Leviticus 16-20: Vomited Out

“‘Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
 “‘Everyone who does any of these detestable things—such persons must be cut off from their people. Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the LORD your God.’”  - Lev. 18:24-30 NIV

God was very explicit in his warning to Israel.  They should not become conceited because they were inheriting the land from a people who didn't know the Lord God.  If the Israelites failed to follow God's commands, they would be subject to the same consequences as the previous occupants of the land...they would be vomited out of the land.  God's decrees and laws had to be kept, not only by the Israelites, but by the native born and aliens living along side the children of Israel.  God's laws are God's laws.  Detestable practices in God's sight defiles not only the people committing those acts, but the land as well.

History has shown this to be true.  Through successive generations, those who once lived under God's favor became less God like and more like the natives and aliens of the land they inhabited together.  Whenever that has occurred, God's people have sprung up in other lands that have not become defiled by what God has defined as detestable practices.

2010 Post - Leviticus 16-20:  Set Apart

Leviticus 12-15: Search Me

The Israelites knew what it was to be unclean.  They knew how an infection left untreated could spread through the camp and make anyone that came near it unclean.  They had to be ever vigilant for any sign of harm that could spread throughout the camp.  Their only defense was the priest who was trained to spot the unclean, whether it be a sore or spreading mildew.  Once it was identified, there was no recourse, but to banish the infected person or object from the camp.  God was serious about them remaining clean. “‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.’”  - Leviticus 15:31 NIV

We have forgotten what it means to be unclean.  With all of our disinfectants, hand sanitizers and antibiotics, we have built a line of defense that keeps the unclean out, or so it seems.  But sometimes, just as it was with the Israelites, it is difficult to tell the difference between the clean and unclean.  Now, however, it's a matter of the heart, what is inside, rather than what is on the outside.  God's dwelling place is now within us.  We still need a priest to determine if we are pure, the great High Priest who can search our hearts, if we give him permission, and discover if there is anything that needs to be cast out. It was the Psalmist who knew that God, and God alone, determines the condition of our heart who cried,  Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me,  and lead me in the way everlasting. - Psalms 139:23-24 NIV

Our cry must be, 'God, search my heart, for you alone can determine if I am clean.  Search me and root out any thing that would cast me away from your presence.  Wash me and make me whole.'

2010 Post - Leviticus 12-15:  Purity

Leviticus 9-11: Fighting Fire with Fire

Do we understand what it means to be consumed by the fire of the Lord?  The Israelites didn't.  One minute they're shouting for joy and falling face down in amazement when they witnessed the glory of the Lord and his fire consuming their burnt offering.  The next minute they're stunned when such a simple thing as adding incense to the fire that is offered before the Lord causes Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, to be consumed by fire.  That old proverbial saying, 'You can't fight fire with fire.' is untrue.  God can and will fight fire with fire, and his fire is all consuming.  We have no  modern day grasp of God in this image.  One who is so holy, that anything that approaches him must keep entirely to his rules, not our own.  If it were not for the sacrificial death of his son, we would all be in danger of perishing by fire.  Some of our modern worship songs sing of calling down fire from heaven.  Just like the Israelites, who rejoiced when they first saw the fire of the Lord, do we really know what we're singing about. 

010 Post - Leviticus 9-11:  Aaron is Silent

Leviticus 5-8: Sin is Sin

Unintentional sins carry the same consequence as intentional sins as far as God is concerned.  That includes not speaking up when a person has witnessed a wrong, unknowingly touching something unclean, or taking a thoughtless oath. Pretty innocuous sins by today's standards, but not in God's sight. “If a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, even though he does not know it, he is guilty and will be held responsible. He is to bring to the priest as a guilt offering a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the wrong he has committed unintentionally, and he will be forgiven. It is a guilt offering; he has been guilty of wrongdoing against the LORD.” - Lev 5:17-18 NIV  God's universe does not allow for exceptions.  There can be no pleas of insanity or self defense.  All sin is wrongdoing against the Lord and as such all sin requires a sacrifice. 

2010 Post - Leviticus 5-8:  No Exceptions

Leviticus 1-4: The Perfect Sacrifice

I am an animal lover, so it is difficult to read of the sacrifices of innocent animals as an offering to God.  Perhaps I can imagine sacrificing a bull, but a perfect, innocent lamb?  It's much easier to put cash or a check in the offering plate every Sunday than give a live creature that you've personally nurtured from birth.  It's even more difficult to imagine an offering where the sacrifice demanded is supposed to be perfect, without defect, from a people wandering around in the desert with few resources for food other than their daily allotment of manna.  It didn't matter if it was a fellowship offering or a sin offering, it always had to be without defect and to make matters worse, not only were they required to make the offerings, they were the ones that were to slaughter the animal in front of the Tent of Meeting.  A perfect sacrifice slaughtered by one's own hand. 

I think if I faced the prospect of having to offer one of my animals whenever I sinned, I might consider my actions more carefully.  But the Israelites proved that was not the case.  The requirement of a blood sacrifice did not change their hearts and as the years progressed, their sins became more flagrant and insulting to God.  Eventually, no sacrifice was sufficient to compensate for their sins.  So it was left to God to offer a solution, the perfect sacrifice that none of us could make.  Imagine offering one's own perfect son as a sacrifice, not for your own sins, but for the sins of everyone else.  What mercy, what love and what grace. 

2010 Post - Leviticus 1-4:  Offerings

Exodus 36-40: A Dwelling for God's Glory

God's demanded nothing but the best from the Israelites for the building of the tabernacle.  The finest gold, silver, precious jewels, linen, wood, and even the finest craftsmen were to be used to build God's dwelling place.  When the tabernacle was finally finished, Moses inspected the work and saw that it was done just as God had commanded.  All the preparations, the sacrifices and washings, were complete and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.  Not even Moses could enter this sacred place.  It was only for the Lord.  The people gave of their best and it pleased God to dwell there. 

How much of our best do we give God today.  Do we give him the most costly of our gold and silver, or does he get the left-overs.  The builders of the great cathedrals recognized that God was worthy of the best.  Can we say the same about the prefab church structures of today?  Is God worthy of more than we are giving?

In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.- Ex. 40:36-38 NIV

God rewarded the faithfulness of the Israelites in building his tabernacle by being faithful in return.   Are we losing his guidance because we have brought him down to our own level and no longer recognize the sacred nature that demands only the finest and best for his glory.  Just asking.

2010 Post - Exodus 34-39:  The People Give

Exodus 33-35: Show Me Your Glory

'I know you by name', God told Moses, and Moses' reply was, 'If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.  Remember that this nation is your people. - Ex.33:13 NIV

Moses was much more to be trusted than the rest of the Israelites, and it wasn't just because he saw the burning bush. Moses knew what it was to trust in his own doing and how that had failed.  The years had humbled him.  He had matured from the impetuous favored child of Pharaoh's daughter to one who could not do it on his own. He had become one who would ask for the impossible, one who would tell the Lord:  “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
 And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” - Ex. 33:15-18 NIV

What a far cry from most of our prayers today.  Give us this, provide this, heal this, save this.  When, all along we should be asking the one thing that draws God's heart to our own.  Go with us.  We can't do this on our own.  Go with us, across any river we have to ford, through whatever desert we must crawl through, up whatever mountain we have to climb.  Go with us.  And on that journey, show us your glory.  Not our glory, not what we can accomplish, but show us your glory. 

Exodus 29-32: Somewhere Between Victory and Defeat

When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”
Moses replied:
   “It is not the sound of victory,
   it is not the sound of defeat;
   it is the sound of singing that I hear.”  - Ex. 32:17-18 NIV

This is the place where a lot of us spend our Christian lives...living in a war zone, where we experience neither victory nor total defeat.  There is singing and rejoicing.  It's a great party.  We acknowledge that we're following God, that we're his chosen people and now we're heading for the land he's promised.  We're following God, or at least a god.  The problem is we have seized the first god we could find, a golden calf, but that golden calf that we're following doesn't have the power to save.   But it's much more pleasant to worship an inanimate object rather than an all powerful God that demands total surrender in all aspects of our lives.  One for whom obedience is better than sacrifice.  One who sets up rules that we don't really want to follow like not having any other gods, keeping the Sabbath holy, not coveting what we don't have. 

The sound of war is the sound of our hollow worship when it's really other gods we're chasing after.

2010 Post - Exodus 29-32:  Any God will Do

Exodus 24-28: The Secret Place

No matter how many times I read these chapters and these descriptions, I cannot paint in my minds eye what the tabernacle or the High Priest's garments looked like.  I cannot grasp the over all, just like I cannot grasp the overall essence of God.  But, specific details leap out; references that help me define the small glimpse of God that I am allowed to see.

The first thing that catches my attention is the two cherubim that adorn the cover to the Ark of the Covenant  “Make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you. There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites. - Ex. 25:17-22 NIV

This is the place where God will meet Moses.  It is a protected place, between the wings of the Cherubim.  As David sings, it is the secret place of the most High.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. - Ps. 91:1-4 KJV

There is a place where we can meet the heart of God.  A place, far away from all the craziness of life, where we can commune with Him, where all we hear is His voice.  We do not access that place easily and cannot  take it lightly.  It is the Holiest of Holies.  We can only enter there when we are completely clean and the perfect sacrifice has been offered.

2010 Post - Exodus 25-28:  The Tabernacle

Exodus 21-24: A Prepared Place

“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.......Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.  - Exodus 23:20-26 NIV
This promise follows on the heels of the Ten Commandments and the other various laws that the Israelites are to observe.  We are God's people and his promises are true, but we have to uphold our end of the covenant.  We have to obey the laws that God has ordained, we have to listen to his emissaries and we have to worship the Lord God.  That seems like such a simple thing but we have as many problems doing that today as the Israelites did centuries ago. 

Most of us wander around here on earth half obeying and half doing our own thing.  In our hearts, we know God's word is true and that all the things we chase after in this life will never fully satisfy. God's plan has always been to give us life abundantly and to bring us to the place he has prepared for us...to bring us home to him.  That longing for home is deep within us even as we search for meaning here. Frederick Buechner writes "When a man leaves home, he leaves behind some scrap of his heart....It's the same with a place a man is going to.  Only then he sends a scrap of his heart ahead." (Listening to Your Life, p. 19, New York: Harper-Collins, 1992)

The Israelites may have left part of their heart in Egypt, but God had placed a longing for the promised land in them as well.  He set before them the path.  It is their choice to follow.

2010 Post - Exodus 21-24:  Fire on the Mountain

Exodus 19-20: God's Two Sides

Hidden in these chapters are both sides of the mystery of who God truly is.  Both sides were revealed to the Israelites and are waiting to be revealed to us as well. 

‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. - Ex. 19:4-5 NIV

On the one hand, God's people are his treasured possession.  He carries us on eagle' wings and brings us to safety.  Yet this same God is so formidable, so far above us, that one cannot even touch the mountain when His presence is on it without being put to death. ‘Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. - Ex. 19:12 NIV

How can we live with the understanding of these two sides of God.  The altogether loving and yet altogether frightening? 

God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments as a means of becoming perfect enough to have a relationship with him and as the writer of Hebrews says, In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. - Heb. 1:1-2 NIV

We all have the tendency to focus on one or the other aspects of God at the expense of the other.  Either we see him as loving and forgiving of all our foibles or we see him as a stern taskmaster that we must please by obedience and sacrifice. 

When we finally see him as both, then the fact that he carries us on eagles wings and we are his treasured possession becomes even more remarkable

Exodus 16-18: Getting Nowhere

Moses must have felt he was getting nowhere a lot of the time.  First of all, he's leading around a crowd of complaining people.  They don't like the food; they don't have any water.  And when they're not complaining, they're arguing among themselves all the time.  Moses has a full time job just judging their disputes. 

Jethro, Moses' father-in-law came, bringing Moses' wife and his two sons, to where the Israelites were camped.  He was so delighted to hear of how God rescued Israel that he offered a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God on the spot.  The next day, as he watched Moses serving as judge for the people, he was not so delighted by what he saw happening.  The people brought all their problems to Moses and the time that he should have been devoting to God and leading God's people, was consumed with petty problems.  They were never going to get anywhere at that rate. 

When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
 Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and laws.”
 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”  - Ex. 18:13-23 NIV

God never intended for Moses to be the center of the universe for the Israelites.  That was God's place.  Moses was to hear from God for all of the Israelites and teach them what he heard.  God had placed other capable men in the midst who could settle the petty disputes.  Men who could lead groups of ten, fifty or even hundreds and thousands.  That was the only way this unruly multitude was every going to get anywhere.

2010 Post - Exodus 17-20:  The Fear of God

Exodus 14-15: Confusion

We spend most of our lives being guided by pride above anything else.  It's difficult to admit that we don't have all of the answers, that we are not in charge.  So, it's interesting that God told Moses to have the Israelites turn back, shortly after they left Egypt.  Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert. (Ex. 14:3 NIV)

Go back, be confused.  If you're following God that's often the way it feels.  You see a door open and you start to walk through when suddenly it is closed in your face.  You pull up stakes and move as you think God is leading and the next thing you know, you're being told to go back where you came from.  What is going on?

In a sense, God was testing his people to see if they would obey him completely.  But then the most extraordinary thing happened.  The angel of God who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them.  The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. - Ex. 14:19-20  NIV

The ones who had been leading them became the rear guard, protecting them and leading the enemy to their destruction instead.  What appeared to be confusion became the means of their salvation.  By this time they knew Pharaoh's heart.  The enemy was going to pursue them.  They could look strong and eventually be overtaken or they could look confused and become victorious.  Total surrender, total obedience, total trust sometimes looks foolish to outsiders, but if we're following God we can trust all of his twists and turns.

2010 Post - Exodus 13-16:  Bitter and Sweet

Exodus 12-13: Passover

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. - Ex. 12: 12-13 NIV

I am not often aware of this power of blood to become a barrier to God's judgement.  There are too many other things I worry about.  I spend too much time under the false assumption that salvation is in part due to my actions:  Singing the right worship songs, witnessing to the right number of people, being faithful in my devotions and tithes and offerings.  But these are only symbols of my love, there is no saving grace in them.

A blood sacrifice has always been God's way.  Beginning with the Israelites when the blood sprinkled on the doorstep with hyssop protected them from the destruction that came upon the Egyptians, on down to to the blood shed by God's son on the cross which protects us from destruction as well.  A little known hymn writer of the 19th century captured this concept in a way few of our current worship songs do
.
Christ our Redeemer died on the cross,
Died for the sinner, paid all his due;
Sprinkle your soul with the blood of the Lamb,
And I will pass, will pass over you.

Refrain:
When I see the blood,
When I see the blood,
When I see the blood,
I will pass, I will pass over you.

O great compassion! O boundless love!
O loving kindness, faithful and true!
Find peace and shelter, under the blood,
And I will pass, will pass over you. - John G. Foote

God passes over us.  When the lives of all those who have ever lived pass before him, his judgemental glance will pass over all of those with the sign of the blood.  He will not see our sin.  He will only the sacrifice of his Son.

Exodus 7-11: Surrender is the Best Option

Even Pharaoh's magicians recognized that there was someone more powerful than them.  They had a lot of magic tricks up their sleeves, but when it came to producing gnats as numerous as dust, they were stymied.  The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” - Exodus 8:19 NIV

Pharaoh knew it was God as well, but he was not going to give God any of the credit.  It was Pharaoh's way or the highway.  Pharaoh knew that he was very powerful, so powerful, he thought he could thumb his nose at God, but in the end, that proved to be a foolish attempt.  What Pharaoh missed was that he was being used by God whether or not he recognized it.  The worse the situation got, the more God's power became obvious.  What began as God showing his power in simple demonstrations that even Pharaoh's magicians could duplicate, escalated into plagues of boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and finally, a plague on the firstborn of all the land. 

Pharaoh's heart was unyielding as far as God was concerned.  'You don't know who you're dealing with', God had Moses tell Pharaoh.  For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. - Ex. 9:14-16 

Even those of us who know the Lord sometimes have difficulty surrendering our wants and desires to what God has intended for our lives.  As a result, we suffer the consequences, sometimes for years, of wanting our own way.  God's power will be shown, so it's best to humble ourselves before him early on.  Surrender, when you're fighting with God is always the best solution.

2010 Post:  Exodus 9-12:  God Ups the Ante

Exodus 5-6: I am the Lord

God also said to Moses, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. - Ex. 6:2-3 NIV

What does this mean?  All of a sudden God is telling Moses that he is the Lord.  Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph knew of the Almighty God.  They followed him, they heard from him, but they didn't know him in the way that God wanted his people to know him.  To know that not only was he the God of the universe, but he was their master as well.  Master, the one that owns them, the one that they belong to.

There is a big difference between knowing about God and being completely owned by him.  We can wander from place to place, hoping for a glimpse of God.  We can try to get glimpses of him in others, in our devotions, in our worship.  But, until we cry out, as Thomas did when he placed his hands in Jesus' wounds, 'My Lord and my God".  We will not see him as he truly is.  Not just the creator of the universe, not just a worker of miracles, not just one to follow, but the one to whom we belong.  The one that has bought us with a price, the one that gave us a new birth, the one that owns us completely.

‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.  Exodus 6: 6-7 NIV

Just as God promised the Israelites, he has taken us out of slavery, he has freed us, we have been redeemed and we have become his own.

2010 Post - Exodus 5-8:  Exile

Exodus 1-4: Nothing Like Charlton Heston

So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand. - Ex. 4:20 NIV

This is not the picture we usually have of Moses.  Usually, we see Moses, with long white hair and beard, commanding the Red Sea to part a la Charleston Heston.  We do not see him, staff in hand, leading his wife and child on a donkey, as they slowly make their journey back to Egypt.  Slowly and reluctantly, because Moses is not that sure of being the one to lead God's people out of bondage. 

Oh yes, he was great once, the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter.  Once he was zealous, so zealous that he killed an Egyptian for fighting with an Israelite.  And he even spoke with God and witnessed the burning bush.  But none of these events gave Moses any confidence.  He was tired and weary and wanted someone else to do the work.  God was so frustrated with him that he would have killed him if it had not been for Zipporah.

So God sent Aaron to meet Moses, someone to help him bear the burden, someone to be the mouthpiece for the stammering Moses, someone to speak the words that God gives.

Together, they return to Egypt and prepare the elders for what the God that Moses met, the 'I am who I am' intends to do.  Triumphal entries often take place on a donkey.

2010 Post - Exodus 1-4:  The Mountain

Genesis 48-50: Out of Judah

While Joseph was God's provision for the Israelites and made it possible for the promise to Abraham to be fulfilled,  he was not the final promise, nor were his descendants to be the ones to produce the final promise.  It was all foretold in Jacob, or Israel's, blessing of his sons before he died.  Jacob's blessings could not have been of his own giving.  Jacob had glimpsed God throughout his life, and it must have been God that gave him the words to bless his children. 

Joseph's sons had their bad sides and their good sides.  Reuben slept with his father's concubine, Bilhah, but he also tried to rescue Joseph when the brothers wanted to kill him and was willing to forfeit the lives of his sons, if Benjamin did not return from Egypt. Simeon and Levi shamed Jacob when they killed the Hivites because of Dinah.  Judah' two oldest sons were very wicked and when they died, and he had a child by his daughter-in-law.  But he also was the one that convinced the brothers to sell Joseph instead of killing him. Little is told about the other brothers, but they were all willing participants in getting rid of Joseph and causing great pain to their father. 

Jacob's blessing however, foretells God's plan for his chosen people that will comes from these less than honorable, nomadic, sheep herding people.  Out of them will come a great nation, and out of one of them, will come the Savior of the world.

“Judah, your brothers will praise you;
   your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
   your father’s sons will bow down to you.
You are a lion’s cub, O Judah;
   you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
   like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
The scepter will not depart from Judah,
   nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs,
and the obedience of the nations is his. - Gen. 49:8-10 NIV

Out of Judah comes the end of the story.  The one who has the final triumph.  The obedience of the nations is his.

Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”  - Revelation 5:5 NIV

2010 Post - Genesis 48-50: The End of an Era or Beginning

Genesis 42-47: Trials Become Triumph

Life was easy when Jacob's children were young.  They tended their many flocks and fought among themselves as to who was the greatest.  That all changed the day they sold Joseph to the Midianites who carried him off to Egypt.  In the ensuing years, they have all grown older and changed substantially.  They now have children of their own and know personlly the grief that their father has suffered all these years over the loss of their brother, Joseph.  The ones who hurt him so by getting rid of Joseph will now do anything in their power to prevent history from repeating itself with Benjamin, the youngest and only other son of Rachel. Judah, speaking for the whole group, is willing to become Joseph's slave in Benjamin's place. "Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father.” - Genesis 44:33-34 NIV

All the pain and heartache that Jacob suffered over the loss of Joseph was not wasted.  It ws all part of God's greater plan to save his family, not destroy it.  There is no way Jacob's family, all of his wives, children, their wives, their children, and even the cattle, would have survived the seven years of famine.  It would have been the end of the line.  But the God who spoke to both Jacob and Joseph in dreams had one not finished speaking.  Once more God visits Jacob in a vision at night.
 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”  - Gen. 46:3-4 NIV

Over and over again, throughout the Bible and even in our own lives, we see that what others meant for evil, God uses for good.  Pain, sorrow, it is all part of the human condition.  But if we see God, if we have our eyes set on him as our provider instead of our circumstances, perhaps, just perhaps, he will reveal the future to us in visions and dreams.  And even if not, if we yield those circumstances to him, someday, our trials will become triumphs.

2010 Post - Genesis 42-47:  Famine and Retrbution

Genesis 37-41: Success in Everything He Did

Joseph's dream that he and his brothers were all sheaves of grain when his sheaf rose upright and all of the brother's sheaves gathered around and bowed down to his sheaf, did not make his brothers love him more.  In fact, they hated him all the more for it.  Joseph, himself, must have thought it was a foolish dream as he was being sold in Egypt by the Midianites, who bought him from his brothers, and later as he languished in Pharoah's prison for years.  But it was not a pipe dream.  It was true.  God was with Joseph throughout all of his trials; they were all for his good and the good of his family.

The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. - Gen. 39:2-4 NIV

But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. - Gen 39:20-23 NIV

The Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did, even under the most extenuating circumstances. Joseph, for his part was faithful and trustworthy.  He didn't sit around and bemoan his fate while in Potiphar's house or in prison.  He used his God given abilities to bring successful results to those who were over him and to win their favor.   As a result, Joseph prospered and because of him, his family prospered as well.

We may not receive the dreams from God that Joseph did, but we have the promise. Like Joseph, we cannot just sit back and wait for God's promise.  Even under adversity, we have to use all of our abilities and talents, so that God can prosper others through us.  If we are faithful and trustworthy, God will bring his plan about.  He will be with us and give us success in whatever we do even when the end result is not apparent.

2010 Post - Genesis 37-41:  The Dreamer in the Flashy Coat

Genesis 32-36: Alone in the Night

Both of Jacob's encounters with God occurred at night when he was all alone and running scared.  The first encounter was when he was running from his brother Esau and the second was years later when he was going back home and afraid of the response he would receive from Esau.  Both of Jacob's encounters with God also ended in blessing. 

The first time Jacob saw God, when he dreamed of the stairway to heaven, was not as dramatic as the second time when a wrestling match took place and Jacob was left with a permanent limp as a reminder of his struggle with God.  So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
    But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
    The man asked him, “What is your name?”
   “Jacob,” he answered.
    Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
    Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
    But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
    So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”  - Gen. 32:24-30 NIV

It's often in our darkest hours, when we feel most alone, that God appears to us.  We are blessed and often scarred, but these are milestones in our lives that we can name, just as Jacob called his two encounters:  Bethel (House of God) and Peniel, (Face of God). These are the places where we meet God and are forever changed.

2010 post - Genesis 32-36:  What's in a Name?

Genesis 29-31: Who Owns Who

The story of Jacob's time in Haran, the land of his relatives, is one of constant one-upmanship.  Laban pulls one over on Jacob when he sends Leah to be his bride after Jacob has worked seven years for Rachel, the one that he loved.

This fostered competition between Leah and Rachel over who had the greatest hold on Jacob by producing his heirs.  When they could not bear children of their own, they brought their maidservants, Bilhah and Zilpah into the mix.  No wonder, later on, there were jealousies between the children themselves.

Even though he recognizes that he has been blessed by Jacob's presence, Laban seems intent on extracting as much as he can from him and when Jacob asks to leave with his wives and children, Laban pleads with him to stay.  Jacob retaliates with his own cunning by promising to keep tending the flocks and take any blemished sheep or goats for his pay.  He then makes sure that there are more born with blemishes than without so that his herd increases even more so.

When he has finally had enough, he sneaks off without telling Laban goodbye and Laban would have chased after him in retaliation if it had not been for God telling him to not say anything.  When Laban catches up with them, Jacob explains his actions:  It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times.  If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.”
 Laban answered Jacob, “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.”  - Gen. 31:41-44 NIV

It's all mine, Laban says, never acknowledging that it was the hand of God that sent Jacob to him in the first place, it was God that blessed Jacob, this was all God's doing.  Jacob was the means through which God's promise to Abraham would be fulfilled, the one through whom a great nation would come.   It was all God's.

Genesis 27-28: If God Will Be With Me

Jacob left his father's home, running away from Esau who was plotting to kill him once Isaac died, because Jacob stole both his birthright and Isaac's blessing.  As it became night, Jacob stopped and using a rock for a pillow, lay down to sleep.  During the night, He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”  - Gen. 28:12-15 NIV

God's blessing echoed Isaac's blessing over Jacob as he prepared to leave for Haran.. May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham.” - Gen. 28: 2-4 NIV When Jacob woke the next morning, he knew he had been in the presence of God, so he took the stone, used as his pillow, anointed it with oil and named it Bethel, or 'House of God'.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”  - Genesis 28: 10-21 NIV

What more can we ask?  If God will be with us, watch over us on the journey we are on, if God will give us food to eat and clothes to wear until we return safely to our Father's house, what more can we want?  And what a small amount to give back when God has given us all we need....only a tenth, a tithe, a pittance compared to all we have received.

2010 Post - Genesis 27-31: Cunning and Conniving

Genesis 22-26: The Art of the Deal

Negotiating and bickering weave their way through the stories of the Old Testament. The negotiating that Abraham underwent to get a tomb in which to bury Sarah is one example.  Another is seen in the life of Laban. The story of how the Lord provided a wife, the beautiful and kind Rebekah, for Isaac from among Abraham's relatives still living back in Nahor is well known. If you look more closely, you might see the seeds of jealousy planted in Laban, Rebecca's brother, that would give Jacob such grief when he tried to marry one of Laban's daughters.  Did Laban think that Rebekah was given away too easily? 

Isaac loved Rebekah and their union was blessed by God.  As he watched her as she dealt with the inability to bear children, Isaac took that burden to the Lord and his prayer was answered.  Rebekah became pregnant with twins and even before they were born, they wrestled with each other. 

The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. - Gen.25:27-28 NIV

Divided loyalties as far as their sons were concerned, may have caused grief for Isaac and Rebekah.  The constant bickering with Abimelech, the king of the Philistines may not have helped.  It seemed like Isaac's servants were always going around opening the wells that Abraham had built and Abimelech's servants had stopped up.  Then there were the Hittite wives that Esau married who were a source of grief to both Isaac and Rebekah.  Did Laban foresee all of this, when he tried to detain Rebekah for ten days before she went back with Abraham's servants to become Isaac's bride, or was he just practicing the art of the deal as he would do years later with Jacob? It really didn't matter.  None of the bickering or negotiating of Laban or any of the neighboring tribes would change the blessing that was on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The art of the deal is nothing compared to the blessing of God.

2010 Post - Genesis 22-26:  God will Provide

Genesis 18-21: A Way of Escape

Abraham was privy to all God was going to do, the good and the bad.  He was told in advance, even if Sarah laughed at it, that he was going to be the father of a great nation, a nation that would be birthed by his wife, not her maidservant.  He was also told in advance of the destruction that would come to Sodom and Gomorrah.  God did not hide what was going to take place from Abraham.  Because Abraham knew the source of his blessing and trusted God, God trusted Abraham with the foreknowledge of what was going to take place.

Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?  Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”  - Gen. 18:17-21 NIV

Abraham could not stay God's hand from judging the grievous sins of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abraham could not protect any of those, who didn't believe God, from their ultimate destruction.  That included Lot's wife and Lot's future son-in-laws.   Each of them heard of the warning of coming destruction from the angels that appeared to Abraham and Lot and each of them made the choice to ignore that warning.  They all received the same warning and the same promise of escape.

Salvation was offered to them, but they ignored it.  That same salvation has been offered to mankind down through the ages and as always, we have the option to accept it or suffer the consequences.  As the writer of Hebrews said:

How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. - Heb. 2:3 NIV

Throughout history, God sent messengers to earth to warn of impending disaster for those who sin, and ultimately, after they refused to listen to any of his messengers, he sent his own Son.  There is no escape if we ignore God's warning and the promised salvation.

2010 Post - Genesis 18-21:  The Right Choice

Genesis 12-17: A Very Great Reward

Abram was living a comfortable life in Haran where he settled with his wife, Sarai, and nephew Lot.  Then when he is seventy-five years old, God tells him to get up and move.  So Abram, Sarai and Lot set out for the land of Canaan, with a side trip to Egypt to escape a severe famine.  During this time, Abram became very wealthy in livestock, silver and gold, but when they and traveled back toward Canaan, they found that the land could not support all of their livestock.  So, as they stood surveying the situation, Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” - Gen. 13:8-9 NIV

Lot chose the well-watered plain of the Jordan where he found himself in the midst of the sordid business of Sodom and Gomorrah and eventually was taken captive by the four kings who went against those two cities.  Abram, who was satisfied with the less attractive prospect, received God's promise that all the land he could see, from north and south, east and west, would become the land of his offspring forever.  Abram was beginning to walk by faith.  There would be many more misfires along the way, but Abram was beginning to take God at his word when he told him:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield
your very great reward” - Gen. 15: 1 NIV

If we chase after things that appear to hold great material promise, we may find ourselves caught up in all of the detritus as the promise disintegrates.  We cannot look at material possessions as a sign of God's blessing.  God's blessing is God himself. 

2010 Post - Gen. 12-17: A Blessing

Genesis 9-11: Aftermath

The known world may have been destroyed by the flood, but God had not completely forgotten his creation.  Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. ..... As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.” - Gen. 9:1-7

Twice, God told Noah and his sons, 'Be fruitful and multiply.' and they did that very thing.  The descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth produced the nations of Gomer, Magog, Tarshish, Cush, Canaan, Raamah and Sheba as well as many others.  Some of these have a prominent place in the Bible.  Gomer and Magog and Cush will be part of the end times battle foreseen by Ezekiel.  Some of them, like Tarshish, are featured in stories like that of Jonah.  Some of them will become world renown kingdoms like Sheba.  One of them, Canaan, will become the promised land. 

All of these:  cities, nations, great kingdom's, have come since the earth was nearly completely destroyed by God's anger at his people's sinful ways.  Noah's descendants have multiplied over and over again until they have become the millions who now cover the face of the earth.  We owe our history and our lives to one man who heard and obeyed God's voice and to God's promise that he would never again destroy all of the living creatures.

2010 Post - Genesis 9-11:  A Covenant

Genesis 7-8: The Flood

A year and ten days, that's how long Noah, his wife and family, and all of the creatures of the earth were shut up in the ark.  For a hundred and fifty days of that time, the earth was completely covered by water.  It was almost eight months before the mountain tops were visible and still the earth was not dry enough to leave the ark.  Noah had to wait, sending out the raven and the dove as feelers to test the waters to see if it was safe to let everyone out of the ark and resume their normal activities.

Which was worse, huddling down while the storms beat down on their boat amidst the cries and smells of all the animals, or having the window opened to fresh air, but being unable to get off of the boat because there was still no dry land.  Sometimes, it's easier to trust during the times of the storms than it is during the times when we are held captive by our circumstances and not able to move on.  The mountain tops are there to give us hope, but seeing them does not mean we have arrived.

2010 Post - Genesis 7-8:  Shutting the Door

Genesis 4-6: Refuge from the Storm

God has always given his people refuge, a place to hide from the storm.  In Noah's time, it was the ark.  God gave very specific instructions on how the ark was to be built.  This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. (Gen 6:15-16)  In the same way, he gave the Children of Israel specific instruction as to how they were to build the tabernacle, the place where he met with Moses to enable him to lead the children of Israel.  Later, he gave Solomon all the details for building the Temple, the place where sacrifices were made to ward off God's wrath against his ever unfaithful people.   God is interested in giving us refuge and it matters to him how we build that refuge.  As Jesus said:  Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” - Matt. 7:24-27 NIV

The wise men of Noah's day must have looked at him with derision as he built his behemoth of a boat for no apparent reason.  But Noah was not interested in what man thought.  He looked around and saw the degradation that all of man's efforts had produced.  He knew that once the waters rose, there would be no place of refuge.  He trusted only in God, in the rock...the rock that has always been a firm foundation for those who trust in God and a stumbling block to those who refused to take God's instruction. 

So the question becomes, 'What do I take refuge in?  Do I trust in my own wisdom to carry me through the storms?  Do I trust in my bank account?  Do I trust in all of the possessions I have accumulated?  Do I trust in my friends or family?  Do I trust in my church and the pastors?  Do I trust in all the self-help books I have read?  Or, do I trust in the rock:  the one that is higher than I."

For you have been my refuge,
   a strong tower against the foe. - Ps. 61:3 NIV

2010 Post - Genesis 4-5:  Stop and Listen

Genesis 1-3: Good and Evil

God, the Creator of all things, knew what was good.  He looked at his creation, including mankind, as it came into being and pronounced,  'It is good!'  Day and night, sea and land, animals and vegetation, even man himself, all of God's creation was good.  God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. - Gen. 1:31 NIV

God gave man a beautiful garden with all that was needed  to sustain life and withheld only one thing; the knowledge of good and evil.  We did not need to know about evil, God was protecting us from that.  All we needed to know was that what God provided was complete and good.

But, as everyone knows, that was not enough for man, or woman, as in the case of Eve.  Instead of trusting God they wanted to know it all.  They were pro-choice and look at the results,  for them in the beginning and down through the ages. 

The question that remains for me is what would I have done if I were the first one to come face-to-face with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?  Would I want the choice?  Would I have trusted God that his plan for me was only good and that I didn't need to know what evil was all about?  I'm afraid, that faced with the temptation of being able to know about evil, I would have chosen knowledge over trust as has been the case many times in my life. I have wanted to see what evil was, perhaps not be carried down to the depths with it, but I have wanted to taste it, and in doing so, I have suffered the same disastrous results that Adam and Eve suffered.  I have seen myself as I really am.  Not a pretty sight.

God loved his creation.  He only wanted the best for us.  But he also gave us free will and we usually decide that we want to be the one to make the choice. It's not so much a question of good versus evil.  Good and evil have always existed.  It's that desire to be able to choose between the two that trips us up every time.

2010 Post - Genesis 1-3:  Breath of Heaven