“Have you ever wanted something so badly that it consumed your very being? Something that you could practically taste on your tounge? Something that was all you thought about, day in and day out? The feeling is so intense that it becomes a part of you. You could feel it under your skin, in your heart, consuming your mind. That was Jacob to me.He was my core.I couldn´t remember a time when I didn´t want him.When I didn´t think about him.When I didn´t love him.””
“Jacob stared down at his boots, looking more interested in a rock on the ground than acknowledging her words. But she knew he needed space, time to process. Sometimes, mental wounds were so much harder to heal than physical ones.””
“Was Jacob’s pain like that rock? Did he think it was better hidden under a fragile shell where no one was the wiser? Gosh, what were the current treatments for mental trauma in 1919? Maybe he didn’t know he was allowed to talk about it.””
“My every breath of late has been consumed with you. Where you’re from, when you’re from, clothing you, feeding you, helping you. This list goes on, and I say this not to imply you’re a weight to carry. I say this because, in my world, focusing on you is saving me from myself. You have become this great precious thing to me.” Jacob slowly guided Sarah’s hands northward and clasped them around the back of his neck. “You are healing me. Let me heal you.””
“I can’t manage a simple car door, Jacob! I can’t manage being attacked! I can’t manage a fake pregnancy, and I sure as shit can’t manage what’s happening to my body!” She sought out his eyes in the dim moonlight. “I’m all out of strong, independent woman!” she half yelled, half cried into his face. “I just want to go home!””
“You, my dear,” Jacob gritted out through clenched teeth as he tried to discreetly reposition his wooden soldier, “are an absolutely abysmal liar and I feel it is my duty to inform you lest you proceed through life thinking it a great skill of yours. Two Helens? Really? What was that nonsense about anyway?””
“I would point out again that it is the consistent example of parents in the Bible that they honor their children. I think it is notable in this connection that it is not Adam but the Lord who rebukes Cain. Eli never rebukes his sons, or Samuel his. David never rebukes Absalom. At the very end, poor old Jacob rebukes his sons as he blesses them. A remarkable thing to consider.””
“Here two of its great figures are determining the course of history”
“to emphasize Jacob’s refusal to entrust Benjamin to his brothers, which is absolute at first and then, under the extraordinary pressure of circumstance, becomes a tortured and weary concession to necessity. This family, of whom it is uniquely true that they are chosen by God to carry forward His will for humankind, must be as unhappy as any family could be. When we consider what the favor of God can look like, Jacob and his sons should surely be borne in mind.””
“Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been.” Here is the realism that sets Scripture apart. Jacob has found Joseph, not only living but in a position to preserve the lives of his whole family. Benjamin is safe and favored by Joseph. But the days of many years have been full of dread and loss and grief and suspicion, and no ending can be happy enough to change this.””