God Offers the Promised Land, but 2.5 Tribes Say "No Thanks."

Numbers Chapter 32: Division of the Land East of Jordan

Numbers 32:1-42

Day 90. It is wonderful, even in an area of the province where things are still not fully opened up, to watch people ease up a little. Few masks, less worried about crossing the street when you approach them, more cars on the road, and more and more retailers opening. Life will slowly return to some point close to where it was before all this Covid-19 concern started. But it will not likely go all the way back in every respect. The government has managed to move its needle of control in the direction where individual freedom continues to decrease. They accomplished their fine-tuning towards a societal reset, a goal they are getting closer to with each ‘pandemic’ or its equivalent. Christians, however, know that God is fully in control and while the globalists and OWG (one-world-government) pushers think they’re winning, the truth is they’re bringing their treasured possession (world domination) closer to eternal doom. We continue to study our Bible and to keep alert, knowing how this all ends. Thanks for joining us.

The Passage

32 Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an exceedingly large number of livestock. So when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that ^[a]it was indeed a place suitable for livestock, ² the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the congregation, saying,³ “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon, ⁴ the land which the Lord ^[b]conquered before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” ⁵ They said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession; do not take us across the Jordan.”

⁶ But Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to war while you yourselves sit here? ⁷ Now why are you ^[c]discouraging the sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which the Lord has given them? ^8 [d]This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. ⁹ For when they went up to the ^[e]valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they ^[f]discouraged the sons of Israel so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them. ¹⁰ So the Lord’s anger burned in that day, and He swore, saying, ¹¹ ‘None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully, ¹² except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed the Lord fully.’ ¹³ So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the Lord was destroyed. ¹⁴ Now behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the burning anger of the Lord against Israel. ¹⁵ For if you turn away from following Him, He will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”
¹⁶ Then they came near to him and said, “We will build here sheepfolds for our livestock and cities for our little ones; ¹⁷ but we ourselves will be armed ready to go before the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, while our little ones live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁸ We will not return to our homes until every one of the sons of Israel has possessed his inheritance. ¹⁹ For we will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side of the Jordan toward the east.”
²⁰ So Moses said to them, “If you will do ^[g]this, if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for the war, ²¹ and all of you armed men cross over the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven His enemies out from before Him, ²² and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you shall return and be free of obligation toward the Lord and toward Israel, and this land shall be yours for a possession before the Lord. ²³ But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. ²⁴ Build yourselves cities for your little ones, and sheepfolds for your sheep, and do ^[h]what you have promised.”
²⁵ The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do just as my lord commands. ²⁶ Our little ones, our wives, our livestock and all our cattle shall ^[i]remain there in the cities of Gilead; ²⁷ while your servants, everyone who is armed for war, will cross over in the presence of the Lord to battle, just as my lord says.”
²⁸ So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ households of the tribes of the sons of Israel. ²⁹ Moses said to them, “If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, everyone who is armed for battle, will cross with you over the Jordan in the presence of the Lord, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession; ³⁰ but if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.” ³¹ The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying, “As the Lord has said to your servants, so we will do. ³² We ourselves will cross over armed in the presence of the Lord into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us across the Jordan.”
³³ So Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Joseph’s son Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og, the king of Bashan, the land with its cities with their ^[j]territories, the cities of the surrounding land. ³⁴ The sons of Gad built Dibon and Ataroth and Aroer,³⁵ and Atroth-shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah, ³⁶ and Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and sheepfolds for sheep. ³⁷ The sons of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kiriathaim, ³⁸ and Nebo and Baal-meon—their names being changed—and Sibmah, and they gave other names to the cities which they built. ³⁹ The sons of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. ⁴⁰ So Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he lived in it.⁴¹ Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its ^[k]towns, and called them ^[l]Havvoth-jair.⁴² Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah after his own name.

Footnotes

1. Numbers 32:1 Lit behold, the place, a place for
2. Numbers 32:4 Lit smote
3. Numbers 32:7 Lit restraining the hearts of
4. Numbers 32:8 Lit Thus your fathers
5. Numbers 32:9 Or wadi
6. Numbers 32:9 Lit restrained the hearts of
7. Numbers 32:20 Lit this thing
8. Numbers 32:24 Lit that which has come out of your mouth
9. Numbers 32:26 Lit be
10. Numbers 32:33 Lit borders
11. Numbers 32:41 Lit tent villages
12. Numbers 32:41 I.e. the towns of Jair

Thoughts on the Passage

So, the Israelites are on the east side of the Jordan, down east of the Salt Sea. The Jordan River runs primarily from the Sea of Galilee (in the O.T. a.k.a. Sea of Chinnereth; other names include Lake or Sea of Tiberias; and Luke calls it by its Greek name, and is the only one to use the title of ‘Lake’ Gennesaret in Luke 5; we also note that there is in Hebrew there is one word for lake and sea) down to the Salt Sea, which is quite a distance north of the Red Sea.  Canaan, the Promised Land, is on the west side of the Jordan.

Now the sons of two of the twelve tribes, that is, the tribes of Reuben and Gad, look at this land on the east of Jordan, and given their large flocks, decide this is good enough for us. They decide to approach Moses and Eleazar, plus other leaders of the congregation with their thoughts. They point out that this land had already been captured by the Lord and it was most suitable for livestock. So, they asked permission to given that land as their possession and they would not cross over the Jordan to Canaan.

But Moses wasn’t born yesterday and right away pointed out the injustice of that. The implication was that while all the other tribes were to across the Jordan to take the Promised Land (and risk getting killed), these guys and their people would stay at home sound and safe. And furthermore, these leaders were discouraging their own warriors from crossing over and possessing the land God had given Israel. Sorry, says Moses, “not a good deal and the optics stink.”

Furthermore, Moses reminds them of what their ‘fathers’ had done when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, saw the land before them, and discouraged the Israelites from going into the land God had given them, just as their request now might encourage them again. And that made God angry. That was when God swore none of the men (except Caleb and Joshua) who were 20 years old and up when the Israelites left Egypt would see the Promised Land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They caused God’s anger to force the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until all those people 20 and up at the time of the Exodus from Egypt had died.

Moses was really hot now. These guys were adding more fuel to the fire and could easily have gotten God even angrier now that they were so close to the Promised Land. In fact, Moses tells them that the very lives of all the Israelites could be lost. So, basically, it’s a “no deal” situation.

But of course, the sons of Gad and Reuben would not give up. Clearly Moses’ anger had surprised them, and they had drawn back because verse 16 says they now “came [or drew] near to him”. But they must have correctly surmised that his anger was based on his objecting to the fact that their men not fighting next to their brothers and so they pressed on.

They came up with their next proposal. How about if they were to build cities for their livestock, and their families on the east side of the Jordan, but the men would go over to help the rest of the sons of Israel possess the promised land, fight with them to that end, and not return until all the others got their land, and there would be no inheritance for them (Reuben and Gad’s tribes) on the other side. Clever plan, and fair compromise I would say. Although, it seems strange to me that in verse 16 they seem to place the building of cities for their livestock ahead of the needs of their little ones. But of course, it was very much a pastoral farming culture where livestock determined many things.

So, Moses agrees that if they do as they have sworn, all will be well. If not, they will have sinned against the Lord, and that their sin would find them out. Moses passed that on to Eleazar and to Joshua, and the other heads of the various tribes. And the Reuben and Gad boys verified that in front of all. At least, this way, no one would be encouraged not to fight to take the land since even those of the tribes who would not possess the land would be fighting with them.

Now for some reason, in verse 33, where we are told what cities, etc., Moses gave to Reuben and Gad, we are also introduced to a third party added to those two. This is the half-tribe of Joseph, headed up by his son Manassah. Perhaps, in seeing what a deal Reuben and Gad’s leaders worked out, thought they’d like in on it as well.

Robert Jamieson suggests that it is possible that Moses himself invited them to partake of this deal as he observed that the land on the east of the Jordan would be sufficient to support not only the tribes of Reuben and Gad, but also that of Manassah. And he may have favored them in this way due to the role they had played in fighting the Amorites.

You will remember as we read in study.com:

“When Jacob blessed Joseph's sons, while on his deathbed, he set the two up as the replacement for Joseph's tribe, which then became called the ''House of Joseph.'' Because of the symbolism of the number 12 to Judaism (the 12 tribes of Israel, totality, wholeness), the tribes were not considered whole tribes but were instead called half-tribes. Jacob gave them double the territory the other tribes received so that, even though they were technically half-tribes, they would each have the same amount of land as Jacob's other sons.”

You will remember that Moses carried Joseph’s bones out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus as was Joseph’s desire.

The rest of the verses to the end of the chapter describe the various cities, etc., that each of the three groups represented – Reuben’s, Gad’s, and Manassah’s – built their homes and ranches in. We should note that Moses agreed to give them this land, before they actually went into battle to take Canaan. Those were the days when someone’s word meant something.

Now Chuck Smith suggests that we may see in these three tribes a lot of Christians today. They got out of Egypt which represents the bondage of sin, but they aren’t quite eager to get into the fullness of Christ – the Promised Land. They’re happy somewhere short of there. They have it nice there --- why take a risk to go for the Promised Land?

David Guzik says, based on Wenhan’s comments, that for these tribes to ask for this arrangement is “to show a disturbing indifference to the divine word, the word on which Israel's existence entirely depended."

One lesson for us to learn from this passage is that, as Guzik says, “It is a terrible thing to be used of the devil to discourage other believers to walking deeper and further with the LORD. We should ask God to guard us from ever discouraging the heart of another child of God.”

Once again, we look at our One and Only Hero of the Bible – God – when we consider this chapter. We note that He is silent in it. He is mentioned three times – once when those proposing the deal concede that God had won the land east of the Jordan for them; secondly when Moses reminds them how they had given rise to God’s anger; and finally, when Moses reminds them that if they continued they would make Him so angry, He might wipe all of Israel out. So, we see our God really forging, even when He takes no active part in the negotiations, the outcomes that result.

Here is what I take from all this. God, and God’s values and character, once imbedded in the hearts and minds of men can, without a doubt, impact our dealings and interactions.  And after all, isn’t that what being a Christian is all about.

The gems from the book of Numbers continue to be found.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Jacob’s Prediction About Reuben and His Tribe - Genesis 49:3-4:

“Reuben, you are my first-born; My might and the beginning of my strength.  Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.  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.”

Reuben was clearly Jacob’s firstborn in terms of being ‘first out of the womb’ of his first wife, Leah.  His name means, “see, a son”.  Jacob truly was proud of him.  He calls him his ‘might’ and the ‘beginning of my strength’.  Parents are wired by the Creator in a way that gives them renewed strength and life from each of their children.  Each one is truly a gift from God that has the incredible capability of being a source of both motivation as well as emotional wellbeing for his or her parents.  It is interesting, but sad, how today many marriages are held together because of the children, perhaps for this very reason.  And then when the kids are grown up and gone, the marriage falls apart.  Older parents have their energy renewed when visited by their children.  Some of us even get our energy from seeing our grandchildren.  I cringe when I hear some folks who are legally grandparents want very little to do with their grandkids, arguing, “we’ve been there, done that; now it’s our turn to enjoy life; our kids can have all the challenges of raising their own kids.”  That just breaks my heart.

Jacob also comments on Reuben’s personality, indicating his is like boiling or uncontrolled water that is dangerous, or at least unstable, inconsistent, and needs to be mastered.  It is that trait of Reuben’s that got him into trouble with Jacob and causes him to lose his pre-eminence in his birthright and inheritance.  Various parts of these now had to be divided or allocated among Jacob’s other sons, but all in accordance with God’s plans.  While Israel recognizes Reuben’s pre-eminence in dignity and power, it is the pride associated with these that caused Reuben’s loss.  Jacob also foretells that Reuben “will not have pre-eminence” in the future implying that he and those of his tribe that follow him will not be successful.

You will remember Reuben was the one who, as we read in Genesis 35:22, had sexual relations with Bilbah, his father’s concubine and the servant of Jacob’s second and most beloved wife, Rachel.

In this passage here, Jacob refers to that as Reuben going to his bed and defiling his couch.  A circumstance such as this, not only defiles the marriage bed, but also has implications for relationships (his couch).  Still, Jacob when he heard about it had not said anything that is recorded at the time, but clearly he had not forgotten.  It all comes back now, some several decades later.  Jacob did not then and does not to his dying day, disown his son for his actions, just simply takes away some of the benefits he otherwise would have had.  One lesson for us as parents is that there needs to be consequences for the inappropriate behavior of our children, but we are never to disown them.   And the second lesson for all of us here is that as forgiven as we might be in life, from both man and God, when we cause harm to others, we must realize that wrong actions and decisions have their consequences.  Then, we must accept them and make the best of what we still have – we are still children of our Heavenly Father.

The story of Reuben to me is a story of the fall of man.  He was indeed born to be pre-eminent in much including his birthright and inheritance, but his choices caused him to lose it all.  Yet, his father did not disown him.  He had lost much, but he still had a position in the “children of Israel”.   Mankind in general has had a similar experience, on a global level.  That is the story of creation, the fall, and the redemption of mankind.  But many of us have had a parallel journey at a personal level.  Some of us have reached a stage in life that is similar to Reuben’s – we have made errors; we have lost what could have been; we no longer qualified for the responsibilities that God may have set aside for us because He prefers men and women of stability and integrity.  But all is not lost.  God still owns us as His sons and daughters.  As we draw closer to Him, He gives us purpose and roles in His plans for mankind.  We need to accept what has been, realize we have been forgiven, and then proceed to accept His leadership in moving forward.

Still others are at an early point in life; at a stage where no undoable mistake has been committed or action taken.  If you are there, I recommend you adopt all necessary actions, including and especially prayer, which will discipline you in a way that does not allow you to fall and thus lose whatever ‘pre-eminence’ God has in store for you.  I pray it will be so with us all.

[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Jacob Claims Joseph’s First Two Sons - Genesis 48:5-7

And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.  But your offspring that have been born after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance.  Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

As Jacob is dying, he tells Joseph that his two sons born to him in Egypt are now his (Jacob’s), just as Reuben and Simeon, Joseph’s brothers, are his.

This is an incredible act of love by Jacob bestowed on his son Joseph.  Jacob is adopting his first two grandsons born to Joseph in Egypt as if they were his own children and as such giving them full rights to Jacob’s inheritance as his own sons.  And that includes inheritance in the land that God promised.  In essence then, Joseph, the 11^th son of Jacob, gets a double portion of the inheritance – an honor that is usually afforded to the oldest son who in this case would have been Reuben, Leah’s first-born – one part going to Ephraim and one to Manasseh.  They too will become tribes and inherit land as tribes.

Some believe that Jacob’s eyes were failing him by this age and that as he spoke these words, he only saw the shadowy figure of Ephraim and Manassah.  Of course they were not young children any more and more likely in their twenties, as Joseph would have been in his fifties.  The reference in the text to Reuben and Simeon is to his first and second born sons and now Joseph’s first and second born sons are adopted by Jacob as if they were his own first and second born.  David Guzik suggests that perhaps they were ‘replacements’ for Reuben and Simeon, “who were in a sense disqualified from positions of status and leadership in Israel’s family because of both their sin” of treachery against Shechem and Hamor in Genesis 34 and Reuben’s sin of sleeping with his father’s concubine, Bilhah in Genesis 35:22.  There is no evidence one way or another on that view.

In earlier verses in this chapter, Jacob says, “God blessed me” and he now wants that blessing (that is, to multiply greatly and to have Canaan as an inheritance) to be shared with, or to apply to, Joseph’s children.  As we consider our blessings from God, we clearly have this built-in or innate desire to have our children and grandchildren experience the same blessings.  That is especially true of salvation.

Here in verse five we also see expressed a very beautiful picture of a grandfather’s love for his grandchildren when Jacob tells Joseph that his sons are his own as well.  As a grandfather I know now what that means.  I have often heard my daughters say to their friends, “I trust my dad totally with our children, he loves them and he takes care of them as if they are his own, always on the lookout for their well-being and safety.”  That means so much to me, but at the same time, it is a description that has to be demonstrated and earned.  And in my case, as a loving father who values life from its conception to its end, earning it comes most naturally.

Also included in this section is reference to any children that Joseph had after these first two.  Basically, Jacob was saying that Joseph’s other children would not be considered separately in any inheritance, but rather they need to identify themselves with either Ephraim or Manasseh, or both.  That is, they would not develop into their own tribes as part of God’s covenant with Israel.  For some, the point becomes a moot one, as we have no record of Joseph having other children.  Yet, it was wise of Jacob to give this as an instruction to prevent any potential future arguments after his death should there have been any other children born to his son, especially given what Jacob did for the first two.  The lesson for us, perhaps, is to learn to make provisions for the ‘possible’ and not just the ‘what is now’.  That’s prudence at work.

A small diversion from our study:

The above thoughts, however, do allow us to consider an interesting topic that many Christians tend to avoid these days and that is the topic of “pre-marital agreements” or arrangements of what should happen in the case of separation or divorce, which, believe it or not, happens frequently between Christians.  Let me state at the outset that I do not believe in divorce.  I believe God intended for us to remain together with our spouse until one of us should die.  That’s the rule.  When one studies the New Testament one will find some exceptions that appear to be supported (e.g. adultery) and that’s fine as well.  However, the fact remains that people – Christian people – do get divorced.  Then what?

Let me share a situation with you.  Person A enters a marriage with lots of hard-earned money and no debt.  Person B enters that same marriage with no money and lots of debt.  After B’s debts are covered using A’s money, the couple then makes major capital (e.g. land, houses, investments) purchases using the balance of A’s hard-earned money.  The couple then divorces.  Person B now gets half of everything that Person A’s money bought.  Without getting into who was at fault, the issue being discussed is whether or not a “pre-marital or pre-nuptial agreement” should have been in place to prevent that situation, and if so, is that what a Christian should do?

There is agreement that the Bible does not provide explicit teachings in this matter.  Pre-nuptial agreements were not around in the days of the Old Testament or the New Testament.  Still, the Christian church, both Catholic and Protestant, tend to be against them, since in God’s eyes, marriage is “until death do us part”.  And I would agree with that view of marriage.  The problem is that in reality, Christian spouses, in numbers almost right up there with their non-Christian counterparts, are leaving each other before death parts them.  Since the Bible is silent on their appropriateness, I find that the position of the Church is idealistic at best and one that ignores the reality of what is happening.  I understand that changing our view of pre-nuptials is very difficult.  It implies that, as a young couple in love, our “Christian marriage” has a chance of failing. Many of us cannot fathom that possibility making it next to impossible to accept for many.  The truth is that in fact, while your Christian marriage and mine has every intention of staying in tact until death, we see the casualties all around us among our Christian friends and acquaintances, and some of them were even believed to have been pillars of the church.  That is undeniable evidence that divorce, as much as God hates it and we should hate it too, does occur among us.  None of us are guaranteed it will never happen to us.

I do not have a pre-nuptial with my wife of almost 41 years.  Neither do any of my three children with their spouses.  They wouldn’t hear of it.  Yet, I still wonder how wise a decision that is these days.  In fact, may I be so bold as to suggest that not only may having a pre-nuptial agreement not encourage divorce, but rather I believe it may well help discourage it, depending on which party was better off before the marriage and which party is thinking of exiting the marriage.  After I wrote this section, I read some research from Cornell University that said people in general are avoiding marriage and living together because they fear the ravages of divorce.  You can read the research here:

http://www.newswise.com/articles/why-young-couples-aren-t-getting-married-they-fear-the-ravages-of-divorce

My fear is that many of the young couples from our so-called Christian families who may not be well-grounded in the faith are doing the same thing and the idea of a pre-nuptial may well help offset that fear and help them to get married.

Returning to our scriptural text, we finally read of Jacob telling Joseph about the death of Rachel his mother who was Jacob’s best-cherished wife (see Genesis 35:19).  Perhaps Jacob, sensing his own dear death, felt he would ease his transition to the grave by remembering, with significant detail, the earlier death of his beloved wife.  As Christians, living after the ultimate sacrifice of God’s Son on the cross, when we become aware of our imminent death, we not only can find comfort in those that went before us but we can also look forward to joining them.  Jacob may not have had that benefit of knowledge, but he approached his own death as if he would have gleaned the same advantage.  I pray it will be so with you and me.

[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting. 

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Arriving in Goshen - Genesis 46:28

Now he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out the way before him to Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.

As old as he was, Jacob was still in charge of his family’s travels to Egypt.  As they approached the new land God was sending them to, Jacob sent Judah ahead to go before Joseph and finalize the preparations for the family’s arrival.  Judah was born to Jacob by his first wife, Leah.  He was Jacob’s fourth son, after Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, also born to Jacob by Leah.  Son number one, Reuben, had already played a significant role in getting Jacob to allow Benjamin to go with the brothers to Egypt on their second trip to Egypt.  Simeon, son number two, had been held hostage by Joseph when he sent the brothers back after their first trip to get Benjamin.  Neither were selected by Jacob for these events.

Next in line was Levi who might well have been chosen for this special assignment except you will remember his part in dealing so barbarically with Hamor and Shechem and their men after they had defiled their sister, Dinah (Genesis 34).  It is possible that he had lost his credibility with Jacob as one who would act appropriately in any given situation.  So the responsibility of going ahead to meet Joseph fell to son number four, Judah.  On the positive side, Judah was the brother that did not want to allow the others to kill Joseph many years earlier when he visited them with his coat of many colors, but rather to throw him in a pit with the intention of rescuing him later (Genesis 37).  Judah was also the one who ended up having sex with his daughter-in-law whom he mistook for a prostitute after he had dealt unfairly with her when her husbands had died (Genesis 38).

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the selection of Judah for this task.  I am reminded somewhat of God’s use of His sons and daughters for special assignments.  Many of us often wonder why ‘so and so’ was chosen to do something, and why not some other person we know, including sometimes, ourselves.  And we try to figure it out.  We try to find the rationale that God may have used for His choice.  And we fail miserably for His ways are not our ways.  We would do well to simply accept the fact that He is indeed the Grand Master Chess Player and He moves His men (and women) about His board in His own way.

There are many reasons why Jacob may have sent Judah on ahead to meet with Joseph.  Jacob may have wanted to announce to his host that they had arrived.  He did not want Joseph to be taken by surprise.  He wanted protection in the land of the Egyptians.  He may have even wanted permission, even though he was invited, to actually enter the land.  This reminds me of my experiences in some parts of Canada today, where Aboriginal people are the original owners of the land.  In those parts, visitors coming in must first be welcomed by the host Indian Chief or his representatives before they enter, so they can be officially welcomed, and then can go about their business.  Jacob wanted to be sure he was doing the right thing as he entered Egypt.

And of course there is the very obvious reason for sending Judah ahead and that is, as the text suggests, that Jacob’s caravan needed directions to get to that part of Egypt known as Goshen.  This was indeed a new land for Jacob and his family.  There was no point in pretending to be fully capable of knowing their way about.  He wanted his family to start their new life on the right foot.  We would do well to remember Jacob’s first approach to Egypt and the Egyptians whenever we tread into new territories that God has sent us to.

-- Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Jacob Makes His Decision About Sending Benjamin To Egypt - Genesis 42:35-38

Now it came about as they were emptying their sacks that behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed. And their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.” Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my care, and I will return him to you.” But Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left.  If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

I find it interesting that when one of the brothers had opened his sack to feed the animals en route back to Canaan, and found his money at the mouth of the sack, the others did not check theirs, but instead they discovered they had been treated the same way after they had reported to their father Jacob at home.  The Bible does not explain the reason for that.  Here is where we need to trust that this is indeed what happened.  The fact that it is unlikely does not make it totally untrue.  That is, it is physically possible for that to have been the case and thus we need to accept it as such.  In fact, that is not a bad way to approach much of scripture, unless something is totally impossible (and I’m not talking about events in the scriptures that involve the supernatural powers of God, but rather ordinary things within the realm of human possibility), then we should accept them as having happened rather than doubting the text.

All the brothers and their father were now dismayed as to what this returning of all their funds may mean in the long run.  Then Jacob starts to speak and says to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more.. .” Was he in some way blaming them, perhaps indirectly, for the loss of Joseph those many years ago? We don’t know for sure.  We do know that oftentimes, people hold such blame in their hearts long after an event and it takes another event to bring it to the surface.  Did he really feel in his heart they had not told him the truth back then when they said that Joseph must have been killed by an animal? We’re not sure. It is possible though that even if he did, the brothers must have wondered about it given his words.

In addition, it is interesting to note that Jacob, presuming the worse, already had Simeon as lost forever.  He was not prepared to take a chance of losing Benjamin, especially with them as he says, “. . . and you would take Benjamin.”  To Jacob, everything seemed to be closing in on him.  He felt attacked from every side.  And where was God in his life?

Sometimes, in the midst of family catastrophe, the words of the eldest son can often reason with a determined parent.  Reuben was that son and he tried just that.  In fact, he went one step further as he realized the seriousness of the situation and the need to get back to Egypt for more food and Simeon.  Reuben offered his father the lives of his own two sons if he did not return Benjamin to Jacob.  Can you imagine that?  Can you imagine the need for doing so?  We do not make statements like that today and even if some of us do, we seem to find ways to say afterward, “but I was only saying that to get his agreement, I didn’t really mean it.”  When you made a statement like that in those days, you would be held to it.

I doubt whether someone like Reuben could make such an offer today without checking with his own spouse.  Perhaps this is possible in some cultures, but not likely in today’s western society.  Did his wife agree?  Perhaps she did and she realized that for any of them to survive, her father-in-law would need to trust his sons to take Benjamin to Egypt.

You would think Jacob would have granted the brothers their wish given Reuben’s willingness to sacrifice his own two sons if they did not return Benjamin.  But he did not; at least not at this point.  Instead, he becomes adamant and tells them all that if they took him and anything were to happen, they (“you will bring”) would cause his premature death.  They text says they would bring his gray hair (his body) down to Sheol, the name the ancient Israelites gave to the ‘grave’ but it also meant ‘pit’ or ‘abyss’.  They first felt that Sheol was where they spent their afterlife, but it is not clear if they actually thought it to be a real place or just a way of describing whatever happens after death.  Later in scripture, in the New Testament, the word is replaced by word ‘Hades’.  And Jacob says, if anything happened to Benjamin, he would die “in sorrow” – definitely not a good way to die.

Perhaps this is a good place for us to reflect on how we will take advice from our children when we are older. Will we be able to listen to reason from the children we helped raised and the ones that have shown us love and care all of their adult lives?  That is what we should be aiming for.  My mother-in-law’s computer was acting up recently and she wanted a new one right away.  I tried to reason with her, explaining what we should try first, what we should consider, and how we should go about buying a new one for her, given her situation and our ability or inability to be available to service it when it needs it.  What a pleasant joy it was to have her receive the advice kindly, recognizing that there was some wisdom in it.  Would that all our parents could be so accommodating in their senior years.

It is also a good time for us to consider what it would take for us to die “in sorrow”?  As Christians, how long should that list be?  Should there be anything on it?  Or, no matter the circumstances of our death or the lives of those we leave behind, should we always go forward into an eternity with Christ in joy, not sorrow?  My prayer is that all of us can get to that state of mind, heart, and soul, that when the time comes for us to be no more in this life, to cross into eternity, that it would not be “in sorrow” but “in joy”.

-- Thanks for dropping by.   Sign up to receive updates.  --  Ken B. Godevenos, Church & Mgmt. Consultant, bringing you relevant information from all sorts of sources.  Subscribe free to Epistoli or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar.  An don’t forget to “share” this blog with your friends by clicking the “Share” link on your Navigation Bar.

 

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.