2015-05-08
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, we looked at the issue of circumcision of male babies from the traditionally Jewish point of view. This rite was introduced at the time of Moses and was carried out by all the important Jewish people in the Bible and is still carried out. Generation after generation of Christ’s ancestors practice it. To this very day, there are sound health reasons for circumcising male babies, even though it is less of a spiritual issue, except with traditionally Jewish children.
The birth of twins, Esau and Jacob, to Isaac and Rebekah, would demonstrate once again that God’s will shall be done. IS 46: 9a-10, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” When it was time for Rebekah to give birth, these twins were described. GN 25: 25, “The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.” It’s of interest that the babies had jostled each other prior to the birth, and Rebekah asked the Lord why. God had said, in GN 25: 23, “Two nations are in your womb, and two people’s from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” It wasn’t until later that the full meaning of this was clarified, when Esau’s descendants, the Edomites, would become enemies of Jacob’s descendants, the Israelites. The meaning of Jewish names is significant. Jacob means “Deceiver” and arises in this case from a God-generated deception that Jacob (with Rebekah’s help) donned an animal skin and fooled Isaac, then elderly and blind, into thinking he was giving his eldest son, Esau, his birth blessing [GN 27: 22-29]. Esau had traded his birth right for a bowl of red lentils with Jacob earlier [GN 25: 29]. Later, when Jacob is wrestling with the Man at Peniel –by the ford of the Jabbok River, in GN 32: 22-32, God changes his name from Jacob to Israel, which means “He Wrestles with God.” The Jews of today’s Israel are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the “cultured olive tree” of RO 11.
I have a notion that the word “cultured” here means the original olive tree, the Jews, the ones that God has so carefully cultured –taught His ways. When individual Jews refused to follow God’s ways serially, they were “broken off” and “wild branches” (believing Gentiles) replaced, “in-grafted,” to where these had been. That should tell us that God wants us to obey His commands, knowing that this is the way to eternal life. The issue of keeping a kosher (kashrut, pronounced Kash-root) dietary regime should be discussed. Kashrut means pure. In the physical sense, this means following certain dietary restrictions and instructions based on the lack of refrigeration and diseased foods (like pork, which originally had Trichinosis bacteria in it during ancient times). In the spiritual sense, Kashrut means conforming to God’s will. All ancient traditional Jews were commanded to keep a Kosher regime. Once Peter’s vision on Cornelius’ roof happened [AC 10: 9-16], God indicated that this was no longer necessary. Today, pork without Trichinosis is a healthy addition to the diet, and refrigeration has made the eating of shell fish, for example, perfectly acceptable. However, Orthodox Jews, who take a legalistic view of this, reject the NT, and remain on a Kosher regime. In the course of his wrestling with the Man at Peniel, Jacob’s hip was displaced, leaving him with a limp. The Jewish belief that “the life is in the blood” [LV 17: 11; HE 9: 22] is the basis of the Kosher practice of only eating meat from which the blood has been drained, and which has been blessed by a rabbi. Meat and milk are never to be served in the same meal, thus requiring the home to have two sets of dishes-one set for each. Most of the rules are given in the rabbinical writing on the Jewish laws known at the Talmud.
Interestingly, many of the enemies of the ancient Jews, i.e. Ammonites, Edomites, Moabites, etc., no longer exist. However, Israelas a cultural entity and now (as of 1948 a restored political entity) has endured for over 3000 years. The book of Obediah tells of the end of the Edomites. It must be understood that all during the two periods of dyaspora [God’s punishment to Israelfor idolatry and disobedience in the form of distribution and loss of nationhood], Israel’s restoration was always prophesied [JER 25: 11, for example]. This, of course, is not to say thatIsrael doesn’t have modern enemies. The Arabs, especially fundamentalist Arabs, descendants of Abraham through Ishmael, have sworn they will bring aboutIsrael’s destruction. However, God’s will shall indeed overcome. ModernIsrael needs it’s ties with theUS, and theUS has been it’s strongest ally sinceIsrael’s inception in 1948. At this point in time, theUS is committed to remainIsrael’s ally. I would like to think that pleases God.
PRAYER: O Lord, we may not know every step to take on the road to redemption ahead of time, but we do know that You want us to obey You. Since we know from COL 1: 15 that Jesus Christ is “the visible Image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation,” we know that obeying Christ is obeying God. Christ tells us, in 2 COR 10: 3-5, “Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient.” Your plan, O Lord, is for us to obey You, so that You can take us on “the hard path through the narrow gate” [MT 7: 13-14] to eternal life. This gives us a picture of the love You have for us in Your heart. Our willingness to learn the lessons of our history will help us along the way. We profess our commitment to You and Your teaching, even though we are imperfect at times in carrying it out. You know our hearts, O Lord, because You know everything [HE 4: 13]. Because Your Son knows our weaknesses and was tempted in every way we are and yet, was without sin, He can sympathize with us and understand us. We have learned that we should turn to Him, and thus, You, when we have reached a crossroads and need direction [HE 4: 15]. And thus, we approach Your mighty throne with humility, reverence, and awe—the attitude we must take in view of Your great power to do good and Who You are. We know of Your connection to the Son from JN 14: 9, 11, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father…I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me.” We stand firm in offering You thanks and praise, for Your willingness to further us along the road to redemption and to have the love for us, which You have. We say this in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: To further our discussion of the Abrahamic covenant, we will look at the story of Jacob and his twelve sons from GN 29: 31-30: 24. It will be revealing to see how the covenant principles discussed so far applied to them. The issue of being willing to make carefully considered commitments in one’s life, e.g. to obey God and to know Him better, is paramount to our eternal life and long-term happiness. My own life has brought this home to me in so many ways. Inner peace, real “shalom,” is not easy to achieve in today’s world. It requires obedience to God, placing Him at the center of our lives, and avoiding compromising situations. I often wish I could be effective in convincing our younger generations of that principle, particularly because so many of them are rejecting “organized religion.” What was once the “silent majority” in our own country are rapidly decreasing to a minority. That is why I feel a great responsibility to no longer be silent. Materialism, confusion, rejection of long-held cultural practices, and the breakdown of the family unit have all been works of the evil one in establishing strongholds in people. These are people who have left themselves vulnerable to his dirty work. The only way the devil can get away with this is if we allow him to build strongholds in our lives. We must remember EPH 1: 18-20, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him in the heavenly realms.” Praise and thanks forever be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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