HE IS OUR PEACE

Time with Jesus - 27 Dec 2013

Hi all,

Never have more than one wife at a time, even when it may be permissible, under the law. Apart from other considerations, it’s a sure recipe for losing your peace. Jacob learned this lesson by bitter experience. He lost a piece of peace without which he would never recover. The arch deceiver was out-deceived by his Uncle Laban in a way that has given rise to innumerable problems. Problems he didn’t really want. We saw a couple of days ago; Jacob married Leah thinking she was Rachel. 

Can you imagine how he felt next morning when he woke up? Instead of his beloved Rachel, he was sharing a pillow with Leah, sometimes referred to as the ugly sister! Then with Uncle Laban’s approval, one week later he married Rachel. His peace must have departed permanently. Mind you, Leah seemed happy enough!

Over the period of a couple of years, Jacob had six sons and a daughter by Leah and four sons by the two slave girls Bilhah and Zilpah. Only then did Rachel conceive. She gave birth to Jacob’s favourite son, Joseph. For the record, Rachel died some time later giving birth to Jacob’s youngest son, Benjamin.

All this presented Jacob with a major problem. He would have liked to make Joseph the “chief” son and head of the family. Unfortunately for him, it was not possible. All six of his sons by Leah were “senior” to Joseph. The birth-right of the family usually devolved upon the first son. That son was Reuben. Reuben was entitled to receive the double portion of the inheritance along with the family headship after Jacob’s death. Jacob couldn’t give that to Joseph, even if he wanted to.

We know that the first son, Reuben disgraced himself in his father’s eyes by sleeping with one of Jacob’s concubines. So Jacob was able to bypass Reuben. Thus, Simeon would become the family head. That would have happened if Simeon, along with his younger brother Levi, (Jacob’s third son) hadn’t massacred the people of Shechem. Read Gen 34 for the details. This so angered Jacob, they too lost the birth-right and double portion. That’s when the birth-right and family headship devolved upon Judah. In other words, the head of the family and recipient of the double portion of inheritance after Jacob’s death, would be Judah. In terms of the culture of the day, that’s how it had to be.

This didn’t change Jacob’s preference for Joseph. He was the son of Rachel, the wife he had really wanted. Jacob would have loved to pass everything on to Joseph. That would have been contrary to family custom and Jacob had to comply with the laws of succession. Nevertheless, Jacob wanted to give Joseph a double portion of the inheritance. The question was, how would he do it? He thought things through carefully. Then, toward the end of his life and while living in Egypt, he formally adopted Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh (the first-born) and Ephraim (the second-born). Joseph himself was already “filthy rich” as Pharaoh’s Prime Minister so had little need for wealth. This would have been much more than any double portion of inheritance he could hope to give Joseph. Thus Joseph was taken out of the inheritance equation and was replaced by Ephraim and Manasseh. ⁵ "So your two sons, who were born in Egypt before I came here, are my sons. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are. Gen 48:5 GW

Jacob proceeded to bless his two adopted sons, the sons of Joseph. Note what happened. ¹⁴ But Israel crossed his hands and reached out. He put his right hand on Ephraim's head, although Ephraim was the younger son. He put his left hand on Manasseh's head, although Manasseh was older. Gen 48:14 GW Under the sign of the cross, he changed their inheritance order. He declared Ephraim the elder and Manasseh the younger. I presume this was acceptable in terms of adoption. Then it was “done and dusted”. Joseph was “removed” and Jacob’s two “grandsons”, now slotted into Jacob’s inheritance sequence where Joseph would have been. Thus Joseph would receive, albeit indirectly, a double portion just as Jacob wished.

If this was a fairy story we would say, “They all lived happily ever after”. The fact is, they didn’t. For many generations there was tension in the family on the basis of who should lead the family. The traditionalists insisted it would be Judah. That’s what happened. Finally King David was crowned as the leader from the tribe of Judah. But Ephraim was not forgotten. His tribe was the one through whom many insisted the kingship should have come. The “high point” of this tribal disagreement came about when the Kingdom split at the time when Rehoboam came to the throne. He wanted to make things more difficult for the people. 

As a result, 10 tribes broke away under Jeroboam and established the Kingdom of Israel. Two tribes remained behind with Rehoboam. These were Judah and Benjamin. The Northern Kingdom was sometimes called, Ephraim in honour of the tribe Jacob would have liked to appoint as head of the family. This rivalry remained behind until ±722 BC when the Assyrians took the ten tribes in the North into captivity. Ephraim was gone. Only Judah remained.

In a way, two women brought about a family crisis which lasted for over 1000 years! One wife at a time is more than enough. Two wives could destroy peace in the family. That’s what happened. Only Jesus can re-establish peace in such circumstances.

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland 

Jacob's Sons by his two wives and two concubines

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – 27 Dec 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
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INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	HE IS OUR PEACE
Examination nerves. Who still experiences them? Who can recall them? What I recollect is that the more I knew and remembered about the subject, the less the examination nerves. I can’t quantify this in real terms, but it was true enough. I do recall opening the exam paper and reading the questions. They seemed easy enough, so I got on with it and did quite well. I also remember writing a hydraulics exam paper in 1963. One look and that was the end. I hadn’t enjoyed the subject and it showed. The only question I could answer with any degree of certainty was on the front cover. It said Name? I think it was a clear example to me of reaping what I’d sown. Another way to put it is: zero input = zero output. That would have been the end for me. But the following year I was at a different Technical School. This school didn’t include hydraulics in the syllabus. So I managed to get through for two years and ended up with my Higher National Mechanical Engineering Certificate. Even today, hydraulics continues to be a closed book. Fortunately I’ve never needed it. But I’ve never forgotten those exam nerves. Mr Bernoulli, his theorem and I, didn’t get on! What about Jesus? Did He experience a nervous reaction before the crucifixion? We know He did. The whole Gethsemane account clearly tells us He didn’t particularly want to pass that exam. If anything, He would have preferred an alternative test in a different School. Who can blame Him? If I knew that what happened to Him from Gethsemane to His death on the cross, was about to be my lot, I think I would have run away. As far and as quickly as possible! How do you prepare for something like that? I suppose a good pass from the School of Martyrs would be ideal. But Jesus had the wonderful ability of being able to focus on the present, rather than on what would happen a few hours hence. Even so, He was able to sit down with the twelve; later the eleven; and encourage them. He knew He was on His way out. He knew what tomorrow would bring. In spite of this he was able to say to his disciples: 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27 ESV For me, this is perhaps one of His greatest miracles. Less than 24 hours before His death on the cross, He encouraged His disciples. Of course He is the Prince of Peace, so He could speak to them of the peace He was leaving them. Not an absence of war type “peace”. This was a supernatural peace. One that would take them into any and every situation with very little fear. Fear and peace are not good bedfellows. It’s what they needed to hear. That’s what He gave them. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			14 So he is our peace. In his body he has made Jewish and non-Jewish people one by breaking down the wall of hostility that kept them apart. Ephesians 2:14 GW	There’s such a massive difference between the Lord and men. None of us can bridge it, though we try it now and then. But He is God Almighty. He’s infinite in size. And we are almost nothing. Regardless how man tries, To get to The Creator; to close the massive gap, It seems it gets much bigger; and therein lies the trap. We think that we can do it. But we are doomed to fail. There’s no way to get to God while we’re in Satan’s jail. We know the gap originated many years before, Satan and his followers were chucked out heaven’s door. He was in rebellion; his peace with God was broken. He wondered if in Eden, the same could be awoken. So he came to Adam and called on his wife Eve. He had one objective, the woman to deceive. When he was successful and Adam disobeyed, A gap between the Lord and them instantly was made. This has grown much greater as sin was piled on sin. And it became impossible for man to enter in. Sin is so offensive. God could never stand, Anything that’s sinful, come to His right hand. People couldn’t do it. They’d be torn to pieces; Shredded to a nothingness that never ever ceases. Only God could do it. Only He could go, Into situations that man could never know. He is ultra-hostile to sin in any form. So this separation for Him was quite the norm. But He didn’t like it. The people He had made, Couldn’t ever get to Him unless His wrath was stayed. So between the Maker and His folk there was no peace. Something needed doing to cause the gap to cease! The Father solved the problem, by sending us His Son. He received the punishment that to us should be done. He became the bridge that crossed the monumental span, Sin and Satan put between Divinity and man. Simultaneously a bridge was also built Between the Jews and Gentiles. His precious blood was spilt So that all His people were likewise reconciled. Now in Christ the Saviour, we are all undefiled! Jim Strickland Written 27th December 2012
			19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:19-21 NIV
			19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation Colossians 1:19-22 NIV
			14 He wiped out the written Law with its rules. The Law was against us. It opposed us. He took it away and nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:14 NIrV
			15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in Himself one new people from the two groups. Ephesians 2:15 NLT
			27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27 ESV