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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then Israel said to Joseph, "I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers. And to you, as one who is over your brothers, I give the ridge of land I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow."
Then Jacob called for his sons and said: "Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come. "Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.”
"Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.”
"Simeon and Levi are brothers— their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.”
"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. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk."
Genesis 48:21-22, 49:1-12
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
After Jacob finishes blessing Joseph and his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, he calls the rest of his sons to be with him. In Genesis, chapter 49, we find where all twelve gather around him as their father addresses each, one at a time, prophesying what their tribe would like per the characteristics of the son, that tribe’s namesake.
Through his predictions, we learn something about the importance of the word “legacy”.
First up, we find Jacob addressing his eldest son, Reuben, the firstborn who deserved his father’s birthright but as we see, he instead received a curse from his father who said:
"Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.”
Reuben had everything going for him as the oldest of Jacob’s twelve sons but he allowed sin to enter into his life, choosing to commit adultery with Bilhah, one of Jacob’s wives and the servant of his beloved deceased wife Rachel. As we can see, it was an act that Jacob never forgot.
And so Reuben lost his chance to be blessed and left behind a legacy of deceit and infidelity, all because he decided that fulfilling his selfish needs were greater than staying true to God’s will and way. In the end translation, his one night stand cost him a lifetime of honor and respect.
Friends, this should serve as a warning to all who read through this passage. For I would feel safe in saying that someone in the world every day makes a poor choice that ends up ruining what was a promising future, leaving them with a damaged reputation. The truth of the matter is that it only takes one impropriety to destroy years of work to establish oneself in life. And we so often see, once a person loses their good repute, they never are able to gain it back again.
I think if we could go back and talk with Reuben after receiving his father’s rebuke and its associated penalty, I’m pretty sure he would have said it wasn’t worth the moments of pleasure he had with Bilhah, moments that disregarded and disrespected his father.
Well, after Reuben, we find Jacob addressing Simeon and Levi. Similar to Reuben, they had everything going for them as well for after their older brother had sinned so badly, losing the birthright, they would have been next in line as the second and third born.
But there was that matter that had occurred at Shechem.
You’ll remember that Shechem himself lusted after their sister Dinah and ended up raping her. And so in a spirit of vengeance over the sexual assault of their sister, Simeon and Levi tricked the men of Shechem into getting circumcised, promising that they would be allowed to marry the Israelite women if they did. The scriptures tell us that as the men were in the midst of their painful recovery from the circumcisions, Simeon and Levi entered the town and murdered them all before taking an abundance of plunder.
Like with Reuben, Jacob hadn’t forgotten what his two sons had done and in today’s passage he addresses their murderous rampage that left him so angry and disgraced, saying:
"Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel!"
Simeon and Levi had left a legacy of revenge and bloodshed that they initiated without seeking the counsel of God and their killing spree cost them any chance of gaining what Reuben had thrown away.
The case of Simeon and Levi got me thinking about how so many people today allow themselves to be consumed and overcome by anger and rage until they surrender themselves to murderous thoughts and kill others. Unfortunately, this happens every single day somewhere in the world as mere human beings take away the matter of judgment from the Lord, the only One with the right to exact judgment.
Oh, if every person would only go to the Word of God and simply submit themselves to learn from it. How many of these incidents could be prevented?
Well, if I stopped this message here, it would be filled with nothing but bad news but thankfully, we come to Judah and find a refreshing injection of positivity. For where the other three older brothers had fallen from grace with their father, we read where Judah is elevated to a place of honor.
Within our passage and Jacob’s words to Judah, we learn that he (Judah) will experience the following:
1. Command respect.
"...your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you."
2. Reign in power.
"...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."
3. Gain success.
“He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.”
Indeed, Judah would go onto greatness but why did he gain this level of honor?
Well in the Joseph story, the scriptures show us that Judah was the brother who was willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the youngest of the twelve, Benjamin. You’ll remember that Jacob had been apprehensive about sending Benjamin to Egypt as Joseph had demanded but Judah stepped in to put his father at ease, willing to exchange himself for his youngest brother if need be.
Further, you’ll also remember that it was Judah who spoke up and interceded for Benjamin and the rest of his brothers when Joseph had his silver cup planted in Benjamin’s bag. Judah’s impassioned plea showed his willingness to exhibit courage and honor during a crisis, even putting himself on the line for the ones he loved.
In the end translation, Judah did all the right things that allowed him to establish a great reputation and a legacy that could receive his father’s blessing.
All this leads us to some questions requiring introspect and self reflection.
For if we were to stop our life right now, what would our legacy be?
Would others see us in a positive or negative light?
And beyond that, how would our Lord view us? Would we hold a good or bad reputation with Him?
When it all comes down to it, the matter of legacy is always about the choices we make. For we all have the capacity to be as good or as bad as we want to be.
This is why today’s message is so important for us as believers because as we see, choosing our own sinful desires over the righteousness that God wants to lead us to has dire consequences. If they could speak out from the grave, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, or the countless others who made the same mistakes in life would tell us so.
So today and every day forward, let us all as Christians recommit to making the same choices that Jesus would make, doing what He would do in all things. For it is only by doing this that we can ensure that our legacy will be grounded in living as He did and there couldn’t be a better way to be remembered than that.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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