and thou.) Jacob used pronouns but did use names and titles of God; his favorite was “me”. Translations vary, a little, but the ratio was what caught my attention in both sections. Some translations capitalize God’s pronouns.

Verses 13-15

God was focused on Jacob. He referred to Himself six times and to Jacob fourteen times. More than twice as many. The Father loves His children. He loves us so much He sent Jesus to die for our sins. He includes “all people” in these three verses.

Verses 20-22

Jacob referred to himself ten times and to God six times.

What I see is our righteous God taking the lead and showing us His heart. Jacob is acting as he did when he was dealing with his brother.

An Op-ed

The worldly obsession with pronouns is an extension of woke post-modernism bullying us into changing our thinking by changing and redefining our language. I fear for the cosmic balance, because of the number of people on earth claiming to be the center of the universe. If matter starts revolving around these random points the vortexes will destroy the solar system and bring about the end of all things.