Genesis 10/21/2017

GENESIS

October 21, 2017

By Pastor Kim Hickcox

(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted)

 

After the ordeal with Jacob’s daughter Dinah, Genesis goes straight to where he received a word from the Lord to move. But Jasher covers the battle in more detail and in fact, brings Judah to the forefront. And as Judah is the tribe from which Y’shua comes, I think it would give us some insight as why He chose Judah, save for the fact that his name means Now I will praise the Lord (see Genesis 29:35).

 

So let’s review a little [Biblically recommended] recorded history before we go to God’s Word Itself – call it background if you will:

 

Before they slaughtered the entire city, which we read about it Genesis 34:27-31, Judah (according to Jasher) was asking his father why he was getting so upset about Simeon and Levi going in and killing all the men. He reminded Jacob that not only had they gone against the word of the Lord, but no one in the entire city tried to stop, question Shechem, or even thought that there was anything wrong with what he did!

 

Shechem did all this evil and not one of the inhabitants of his city interfered with him, to say, Why would you do this?...And now why are you afraid or distressed, and why are you displeased with my brothers, and why are you angry with them? Surely our God Who delivered into their hand the city of Shechem and its people, He will also deliver into our hands all the Canaanitish kings who are coming against us, and we will do to them as my brothers did to Shechem.

 

Now be tranquil about them and cast away your fears, but trust in the Lord our God, and pray to Him to assist us and deliver us, and deliver our enemies into our hands.

 

And Judah called to one of his father’s servants, Go now and see where those kings, who are coming against us, are situated with their armies. (Jasher pg 73, bold added for emphasis.) GO JUDAH!!

 

THEN Judah said to Simeon and Levi, and all his brothers, Strengthen yourselves and be sons of valor, for the Lord our God is with us, do not fear them. Stand forth each man, armed with his weapons of war, his bow and his sword, and we will go and fight against these uncircumcised men; the Lord is our God. He will save us.

 

THEN we read that Jacob went to his dad Isaac, who was still living in Hebron, recruited his servants and asked for his prayers too:

 

And Isaac the son of Abraham prayed to the Lord for his sons, and he said, O Lord God, You did promise my father, saying, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and You did also promise me, and establish Your word, now that the kings of Canaan are coming together, to make war with my children because they committed no violence.(Because they didn’t start it, they were just meting out justice.)

 

Now therefore, O Lord God, God of the whole earth, pervert, I pray, the counsel of these kings that they may not fight against my sons.

 

And impress the hearts of these kings and their people with the terror of my sons and bring down their pride, and they will turn away from my sons.

 

And with Your strong hand and outstretched arm deliver my sons and their servants from them, for power and might are in Your hands to do all this.

 

Then Jacob added his pray too: O Lord God, powerful and exalted God, Who has reigned from days of old, from then until now and forever;

 

You are He Who stirs up wars and causes them to cease, in Your hand are power and might to exalt and to bring down; O may my prayer be acceptable before You that You may turn to me with Your mercies, to impress the hearts of these kings and their people with the terror of my sons, and terrify them and their camps, and with Your great kindness deliver all those who trust in You, for it is You Who can bring people under us and reduce nations under our power.  (Jasher pg 74) This last statement was prophetic, as we can see when David was king.

 

And as if to back Jasher up, Genesis 35:5 says, “And they journeyed and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.” The prayers of Isaac and Jacob were answered!

 

But first, Jacob received an instruction, “Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, to up to Beit-El, and live there and there make an altar to God, Who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.’’’ Genesis 35:1

 

And so he did, but listen to what he told everybody, something that God didn’t even mention, “Then Jacob said to his household and to all that were with him, ‘Put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean and change your garments. ³And let us rise and go up to Beit-El, and there I shall make an altar to God, Who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me in the way which I went.’ ⁴And they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hands and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was in Shechem.” Genesis 35:2-4

 

At first I found this kind of surprising that the Lord didn’t mention the idols that were stashed around the camp, but then it struck me that He trusted Jacob to get rid of them himself. After the quashing of their impending battle, Jacob’s resolve and faith, I’m sure, were elevated and in verse 3 when he says, “I shall make an altar to God, Who answered me in the day of my distress”, he could very well have been referring to their most recent dilemma with the Canaanite kings.

 

As far as the idols go, we don’t know if this was a revelation for Jacob, or perhaps they returned from the festival where Dinah was abducted with them, but it adds another layer as to why the destruction of Shechem was sanctioned, why they were told to leave that area and why Jacob’s prayers were answered, as he seemed to be ever strengthening his commitment to the Lord – with the help of his son Judah, who seems to have the Fire of God in him, burning for His Righteous Standards to be kept.

 

“So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan that is Beit-El, he and all the people with him. ⁷And he built an altar there and called the place El Beit-El because God appeared to him there, when he fled from the face of his brother. ⁸And Deborah, Rebeccah’s nurse died, and she was buried below Beit-El under an oak, and the name of it was called Allon-bakhut (Oak of Weeping).” Genesis 35:6-8

 

Jacob sought the Lord when he or his family were in trouble and he worshipped ad was obedient to Him when things were going well. His personal experience changed him. And He is still making Personal appearances today! Do you remember yours?

 

Mine was in 1990. He healed me at the beginning of a church service and saved me at the end of it. Life is never the same after encountering the Lord, is it?

 

This week, let’s take a little time out to remember. Remember everything He has done for you. Write your blessings down and rehearse them. You would be surprised what an uplift that is!

 

He is our every breath, our every heartbeat, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, being sent down by the Father of Lights, with Whom there is not one change or shadow variation.” Jacob 1:17

 

“A psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul! All that is within me, bless His holy name!

²Bless the LORD, O my soul! Do not forget all His benefits! ³Who forgives all your iniquities! Who heals all your diseases! ⁴Who redeems your life from destruction! Who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion! ⁵Who satisfies your old age with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

⁶The LORD executes acts of loving kindness and justice for all that are oppressed.

⁷He made His Ways known to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.

⁸The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in loving kindness.

⁹He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever.

¹⁰He has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.

¹¹For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His loving kindness toward those who revere Him.

¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

¹³Like a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who revere Him.

¹⁴For He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵As for man, his days are like grass: like a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

¹⁶For the wind passes over it and it is gone; and that place will know it no more.

¹⁷But the loving kindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting, upon those who revere Him and His acts of loving kindness to children’s children.

¹⁸To such as keep His covenant and to those who remember to do His commandments ¹⁹the LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all.

²⁰Bless the LORD, His angels, who excel in strength, who do His commandments, obeying the voice of His word!

²¹All His hosts, ministers of His who do His pleasure, Bless the LORD!

²²Bless the LORD! All His works are in all places of His dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!” (Psalm 103)

 

SHALOM!

Genesis 10/14/2017

GENESIS

October 14, 2017

By Pastor Kim Hickcox

(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted)

 

Today, unfortunately, we are learning about the rape of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter. It covers all of chapter 34 in Genesis and is of course in God’s Word for a reason.  And that reason is truly more understandable when consulting the Book of Jasher as it seems to fill in all the background details needed to really see how the Lord’s presence was all over that situation.

 

Genesis 34 gives us the main scenario: Jacob and family had settled in right outside the city of Shechem, buying a piece of land there and naming it El Elohe Yisrael, God, God of Israel.

 

The meeting between he and his brother Esau had been more than amicable and life was good since he had devote his life to the Lord. Protection and favor followed him, as it does to all who love Him, us included.

 

But nonetheless, due to sin and the corrupted sin nature of Man bad things happen, as we are about to discover.

 

“And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. ²And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite prince of the country saw her, he took her and lay with her and violated her. ³And his very being yearned for Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke kindly to the girl. ⁴And Shechem spoke to his father Hamor saying, ‘Get me this girl for my wife.’⁵And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field and Jacob held his peace until they came.” Genesis 34:1-5

 

Now I don’t know about you, but being nice and “speaking kindly” to me after you raped me doesn’t quite cut it! (As a matter of fact, that exact thing happened to me when I was 18, so I can tell you from experience that his kind words after the fact was NO compensation.)

 

Genesis goes on the record that Shechem and his father Hamor approached Jacob and his sons and asked for Dinah to be his wife, although they did not return her in the meantime. Verse 19 also states that “he was more honorable than all the house of his father, Hamor.”, which is kind of a scary thought, but does indeed answer and explain a few things about Canaan all-in-all.

 

So Jacob’s sons decide to tell Shechem and Hamor that if all the men would be circumcised to conform with their way of life, they could live in harmony, intermarry, etc., all the while having another agenda in mind.

 

Meanwhile and not to be outdone, Shechem and Hamor agree, and while passing on this new development to the men of the town, say, in verse 23 “Will not their cattle and their possessions and every animal of theirs be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will stay with us.” So the deceit was on both sides.

 

Then Genesis gives us a thumbnail sketch of what happened next in that Dinah’s two brothers, Simeon and Levi, attack the city the third day after the whole male population of Shechem was circumcised, killed all the men and brought Dinah back home. Then all the other brothers joined the party, sacked the city and took everythingelse, women and children included!

 

So when Jacob finds out what happened, he freaks out, decides his time in the neighborhood is over because now everyone will be after his entire family, including all the other tribes in the area. But all his sons had to say was “Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?” (vs 31) And the next thing you know, the Lord is telling Jacob to move to Beit-El – the end.

 

And this is where Jasher comes in. “…Is it not written in the book of Jasher?” Joshua 10:13. We know this is not Scripture, but I believe that it is the most accurately recorded ancient history that was written concerning God’s people outside of Scripture. And it covers Genesis 34 from pages 68-75 giving us all kinds of insight!

It starts with why Dinah went into the city in the first place. After a year and a half,some of the women of the inhabitants of the land went into the city of Shechem to dance and rejoice with the daughters of the people of the people of the city, and when they went forth then Rachel and Leah the wives of Jacob with their families also went to behold the rejoicing of the daughters of the city.

 

And Dinah the daughter of Jacob also went along with them and saw the daughters of the city, and they remained before these daughters whilst all the people of the city were standing by them to behold their rejoicings, and all the great people of the city were there.

 

Now we don’t know what kind of a do this was, could have been a religious festival or a royal’s birthday or some other celebration, but it all seems pretty innocent at the start, and she was there with her mother and Rachel and probably all the other female servants, so it’s not like she wandered in alone.

 

When Shechem noticed her, he asked around because he had never seen her before and he received a very accurate family description: Surely this is the daughter of Jacob the son of Isaac the Hebrew, who has dwelt in this city for some time…

 

We will see later that both Isaac and Abraham were well known in that area through reputation, oral history and their God.

 

His response? And Shechem beheld Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and when he looked at her is soul became fixed on Dinah. And he sent and had her taken by force, and Dinah came to the house of Shechem and he seized her forcibly and lay with her and humbled her in his house.

 

When Jacob found out he sent twelve of his servants to go get her: And when they came Shechem went out to them with his men and drove them from his house, and he would not suffer them to come before Dinah, but Shechem was sitting with Dinah kissing and embracing her before their eyes.

 

It was after this that Jacob told his sons what had happened, and I’m sure he told them everything which is why they did not feel the slightest inkling to deal with him mercifully. Anyway after that, Jacob sent two of Dinah’s servants into Shechem to take care of her there.

 

In the meantime, Hamor is baffled as to why his son didn’t want one of his own to be his wife, but Shechem just acted like a spoiled brat demanding what he wanted because he wanted it and Hamor gave in, so they all went down to see Jacob.

 

And at Jacob’s house, he was hearing from all his sons, who were quoting Noah’s teachings to him: Surely death is due to this man and to his household, because the Lord God of the whole earth commanded Noah and his children that man shall never rob, nor commit adultery; now behold Shechem has both ravaged and committed fornication with our sister, and not one of all the people of the city spoke a word to him.

 

Surely you know and understand that the judgment of death is due to Shechem, and to his father, and to the whole city on account of the thing which he has done.

 

The next paragraph sound like it came out of Job: And wilst they were speaking before their father in this manner, behold Hamor the father of Shechem came to speak to Jacob the words of his son concerning Dinah, and he sat before Jacob and his sons.

 

In the Book of Jasher, we have talked about Abraham and how he was raised by Noah and his son Shem in their school which was right outside Nimrod’s kingdom borders. So Abraham duly passed down His teachings to his son as did Isaac and Jacob.

 

Jasher goes on to tell us that Shechem’s grandfather Chiddekem, who was a descendant of Ham (Genesis 10:6 tells us that Canaan was one of Ham’s sons), not only was totally against the idea of blending with his Hebrew cousins, but had the oral history of how God was forever backing them!  

 

So one day Chiddekem was hatching a plan against Jacob and his family, We beseech you then to wait and tarry until our flesh shall be healed and we again become strong, and we will then go together against them, and do unto them that which is in your hearts and in ours.

 

BUT Dinah the daughter of Jacob heard all of these words which Chiddekem and his brothers had spoken, and what Hamor and his son Shechem and the people of their city had answered them.

 

And she hastened and sent one of her maidens, that her father had sent to take care of her in the house of Shechem, to her father Jacob and to her brothers…

 

And so the battles ensued. First Simeon and Levi went in, killed all the circumcised men and retrieved Dinah. But Jasher tells us that 20 men hid themselves and were not circumcised. So they fought against Simeon and Levi in the first battle and all but two were killed. They escaped and came back with reinforcements that were in place when l2 brothers came in to finish sacking the city. They brought 300 men back, but as we know from the Biblical account, the entire city was taken, and because of that two things were established:

 

1.     Yet another attempt of the devil to wipeout God’s people and Y’shua’s biological ancestors was quashed.

 

2.     The LORD was known to be with Israel and His glory and fear of Him throughout the [destructive] heathens was established: but trust in the Lord our God, and pray unto Him to assist us and deliver us, and deliver our enemies into our hands. (Jasher pg 73)

 

We can see, especially when reading both accounts, how Jacob’s family was growing in their faith and trust in God. And isn’t this true even today?

 

As much as we hate reading these words, Jacob (James) 1:2-4 tells us to “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when various trials light upon you, ³knowing that the proving of your faith produces endurance. ⁴And the endurance must attain its purpose, so that you would become mature and complete and not falling short in any way.”

 

There are two ways you can go during a trail: away from God and get bitter; or closer to God and get better.

 

I just went through a 5 week trial that was physically, emotionally and psychologically overwhelming. There is an upside to everything right? Well, I figured out that the upside to stubbornness is tenacity. The only two things that kept me in the battle were: the Lord, who healed and rejuvenated me after my breakdowns (4 in one week) and my stubbornness, which has worked against me so many times in my life, it’s nice to see it work for me, even in retrospect.

 

Everything in my flesh kept screaming: Go away! Get out! Pack some clothes, your cat and RUN!! Colorado is nice. You still speak a little French – no one would look for you in Quebec. Just go!!!!

 

But then the Holy Spirit would kick in and I would hear Peter saying, “Lord, to whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal life, ⁶⁹and I have believed and I have known that You are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69, personalized, in first person.)

 

So when your back is up against a wall, you know that soon it will either break you or you will break it, when you feel you’re on the brink of fight or flight, my suggestion is to do neither.

 

Just go to the Lord, your Savior, your Healer, your Deliverer and your very best Friend and pour your heart out to Him! Take as long as you need and say whatever is in your heart – He knows it anyway. Confess, cry, whine, question…whatever you need, He will listen and give you everything you need! Then just rest. He will fill you up again and strengthen you again when you need it. But being exhausted after a session with your Father and being exhausted after a session in your flesh are two TOTALLY different things!! In the flesh (that is by yourself, without praying) you will eventually get weaker and weaker, worse and worse in stamina, mindset and tolerance.

 

I now have two mantras:

“And we know that, for those who love God, He works all things for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

AND

“I have strength to overcome all things in the One Who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

 

Always remember these three things:

1.     “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, being sent down by the Father of Lights, with Whom there is not one change or shadow variation.” Jacob 1:17

 

Therefore when troubles, injustice, overwhelming problems, physical problems or diseases befall you, they are NOT in any way, from your God! They are either from the problems of our fallen creation or the sin of the fallen nature of others, or perhaps from an unwise decision on our part, which brings me to point #2.

 

2.     “‘No weapon that is formed against you will succeed. You will condemn every tongue that will rise up against you in judgment. This is the inheritance of the servants of the LORD, and their acts of loving kindness are of Me,’ says the LORD.” Isaiah 54:17

 

AND

 

3.     “…but I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ³³I have told you these things to you so that you would have peace because of Me: in the world you will have distress: but be of good courage, I have overcome the world.”John 16:32-33

 

And because of Y’shua’s victory for us, “Do not be grieved, for the joy if the LORD is your strength!” Nehemiah 8:10

 

BECAUSE

 

“For in Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28

 

Anyone remember that song that was so popular in charismatic churches in the 90’s?         In Him we live and move and have our being (repeat)

 

                        Make a joyful noise – WOO!

                        Sing unto the Lord,

Tell Him of your love

And dance before Him, (repeat)

 

Repeat! (I just had a great holy flashback!)

 

 

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. And before you came out of the womb I sanctified you and I ordained you…” Jeremiah 1:4. Your God knew you and everything you have; are and will go through! And yet – HE CHOSE YOU TO BRING HIM GLORY AND TRUSTS YOU TO DO SO, KNOWING EVERYTHING!

 

So when trouble attacks – run TO Him! He is your only refuge, your only safety, youronly answer. And He will never, ever, EVER let you down!!  “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your Ways know Him and He will make your paths smooth. Do not be wise in your own eyes! Revere the LORD! Depart from bad things!” Proverbs 3:5-7 (emphasis added)

HALLELJUAH & SHALOM!!