2015-05-15
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week I was directed to write about circumcision, as it applies to both ancient and modern-day traditional Judaism. The examples of Abraham and Isaac were discussed then; this week we’ll look at Jacob and his twelve sons. All of us, whether Christian or Messianic Jewish, or traditionally Jewish believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We need to recognize the truth of IS 46: 9-10, “I am God and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times to what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please!’” If there were any evil in our God, we would be in serious trouble, but there is none [1 JN 1: 5]. So, we can take comfort in God’s words and the truth of them, because of what we know from PS 31: 19, “How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You.”
Many of us have seen two brothers born to the same parents, sometimes even twins, who are each very different from each other. Such was the case with Jacob and Esau. God prophesied when Rebekah was still pregnant with them, in GN 25: 23, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” Such was this rather unsettling forecast of what was to come between the Jews and the Edomites [descendants of Esau]. GN 25: 25-26, “The first to come out will be 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.” As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, and Jacob was a more quiet man. Esau liked game meat to eat; Jacob remained close to the tent and was favored by Rebekah. We all know the story of how Jacob and Rebekah conspired to fool a then-aging Isaac to enable Jacob to steal Esau’s blessing [GN 27: 25-29], and earlier, Esau had already swapped his birthright for a bowl of red lentils [GN 25: 29-34]. Jacob’s name means “Deceiver.” Later, after leaving his parent’s home, Jacob crossed the Jordan River near the Jabbok, and he encountered the Man at Peniel, with whom he wrestled [GN 32: 22-32]. His hip was dislocated crippling him, and the Man changed Jacob’s name to Israel, meaning “He Struggles with God.”
After leaving his parents and Esau, Jacob ended up working for 14 years for his uncle, Laban. Laban tricked Jacob into marrying first his oldest daughter, Leah, and then, after working an additional seven years and greatly increasing their shared flocks, his wife, Rachel, whom he dearly loved. Between these two girls and their maids, [his concubines] Zilpah and Bilhah, Jacob had 12 sons and 1 daughter. Their names were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, then later, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah [from Leah], Dan and Naphtali [from Bilhah-Leah’s maid], Gad and Asher [from Zilpah-Rachel’s maid], and finally, Joseph and Benjamin [with whom Rachel gave birth, then passed away]. Dinah was raped, which tragically set off an ill-conceived ruse at Shechem [GN 34: 1-34]. When Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite ruler of that area saw Dinah, he violated her. He wanted her as his wife. Hamor went out to speak with Jacob about it, but Dinah’s brothers were filled with fury and grief. They all knew God was dead-set against intermarriage with Gentiles, and they refused Hamor’s request, even thought Hamor had told them they can all live together in peace. They only way they could agree to this marriage was if the male Shechemites would be circumcised. So all the males were circumcised. But Simeon and Levi attacked Shechem, killing those men, rescuing Dinah, and seizing their flocks. Jacob was very angry with his sons, Simeon and Levi for this action. Despite Jacob’s prophecy that Shechemites will kill them all, these brothers said, “No one will get away with treating our sister like a prostitute!” And due to God’s will, Jacob’s 12 sons became the twelve tribes of Israel [GN 29: 31-30: 24].
We are told in RO 11: 25 that eventually traditional Jews will accept the Seed of Abraham, the Lord Yeshua. This will happen when the full number of Gentiles has come to faith. (17) For the unbelieving Jews will be lopped off the metaphoric olive tree and believing Gentiles will be “in-grafted” into it. (You’ll remember the cultured olive tree is the believing Jews, and the wild olive branches are the believing Gentiles). I use the term “Seed of Abraham.” GA 3: 16, “The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his Seed. The Scripture [RO 4: 13 and 9: 4] does not say, ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many people, but ‘and to your Seed,’ meaning one Person, Who is Christ.” We must remember that justification (being deemed acceptable in God’s sight) is not by the law, but by faith [GN 15: 6; RO 4 :3; GA 3: 6, 11]. GA 3: 13-14, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’ [1 PET 2: 24]. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”
PRAYER: O Lord, as believing Jews and Gentiles, we should stand together under Your aegis of protection and in our attempts to conform to the wisdom of Your teaching. We are imperfect sinners, who try to do this but don’t always think or act righteously. We are all too often judgmental of others different from us. We don’t reach out to them with the love the Lord Jesus has taught us and modeled for us. Family squabbles over material things, greed demonstrated in the rush to keep up with others around us all take up too much of our time. So many sins, and so much need for Christ’s leadership! We stand before our Lord Jesus, Who patiently waits for us to stop our sinning, confess with genuine hearts, and ask for His help and His forgiveness. We come before You today to ask for Your help in putting our lives right with You. The only way we can succeed in doing this is to know Your will and to follow it. Yes Lord, there are times when we don’t understand the timing or even the nature of a command you give us. Yet, we must understand that the most blessed things happen when we obey Your commands, often unexpected blessings. There are times when people are unreasonable, as Laban was when he forced Jacob to work with his flocks for an additional seven years to marry Rachel, after Jacob had already first worked seven years and then, was fooled into marrying Leah. And then, there was Jacob’s deception in wresting both Esau’s birthright (which Esau didn’t value) and his blessing away from Isaac’s firstborn child. We don’t always understand God’s commands, but when they are followed those involved are blessed. In Jacob’s case it was his 12 sons, who became the 12 tribes ofIsrael. We look to You, Dearest Abba, for Your leadership in our lives, even if it must be with the firm hand of a Parent, and we thank and praise You eternally for the blessings You bestow on us. In Christ’s holy name, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We look at the relief to a sin-sick world that God has given us through the Abrahamic Covenant. Then, we will turn to why it was necessary to replace the Covenant of the Law with the Covenant of Grace. If we still ask why God commanded the Jewish males to be circumcised, we must understand that to the Jewish man, it was an outward symbol of an inward transformation that has taken place in his heart. He is commanded to obey the Lord, which means he must understand God’s will. It is the tacit understanding that he has studied the Scriptures that we now call the Old Testament [the Tenach, in Hebrew]. In ancient Jewish households, the father was to teach his sons and daughters God’s will. Judaism’s practices were a patriarchal culture. In more modern times, the women, while not the heads of households, must also study and follow God’s commands. That’s why traditionally Jewish girls at age 12 are expected to have a Bat Mitzvah, the female equivalent of a Bar Mitzvah, a ceremonial rite of passage for boys of age 13. The command came in DT 6: 5-7, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when your get up.” Why include this in my devotion today? It is because God’s commands are as important and applicable today as they were in Jacob’s time. They apply to all of us, and they should be the center of our lives. Moreover, God has given each of us the ability to learn His will and follow it. Be comforted in knowing this is the path to eternal life. Praise and thanks be to God!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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