Reading the Map: “Facing the Tests of Time” (part two) – Genesis 49

Built at the height of the Roman Empire, one of the most profound symbols of ancient power was built in the year 80 CE, a mere ten years after the Roman Emperor stole the goods of God’s Temple in Jerusalem. That symbol is none other than oval shaped, six acre stadium called the Roman Coloseo. Named after a 100 foot tall colossal statue of Nero that once stood near the northwest end of the “Flavian Amphitheatre” (or Anfiteatro Flavio, as it was called long ago), the huge stadium could hold 50,000 thundering people and that is 100,000 thumbs! Though made of 3.5 million cubic feet of travertine stone, and engineered by the best builders over a decade carefully chosen by Emperor Vespasian (69-79 CE), his son Titus (79-81 CE), and finally completed by his other son Domitian (81-96 CE: who exiled John the Apostle to Patmos). Look at the structure up close and you will notice that time has not been kind to this huge carnival of killing. It has been looted, pillaged and stripped. Though once the symbol of power, it had become a quarry for popes and quandary for city planners. Today there is a hope that it will be restored fully – but it hasn’t happened yet.

That huge structure remind me that even the most powerful and elegant face the test of time. Weathering erodes and destroys even the colossal. As “needs” arose over the centuries, something once cherished became a relic. When the value drifted elsewhere, the changes were profound. What is true in building is true in life – when our values are shifted away and other more tantalizing and new symbols rise, it is easy for us to forget one important truth.

Key Principle: We must stand for our values, no matter what our nature is. The shift away from a Biblical value system has incredible consequences.

As we near the end of the “Map Book”, we need to recognize that time unfolds the fruits of our lives – we need to confront that behaviors have consequences. Today we will again look at the blessings of Jacob’s sons. The fruit of our lives shows both the grace of God and the frailty of man. We all face a sea of temptations and troubles, but God moves to accomplish His purposes in us! We are not cut off from blessing because God does not love us, it is that He has told us the effects to keep us away from the causes – but we stubbornly refuse to listen. We are cut off from blessing because we refuse to connect the dots of our troubles to their real cause – our defiance and rebellion. Until we connect the symptoms to the actual cause and deal with that cause, we have no hope of gaining the intended life of blessing.

Last time we NAMED the first three sons of the blessing portion. We entered tent and saw a man lying on a cot, propped against a tent post, with quivering lips and shaky hands. He was a man with great history and experience in both self life and surrender – of manipulation and of bonafide blessing. Jacob, the man whose very name meant “trickster” was a man changed by God through the pounding pressures of daily life. He wrestled with God for control and finally gave God what was due Him – his will. He gave up. He took his name “Israel” and now looked to his sons and their sons to carry his name of blessing.

Son of Privilege

The first of his sons that he named was Reuben (“Look, a son!”) the joy of Leah. He was firstborn, but he was not going to live his life in the blessing that was intended in that role. We called him a “son of privilege”:

49:3 “Reuben, [29:32; from Leah, look a son] you are my firstborn; My might and the beginning of my strength, Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. 4 “Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, Because you went up to your father’s bed; Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.

He faced the consequences of entitlement feelings and uncontrolled desires. Given the place of the first born with all of its natural blessings, Reuven was passed over for the double portion (Dt. 21:17) because of sex with Bilhah (Gen. 35:22). Reuben cared for his own pleasure and popularity more than his father’s feelings and faithfulness to his God (cp. Selling of Joseph story in 39:17ff). His big problems stemmed from two fundamental roots: the desire for peer affirmation more than a desire to do right, and the lack of developed discipline in his appetites.

We saw last time the effect those two roots had on the story of Reuven’s children:

• They settled East of Jordan with Gad and half-Manasseh (Josh 1:12ff) and almost caused war when they set up a monument (Josh 22:10).

• Their tribe refused to fight with Debroah and Barak against Sisera of Hazor (Jud. 4:1-3, 5:15-16) in violation of oath to Moses.

His lack of respect followed him in the lives of his children. His hunger to have the acceptance of his brothers more than he hungered to obey his father made him choose not to protect his brother Joseph. He didn’t learn to bridle his need for affirmation. Failure to break the hunger of peer acceptance is DEADLY -it kills blessing!

Second, he failed to learn to discipline his own body, and place appropriate limitations on his sexual desires. If people are not fundamentally called to live OPPOSITE of how their fallen world and their fallen body feels on many an occasion, than I am missing the point of much of Scripture. So you WANT to do it. What has God, your Creator said about it? That is what you should do. FEED your FEEL and you FEEL will KILL.

Have you bridled your desires for affirmation? Have you controlled you sexual appetite? If you haven’t, you are sitting here riddled with a guilt God never intended you to have that is eating away at blessing. Connect the dots. The problem is an unsurrendered heart in the areas of these needs. You need to be affirmed, and so do I – but we need to get that from our identity in Messiah, not our peers. They are a cheap second to our real need. We may feel the need to satiate lusts, but our call is to surrender every part of our body to the Lord, and as a holy offering, separate ourselves to His use this week.

Reuben thought he was entitled to more because God had blessed him incredibly. He was first born. Even the privileged can lose blessing when entitlement sneaks into the heart and takes root.

Unbridled Sons

Turn your eyes to the second and third sons of Jacob through Leah, whose names are “God heard” – Simeon and “apportioned or joined”  – Levi.  I call these sons the “Unbridled Sons”.

49:5 “Simeon [29:33; from Leah, hearing] and Levi [29:34; from Leah, joined] are brothers;  Their swords are implements of violence. 6 “Let my soul not enter into their council;  Let not my glory be united with their assembly;  Because in their anger they slew men,  And in their self-will they lamed oxen. 7 “Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;  And their wrath, for it is cruel.  I will disperse them in Jacob,  And scatter them in Israel.

Like his older sibling, this son followed suit as an unbridled Son: The two “are brothers” is an expression like “two peas in a pod” – they shared traits. They deceived the sons of Shechem (Gen. 34:25) and were forced to scatter through Israel and Judah. Levi was deliberately scattered, Simeon was amalgamated into southern Judah (Num. 18:24; Josh. 19:1-9).

The “hotheads” needed to be separated and not combined. If we desire to satiate our anger by taking it out on others, we will end up isolated. We must give mercy to get mercy. We must govern extreme emotions  - or it will cost future blessing.

Unbridled sons never defeat their tantrums. They don’t learn to reign in their hot tempers. They believe a lie – that if they can explode they will feel better. I know it is a lie because when they explode, they make terrible choices and feel worse. Many of those changes are unchangeable ones.

Son of Direction

The fourth son had a name embedded with blessing. Judah, or PRAISE, was named after Leah’s conclusion of a battle to surrender to God in her life. She figured out that no man could complete her, and she needed to take solace in what GOD was doing in and through her. Look at the blessings promised to him:

• 49:8 “Judah, [29:35; from Leah, praise] your brothers shall praise you;  Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. 9 “Judah is a lion’s whelp;  From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? 10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah,  Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,  Until Shiloh comes,  And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. 11 “He ties his foal to the vine,  And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine;  He washes his garments in wine,  And his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 “His eyes are dull from wine,  And his teeth white from milk.

By Genesis 43:3, Judah became the spokesman of the family in Egypt before the unrecognized Joseph and began to lead instead of Reuben. “A lion’s whelp” is a poetic reference to reigning – a symbol of sovereignty.

• The picture of Judah as lion will be used prophetically (see Num. 24:9; Ezek. 19:1-7 and Micah 5:8). The other tribes will follow him and he would be left alone as a lion in wait.

• The scepter would be placed with him until Peace giver came (Num. 24:17; Rev. 5:5 – the lion of Judah) assured by David’s line (1 Chron. 28:4; 5:2; 2 Sam. 7:13).

He would live in unparalleled prosperity and peace and bring great blessing to all the family. The text says that God would abundantly pour out on him wine sufficient to wash his clothing in, and pour blessing over his life. He will have more than he needs.

Jacob saw Judah grow to lead. He saw him become the family compass and saw what that would do in his future. He was not given the natural position of leader, but surrender got him what nature didn’t – and that is the point.

Son of Exploration

Zebulun would look to the sea not the land for his wealth and possession – an unusual feature for a desert people. The focus of his blessing was on WHERE he would be, not WHAT he would be. His orientation would make him different, but also cause him to be separate from his brothers in thought and desire.

• 49:13 “Zebulun [30:20; from Leah, dwelling] will dwell at the seashore;  And he shall be a haven for ships,  And his flank shall be toward Sidon.

He was an inquisitive youth, and had the heart of an explorer. His choices would bring him moments of exhilaration that his brothers would never quite understand. He was a “different child”. His thrill came as much from chase and the apprehension of what he was chasing. He wanted something different than others, but he would add something to his family that no one else could.

God didn’t treat the creative and explorer child as a problem – He made the man to add something unique to the whole scene. He used the man in important ways – but few would ever hear of it. Explorer children are often like that!

The Near-sighted Son

• 49:14 “Issachar [30:18; from Leah, he brings wages] is a strong donkey,  Lying down between the sheepfolds. 15 “When he saw that a resting place was good  And that the land was pleasant,  He bowed his shoulder to bear burdens,  And became a slave at forced labor.

Issachar was happy to work hard and accomplish, but he was not shrewd. He saw what he wanted and when he could have it right now, he didn’t pla for his future – he simply used what was in front of him. He worked, bearing the load of burden of the fields, and then rested when he could – enjoying all the fruits of the labor with no plan for his future.

He quickly became what anyone becomes when they concentrate on the short term satisfaction – a slave of others. He got a credit card. He charged up what he thought would make him happy and didn’t worry about a plan. He became the servant of the lender. He lacked a plan to defend himself, resting in current comforts and waking up to find himself enslaved. Failure to protect early left him vulnerable to sharper men.

God gave him a place of blessing, but he wanted too much too fast. He was too focused on his pleasure and his rest in the short term to hold on to his freedom and prosperity in the long term.

Son of Disruption

Dan became a barometer of the family, living first near the Philistine plain and falling into envy in stories like that of Samson that came from the tribe of Dan (Judges 13:2,24).

• 49:16 “Dan [30:6; from Bilhah, judge] shall judge his people,  As one of the tribes of Israel. 17 “Dan shall be a serpent in the way,  A horned snake in the path,  That bites the horse’s heels,  So that his rider falls backward. 18 “For Your salvation I wait, O LORD.

He lost his territory and was forced to move to the northern border of Israel. His city became the first of the high places against the Temple after Jeroboam build a segmented kingdom. Though not LOST as a people, his tribe because a “thorn in the flesh” to the whole of the family. Failure to stand on his own cost everyone else in the family.

When a son or daughter compromises in moral areas, he causes pain and problems for the rest of his family. The child who will not get drug treatment keeps stealing until the family painfully cannot allow him to come home. Each time he shows up at the holiday party, he causes some disruption. He believes it is THEM, and fails to connect the reactions to his compromised and warped view of the world.

Go back in your heart and ask this: Am I really walking in harmony with the values God wants me to have? If I am not, I am setting up pain for myself and those around me.

Son of Courage

Gad isn’t a major player in many parts of the Hebrew Bible. There are a few important and exceptional places, where his courage seems to stand out, and they seem to fit well into the blessing given by Israel to his son.

• 49:19 “As for Gad [30:11; from Zilpah, troop], raiders shall raid him,  But he will raid at their heels.

There is a section in the Book of Chronicles that summarizes the family stories of Jacob’s sons. By chapter 5, Gad’s family comes into the story:

1 Chron. 5:18 “The sons of Reuben and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, consisting of valiant men, men who bore shield and sword and shot with bow and were skillful in battle, were 44,760, who went to war. … 20 They were helped against them… for they cried out to God in the battle, and He answered their prayers because they trusted in Him.”

Gad was attacked, but fought for freedom (1 Chron. 5:18; 12:8-15). His children suffered from invasions, but fought back valiantly. 1 Chron 12. also offers a like story.

1 Chron. 12:8 “From the Gadites there came over to David in the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, who could handle shield and spear, and whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the gazelles on the mountains. … 14These of the sons of Gad were captains of the army; he who was least was equal to a hundred and the greatest to a thousand. 15These are the ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month when it was overflowing all its banks and they put to flight all those in the valleys, both to the east and to the west.”

Gad was made of the few, the skilled, the courageous. They knew God and they knew the grit of battle. They could use their hands to pray or to punish. Their courage was etched into their faces. People counted on them for defense and help.

Aren’t you glad for the sons and daughters of courage? We have been blessed with many who are willing to stand up to keep us safe! Courage needs to be taught and modeled in the lives of our young if we are to survive.

Son of Delight

We called our third child “Sara Joy”. If you ask her, she will tell you that she has heard me say a thousand times, “Sara, you are the JOY of my life”. Don’t over-spiritualize this – she is a joy but I am trying to get her to see the blessing her creative spirit is in our lives. Asher was the culinary artist of the group. He was like a fine CHEF – he would dwell in a land with great ingredients and produce great flavor profiles!

• 49:20 “As for Asher [30:13; from Zilpah, gladness], his food shall be rich,  And he will yield royal dainties.

Asher would “have fat bread” (dip his bread in oil) and live a great life. He would produce the food for fit for a king’s table. The prophetess Anna was from this tribe (Lk. 2:36). God prepared a place of extravagance for him. As with all children of extravagance, Asher would suffer hardships more deeply, for he is not used to hardship.

A delightful and creative child can be fun, and always produces something special – but they must be trained to deal with hardship – disappointment hits them like a body blow. They must be trained to resilience!

The Wanderer

Most families have a Naphtali in the family line. He or she is the “struggler” because they are prone to wander. You find them as toddlers in the strip mall far from mom as she tearfully panics to find them. They march to their own drummer, and he is never going in the direction of the rest of the family. They learn to navigate the cliffs and take chances that scare the rest of us – but they produce things of great beauty.

• 49:21 “Naphtali [30:8; Bilhah, my struggle or wrestling] is a doe let loose,  He gives beautiful words.

They are hard to nail down, Naphtali will be about words and movement. He will be eloquent and swift, but not locked down easily. His children would be verbal and talented, mobile and effective.

One very special warning about the wanderers: they must be taught to focus and understand how to fit – even if they choose not to in the end. Failure to focus will keep him from the long term gains normally associated with success.

The Steadfast Son

Some of our children seem to get it even before we train them. They understand the benefits of consistency and resilience when beat down. They produce even against the odds.

• 49:22 “Joseph [30:24; from Rachel; he shall add – future tense] is a fruitful bough,  A fruitful bough by a spring;  Its branches run over a wall. 23 “The archers bitterly attacked him,  And shot at him and harassed him; 24 But his bow remained firm,  And his arms were agile,  From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob  (From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), 25 From the God of your father who helps you,  And by the Almighty who blesses you  With blessings of heaven above,  Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,  Blessings of the breasts and of the womb. 26 “The blessings of your father  Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors  Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills;  May they be on the head of Joseph,  And on the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.

God would use Joseph’s sons (Ephraim and Manasseh) as His steadfast warriors that would see His Divine aid in battles to stand their ground. Aside from Judah, the next great blessing would be on his sons. They would suffer injury, but would stand successfully against many and gain much blessing.

Let me offer one Scriptural word of qualification about the steadfast son. Failure to follow God’s Word would thwart the demonstration effect of God through them.

The Unsettled Son

• 49:27 “Benjamin [35:18; from Rachel, son of my right hand] is a ravenous wolf;  In the morning he devours the prey,  And in the evening he divides the spoil.”

Benjamin was a wolf on the prowl, unsatisfied and searching. He would devour his enemies and divide their spoils (cp. Jud. 20). His nature is more seen by Saul of Tarsus than by King Saul – both of whom are claimed in his ranks.

Failure to settle down will keep his family stirred and looking at the future without the present.

As we close our thoughts about this blessing scene in the tent long ago, think about just a few insights worth recalling:

1.       The sons of great blessing and importance (Judah, the tribe of Jesus and Levi, the tribe of priests) were both given to Jacob/Israel though he never intended to marry their mother, Leah. His intent could not foresee God’s great blessing!

2.       In the end of the story, all were told to perform the task TOGETHER to bury and honor their family – with specific prescription as to where and how.

49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him. 29 Then he charged them and said to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site. 31 “There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah— 32 the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.

You see, your nature doesn’t get you off the hook for your responsibilities in God’s family. Because you have a certain “BEND” doesn’t change your responsibility level. You are shaped in the womb, but your destiny is more about your choices based on VALUES than about your NATURE.

Spencer Clay Shiver was born December 7, 1972 in Tifton, Georgia. Long before he was a professional football player (an offensive lineman) for the Dallas Cowboys and later the Carolina Panthers, Clay adopted a strong work ethic from parents who valued integrity above personal short cuts and character over comfort. Through the ranks of high school academics and athletics in Tifton, Georgia, Clay chose Florida State University. At FSU, Clay was called by Coach Bobby Bowden “the greatest center he has ever coached”.

In 1996, Shiver was the first Florida State Seminole selected to the NFL draft, the 67th overall pick by the Dallas Cowboys. Why do I mention him? Ken Walker wrote in Christian Reader about Clay’s having been chosen by one magazine wanted to name him to their preseason All-American football team. The problem was that the magazine was Playboy, and Clay Shiver is a dedicated Christian. He wrote: “Shiver and the team chaplain suspected that Playboy would select him, and so he had time to prepare his response. Shiver knew well what a boon this could be for his career. Being chosen for this All-American team meant that sportswriters regarded him as the best in the nation at his position. Such publicity never hurts athletes who aspire to the pros and to multimillion dollar contracts.” “But Shiver had higher values and priorities. When informed that Playboy had made their selection, Clay Shiver simply said, ‘No thanks.’ That’s right, he flatly turned down the honor. ‘Clay didn’t want to embarrass his mother and grandmother by appearing in the magazine or giving old high school friends an excuse to buy that issue,’ writes Walker. Shiver further explained by quoting Luke 12:48: ‘To whom much is given, of him much is required.’” “I don’t want to let anyone down,” said Shiver, “and number one on that list is God” (Larson, p. 53).

We must stand for our values, no matter what our nature is. The shift away from a Biblical value system has incredible consequences