#18 THE FIRST COVENANT

     After relating the stories of Creation, Noah, Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, the book of Genesis ends with the account of how Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel, made the way for his whole family to relocate to Egypt during a destructive drought. From this point on, the writers of the Old Testament pivot to writing about the covenant that God made with the nation of Israel. From the first chapters of Exodus to the last words of Malachi, these writers explore the interactions between God and the descendants of Jacob from many different angles. Rather than going through all that has been written (for the present time), I am going to focus on God’s purpose in giving the Law to the Israelites in this post and on an incident in David’s life that opened the door for God to give His only begotten Son to the human race in my next post.

     Have you ever wondered why God picked Moses to lead Israel out of the land of Egypt? I’ve thought about it quite a bit, so I’d like to offer two reasons that may explain God’s line of thought. First, as evidenced in the narrative found in Exodus 3:1-4:17, Moses was stubborn and not afraid to ask questions. Remember that, when God spoke directly to Job in a whirlwind, He told the man to gird his loins like a man? Well, Moses did just that when God spoke to him from a burning bush. Moses was not intimidated and kept pressing God for more understanding. Moses knew his own weaknesses and he may well have been concerned about the reception he would receive from both the Israelites and the Egyptians. Even after God demonstrated how He would work through supernatural signs, Moses still resisted the “call.” God met his need by promising to send Aaron with him to do the speaking. Both God and Moses gained what they wanted through this interchange and great power came out of it.

     As far as the second reason for God’s choice of Moses as the leader of Israel, God may well have picked Moses because he killed a man. Follow my train of thought here–the Israelites really had no concept of the character of God (remember the golden calf incident?), so they gave Satan plenty of opportunities to come before God and accuse them. God needed a man who would intercede for the heedless children of Jacob. Because he had killed a man and found that act to be futile in achieving his goals, Moses had gained the understanding that enabled him to consistently stand before God and to ask Him to be merciful. The pleas of this man overrode Satan’s ploy to destroy the nation of Israel.

     Continuing on, God had two distinct purposes in giving the Law to Moses and the Israelites. First, God wanted to focus their attention on Him. By instituting all the celebrations and sacrifices, God ensured that Jacob’s descendants would remain cognizant of His existence and His power. Without the structure of religious observances, the Hebrews would have forgotten all about Him, and if they had forgotten about Him, they would have been sitting ducks for Satan’s destruction. All the offerings, sacrifices, and holy days were just the means to the end–they acted as placeholders until Christ was able to accomplish what he did on the cross. Secondly,God also wanted to make sure the Israelites understood what destructive behavior was and that destructive behavior has definite consequences. All the rules and regulations were instituted to give direction to this group of people and to prevent chaos as they wandered through the wilderness and settled in the Promise Land. Again, God was intent on limiting Satan’s ability to wipe out the Israelites.

     As we continue on in this series, we are going to investigate how the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ completely overrode this covenant that God made with Jacob’s descendants. With that in mind, I encourage all of us to let go of the rules and regulations that are in the pages of the Old Testament and to focus on the promises that God made to the nation of Israel. When Christ died on that cross, he extended every one of those promises to the whole human race. And, we will also find that, as we cleave to God, we will fulfill the law from the inside out.

     As always, all respectful comments are welcomed!

 

     ©2009 by Patricia Zell.  All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, September 27th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in THE OLD TESTAMENT

#17 I HAVE LOVED JACOB

     When Isaac was ready to get married, Abraham sent his trusted servant back to his homeland to find a wife for the young man. When the servant returned with Rebekah, Isaac fell in love with her and wanted to have children with her. When Rebekah’s inability to conceive became apparent, Isaac prayed for her and she soon was pregnant with twin boys. Those two sons–Esau and Jacob–then became the focus of God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 25-36).

     Looking back at that time, Malachi 1:2-3 (NASB) relates God’s words about the two sons of Isaac and Rebekah: “…Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau…”  Wow, that smacks of favoritism, doesn’t it? God loved one son and hated the other.  And, not only that, but in the New Testament, Paul went even further when he tried to explain what Malachi had written: “…for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls” (Romans 9:11).  Again, was God playing favorites or worse–was He explicitedly condemning Esau to destruction and promoting Jacob to blessings?

     I believe if we think this situation through and look at some additional scriptures, we can find the underlying reasoning behind God’s statements and can find out just what He meant. First, from statements made by Isaiah (41:1,5) and Jeremiah (1:5), we can infer that, when parents are believers, they bring God into their children’s lives before the babies are conceived. Or, in other words, believing parents sanctify their future offspring. (Now, that’s not to say that God doesn’t have his eyes on all babies, but that we can be confident that believers set their children apart through prayer.) With this in mind, let’s think about what God told Rebekah when she asked Him about the war that seemed to be going on in her belly. He answered her by telling her two nations were fighting inside of her and that the elder would serve the younger (Genesis 25:23). Let’s be practical here–if the Bible is real, God is the Creator of DNA and the genetic composition of physical beings (something none of the biblical writers knew about). Thus, we can surmise that He knew the personality of each twin, He knew they were fraternal twins, He knew their personalities were going to clash, and He knew their position in Rebekah’s womb.

     Now, in order to keep His promise to Abraham, which would involve the founding of the nation of Israel and the establishment of the human lineage of Jesus Christ, God had to chose one of the twins to be Isaac’s heir. I believe God chose Jacob based on his personality traits–after all, this twin was determined to get his own way even during birth by trying to pull Esau out of the way. This resolve to reach his goals brought focus to Jacob’s life. Esau, on the other hand, seemed to live for the moment, as was evidenced by his willingness to “sell” his birth right to Jacob for food (Genesis 25:29-34). God knew that the nation of Israel was going to have to be determined in order to endure Satan’s onslaught to destroy it, so He needed to chose the twin who had the personality to persist whether that child was the first born or not. From God’s perspective, Jacob was the logical choice.

     As the twins grew up, God’s wisdom in choosing Jacob became apparent. Esau had a rebellious streak a mile long–he was disobedient to his parents big time (Genesis 26:34-35)–while Jacob listened to his parents and obeyed them even when deceit was involved (Genesis 27:6-29). Jacob also sought God and thought things through. For example, when his uncle Laban tried several times to get the best of him, Jacob was able to endure and to win what he wanted (Genesis 28-31).

     One final thought–when God said He loved Jacob and hated Esau, He was not talking about His emotional state of mind. Rather, God was talking about His choice of who would father the nation that would bring forth Jesus Christ. We should remember that Isaac also blessed Esau and God honored that blessing. In spite (or should I say, because) of Esau’s tendency to live for the moment, the man did prosper. By the time Jacob came back home, Esau was ready to welcome him with open arms and total forgiveness (Genesis 33). In a sense, God temporarily “hated” Esau to move His plan forward so that Esau and all of his descendants would take part in the promises of Isaiah 25:6-8. Along with the rest of the human race, Esau will see God swallow up death in victory!

     As always, please feel free to comment–just be sure to be respectful of everyone.

 

     ©2009 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, September 7th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in THE OLD TESTAMENT

#16 ABRAHAM–NO TO HUMAN SACRIFICE

     To us who live in the twenty-first century after the birth of Jesus Christ, the practice of human sacrifice is considered to be an abomination. Thus, when we read the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac that is found in Genesis 22:1-18, we wonder why in the world would God ask Abraham to do such a thing. The biblical writers interpreted this event as God testing Abraham to answer the question–would he be willing to destroy his most precious “possession” to please his friend, God? And today, some people make the connection that, since Abraham was willing to sacrifice Issac, the door was opened for God to sacrifice Jesus Christ. I think both of these understandings miss a major point, so let’s look at this event from a different perspective.

     By the time Abraham was born, one of the greatest inroads Satan had made into destroying the human race was the practice of human sacrifice. As people worshipped idols, many times they were required to appease those gods by offering other human beings to be killed. Nothing was more repugnant to God than this practice because God is love, light, life, and good. That God would look for for a way to deal with this depravity makes sense, so let’s consider what He saw in Abraham that enabled Him make a definitive statement against human sacrifice. Above everything else, Abraham was faithful to seek and to listen to God–he had proven himself over and over. Now, the listening part was the most important because God had to have confidence that when He told Abraham to stop, the man would obey. God also knew that Abraham believed His promises–that Abraham believed if he sacrificed his son, God would raise the boy from the dead (Hebrews 11:19).  So, with this in mind, can we see that by leading Abraham to the point of sacrifice and then supplying a substitute, God was able to make a strong statement against an abhorrent custom that warred against everything God is.

     The importance of this whole interaction between God and Abraham cannot be overstated. One of the most egregious “sins” that Israel commited during the Old Testament times was causing their children to pass through the fire or, in other words, to be sacrificed to idols. Again, God knew this practice would be a weapon that Satan would use to destroy Israel, so He revealed His truth against human sacrifice through Abraham. And, as we can see in our world today, this truth has mostly won against the sacrifice of human beings. I personally am thankful to both God and Abraham for their faithfulness to each other and for the power of the truth that God does not require human sacrifice. He really is the God of life!

     As always, please feel free to comment respectfully.

     ©2009 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, August 17th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in THE OLD TESTAMENT