Topic: E)
No 1
(Its origin)
This nation began with a man from Ur of Chaldee. His name was Abram and he was a direct
descendant of Noah's son, Shem (Gen
God asked him to leave his country and He made him a promise : "And I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the
earth be blessed." This promise
has held true even until today.
No 2
(God's desire for
What God really wanted
Jonas, as we all know did not want go to Ninevah and it took a
large fish to convince him. Why didn't Jonah
go there? He knew that if Ninevah
repented, God would forgive them an he didn't want to share God with anyone who
was a pagan. He was even mad after their conversion (Jonah 4:1) "But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,
and he was very angry".
Peter; same thing! He did
not want to go to see Cornelius because he was impure and it took a table-cloth
of unclean animals to prove to Peter that what God has made pure, no one is to
consider impure or common (Acts 10:15) "And
the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that
call not thou common".
Basically, what god wanted from His people is summarized in the
following verse: Isaiah 41:20 "That they may see, and know, and
consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this,
and the Holy One of
No 3
(The 12 Tribes)
The Lord works things out quite ironically sometimes, especially
concerning His chosen people, the Jews.
A very good example is Jacob, whose name was later changed to
We will now look at how he "struggled"
to find a suitable bride.
As we know, Jacob wanted Rachel for his bride, but the Lord had
other plans. God wanted to bring forth
from Jacob, the twelve tribes of
Jacob worked seven years for the hand of Rachel and when the
seven years were up, Rachel's father,
Laban gave Jacob Leah instead of Rachel (deceit) saying that Leah was the first
born and therefore must be the first one to get married. Jacob had to work another seven years to get
Rachel and he did just that. During that
time, Leah bore Jacob four children:
Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah.
Rachel, when she saw that she was unable to bear children (temporarily)
she was jealous of her sister so she gave Jacob Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid and
Bilhah bore two children to Jacob: Dan and Naphtali. Now Leah, through envy when she saw that she
could no longer bare children to Jacob, she gave him her handmaid, Zilpah who
bore two sons for Jacob : Gad and Asher.
After that, Leah bore three more children to Jacob: Issacar, Zebulon and Dinah.
But where was Rachel all this time? She was looking on and God finally opened her
womb (Gen 30:22) and she bore Joseph and a while later, Benjamin; who was born
just as Rachel died.
This is, of course, a brief overview and we will be looking at
some of the tribes in more detail as our studies progress; for the moment
suffice it to say that The Twelve Tribes of Israel were established through
Jacob and that the Lord had plans for each tribe.
No 4
(God's Covenants with
The Jews are God's chosen people, but do you know what? They sometimes don't like to be called that;
some Jews would rather say that they are God's choosing people. No matter; the Bible says that God chose
The Bible says in Genesis 15 that Abraham's descendants will be
as the stars in the sky (v 4); that they
shall be strangers in a land and that they shall be afflicted for four hundred
years (v 13). They shall come out of this land with great riches (v 14) and the
Lord will give them a piece of land that stretches from the
There were other covenants that God made with
No 5
(
We read in the Old Testament that the Israelites lived in
The answer was given prophetically by God to Abraham hundreds of
years before in Genesis 15 :16 when God said : “The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” . In order to keep the covenant that the Lord
had made with Abraham, He sent His people into
No 6
(
God promised Abraham that his descendants would occupy land that
was not theirs (Gen
No 7
(Deportation by Assyria)
Here we must make a distinction between Israel and Judah. Israel, as an entity, was comprised of 10 of
the original 12 tribes : They
are : Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Isshacar, Zebulun, Gad, Dan, Asher, Naphtali
and Joseph (Ephraim & Manassah).
Judah is made up of Judah and Benjamin.
The 12 were together during the reigns of Saul, David and Solomon but
split in the year 931 BC. Israel’s kings
were all bad and the Lord had to put up with a lot of unfaithfulness and
idolatry for centuries. All this time,
God sent warnings through the prophets but Israel did not heed to the preaching
of the prophets and in the year 722, Assyria invaded Israel, dispersed the 10
tribes and took some captive. Hosea was
one of these prophets and in chapter 9 of Hosea we read the terrible
consequences of Israel’s departure from God’s law : “They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land;
but Ephraim shall return to Egypt and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria”
(Hos 9 :3). Even their sacrifices
in this pagan land would be an abomination to the Lord : “Neither shall they be pleasing unto Him”
(Hos 9 :4). God had prepared the
Assyrians to purify His people and once the purification was done, the
Assyrians were destroyed by the Babylonians who weren’t any better, mind you,
but this was God’s plan and it was worked out to perfection. Not much is known of these dispersed tribes
but a New Testament character was from one of these tribes : Anna, from
the tribe of Asher (Luke 2 :36).
The Mormons claim that their religious cult began with some of these
lost tribes who had made their way to America and established a new
religion. There is, of course, no
Biblical proof of this. These 10 tribes
were not “lost”; they were dispersed and some were taken captive by the
Assyrians according to God’s plan. The
modern-day term for this scattering of God’s people is “The Diaspora” and one
day they will all return to the land of Israel and they will finally reap all
of God’s promises. God will be so happy that :“ He will joy over thee with singing” (Zeph 3 :17).
No 8
(The deportation to Babylon)
God gave His people myriad’s of chances to repent of their
disobedience and whenever they did repent, He blessed them; we see this several
times in the book of Judges. Jeremiah,
in the year 606 BC, writes in chapter 25 verses 1 to 11 that God’s people,
because of their idolatry, will be sent in captivity to Babylon and will be
treated badly by the king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) for seventy years. Did they listen and mend their ways? No they didn’t because not long after these
words, they were taken, in exile, to Babylon and stayed there for the 70 years
that Jeremiah had predicted. This is
when Daniel, an exilic prophet, was taken captive with “certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the
princes” (Dan 1 :3b) and sent to Babylon. Ezechiel, at the beginning of the exile,
wrote in chapter 3 verse 7b that : “for
all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted”. The Jewish people have always been arrogant
and hard-headed but their experience in Babylon cured them of their idolatry
and have never, to this day, fallen to that sin. They were cured of one sin only to develop
another sin which is equally deadly; that is the sin of
self-righteousness. We will see later on
what happens during this period of 400 years between the Old Testament and New
Testament. God started a work in His people
and will complete it one day. Just as
God started a work in us and will complete it one day also. The Bible says in Philippians 1 verse
6 : “Being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the
day of Jesus Christ”. We have a God
who keeps His promises.
No 9
(Its many hosts)
God promised Israel a piece of land that goes from the River of
Egypt (Wadi Al Arish) to the River Euphrates (Gen 15 : 18). Part of the land is called Canaan and it was
named after the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah. Israel took this land by force under the
direction of Joshua and made the nations that were living there (Amorites,
Jebusites, etc) slaves to Israel according to Noah’ s prophesy in Genesis 9 :
25. However through the centuries, many
other nations have come to possess this land for reasons that we know if we
read the Old Testament. Here is a list
of the nations that have either completely possessed it or have reigned over it
from another country : The Assyrians
(721 BC); The Babylonians (587 BC); The Medo-Persians (530 BC); The Greeks (331
BC); The Romans (63 BC); The Byzantines (300 AD); The Arabs/ Muslims (600AD);
The Ottomans (1517); The British (1918).
In 70 AD, the Jews were thrown out of Israel and were scattered all over
the world. They had to adapt themselves to the customs and the language of the
country they happened to be in. Many of
these nation-hosts were very harsh on the Jews and some restricted them to
certain areas (Polish ghettos). This
went on for centuries until the hope of a homeland for the Jews was re-kindled
in 1917 by the Balfour Declaration that set the pace for an official Jewish
state. Israel finally regained a portion
of the land in 1948 by a United Nations General Assembly decision amid much
protesting by the Arab nations. Many war
ensued, but the Jews have managed to hold on to this land until today. When God makes a promise, He keeps it : modern-day Israel is an example.
No 10
(How to destroy Israel)
There is a formula in the Bible on how to destroy Israel. Several great nations have tried but not one
has succeeded. The Babylonians, the
Medo-Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Germans and lastly the Arab nations
have all tried to destroy Israel but to no avail. In the centuries following the
death of the Messiah, Jews were killed by the thousands, millions even and most
of the time, it was in the name of Jesus Christ. The Jews were called “Christ killers”, so
let’s not be surprised that they don’t necessarily love Christians. As we know, there are two “kinds” of
Christians : the born-again kind and the non-born-again kind; the former love
the Jews, the latter hate them. Let’s
get back to the Biblical formula on how to destroy them; but first, let me tell
you a little story that happened in the city of Philadelphia. A certain Christian speaker was coming to
this city to hold a three-day conference on Israel. The title of the conference was “How to
Destroy Israel” and the local newspapers had mentioned it on their pages. The chief rabbi of Philadelphia saw the
notice and immediately called the church to complain about this anti-Semitic
conference. The pastor hadn’t seen the
newspaper and did not know what this visiting speaker was to talk about so he
invited the Rabbi to attend. Sure
enough, he arrived in the Christian church on the Thursday evening to hear what
this speaker had to say; the atmosphere was so heavy, you could almost cut it
with a knife. He sat down in front so as
not to miss anything. After the
traditional hymns and introductions, the visiting speaker began to talk about
his subject : “How to Destroy Israel”.
However, not very long into the lecture, the Rabbi soon realized that
this visiting Christian speaker actually loved the Jewish people because he
spoke on a passage of scripture that was very familiar to the rabbi; it was
Jeremiah 31 : 35 – 37. It says and I
paraphrase : “If the sun, the moon and the stars were to cease and if the
heavens were to be measured, then Israel would cease to exist”. The rabbi went back to his synagogue with a
smile on his face and a different opinion of Christians. The Jewish people are God’s people and they
will never cease to exist.
No 11
(Back in the land)
An atheist once said to his Christian friend : “If the Bible
is as true as you claim it to be, its proof must be very simple – tell me in
one word why you believe the Bible is true”. The Christian thought about that for a little
while and said : “The Jew, my friend,
the Jew”. The atheist had to admit
that his friend was right; oh, he didn’t become a believer, but he knew about
the Jews. What other country or people
in the world would have survived the dispersions, the persecutions and the
genocides that the Jewish people have endured over the many centuries? Yet, in 1948, a small group of Jews began to
populate the land that has become to be known today as Palestine. They were poor and had no resources – just a
small bunch of rabbis, some students of the Torah and a few families holding on
to a promise that God made to Abraham thousands of years ago. The Bible says in Genesis 15 that God gave a
piece of land to His people. He also
said earlier to Abram in Genesis 12 : 3 that : “I will bless them that bless
thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee all families of the earth
shell be blessed ”. So these hapless
souls arrived in a land that had been neglected for centuries. It was full of swamps in some areas and
barren desert land in other areas; still they pushed on. Their neighbours the Arabs fiercely opposed
the idea of them settling there and basically said that they would eventually
drive them into the Mediterranean Sea.
Well, that didn’t happen as we know and God protected their return to
the land; in disbelief, mind you, but He still protected them. The miracles that occurred after their
initial push to possess the land are no less grand than the ones that God
operated in the Old Testament. We will
look at some of these miracles in later studies and see how Elie Cohn, Golda
Meier, Ariel Sharon and others were used by God to accomplish the seemingly
impossible at hand – that of re-building the nation of Israel. In the Jerusalem Post, Israel’s main
newspaper, is a political cartoon called “Dry Bones”. It takes its name from the prophesy-vision in
chapter 37 of the book of Ezekiel.
No 12
(The 400 Silent Years)
The prophet Malachi is a post-exilic prophet who wrote his book
between the years 433 – 424 BC during the Medo-Persian reign. The book of Malachi, is the last book of the
Old Testament in our bible and, chronologically speaking, in the Jewish bible
also amongst the books entitled “The Twelve” .
There is a 400-year period between the book of Malachi and the book of
Matthew. Some call this period “The
Silent Four Hundred Years”, others call it “The Inter-Testamental Period”; one
thing is very certain, it follows the pattern as outlined in the book of Daniel
with exact precision. God was silent
during this period but He was actively directing the course of events for the
Jewish people. The Medo-Persians reigned
for about 200 years and were defeated by the Greeks in 332 BC. Alexander the Great permitted the Jews to
observe their laws but he wanted to create a world united by the Greek
language; this is called “Hellenism”.
This Greek dominence continued with fighting amongst the various rulers
and in 170 BC, Antiochus Epiphanes descrated the Jewish temple by killing pigs
on the altar and persecuted the priests by forcing them to eat pork. Judas Maccabeus led a revolt against
Antiochus and restored the temple.
Modern-day Jews commemorate this event by celebrating Hanukkah (Feast of
Lights) around the same time as we celebrate Christmas. It is during this
400-year period that the Pharisees and Sadducees came into being and synagogues
became the main place of worship. The Romans defeated the Greeks in the year 63
BC.
No 13
(Since the Dispersion in 70 AD)
A story is told long ago about a king who had a court-jester who
was a Bible-believing Christian. So, one
day, the king, wanting to test his jester made the following statement : “If
this Bible that you believe is so true, its proof ought to be simple. Give me only one word that proves that the
Bible is true.” The jester thought
it over a bit and said “I have a word that proves the Bible is true, king”.
To which the king answered back : “What is this magical word? The Jew, your highness, the Jew.” The king knew the history of the Jew and he
had to admit that his jester was right.
When Titus, the Roman conqueror entered Israel to quell the uprising of
the Jews in 70 AD, he did so with a sledgehammer. His soldiers killed, crucified and starved
countless thousands of Jews for no other reason but for the fact that they were
Jews. Those who managed to escape were
scattered all over the world, left to the pity of the nations that would reluctantly
take them in. I ask you, what nation
could withstand this type of wholesale slaughter? Since the dispersion in 70 AD, the Jews had
to live as immigrants in other countries.
Some countries have been good to the Jews (USA, Canada) but the majority
of host countries have been severely harsh to them; some to the point of trying
to eliminate them completely. In a
previous study (Vol 2 No 9), we looked
at a verse in Jeremiah 31 that gave us the recipe for the destruction of the
Jews – “If the sun, the moon and the stars were to cease and if the heavens
were to be measured, then Israel would cease to exist”. We may not all agree, but the Jews are still
God’s people and He has not finished with them yet.
No 14
(The Middle East Then)
In Biblical
times, the Middle East was not as it is today; it was not necessarily any
better, it was just different. As we know, various powers have almost always
held control over the land – Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and others. But
during all that time, there was no strife between the Jews and the Arabs over
who should have control of the land.
After 70 AD, when Titus and his army marched over Israel and dispersed
the Jews, the land was left desolate. It
was under Roman control until the 300’s AD when the Byzantine Empire took over.
In the 600’s AD, Muslim Arabs conquered most of the Middle East and controlled
the region until the early 1900’s. At
that time, the Zionist Movement grew stronger and stronger and after World War
I, the British issued the Balfour Declaration giving a portion of the land to
the Jews who were fleeing persecution in Europe. This is when the Arab/Jewish conflict began
and in 1948, when Israel became a nation much to the dismay and dislike of the whole
Arab world who vowed to push them into the Mediterranean Sea. This did not happen and will never happen
because the God of Israel made a promise to Abraham that is outlined in Genesis
12: 1-3 –“Now the LORD had said unto
Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s
house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make
thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”
No 15
(National heroes – Elie Cohn)
Here is the
story of a bona fide Israeli hero. In
the sixties, He worked for the Mossad; the equivalent to the American CIA and
his assignment was to infiltrate the Syrian army to gather intelligence of the
Golan Heights area located in southern Syria.
The Syrian army had bunkers in this mountain range and they would bomb
the kibbutz (farming communities) located just below the mountain; many people
died and the children had to go to school underground. Mr. Cohn was very resourceful and hespoke
perfect Arabic. He began by opening a
furniture business in Argentina that somehow permitted him to move to Damascus.
He managed to get himself involved in the Syrian high society and began dating
the Army chief of staff’s daughter; she even became his fiancée. Mr. Cohn had a family in Israel and this was
part of his undercover work. One day,
while speaking with his future father-in-law, he asked that he accompany him on
a tour of the Golan Heights. His
father-in-law graciously obliged and Mr Cohn would make sketches of the area
and transmit the information back to Israel with a high-powered radio he had in
his apartment. He made a suggestion to
the Syrians that they should plant eucalyptus trees to cover the bunkers; this
would have a two-fold benefit for the soldiers – the trees would provide shade
and they would provide cover because, he said, if the Israelis were to attack,
the bunkers would be safe. When Israel made a pre-emptive attack on Syria in
1967, they knew exactly where the bunkers were located because of the
eucalyptus trees and have occupied the area even up till today. Unfortunately, Mr Cohn was discovered and
Israel offered to release 200 Syrian prisoners in exchange for Mr Cohn. They
refused and he was hanged publicly in Damascus; his body was placed in an
unmarked grave. We may not all agree
with Israeli policy but one thing remains crystal clear – the promise that God
made to Abraham in Genesis 12: 2, 3 still holds true today : “And I will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a
blessing: And I will bless them that
bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.”
No 16
(Ariel Sharon)
In these troubled times in the Middle East, this name is often
spoken of; he is the Prime Minister of the state of Israel. He is considered a hard-liner and a tough
negotiator; yet some Jews think he is too lenient when it come to the
Palestinian Authority and its terror campaign against the occupation of
Israel. Ariel Sharon is not a newcomer
to conflict; he served in the Israeli army for 25 years and retired as a major
general. He holds a law degree from Hebrew University and held several posts in
the Israeli government. In 1967, Egypt
in the South and Syria in the north were amassing troops and tanks along the
Israeli border. On June 5, Israel
launched a pre-emptive attack against the Arab confederacy and in barely three
hours, had destroyed 391 planes on the ground and 60 airborne fighters; this
war is called the Six-Day War. Israel
controlled all the air space in the Middle East. This monumental victory was due to the audacity
of Ariel Sharon and a tank unit that he commanded. Before the war, Israel would
send tank units into the Sinai desert to destroy the Sam-7 missile sites that
Egypt built to protect its tanks; Egypt would build them, Israel would destroy
them. Israel knew that if the Sam-7
sites were left as is in the Sinai desert and Egypt would attack, Israel didn’t
stand a chance. The USA pleaded with
Israel to stop the destruction of these Egyptian missile sites and since the US
was Israel’s main arms supplier and ally, they heeded the request. During the
months preceding the Six-Day War, Israel was surrounded by 250,000 Arab troops,
2000 tanks and 700 jet aircraft; they were doomed. Ariel Sharon and his tank unit sneaked into
Egyptian-held territory through a very dangerous mountain pass that no one knew
existed and destroyed the missile sites. This permitted the Israeli Air Force
to come in at an angle that nobody expected and enjoyed a tremendous
victory. We may disagree with Israel’s
politics but they are only protecting the territory that was promised to them
by God. By the way, the land that Israel
won from Egypt in the Sinai, was given back to them by Menachen Begin in 1977;
he said that this land was not in the territory that God had promised Israel. “In
the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I
given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river
Euphrates:
(Genesis
15:18)
No 17
(Golda Meir)
Golda Meir is
a heroine in the true sense of the word; she is nicknamed “The mother of modern Israel”.
She was born Goldie Mabovitz in Kiev, Russia in 1898 and her family
moved to Milwaukee Wisconsin in 1903 where she eventually taught in the
Milwaukee Public Schools system. Morris
Myerson married her in 1921 and she convinced him to move to Israel where they
joined a kibbutz farm with their two children in Merhavyah. She was what the
Bible calls in Proverbs 31 – a virtuous
woman. She was a Zionist and was
actively involved in the Jewish women’s labour movement. Their marriage broke up in 1945 and she
became ambassador to Russia in 1948.
When Israel declared itself a nation in that same year, Golda Meir went
to the United States with the hope of maybe
gathering donations for the war effort back in Israel. On one evening in New York City, she raised
30 million dollars to purchase much-needed supplies and weapons to counter the
vicious Arab attacks in Israel. In 1956,
she changed her name to Meir, a Hebrew form of Myerson and in 1969, she became
the first and only female Israeli prime minister. As prime minister, she promoted her socialist
agenda that included improvements in education and massive housing programs to
encourage immigration. Her most
difficult test as prime minister was during the war of Yom Kippur in October
1973 where Egypt and Syria caught Israel off guard and attacked from the north
and from the south. In her last years,
she became closer to her family and died on December 8 1978.
No 18
(Is God Through with the Jew?)
If the Bible were divided into six equal parts, five of them would
concern the Jews, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But what are Jews? Are they a nation? Are they a religion? Does being Jewish make someone special? I would say yes because the Jews are God’s
chosen people. They are neither a nation
nor a religion and yet they are a definite political entity today. There are approximately 15 million Jews
worldwide and over the centuries, they have been persecuted like no other group
of people; still they are there. Way
back on April 30 1492, two orders were issued in the courts of Spain – one was
to get rid of the Jews (The Spanish Inquisition) and the other was for Columbus
to sail on his historic voyage to the new world. Someone once said to properly understand the
Bible, one should understand the place the Jew has been given in the plan of
God for humanity. Jesus said the
following words to a Samaritan girl near Jacob’s well in the town of
Sychar “…for salvation is of the Jews”
(John 4:22b). Our Saviour, Jesus
Christ was born a Jew and was raised in Jewish surroundings. Now I ask the question “Is God through with the Jew?”
The apostle Paul answered “God
forbid” to this question that he himself asked in Romans 11:1 “Hath God cast away His people? God forbid!” Is the fact that Israel
declared itself a sovereign nation on May 14 1948 a sign that there is a
re-gathering of the Jews? I used to
believe that very strongly until I saw a group of Orthodox Jews in New York
City demonstrating their opposition to the nation Israel. Their belief is that the Messiah will usher
them into Israel when He comes. Either
way, God is definitely not finished with the Jew. When will Messiah come? The answer is in Romans 11:25b “until the fullness of the Gentiles be come
in!”
No 19
(The
Twelve Tribes)
As we
have seen, Old Testament Israel was made up of Twelve Tribes who were
descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob; their names are listed in several
places in the Bible, but the first list is in Genesis 29 and 30 where 11 of
them are named and the last one, Benjamin is in Genesis 35:18. The last list in
the Bible is in Revelation 7 and when we compare both lists, we notice that
some have been removed, some have been added and the order has changed.
Reuben
was Jacob’s first born of Leah; his
name means “Behold a son!” He was the eldest and should’ve been an
example to his brothers. It was Reuben who defended his younger brother, Joseph
when the others wanted to kill him because of jealousy and envy (Gen 37). However, the Bible says in Genesis 35:22,
that Reuben slept with his father’s wife, Bilhah and that Jacob found out about
it. Later on, Jacob held that against
him and when he bestowed his final blessings on his twelve sons, Reuben lost
his qualifier as Jacob’s “firstborn”;
Jacob called him “unstable as water, thou shalt not excel” (Gen 49:4). He had broken one
of God’s laws (Deut 22:30) and he sacrificed his position as leader of the
Twelve Tribes. We will see the 11 other
tribes in future studies.
No 20
(The tribes of Simeon and Levi)
These two tribes did not receive a blessing from their father
Jacob but rather they were given a curse.
We read in Genesis 49:5 & 7 “Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments
of cruelty are in their habitations. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce;
and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter
them in Israel.” Earlier in the book
of Genesis in chapter 34, these two brothers had done something that brought a
curse to Jacob’s family. They had
destroyed a group of people through trickery because the son of the prince of
this people had slept with Jacob’s daughter, Dinah and wanted to have her as
his wife. Levi and Simeon had agreed to
this on one condition – that the whole city become Jewish with circumcision for
the males. When the circumcision had
been performed, Simeon and Levi attacked that city and destroyed it.
How were they punished?
The tribe of Simeon got smaller and smaller. In the book of Numbers we
read that the Simeonites went from 59,300 in Numbers 1:23 to 22,200 in Numbers 26:14. Levi would have been punished in the same way
but the Levites stood with Moses when he came down from the mountain and found
the Children of Israel had built an idol in the form of a golden calf and
yelled “Who is on the Lord’s side”
(Exod 32:26). They were excluded in the numbering of the tribes (Num 1:47) and
instead of diminishing in size, the Levites were assigned the task of the
priesthood (Num 1:50). They were given
cities within the tribes of Israel (Numbers 35), including the 6 cities of
refuge that we saw last week. The
prophecy by Jacob in Genesis 49 stands true “I
will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.”
No 21
(The Tribe of Judah)
“JUDAH, thou art he whom thy brethren shall
praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children
shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son,
thou art gone up: he stooped down, he crouched as a lion, and as an old lion.
Who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver
from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of
the people be” (Gen. 49:8–10). Of all the sons of Jacob (Israel), Judah is
the most prominent; his name means “praise”. The above text says much about him and his
future role in God’s plan. Judah will be the leader of his brothers. Reuben, the eldest, lost his position of
leadership because of his sin with Bilhah, his father’s concubine and Judah
assumed the position of leader of the family.
Judah will be a great conqueror.
Judah, here is compared to a lion, the strongest of all beasts and the greatest
conqueror of Israel was King David, a descendant of Judah. Judah will produce a royal line of
Kings. The first king of Israel was Saul of the tribe
of Benjamin but he was rejected by God,
from that point on, the only legitimate kings of Israel throughout her history were
descendants of David. The kings of the
northern tribes were all idolatrous and did what was evil in the sight of God.
Judah will produce the Messiah The word “Shiloh” means peace and is a direct reference to
the Messiah, Jesus who is a descendant of Judah (Matt 1:2).
Today, if you ask a Jewish person
from which tribe he or she is from they will not say “I am a Reubenite or a
Simeonite” but will say the “I am a Judahite”. Actually no Jewish person knows from what
tribe they are from because all the records were destroyed in 70 AD by Titus
and his armies. Since Judah holds the
highest position in the family of Jacob, Jewish people prefer to associate themselves
with the tribe of Judah by saying that they are Judahites or in shorter form,
Jews because Judah is the origin of the word “Jew”. In the New Testament, there are several
references to Judah but the most important one is found in Revelation 5:5 “And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep
not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed
to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” Jesus Christ who is the King of kings and Lord
of lords was the only person worthy of opening the seals to the book that was
in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
No 22
(The tribes of Zebulon & Issachar)
Zebulon“Zebulun shall
dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his
border shall be unto Zidon.” (Gen 49:13). He was Leah’s sixth born (Gen 30:19,20) and
when she gave birth to Zebulon, she said the following statement “now will my husband dwell with me” ;
his name means dwelling. Jacob’s
blessing for Zebulon’s descendants was that they were to be maritime
traders. Their land allotment was
between the Mediterranean sea and the sea of Galilee (Josh 19:10-16). Through
their land was one of the greatest caravan trading routes in history that
reached from Damascus and went south to Egypt; the name of the route is
Via Maris (The way of the sea). The
tribe of Zebulon was also known for its courage and they, along with other
tribes, were commended for their willingness to volunteer for battle. In Judges 5:18 we read “The people of Zebulun risked their very lives; so did Naphtali on the
heights of the field.”
Issachar “Issachar is a
strong ass couching down between two burdens;
And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and
bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.” (Gen 49:14,15). He was Leah’s fifth born (Gen 30: 17,18) and
when she gave birth to Issachar she uttered these words “God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my
husband.” In modern times, to call
someone an ass, would be derogatory but in ancient Israel, donkeys were most
valuable animals of service. The “two burdens” that Jacob refers to in
Issachar’s blessing are most probably two mountain ranges that are located in
this tribe’s allotment of land – Mount Tabor in the north and Mount Gilboa in
the south. The second part of Jacob’s
statement concerning Issachar talks about bowing his shoulder and becoming a servant. Some commentators have said that this
statement is more of a curse than a blessing; Scripture, however
disagrees. As a matter of fact, every
time that the tribe of Issachar is mentioned, it is always complementary –
Judges 5:15; 1 Chron 7:1-5; 1 Chron 12:32.
Both these sons of Jacob are examples of what Christians should be like
– defenders of the Word and burden bearers.
No 23
(The tribes of Dan & Gad)
Dan “16
Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan
shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse
heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
18 I have waited for thy
salvation, O LORD” Gen 49. The name Dan means “judgment” and he was the
first son of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid (Gen 30:6). One of his descendants is Samson who fought
very courageously against the Philistines who happened to be located next to
the territory that was given to the tribe of Dan; they continued to oppress the
Danites even after Samson had killed many of the Philistines. The mention of a serpent in Dan’s future was
somewhat of a curse because, as it turned out, the Danites lived a very chaotic
period of idolatry as described in Judg 17:6 “but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” They travelled north to try and find a more
peaceful place to stay and settled in Laish after defeating it. Two hundred years later, when Israel split in
two, the northern kingdom set up idols in Bethel and Dan (2 Kings 10:29). The idolatrous behaviour of the Danites
excluded them from the list of the 144,000 in Revelation 7.
Gad “19 Gad, a
troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.” Gen 49.
His name means warrior and he is the first son of Zilpah, Leah’s
handmaid (Gen 30:11). This prophesy
indicates that Gad will be harassed by hostile enemies but will eventually
repel their advances. Gad’s territory is
located on the eastern side of the Jordan river along with the territories of
Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh (Jos 13); the Ammonites and the Moabites
bordered his territory. This constant
exposure to battle made the Gadites fierce warriors and when David many years
later was fleeing Saul’s persecution, the Gadite warriors who joined him in
Ziklag were described as “And of the
Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness
men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and
buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the
roes upon the mountains;” 1 Chron 12:8).
Whenever true believers are faced with trials we are “more than conquerors through Him that loved
us” (Rom 8:37).
No 24
(Asher, Naphtali)
Here are two more of Jacob’s sons who received blessings on
their father’s deathbed as described in Genesis 49. For Asher we read: “Out of ASHER his bread shall
be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties” (v20). His name means “happy”
and he was the eighth son of Jacob born of Zilpah, Leah’s servant. His blessing is one of rich sustenance
probably through agriculture; his territory is the farthest north and there is
a reference in Deuteronomy that there could be oil in his land. The Bible says in Deut 33:24b “….and let
him dip his foot in oil.” A while
back, an attempt to drill for oil in Mount Carmel proved fruitless but had oil
been found, it would’ve helped the Israeli economy. Unfortunately the oil referred to in
Deuteronomy is not petroleum oil, but olive oil. In fact even today Asher’s territory has many
olive trees; there is even a place called The Valley of the Olive”. I believe that this prophecy is
that Asher will be blessed with an abundance which he will share with others.
The lesson of the tribe of Asher is to be fruitful.
Naphtali is next and his blessing
reads “Naphtali is a hind let loose:
he giveth goodly words” (v21).
Most interpreters attribute much bravery and fighting ability to this
tribe; they were always ready to go to battle if needed; contrary to some of
the other tribes. Jacob’s prophesy is
that Naphtali will be characterized by swiftness and agility of a doe. In Judges 5:18, Naphtali and Zebulon were
singled out for their bravery “Zebulon
and Naphtali were a people that jeopardized their lives unto the death in the
high places of the field”. As for
the last part of his blessing “he givith goodly words”, it is interesting
that most of Jesus’ disciples came from that region; could it be that the
“goodly words” were the words of the Gospel spoken by men from that area? The lesson of the tribe of Naphtali is to “be
ready”.
No 25
(Tribe of Joseph)
When Jacob was on his deathbed and was
pronouncing the prophetic blessings on his 12 sons, he kept the two youngest
for the last not only because they were the youngest but because they were from
his beloved Rachel. We will look at Joseph first and in Genesis 49 : 22 to 26,
Jacob talks about events in the past and events in the future in the life of
his 11th son.
Joseph. His name, in Hebrew, means “may
he add” and in verse 22, he calls him a fruitful
bough bringing to mind what Joseph called his second son, Ephraim in Genesis
41:52 “And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me
to be fruitful in the land of my
affliction.” Many writers and
commentators have characterized Joseph as a type of Jesus Christ with many
parallels between Joseph’s experiences and events in the life of Christ. Although the parallels appear striking, they
should not be overemphasized because the New Testament never mentions the name
of Joseph. In Jacob’s unfolding of
Joseph’s past, he states in v23 “The
archers have harassed him and shot at him and hated him…” reflecting on the
ill treatment Joseph received at the hands of his brothers. Joseph remained faithful to the Lord in even
the direst circumstances.
Looking ahead in Joseph’s life, Jacob
mentions the blessings that will be attributed to his future lineage. When Joseph was in Egypt, he took a gentile
wife whose name was Asenath who gave him two sons – Manasseh and Ephraim. These two sons of Joseph were adopted by
Jacob (Gen 48:5) and would be given much territory in the Promised Land; more
than any of the other sons of Jacob. Manasseh actually received two portions of
land – one on the east side of the Jordan River and one on the west side.
Therefore, Joseph would actually have two tribes named after him and in the lists
of the tribes of Israel in the Bible; Joseph’s name is replaced by the names of
Manasseh and Ephraim.
The lesson of the life of Joseph is to
remain faithful; this is a principle of spiritual growth that is well reflected
in the words of Jesus when He told the parable of the servants “thou
hast been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things” (Matthew 25:21, 23)
No 26
(The Tribe of Benjamin)
There was an error in last week’s study
– the name of Joseph does appear in
the New Testament in several places.
Benjamin is the last of the 12 sons of
Jacob to receive his prophetic blessing.
The Bible says in Genesis 49: 27 that:
“ Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf:
in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the
spoil.” Jacob refers to Benjamin’s
lineage as “wolves”; this is seen in
several of the Benjamites. One
remarkable trait that the Benjamites had was that many were left handed; this
is quite ironic since the name Benjamin means “right-hand son” Many important
cities were located in the Benjamite territory; such as, Jericho, Bethel,
Gibeon and the most prominent city – Jerusalem.
But let’s get back to the ferociousness of this tribe. Evidence of this fierceness is seen in Ehud the judge (Judges 3:21) who killed Eglon with a concealed dagger. Other evidence of Benjamin’s ravenous
character was during a dark period in Israel’s history; Benjamin was at the
center of a devastating civil war and proved to be a ferocious opponent with
its left-handed stone slingers (Jud 20:16).
Another prominent member of the tribe of
Benjamin is Saul, the first king of
Israel. The ferocity of his rule was
evident to all; especially his enemies.
Other ferocious Benjamites were – Abner
(2 Sam 2:23, 3:30); Shimei (2 Sam 16:5-13); Sheba (2 Sam 20:1-22). But in the Old Testament, some Benjamites
showed zeal for the Lord – Esther and Mordecai and their story fulfils the
prophecy “divide the spoil”; the
feast of Purim commemorates their brave zeal.
But the most ravenous Benjamite of all
is found in the New Testament. Oh, he
wasn’t ferocious with swords or spears but rather with words and deeds. When he first appears in the Bible, he was an
enemy of the Lord but as it turns out, the Lord used his “ravenous” behaviour to spread the Gospel; I’ m speaking of course
of Saul of Tarsus or, as we know him better by his Roman name, Paul. He said of himself in Romans 11:1 “I say then, Hath God cast away his people?
God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of
Benjamin.” God can channel any type
of behaviour to fulfil His plan.
No 27
(Covenants overview)
Covenants occupy an important place in the pages of
Scripture. The word “covenant” is mentioned no less than 25 times in Genesis alone; 272
times in all the Bible and God places much significance on the covenants He
made with His children. In a broad sense
there are two covenants – the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, the
New and the Old Testaments. But there
are many other covenants that God made with His people and Scripture shows us
that He recalls them in application to the lives of His people. Here are some
of the examples in the Old Testament: 1)
When God heard the groanings of the Hebrews in Egypt, we are told that He “remembered his covenant with Abraham,
with Isaac and with Jacob” (Exod. 2:24).
2) When Israel was oppressed
by the Syrians in the days of Jehoahaz, we read, “And the Lord was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and
had respect unto them, because of his covenant
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (2 Kings 13:23). 3) At
a later period, when God determined to show mercy unto Israel, after He had
punished them for their sins, He expressed it by saying, “Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth”
(Ezek. 16:60). 4) As the psalmist
declared, “He hath given meat unto them
that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant”
(111:5). The New Testament has many
examples as well.
John Owen (1616-1683) an English theologian defines the Biblical
covenants as follows: “An absolute complete covenant is a
voluntary convention, pact, or agreement between distinct persons, about the
ordering and dispensing of things in their power, unto their mutual concern and
advantage” (Quick Verse, version
7.01). A covenant can also be described
as an oath – “Wherein God, willing more
abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath:” (Heb
6:17). We will be looking at the
covenants in future studies.