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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Thursday, April 13, 2023
Today's Passage : Today's Passage : "Jacob Blesses His Sons" Bible Verse:Genesis 49:1-13 "Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come. Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob, listen to Israel your father. “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. Unstable 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! “Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. “Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea; he shall become a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon. " Message:
All we know of Jacob’s displeasure with Reuben is that Reuben slept with Bilbah, one of the two slave women with whom Jacob had sons. (Genesis 35:22)
Emblem of Jerusalem The Emblem of Jerusalem, showing the Lion of Judah.Apparently, this offense was serious enough to alienate Jacob and his eldest son, but not enough so that Reuben was driven out. Simeon and Levi, Leah’s next two sons, are criticized for their temper and violent nature.
Judah is favored by Jacob and, from the little we have seen, rightly so. He was apparently a man of wisdom and strength. He had already taken on a lot of the responsibility for guiding the tribe of Israel. Although it is Joseph who will receive Jacob’s blessing, and become head of the tribe (as we will see in the next episode), Judah’s line will be the strongest. The first 8 books of 1 Chronicles are so dry as to be practically unreadable, but one short passage helps explain the relationship of Reuben, Judah, and Joseph (e.g. 1 Chronicles 5:1-3)
Most importantly, it is from the Tribe of Judah that David and Solomon, and eventually Jesus of Nazareth, will spring. Indeed, the lines beginning “The scepter shall not depart from Judah” can be seen as a prophecy of Christ
Jacob compares him to a lion, and the “Lion of Judah” became a famous symbol in Judaism and early Christianity, for it is also associated with Christ. In The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis depicted a Christ figure as a lion named Aslan.
The oddest use of the term comes from the country with the oddest relationship to Judaism and Christianity, Ethiopia. Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia, was known as the “Lion of Judah.” The figure was the central the symbol on the Ethiopian flag until 1974.
Rastafarian tradition holds that Selassie was the direct descendant of Judah himself, and the notion is not terribly far-fetched. An ancient Ethiopian book related that when the Queen of Sheba returned from Israel, she had a male child sired by Solomon (the head of the Tribe of Judah), as well as a retinue of Hebrews from the Tribe of Dan. And indeed, as far back as history goes, a community of Jews (called “Beta Israel”) lived in Ethiopia, although the great majority of them repatriated to Israel proper during the political strife and famine of the years after Selassie was overthrown.
Meditation : Prayer : Dear Jesus, help me to be good and happy all this day. Make me faithful in my work and fair in my play. Show me how to do some kind act today. Bless my relatives, friends, and minister [or priest], and help me to show my love for them, and for all I encounter, and especially for You, this and every day of my life. Amen..... |
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