Genesis 9/30/2017

GENESIS

September 30, 2017

By Pastor Kim Hickcox 

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

We are going to back up a little today to talk about the night before Jacob and Esau finally meet again, as it was a life-changing experience for Jacob because he wrestles with God (Genesis 32:25-33). And it is here where Y’shua shows up in Scripture. 

Genesis 32:25-29 says, “And Jacob was left alone, and a Man wrestled with him there until the breaking of the day. ²⁶And when the Man saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with Him. ²⁷And He said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ And Jacob said, ‘I shall not let You go until You bless me.’ ²⁸And the Man said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ ²⁹And He said, ‘Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince you have power with God and with men, and you have prevailed.’”

Now, I have heard a few definitions of both the name Jacob and Israel, and all of them have made sense, but the [new] definitions I learned in the One New Man are the ones I’m holding to: 

‘Yaakov’s (Hebrew spelling of Jacob) two names are related: Yaakov means Follow Close After, to heed (God’s will) and Israel means Prevailing with God.’ 

So upon adoption, we become a member of the family whose name means Prevailing with God. And of course to prevail means to triumph! So we now Triumph (Win) with God! 

You will note that in this passage that whenever the Man Jacob wrestled with was referred to, the pronoun always capitalized. The Hebrew word used for Man in this passage is Ish; meaning Husband. As His bride, this is not only symbolic but prophetic:

Jeremiah 3:14, “‘Return, O backsliding children,’ says the LORD, ‘for I AM married to youand I shall take you, one from a city, and two from a family and I shall bring you to Zion.’” (bold emphasis added by me) And as we are adopted upon salvation, we are His bride too!

And we now see Y’shua as the Man Jacob, now Israel wrestled with, was blessed by, and prevailed over, thus changing his life forever, and the start of the fulfilling the promise to his grandfather Abraham, albeit mostly still prophetic at this time. 

The rest of their exchange reads like this: “And Jacob asked and said, ‘Tell me, I pray You, Your name.’ And He said, ‘Why do you ask after My name?’ And He blessed him there. ³¹And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved. ³²And as he passed over Peniel the sun rose upon him, and he was limping on account of his hip.” (Genesis 32:30-32)

Verse 33 which ends our passage is, in my opinion, is a wonderful piece of Biblical trivia, “Therefore the children of Israel do not eat of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hip socket, to this day because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the sinew that shrank.” What a sign of honor Jacob’s people gave him! 

Now let’s go back and review the blessing Isaac gave his son, “May God give you of the dew of the heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. ²⁹Let people serve you, and nations bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.” (Genesis 27:28-29)

This is a combination of Abraham’s blessing as well as an agricultural and governmental blessing! In Numbers 13:23, when Moses sent spies out to see what the Promised Land would be like, the agricultural report came back like this: “And they came to the brook of Eshkol and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff between two men; and they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs.” IMAGINE a branch with ONE cluster of grapes that has to be carries by two grown men on a pole because it’s so heavy!! Now THAT is agricultural blessing!

And then when we read through 1^stSamuel (specifically chapter 8) during King David’s reign, we see that he never lost a war and his heir, Solomon, reigned in peace his entire time (1^st Kings 5:1). THAT is governmental blessing! 

We saw last time how the meeting between Jacob and Esau went, so now the Lord’s protection and favor reign. We wrap up his journey today with a settlement, “And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-Aram and pitched his tent outside the city. ¹⁹And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of kesitah. ²⁰And he erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Yisrael.” Genesis 33:18-20

So he is now in Canaan, which is the Promised Land, and he arrives in peace and favor as he was able to buy a parcel of land for his family and flocks. Now a kesitah was about the worth of ¼ of a shekel, and a shekel was worth, in today’s American dollar value about $1920, so 100 kesitahs would be 25 shekels or about $48K! Must have been prime real estate! Of course, considering the size of his family and flocks, this parcel may have been humongous! 

So we end today with Israel having their first legal claim in the land of Canaan. And what did he name it? El Elohe Yisrael: God, God of Israel – of course! Thus the story of our spiritual ancestry and inheritance in the Lord begins…

“And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, ²³‘Speak to Aaron and to his sons saying, In this way you will bless the children of Israel, saying to them, ²⁴“The LORD will bless you and He will keep you. ²⁵The LORD will make His face to shine upon you and He will be gracious to you. ²⁶The LORD will lift His countenance to you and He will establish Shalom for you.” ²⁷And they will put My name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them.’” (Numbers 6:22-27)

The Lord blesses you with His Shalom, meaning that nothing good shall be withheld from you. You are complete in Him – lacking nothing because He is everything! “I have strength to overcome all things in the One Who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13)

SHALOM

Genesis 9/16/2017

 GENESIS

September 16, 2017

By Pastor Kim Hickcox

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

Jacob is now returning to his homeland with his family, having made peace with his father-in-law, via God’s omniscience. So we continue with Genesis 32:4-24. 

“And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, the country of Edom.” (vs 4: The country of Edom was where Esau’s family settled and was known throughout ancient history, and the cousins became less and less friendly as time passed.) As he approached, his scouts come back to tell him that his brother Esau was on his way with 400 men, which led him to believe that he was probably not in a good mood.

Now this is where Jacob’s faith should have instantly kicked in, because he already had God’s promise that all would be well and he would be able to return safely and prosperously to where he spent his childhood. Plus he had just seen divine protection from Laban. However, fear gets the better of him, as it does all of us from time to time.

One of the most wonderful things, I think, that the Bible shows us throughout is the whole character or aspect of the men and women we read about. I mean this is Jacob! This is Israel himself, the very man to whom the nation of God was named after! The man who fathered the founders or patriarchs of the twelve tribes that became the nation of Israel! One would think that he would be portrayed wearing a red cape and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!  

But our loving, wonderful, merciful God allows us to know that we ALL have flaws. His Word is NOT filled with superheroes whose shoes we could never hope to fill. How devastating would it be to be told on the one hand, that we need not preoccupy ourselves with our faults because after all, we know that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”? (Romans 3:23 & 1 Kings 8:46) And yet, be confronted with nothing but perfect examples of Godly men by all those whom He chose to use, help, speak through and bless? 

I find it very comforting to actually see that imperfection is not a disqualification for being used by my God! Paul tells us in 2^nd Corinthians 12:9, that after begging the Lord to fix something for him three times in prayer, He told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made complete in weakness.” But how much louder do examples speak to us? This could be seen as a very sad fact of our human nature, but a fact none the less. John Hagee once said that the Lord always remembers that we are just anointed dust bunnies. Puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? 

So now we see Jacob’s faith falter for a bit. He cheated his brother not once but twice out of a LOT, his entire heritage actually, and could very well have been feeling a bit unworthy of God’s promises and total protection, especially in light of his brother’s approaching with a small army. 

So he prays, repeating God’s promise to him, and this is where we see that reminding God of what He said to us (either personally or through His Word) is not an insult or sign of disrespect to Him, but rather endearing to Him – almost like He’s honored that we would remember and have to holy boldness to remind Him. (At least, that’s my take.) So Jacob prays and prophetically (we now know) says, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, LORD Who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I shall deal well with you.’ ¹¹I am not worthy of the least of all Your loving kindness, and of all the truth which You have shown to Your servant, for I crossed this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two bands. ¹²Rescue me, please! From the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him lest he will come and strike me and the mother with the children. ¹³And You said, ‘I shall surely do you good and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’” (Genesis 32:10-13)

Then he sends a goodly portion of each of his flocks and herds ahead as an appeasement to get on Esau’s good side. In chapter 33 we see that, true to God’s promise, he and Esau meet and all is well. Esau is glad to see his brother and actually doesn’t even want to take his gifts. After 20 years, the wounds seem to have healed; they are both doing well, and have a very amicable reunion. 

“And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, ‘Who are those with you?’ And he said, ‘The children whom God has graciously given your servant.’ ⁶Then handmaids came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. ⁷And Leah also came near with her children and they bowed, and afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed….¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷And Jacob journeyed to Sukkot, and built a house for himself and made sukkot for his cattle. Therefore the name of the place is called Sukkot.” (Genesis 33:4-17) Sukkot is Hebrew for booths or shelters. 

 His message to Paul in 2^ndCorinthians 12:9 that we read earlier is His message to us too: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made complete in weakness.” When we can no longer hold on, we need to reach out to Him! Confess whatever it is you are battling with or against: weakness, unforgiveness, disobedience, feeling unworthy of His help, lack of faith, hopelessness, lack of provision, seemingly unanswered prayers…it doesn’t matter! God’s shoulders are wide enough to carry any problem we have and His love is deep enough to handle any doubt we have! “And without trusting it is impossible to please God: for it is necessary for the one who comes to God to believe that He is, that He does exist, then He becomes a rewarder to those who seek Him out.” (Hebrews 11:6) ALL we have to do it believe He exists and ask for help! Remember, He knew it all from the beginning, and chose you anyway!! We can never blindside Almighty God!

And please don’t be swayed by the stigma popularly taught about not having enough faith, being the cause of ANY of your battles! Hebrews 11:6 clearly says that He is pleased when we believe that He exists. Y’shua told us in Matthew 17:20, “…for truly I am saying to you, if you would have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘You must immediately go from this place to that place,’ and it will go: then nothing will be impossible for you.”We need to remember and focus on Who we have put our faith in – nothow big our faith is! Have you ever seen a mustard seed? They’re all over the place now, so you probably have, but if you haven’t: a mustard seed is about the size of the head of a straight pin. Pretty tiny! But our God isn’t tiny no matter who or what He is compared to! 

If you are battling something now, face it (if it’s within you, go to a mirror) and say to it: My God lives in me and His power is made complete in my weakness! Therefore you will NOT prevail over me because I belong to the God of Abraham, to the God of Isaac, to the God of Israel! I prevail with God! I triumph with God! I WILL triumph over you! No weapon formed against me shall prosper, because anything against me is against my God and NOTHING is more powerful than my God! It is in HIM that I place my trust, my confidence and my worth! (Name your problem) leave NOW in the mighty name of Y’shua Messiah Who lives in me, died for me and has already healed me! 

SHALOM dear friends. Fight your battles with the holy boldness of the One Who lives within you. Because He is the Triumphant One! Jehovah Nissi, our Victory!!

“Now to the One Who is able to keep you without stumbling and to stand before His glory blameless in extreme joy, ²⁵to the only God, our Savior through our Lord Y’shua Messiah, be glory, majesty, strength, and power before every age, both now and forever, amen.” (Jude 24-25)

                                                                                       SHALOM

Geneais 9/9/2017

GENESIS

September 9, 2017

By: Pastor Kim Hickcox

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

 

Genesis 31:1-16 tells us that Laban’s sons got on their high horse claiming that Jacob “has taken away all that was our father’s, and of that which was our father’s he has gotten all this wealth.” (vs 1) Basically calling Jacob a cheat at best and thief at worst. (Obviously his stick thing that we talked about last week was really blessed.) So Jacob, noticing the all-round change in attitude, was getting nervous. And the Lord saw this too, “And the LORD said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I shall be with you.’” (vs 3) 

 

Now what we have to remember is that he left in the first place because he had just stolen his brother’s birthright and thought he was fleeing for his life. So going home was a bit nerve racking also.  But with the Lord’s reassurance, he “sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, ⁵and said to them, ‘I see that your father’s countenance is not toward me as before, but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶And you know that I have served your father with all my power. ⁷And your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me…¹¹And the angel of God spoke to me in a dream, “Jacob!” And I said, “Here I am.” ¹²And he said, “Lift up your eyes and see, all the rams which leap upon the flock are ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted, for I have seen all the Laban does to you. ¹³I AM the God of Beit-El, where you anointed the pillar, where you vowed a vow to Me. Now rise! Get out from this land! Return to the land of your kindred!”’ ¹⁴And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, ‘Is there still any portion of inheritance for us in our father’s house?  ¹⁵Are we not counted as strangers? For he has sold us and has quite devoured our money. ¹⁶For all riches which God has taken from our father, that is ours, and our children’s: now then, whatever God has said to you, do.’” (vss 5-16)

 

So Laban’s greed came back to bite him in that even his daughters did not feel any loyalty toward him, only resentment. This is why the Lord instructs us not to covet what others have. “Neither will you desire your neighbor’s wife, nor will you covet your neighbor’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Deuteronomy 5:18 ONM, 5:21 elsewhere) Neighbor of course, meaning anyone else – including your daughters! And this, of course, goes hand-in-hand with Deuteronomy 5:17 (in the ONM, 5:19 everywhere else), which states, “Neither will you steal:” because when you spend too much time coveting that which you do not and figure can never have, the next step is to fantasize having it, which can lead to fantasizing on how to get it which can turn into trying to get it – by hook or by crook. 

 

Jacob (James) tells us this too: “But each is tempted by his own evil desire, being lured away and being enticed. ¹⁵Then when desire conceives it brings forth sin, and when sin is fully formed it brings forth death.” (1:14-15) Laban’s greed turned into the sin of the defamation of Jacob’s character toward his (Laban’s) sons (and who knows who else) which then grew into the death of his family via the rejection of his daughters. Say nothing to his own future reputation. 

 

So Jacob, being the considerate, God-fearing man that he was, consults his wives and as all three agree, they take off and obey the Lord without further ado. “Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives upon camels. ¹⁸And he carried away all his cattle and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle in his possession, which he had gotten in Padan-Aram, in order to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. ¹⁹And Laban went to shear his sheep and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s. ²⁰And Jacob stole away unaware to Laban the Aramean, in that he did not tell him that he fled.”  

(Genesis 31:17-20)

 

So three days went by before Laban knew that Jacob and family left. That tells you something right there, doesn’t it? You would think, that living on the same property (even though we don’t know how big it was) and everyone being “family” that they would have at least bumped into each other on a daily basis, but obviously not. And as Rachel took Laban’s idols, he wasn’t all that devout either, not even missing them for at least 3 days. And about that: I have read in commentaries that everyone figures she did that to break him of heathen worship, not that she wanted to keep them for herself. 

 

So Jacob left on the Lord’s promise that He would be with him. Therefore, when Laban came after him in hot pursuit, we read this: “And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob fled. ²³So he took his brothers with him and pursued after him seven days’ journey, and they overtook him on Mount Gilead. ²⁴And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, ‘Take heed that you do not speak either good or bad to Jacob.’” (Genesis 31:22-24)

 

Now personally, I would have taken that as Go back home, shut up and forget about Jacob. But nooooo, not Laban! He stays, confronts him, then tells him what the Lord said WITH a hypothetical threat (see verse 29), albeit empty. Now in my humble opinion, that constitutes speaking bad, but then, what do I know?

 

So Laban goes through this whole scenario about wanting to have a going away party for him, kiss everyone good-bye, blah, blah, blah. The schmoozing hadn’t even fallen to the ground when he started with the threats started, ending with the [legitimate] question of why he stole Laban’s gods? Jacob was a bit taken aback by that as we can tell by his response, “With whomever you find your gods, let him not live! Discern for yourself in the presence of our brothers what is yours with me, and take what is yours.” (Genesis 31:32)

 

So Laban searched every tent and found nothing. (Rachel hid them under a saddlebag, sat on it and told her father that it was “that time of the month” so she couldn’t get up and he wouldn’t get close to her.) So after everyone calmed down, they made a pact:

 

Basically they built a tower of rocks and set it up as border between them as well as a visual reminder of their promise to each other that the Lord had initiated: “And Laban said, ‘This heap is a witness between me and you this day.’ Therefore the name of it was called Galeed. ⁴⁹And Mizpah for he said, ‘The LORD watch between me and you, even when we are absent from one another.’” (Genesis 31:48-49) Galeed is Aramaic for The heap is a witnessand Mizpah is Hebrew for Watchtower. Laban continues with his tongue-in-cheek good intentions vow/threat: “‘If you will afflict my daughters, or if you will take other wives besides my daughters, no man is with us: see, God is witness between me and you.’ ⁵¹And Laban said to Jacob, ‘Behold this heap and behold this pillar, which I have cast between me and you. ⁵²This heap is a witness and this pillar is a witness that I shall not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap to me for harm.  ⁵³The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us, the God of their father.’ And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called Laban’s brothers to eat bread, and they ate bread and tarried all night on the mountain.” (Genesis 31:50-54)

 

The Nahor that Laban mentioned was Abram’s brother (see Genesis 11:26) from whom he descended. But Abram’s and Nahor’s father was Terah, an idol worshipper in King Nimrod’s court. Whether he turned to the Lord or not, we do not know. We can only assume that he was appealing to Jacob’s loyalty of family by mentioning their common ancestors. 

 

We can only hope too, that Laban came to know Who the real Lord is later in his life. I’m sure that was part of God’s plan when Jacob went to him. After all, the only ones who can honestly tell someone about the One True God is someone who knows and [therefore] trusts Him, right? And Jacob did.

 

Our last mention of Laban is in the first 3 verses of chapter 32, “And early in the morning Laban rose up and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. And Laban departed and returned to his place. ²And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ³And when Jacob saw them, he said, ‘This is God’s camp.’ And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.” And that camp was in what was called Gilead, east of the Jordan River and turned into where the borderline was to be drawn between the territories of the Tribe of Gad and the Tribe of Manasseh, when the Hebrews came back and settled into their Promised Land.   

 

Do you know someone who was born into a Godly home, but strayed? Why don’t you join their family in prayer that the Holy Spirit would draw them back? The seeds were obviously planted, so for anyone we know who fits that description, we can stand on Proverb 22:6 “Train up a child in the Way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

 

We don’t know how old, old is. What we DO know is that it is a promise of God and is therefore – guaranteed!! Just use the acronym that was popular not too long ago: PUSH – Pray Until Something Happens!

 

 

SHALOM!

Genesis 8/26/2017

GENESIS

August 26, 2017

By Kim Hickcox

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

 

Shakespeare once asked “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.”* And although one of the most well-known lines from Romeo & Juliet, does indeed make sense – on the surface, it is not true at all when we explore God’s Word.

 

To Him, nothing is haphazard, nothing is coincidental, nothing is meaningless. We know that Adam named every animal, “And out of the ground the LORD formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them, and whatever Adam called every living creature, that was its name.” (Genesis 2:19) Now what we need to remember about Adam is that, at that time, he was as much like His Creator, Y’shua, as he could be. He was sinless, and although totally man, was actually and literally brought to life by the Holy Spirit (see Genesis 2:7), so he was walking in the Spirit having eternal life. Which by-the-way is how we return to that original state when we are born-again. We revert back to mankind’s first state, or how we were originally created, thus the term born-again as it was how we were truly intended, by God, to be born in the first place.

 

So Adam named every living creature by the Godly wisdom he was filled with. Therefore there had to be a purpose for each name. And although we do not read of his naming everything else, I’m sure he didn’t refer to everything else as manna (the English translation being: what is it?), so we can somewhat safely assume that he named a few other things he ran into along the way also; unless of course the LORD told him what He called them.

 

I said all this to make the point that names are meaningful and worthy of research and contemplation before they are attached to something or especially someone.

 

*From Romeo & Juliet. Part of the famous initial Balcony scene, as Juliet refutes the family feud attached to Romeo’s last name for the sake of her true love.

So to review, here are the names of the 12 Patriarchs of Israel:

REUBEN       means: “See! A son.”

SIMEON        means:  “Because the Lord heard that I am hated”

LEVI               means: “my husband will be joined with me”                     

JUDAH         means: “Now I will praise the Lord”                 

DAN               means: “God has heard my voice”         

NAPHTAL   means: “I have wrestled and prevailed”     

GAD              means: “A troop comes”                           

ASHER         means: “the daughters will call me happy” 

ISSACHAR  means: “God has given me my reward”     

ZEBULUN   means: “endowed with a good dowry”

JOSEPH       means: “to increase”

BENJAMIN means: “Son of my Right Hand/Strength”

 

NOTE: Benjamin was originally named Ben-oni, which means “Son of my mourning” as Rachael knew she would die any minute   after her delivery (and did). However, Jacob, I’m sure not wanting to be constantly reminded, nor have his son constantly reminded of his mother’s death, renamed him with a synonym of oni, which is yamin, meaning right hand or strength.

 

How apropos is Judah’s name considering Y’shua came from his tribe, meaning ‘Now I will praise the Lord’? And with that example in mind, let’s skip ahead a bit to where Israel or Jacob is pronouncing his blessing on his sons just before his death to see which names were, albeit unknown to their mothers who named them, prophetic and which were just emotional:

 

GENESIS 49

 

REUBEN “See! A son.” (vss 3-4)

“Reuben, you are my first born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellence of dignity, and the excellency of power: ⁴unstable as water you will not excel because you went up to our father’s bed, then you defiled the one who ascended my couch.”

 

Genesis 35:21-22, “And Israel journeyed and set up his tent beyond Migdal Eder, Tower of Eder. ²²And it happened, while Israel lived in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’ concubine, and Israel heard about it.” Note that Bilhah was not his mother’s maid, but Rachel’s maid. That could have been part of his justification, who knows? All we know is that Israel recognized it as a lack of character, therefore declaring his firstborn son as unstable as water, as opposed to as what he could and should have been: his father’s might, the beginning of his strength, the excellence of dignity, and the excellency of power.

 

SIMEON “Because the Lord heard that I am hated” and

LEVI “my husband will be joined with me”           (vss 5-7) “Simeon and Levi are brothers, weapons of violence are their downfall. ⁶O my soul, do not come into their secret, to their assembly, my honor. Do not be united, for in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they lamed an ox. ⁷Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I shall divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.”

 

Genesis 34 recalls the rape of Dinah, Israel’s only daughter. Although the perpetrator (Shechem, the son of the Hivite prince) swore he did it because she was so beautiful he couldn’t stop himself and wanted to marry her, and therefore took it upon himself to marry her, as that was about the extent of a wedding back then, their intentions were obviously not on the up-and-up as their methods were not either.

 

I mean, who, in their right mind, custom or not, would essentially kidnap and rape a women, then go to her father saying, By the way, your daughter is my wife now. Ok with you? I know she just came into town for a visit, but I wanted her, so I had her, now she can stay as my wife.

 

Personally, I think the dumbest thing was that he knew she had 12 brothers. 12!! And it never occurred to him that this wasn’t ok! Well, it occurred to Simeon and Levi! And although they were somewhat justified in human terms, they really went overboard and let their temper and ‘sense of justice’ get the best of them. If you read chapter 34, you will see that first they set up terms, as if everything would be alright. All the men had to be circumcised, then they would inter-marry and all would be well. So on the third day after every man in town had been circumcised, they: Simeon and Levi, went in and killed every man in the city and brought their sister home. (Perhaps the origin of the term overkill.)

 

THEN, as if that wasn’t enough, “The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and sacked the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸They took their sheep, their oxen, their donkeys, that which was in the city and that which was in the field. ²⁹And all their wealth and their little ones, and they took their wives captive and took even all that was in the house.” (vss 27-29) So Israel let Simeon and Levi have it, and their response: “Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?” (vs 31)

 

Ironic to think that Levi became the priestly tribe to the nation, but then that did dictate that they would be scattered throughout the nation, making Jacob’s deathbed pronouncement prophetic.

 

                

JUDAH “Now I will praise the Lord” (vss 8-12)

“Judah, you are he whom your brothers will praise: your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father’s children will bow before you. ⁹Judah is a lion’s whelp, from the prey, my son, you are gone up: he stooped down, he couched like a lion and as an old lion. Who will rouse him? ¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor a Torah scholar from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and the gathering of the peoples will be to Him. ¹¹Binding His foal to the vine and His donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washed His garments in wine and His clothes in the blood of the grapes. ¹²His eyes will be red with wine, and His teeth white with milk.”

 

Notice how TOTALLY Messianic Judah’s blessing or legacy was?

1.     you are he whom your brothers will praise: John 12:12-13 “The next day there was an enormous crowd, which came to the feast. Because they heard that Y’shua was coming to Jerusalem ¹³they took fronds of palm trees and came out to meet Him and they were crying out, ‘Hoshea-na: Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord, The King of Israel!’” The quotes they spoke were from Psalm 118:25-26. Hoshea-na meaning Deliver or Save us now!

 

2.     your hand will be on the neck of your enemies: John 16:33 “I have told these things to you so that you would have peace because of Me: in the world you have distress: but be of good courage, I have overcome the world.” And the word overcome is the Greek word nikao, meaning not only to conquer but to have complete victory over which, in ancient times was demonstrated by the conquering king literally placing his foot on the neck of his conquered foe in public, as a symbol of his defeat and consequent submission.

 

3.     your father’s children will bow before you: Philippians 2:9-11 “…then God raised Him to the highest rank and He freely gave Him the name above every name ¹⁰so that at the name ‘Y’shua!’ every knee of the heavenlies and the earthly and those below the earth would bow ¹¹and every tongue would confess that Y’shua Messiah is Lord in the glory of God our Father.”

 

Isaiah 45:22-23 “Look to Me to be delivered, all the ends of the earth, for I AM God and there is no other. ²³I have sworn by Myself, the word has come out from My mouth in acts of loving kindness and will not return, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear.”

 

4.     a lion’s whelp: Revelation 5:5 “And one of the elders said to me, ‘Stop weeping! Look! He was victorious, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, so He can open the scroll and its seven seals.’”

5.     The scepter will not depart from Judah: Isaiah 9:5-6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government is upon His shoulder, and His name will be called Wonder, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. ⁶Of the increase of His government and Shalom there will be no end, upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom, to order it, to establish it with judgment and with acts of loving kindness from now even forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will perform this.”

 

Please note that in the One New Man translation, His first mentioned name is Wonder. In every other translation it is Wonderful Counselor. But Isaiah meant that He is a Wonder, as in a sign or miracle from God!

 

6.     nor a Torah scholar from between his feet: What a better example of noting that the word Torah really means teaching not law! The Torah, as we refer to it had not been written yet. How would anyone know, how would Judah know what Jacob meant if he were speaking of God’s written laws in Scripture?

 

 

7.     until Shiloh comes: The word Shiloh is a composite of the words Sh’ and loh, meaning a gift to him. A reference to the Messiah, to Whom all nations will bring gifts, and to Whom at least three (as tradition tells us) Gentile nations brought gifts as His incarnation (or birth, if you prefer) as told to us in Matthew 2:11 “Then when they came to the house they saw the child with Miriam His mother, and having fallen to their knees they paid homage to Him, then, having opened their treasure boxes, they brought gifts to Him, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”

 

8.     the gathering of the peoples will be to Him: Ephesians 2:14-16 “For He is our peace, the One Who has made both things into one and Who has loosed the dividing wall of the fence, cause of the enmity to His flesh, ¹⁵by His nullifying the tradition of the commandments by decrees, so that He could create the two, Jewish and non-Jewish, into One New Man, establishing peace ¹⁶so the He could reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, as God killed their enmity by means of Y’shua.”

 

Revelation 14:6-7 “And I saw another angel flying in mid-sky, having everlasting Good News to proclaim to those who are dwelling temporarily, sojourning, upon the earth, and for every nation and tribe and language and people, ⁷saying in a loud voice, ‘You must now fear God and you must now give glory to Him, because the hour of His judgment has come, and you must immediately pay homage to the One Who made heaven and earth and sea and fountains of waters.’”

 

9.     Binding His foal to the vine and His donkey’s colt to the choice vine: John 12:14-15 “And then Y’shua found a colt and sat upon it, just as it has been written, ‘You must not fear, daughter of Zion: Behold your king is coming, being seated upon a foal of a donkey.’” The OT quote being from Zechariah 9:9. And of course there is also Y’shua’s reference to His being the Vine and the Father the Vinedresser that we need to stay attached to in John 15:1-17.

 

10.                       He washed His garments in wine and His clothes in the blood of the grapes: Revelation 19:12-13 “And His eyes are like a flame of fire, and upon His head many crowns, he has a name written which no one knows except Himself, ¹³and is clothed in a garment dyed in blood, and His name has been called the Word of God.”

 

11.                       His eyes will be red with wine: Revelation 1:14 “And His head and hair were white as wool, white as snow, and His eyes as flames of fire.”

 

DAN “God has heard my voice” (vss 16-18)

“Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷Dan will be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that bites the horse’s heels, so that his rider will fall backward. I have waited for Your salvation, LORD.” Dan will have the northernmost territory in Israel, and was therefore responsible for repelling northern invaders. They developed a fighting style of coming out of hiding and fighting, like the pictorial bite of a serpent and then disappearing again.

                

NAPHTALI “I have wrestled and prevailed” (vs 21)

“Naphtali is a deer let loose. He gives beautiful sayings.” This makes sense in accordance to the meaning of his name, but in and of itself as far as Jacob’s blessing goes – no. However, upon research, he gives beautiful sayings refers to giving praises to God for His provision of abundant crops.

 

GAD “A troop comes” (vs 19)

“Gad, a troop will press upon him, but he will press upon their heel.” Leah called that one right one the nose, didn’t she? This again refers to the tribe’s future fighting style and victories.

 

ASHER “the daughters will call me happy” (vs 20)

“Out of Asher his beard will be fat, and he will yield royal dainties.” This refers to the rich olive groves in the land of Asher, also mentioned in Deuteronomy 33:24 “And of Asher he said, ‘Let Asher be blessed with children. Let him be acceptable to his brothers and let him dip his foot in oil.’” The he being Moses who was, of course speaking for the Lord.  Asher has rich agricultural lands.

 

ISSACHAR “God has given me my reward” (vss 14-15)         

“Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the sheepfolds: ¹⁵and he saw that rest was good, and the land that was pleasant and bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant to tribute.” This is prophetic too. Issachar was to bow down in laziness spiritually and perhaps more severely than the others. It was in Issachar where the city of Endor was, where King Saul sought out the witch who called Samuel back from the dead (see 1^st Samuel 28).

 

ZEBULUN “endowed with a good dowry” (vs13)

“Zebulun will live at the haven of the sea, and he will be for a haven of ships and his border will be to Zidon.” This was prophetic concerning the parcel of their inheritance of the land of Canaan. Although Zebulun was not directly on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, he was on the shoreline of the Kishon River, enough inland for ships to be sheltered by Asher and West Manasseh when docked in Zebulun.

 

JOSEPH “to increase” (vss 22-26)

“Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall.” This meant the he was so handsome that girls would climb walls just to get a look at him. “The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him.” This refers to the gossip and lies told about him, especially Potiphar’s wife, who caused him to go to prison based on her lies, which, by the way, were generated because he was so handsome. “But his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob; from there he became the shepherd, the stone of Israel: ²⁵even by the God of your father, Who will help you, the Almighty Who will bless you with blessings of the bosom, and of the womb. ²⁶The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors to the endless boundaries of the everlasting hills. They will be on the head of Joseph and in the crown of his head that was from the exile of his brothers.” This will be explained when we study the life of Joseph, but suffice it to say for now that he was abundantly blessed not only due to the injustices he endured at the hands of his brothers, but his captures also.

 

BENJAMIN “Son of my Right Hand/Strength” (vs 27)

“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf: in the morning he will devour the prey and at night he will divide the spoil.” Unfortunately, the tribe of Benjamin went a bit awry there for a while. The most disturbing story in the land of Benjamin can be seen in Judges 19.

 

Interestingly enough, the city of Jericho, the first conquered city of the Promised Land is in the territory of Benjamin, as well as Jerusalem, while Bethlehem is not (it’s in Judah, of course).

 

So names are important. If the Lord puts thought and meaning into names, we should put thought into them also.  And it can actually be a fascinating study to take the names of people and places in a Biblical book and just see how it correlates with their story.

 

Have a blessed week my friends! “The LORD will bless you and He will keep you.²⁵The LORD will make His face to shine upon you and He will be gracious to you.²⁶The LORD will lift His countenance to you and He will establish Shalom for you.” (Numbers 6:24-26) Amen.

 

SHALOM!!