Having finished 1 Thessalonians, I decided to study about the 12 tribes of Israel this morning, this being a topic about which I am rather ignorant. In my defense, it is a rather confusing topic. But, let's take a look.
One of the early Old Testament patriarchs was Jacob. He was the son of Isaac and Rebekah. Isaac was one of the sons of Abraham, a name you should recognize. Jews often call themselves "children of Abraham."
Some of you may remember that Abraham, due to trying to take control of God's plan, produced another (illegitimate) son, Ishmael, through the servant girl of Abraham's wife, Sarah. Ishmael, in fact Abraham's firstborn, went on to have several sons, which formed 12 tribes also. These people groups are today those of Arab descent, who inhabit the countries of the middle east, and who are the Jews' arch-enemies. Isn't it odd that they share a common ancestor, yet the Ishmaelites hate the descendants of Isaac with a vitriolic hatred. Eventually, God's plan, in God's timing, came to pass, and Isaac was deemed Abraham's legitimate heir. He inherited the birthright.
In the next generation, we see a similar birthright reversal (Genesis 27). Isaac's second son, Jacob stole the birthright from his older brother, Esau, by tricking him and playing to his weaknesses. Esau, for his part in the matter, made a foolish decision to disdain his birthright. At any rate, the birthright passed to Jacob.
What did "receiving the birthright and blessing" mean? The birthright was automatically given to the oldest son; it guaranteed two things: 1) family dominion/rule over siblings and 2) that the oldest son would receive a double portion of his father's estate when the time came for such matters (Deuteronomy 21:17). The birthright was conferred formally by the father just prior to his death via a verbal blessing. This blessing was very powerful. It not only acted as a verbal "last will and testament"; it also was a potent avenue for revealing God's will. Once conferred, it could not be rescinded. In the case of Jacob and Esau, for example, we see that Isaac, their father, could not change the blessing once it was revealed to him that he had been deceived by Jacob as had Esau. (Genesis 27:33).
Jacob had 12 sons: Reuben was the firstborn. Then, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin followed. But, some interesting things happened among these sons, and their descendants. Here are a few interesting facts.
1. Reuben, to whom the rights of the firstborn should have automatically passed, lost his birthright, because of sexual sin. He defiled his father's concubine and because of this, was judged not to inherit the rights of the firstborn (Genesis 49:4). Sexual sins stain a family indelibly. Though they can be forgiven, the consequences are usually irreparable. So, Reuben's family was dishonored, but not totally disinherited.
2. The birthright then was split (an unusual occurrence), passing to both Judah's and to Joseph's tribes. The "dominion/rule" aspect of the birthright passed to Judah's tribe (Genesis 49:10 - - - "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.")
3. For whatever the reason, Jacob skipped over Joseph in the blessing department and conferred the blessing and the "double portion" of the birthright on his twin sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Genesis 48 is so fascinating! Joseph got word that Jacob was near death. So, he took his two sons, Manasseh (the first-born) and Ephraim to see their dying grandfather. When Jacob indicated he was ready to bless these two grandsons, he reversed the blessing! Yes! Jacob was practically blind, but even though Joseph placed his sons in the right place so that Jacob's right hand would bless the elder, Jacob crisscrossed his arms to confer the greater blessing on the younger. Joseph saw this and tried to point out that Jacob was making a mistake. But, Jacob affirmed he was not making a mistake. He was acting in accordance with God's will revealed to him. (See also Hebrews 11:21.)
There is a most interesting aspect of this blessing revealed in Genesis 48, verses 5-7:
5 “Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 6 Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. 7 As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).
Remember that Reuben and Simeon were Jacob's first- and second-born sons. Here, Jacob was giving Ephraim and Manasseh equal status with those sons! It was as if he was declaring that Ephraim was his first-born and Manasseh his second-born. Very powerful! Jacob makes it clear that he does this to honor Rachel, as Joseph was Jacob's and Rachel's firstborn son together.
4. Levi: the tribe of Levi is generally not numbered in lists of "the twelve" because they were designated to be treated so very differently from the other tribes. The Levites were to be the priestly tribe. Therefore, there was no land grant awarded to them, and they were cared for/provided for by the other tribes so that they could be free to minister God's word and will to the people.
There is much more to say on this topic, and I do want to explore it further. But, this is enough for today; I'm sure you'd agree.
What can we glean from this? What hits home to me is that we so often think we have it all figured out, especially where our children are concerned. And, when things don't go according to "our plans" for them, we freak out. At least, this is what I do. Nothing is dearer to most parents' hearts than his or her children. Yet, when we read the Old Testament stories of moms and dads and children, SO often things don't go "according to plan"....not the parents' plan, that is. Things always go according to God's plan. We must continually pray for Him to reveal Himself to our children and to bless them with His presence and grace. And then, ... oh, here's the hard part! We must trust Him with them.
Dear Father, only You can parent with perfection! Nowhere else am I continually reminded of my inadequacies more than in my role as a parent. Please give us the grace to trust You in all things, whether parenting, loving our spouses, loving our parents, our siblings, our spiritual family members or our neighbors. We so greatly need your wisdom, to love others more like You love us. In Jesus' name, amen.
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