On July 7 this year, I shared a thought on Solomon. It bordered on the fact that for a long time, I had assumed that Solomon never fought a war all his life. That was debunked when I came across 2 Chronicles 8:3 – “And Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it.” This verse stated his military expedition. The other person who I thought never fought a battle was Jacob. That was until I came across our text. Jacob is here showing a privileged information to his beloved son, Joseph. It was time to peep into his final will for all his children. In that will, Jacob reflected again the preference he had for this child of his old age. Besides this, it was a way to compensate him for the injustice he suffered, and for how he had taken care of his father and his brethren in the days of famine. He gave Joseph one portion above what his brothers got. The particular emphasis here was how he got the land that was now being passed on as inheritance. Jacob claimed that he got the land “with my sword and with my bow”.

“Everyone you meet is fighting some undisclosed battles, so be considerate. Where possible, render help to make their battles easier to fight.”

I find this interesting because early readings on Jacob showed him as a man of the tent; it was his brother Esau that was a man of the field. Jacob took so much to their mother that he picked all the culinary skill that literally won him an award. At what time then did he become a man of the  sword and the bow? The details are not clear. Here is the point: everyone you meet is fighting some undisclosed battles, so be considerate. Where possible, render help to make their battles easier to fight. If you cannot help, at least don’t make things more difficult than they are already.