Joe Turner

Shelley Norman

September 19, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: John 19-21, Numbers 21-24

Weekly Memory Verse: 2 Timothy 2:15

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

I missed emailing out the study for a few days, I apologize for that.  We were moving to a new place, and time got away.  The Forty days of Purpose is starting on the 25th, please keep praying at 9pm for its success in our group.  Let me know if you need a copy of the book, when we start it, we will be working from that book.  We have had a firm offer on our house, plans are going forward.  I also heard about two tragedies that happened, one over the weekend, and one a while ago, please read the prayer list.

Genesis 49:1-33 (NASB95)
¹ Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come. ² “Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob; And listen to Israel your father. ³ “Reuben, you are my firstborn; My might and the beginning of my strength, Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. ⁴ “Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, Because you went up to your father’s bed; Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch. ⁵ “Simeon and Levi are brothers; Their swords are implements of violence. ⁶ “Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they slew men, And in their self-will they lamed oxen. ⁷ “Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; And their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel. ⁸ “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. ⁹ “Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? ¹⁰ “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. ¹¹ “He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes. ¹² “His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk. ¹³ “Zebulun will dwell at the seashore; And he shall be a haven for ships, And his flank shall be toward Sidon. ¹⁴ “Issachar is a strong donkey, Lying down between the sheepfolds. ¹⁵ “When he saw that a resting place was good And that the land was pleasant, He bowed his shoulder to bear burdens, And became a slave at forced labor. ¹⁶ “Dan shall judge his people, As one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷ “Dan shall be a serpent in the way, A horned snake in the path, That bites the horse’s heels, So that his rider falls backward. ¹⁸ “For Your salvation I wait, O Lord. ¹⁹ “As for Gad, raiders shall raid him, But he will raid at their heels. ²⁰ “As for Asher, his food shall be rich, And he will yield royal dainties. ²¹ “Naphtali is a doe let loose, He gives beautiful words. ²² “Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a spring; Its branches run over a wall. ²³ “The archers bitterly attacked him, And shot at him and harassed him; ²⁴ But his bow remained firm, And his arms were agile, From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), ²⁵ From the God of your father who helps you, And by the Almighty who blesses you With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb. ²⁶ “The blessings of your father Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; May they be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers. ²⁷ “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the morning he devours the prey, And in the evening he divides the spoil.” ²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him. ²⁹ Then he charged them and said to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site. ³¹ “There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah— ³² the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.” ³³ When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

Genesis 35:22 (NASB95)
²² It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it.

Deuteronomy 27:20 (NASB95)
²⁰ ‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s skirt.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

1 Chronicles 5:1 (NASB95)
¹ Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; so that he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright. ^[1]

Reuben the firstborn decided to go to bed with Bilah, Jacob's concubine, which brought a curse upon himself.  Little is said about the incident except for the fact that he lost his birthright over it.  It seems that this was not uncommon among the heathen of the day when they went to take over their fathers household.  However, it was not acceptable in the plan of God, this was indicated by the law being established in Deuteronomy.

Genesis 34:25-30 (NASB95)
²⁵ Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city unawares, and killed every male. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went forth. ²⁷ Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸ They took their flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field; ²⁹ and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in the houses. ³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household.” ^[2]

Simeon and Levi pulled the wool over the people who lived with Shechem, by inviting them to join with the tribe of Jacob.  They invited them to be circumcised, and therefore become one with Israel in purpose.  In the end, these two went in while the men of the city were still in pain and exterminated all the men of the city.  This was because Shechem had raped and kidnapped their sister Dinah.  They didn't see any efforts from Jacob to fix the problem so they took it in their own hands.

It is interesting that God took the wrath that was at place in these sons and put it to good use.  The sons of Levi were designated as the Levites who were the administrators of the law, and were only allowed to own land within the tribes at cities of refuge.  Other than that, they were not allowed to gain a territory as a tribe.  They were considered servants of God, and were vital to the administration of the Levitical law.  Simeon was scattered among the tribe of Judah, and not allowed to own land.

Joshua 19:1 (NASB95)
¹ Then the second lot fell to Simeon, to the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families, and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Judah.

Joshua 19:9 (NASB95)
⁹ The inheritance of the sons of Simeon was taken from the portion of the sons of Judah, for the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; so the sons of Simeon received an inheritance in the midst of Judah’s inheritance.^[3]

It is interesting that the eldest three sons of Israel screwed up so bad that they lost their privileges.  They were truly their father's sons, they carried out his attitude of self sufficiency and carried it in their own way to the best of their abilities.

Regarding Judah, he was referred to as a lion's whelp.  The Lion is a symbol of the Messiah that is coming.  It is interesting that the phrase "until Shiloh comes" is not completely translated.  Shiloh is a term that refers to the coming Messiah.  The New American Standard has a foot note that says that "until He comes to Shiloh; or Until he comes to whom it belongs."  I think that this gives the prophecy a little better understanding for us. 

Isaiah 65:21-25 (NASB95)
²¹ “They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ²² “They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. ²³ “They will not labor in vain, Or bear children for calamity; For they are the offspring of those blessed by the Lord, And their descendants with them. ²⁴ “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. ²⁵ “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the Lord.^[4]

The picture for Judah is that of peace and of prosperity.  But it doesn't stop there, it also may be looking forward to the Millennial reign of Christ.  Vines were a symbol of prosperity in ancient times.  For a person to use a grape vine as a hitching post indicated that there will be an excessive amount of prosperity.  This will be true when Jesus returns to rule over the earth for the thousand years. 

It is not really understood as to why Zebulun was spoken of as being a safe harbor for ships.  His allotment of land was inland, so some are perplexed as to the meaning of this verse. 

Issachar is spoken of as being good at serving others.  It is a positive quality, but also has negative connotations that he will be working for others and bearing their burdens at forced labor.

Dan was spoken of as being a judge of his people because his name meant "judge".  Yet when you look into the history of the tribe they were the first of the tribes to go into idolatry. 

Rather than going through each son and how he turned out, I am going to skip forward to verse 28.  Think about that one for a moment.  If Jacob was giving blessings to his sons, how come each one of them spoke of troubles and of constant fighting?  Note also that each blessing was appropriate to the person that received it.  I wonder if God considered the fact that they would be later disciplined and later fall into trouble as a blessing in disguise. 

It was important to Jacob that he was buried in the cave that his fathers were buried in.  Even though he had been sour as he walked his life, he still clung to the values that he was raised with. 

What can we learn from this chapter?  I wonder as I have criticized Jacob over the time of our study if I have forgotten that he was just like we are.  Jacob lived a life where he wanted things his own way.  He wanted Rachel because she was beautiful on the outside, but on the inside she caused him a world to trouble.  He wanted to have Rachel's sons as his favorites, yet they were constantly a thorn in his side in regard to trouble in his life.  It was not until he moved to Egypt that he finally had one of Rachel's sons in a position of favor in his family.  Yet even that was on a somewhat sour note since they were all servants of his son.  In short, what we think is best for us is not always the best thing that we can have.  In some cases it is much worse because we aren't following God's will, but our own.

I am going to close here, I apologize again for the three days of silence, and hope that as things progress during our move that this won't happen again. 

Father, as we consider Your word today, teach each one of us to follow Your will willingly.  I pray that we will be submissive and receptive to Your will in our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner.