blessings Archives - Livin' Light

Praise God. Hand reaching up to an orange cloudy sky

365 Daily Bible ReadingsMay 12, 2024February 17, 2024 by lacoplin

Day 132 (May 12): Praise God, Protection, My salvation, Punish wicked, Praise God for answering prayers, God’s deeds are awesome, God’s blessings

Welcome to Livin’ Light’s Bible-In-A-Year challenge of discovering God’s love for us and His purpose for our lives. Here is the format for this great adventure: The daily reading assignment is posted at 5 a.m. After each day’s reading, Leigh An Coplin, the blog host, shares observations and poses questions about difficult passages to Rob Fields, who studied Christian Education at Asbury Seminary and currently teaches Biology in the Orlando area. To start from the beginning, click on 365 Bible Readings and scroll down to Day 1. The reading schedule is taken from The One Year Chronological Bible NLT.

Today’s Reading
— Psalms 61-62
— Psalms 64-67
(~979 BC) Click here for a timeline of the entire Bible.

Questions & Observations

Q. (Psalm 62:1,12): I have been thinking about this first verse for a while now. I think about how this whole earth is interconnected. We ask God for something, but all the pieces have to be in place before the event you requested can be granted. Have you thought about how all of our lives are a wonderful web that affect one another? Also the last verse of this psalm brings up another question. My brother-in-law once said that if you believe Jesus is God’s son ,you’ll get into heaven. I heard the other day from someone that that is in fact true, but there are various treasures in heaven that are granted to those who have done God’s will. Is this true or do we need to wait for this nice bit of info?

A. Almost by the definition of our limited perceptions, we are incapable of seeing the “full picture” of what God is doing over the whole earth via His wonderful “web” as you put it. But sometimes, God graces us with the ability to see clearly the ways that He has been at work in the lives of various people, and I can tell you that those are some of the most precious memories of my time in ministry. To say the joy is doubled when that moment of clarity is shared with someone else doesn’t even begin to describe it.

One of my favorite Christian writers, Dallas Willard wrote an entire book about the life changes that happen in the life of a Christian called The Divine Conspiracy. It’s a very long but wonderful examination of the process of sanctification — the process of becoming more and more like Jesus. He basically states that your brother-in-law’s argument misses the ENTIRE POINT of the gospel message itself: the power of God is available to you right now, not just when you die, and to just coast through life hoping to “get into heaven” when you die is, frankly, an insult to the true gospel. It is not that your brother-in-law’s argument is technically wrong — I want that to be clear, especially if he’s a reader! — but rather that it misses the point. God desires us to not just go to Heaven when we die, but to BRING HEAVEN TO EARTH TODAY! We are called to proclaim what God has done, bring others to Christ and set them on the road of discipleship, mend a broken world in whatever ways we can, and grow to be more like Him. It is our right and, frankly, our responsibility as Christians. Will there be a “reward” for doing so outside of “getting into heaven?” I think you can already see how odd that sounds in light of what we’ve discussed. There are some hints of it that we will get to in Paul’s letters, but to me, the ultimate reward is doing so for the sake of the King Himself.

Q. (64:5): This does seem true today that evildoers can get a following much easier than those who do good works. Does it just seem that way because evil chatter is much more talked about than the good news?

A. What you’re describing is just one more example of the way that our fallen nature seeps into our everyday decisions: in many cases, we have a “bent” toward doing the wrong thing, following the wrong crowd, etc. Is it easier? Most likely. But that is all the more reason to see the evil in such things and do our best to flee from them.

Q. (64:7-10): It seems like this is a circling theme in the Bible that won’t stop: People sin, God comes down on them, the sinners see how mighty God is and turn to him for a short time, then are lured back to sin. You really have to keep your nose in the Bible or doing God’s work to fight the urge to go to the dark side.

A. I’m pleased to see that you’ve been able to track this as a major theme of Scripture, and I promise you that it will never change, in the Bible or in us.

Q. (65:4): What temple is David talking of? If it’s Heaven, it’s a wonderful thing to think about. Or, is it that if you follow God, you will enjoy more of God’s blessings on Earth?

A. God does not withhold His favor from those who do not follow Him (Matthew 5:45), so the main “benefit” that we can see of following Him is relationship with the Trinity itself. This can be, in and of itself, an amazing blessing.

Q. (66): This psalm opens with praising God. We praise God out of respect, reverence and the fact that it makes you feel good to be backing someone so awesome who created and cares for all things. But, does God desire praise?

A. In looking for a good way to answer this question, I came across this website that gives a great answer, check it out: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/does-god-command-our-praise-for-his-sake-or-ours

Q. (67:7): Do you believe that the United States is blessed by God? And, other nations see it and fear God?

A. One of the worst mistakes we can make as American Christians is to believe that we as a nation are UNIQUELY blessed by God TO THE EXCLUSION of other nations. (Does that make sense?) As the world’s most powerful and richest nation, we are clearly blessed by God, but this does not mean that we are in a unique relationship with Him as Israel was at this time — neither, for that matter, is the modern state of Israel. All of the covenant promises that are made by God up to this point, apply ONLY to the ancient nation of Israel and its people. We must be very careful about misapplying promises made to a particular people at a particular time, even if these promises give us great assurance and we do benefit from them. I personally greatly dislike those who claim that the U.S. is uniquely blessed by God, because such people rarely see that God has made no such promises to us via a covenant. Our covenant, sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ, is quite different. Want to know what it says? Note the words that are spoken to you the next time you are offered Communion or Eucharist. It’s one of the best summaries around.

For further insight: How does one prepare for taking communion? https://www.christianity.com/jesus/following-jesus/communion/examine-yourself-before-taking-communion.html

Shop: Christian shirts get noticed. Check out these conversation starters: https://livinlight.org/shop/

Tomorrow’s reading
— Psalms 68-70
— Psalm 86
— Psalm 101

365 Daily Bible ReadingsApril 24, 2024February 14, 2024 by lacoplin

Day 114 (April 24): David and God talk of temples and houses, David expresses his gratitude to God for his blessings, David’s many victories

Sweet Publishing / FreeBibleimages.org.

Today’s Reading
— 2 Samuel 7:1-17
— 1 Chronicles 17:1-15
— 2 Samuel 7:18-29
— 1 Chronicles 17:16-27
— 2 Samuel 8:1-14
— 1 Chronicles 18:1-13
— Psalm 60
(1000-996 BC) Click here for a timeline of the entire Bible.

Questions & Observations

O. (2 Samuel 1:2): I am glad that David realized he was treating himself better than the Ark.

Q. (7:11b-16): At first, I thought God was telling Nathan about Solomon. Because, I believe he builds a temple for God. But then, verse 14 lets us know he is talking about Jesus, because it says, “I will be his father, and he will be my son.” So, we know that Jesus is a descendant of David. Right? God also says that if He sins, God will discipline Him, just like a father would do. But, as Christians, we believe in the Trinity. Why would God punish himself? He knows Jesus won’t sin anyway, right? Also, this sounds as if the blessings should continue in Jesus’s descendants. There are thoughts that Jesus was married and maybe had kids. Do we get into this at all in the NT? I think this is a question of curiosity, though, and not important to God’s message? Back up to verse 13. God says to Nathan, “He is the one who will build a house — a temple — for my name. Are we talking about a literal house here, or is this a figure of speech?

A. This is a complicated passage, without a simple explanation. What God is saying in this promise to David is that his line will never fail, but it does NOT say that the line itself will be eternal and we will see how this unfolds at the story moves into Kings. So, because God is speaking of a dynasty of rulers, there are multiple ways to interpret the passage. First, it is Solomon, David’s son, who will build the temple, but it is Jesus — also David’s son and descendent — who will replace the existing temple (that will be destroyed) with an eternal KINGDOM that will never fail. So God CAN rebuke David’s sons when they go astray and rebuke them (and He will), without excluding the possibility of a son, Jesus, that will NOT NEED rebuking. Now in the sense that Jesus is eternal, God is speaking of His plans for an eternal temple/kingdom/house in a metaphorical sense. This sidesteps the ridiculous nonsense about Jesus having children: there was no longer a need for an heir, because Jesus is now eternally alive, having defeated death itself. We will see numerous examples of this type of prophecy throughout the rest of the OT: in one sense it refers to temporal events and people, but in a deeper sense, God is speaking of things of His Kingdom and eternity. It is helpful to approach passages without a singular idea in mind about “what this means:” prophecies regularly have multiple, and correct, interpretations that will only be seen in hindsight.

Q. Why does Chronicles copy 2 Samuel almost verbatim?

A. Because it very likely used Samuel (and Kings) as sources. Part of what is hard to tell from the way this daily reader is setup is places where Chronicles deviates from the story to tell us some other detail that would only occur if we were reading the books straight through. Samuel and Kings tell very important parts of Israel’s history, so it is unsurprising that Chronicles would use this good source material to tell its own version of the story of this period.

Q. (8:1-2): Did God command David to do all this killing? God created the Moabites too. Why does He not value their lives?

A. David is going into combat against nations that are acting as enemies of Israel. And once these nations are defeated, oftentimes some of the people are executed, as in this case, if not all of them. The author does not say whether God ordered the killing, only that He was with David and gave him victory. It would seem unlikely to me that David would have been given these great victories if what he had done was outside of what God desired. This isn’t total war: David is allowing members of all of these tribes to live, even if it is as his servants. Requiring tribute of survivors in military victory was common practice then, and it continues to this day.

Q. (Psalm 60:10): Why is David doubting that God is with him after David and his soldiers have won battle after battle?

A. It looks to me like 60:10 is rhetorical, noting that without God, victory is not possible. So in asking “are you with us, God?” what he’s really saying is, “if you’re not with us, we won’t win.” Perhaps the question is asked in the midst of buildup to a great battle, where moments of doubt and trepidation are natural, even to a seasoned army and king like David. It is hard to say. The other thing I see is the poem’s structure is that it starts in a dark place in verse 1, but moves to one of victory around verse 5. It might be that the writer is repeating this structure — dark to victory — at the end using poetic license. Don’t forget, this is a poem, and we would not hold a poet to the same standards we would expect from a biographer. Considering the genre of writing is crucial for understanding the various writings of scripture.

For further reading: How can a loving God tell His people to kill its enemies? https://bible.org/question/how-could-loving-god-tell-israelites-kill-their-enemies-even-children

Shop: Christian shirts get noticed. Check out these conversation starters: https://livinlight.org/shop/

Tomorrow’s reading
— 2 Samuel 8:15-18
— 1 Chronicles 18:14-17
— 1 Chronicles 6:16-30
— 1 Chronicles 6:50-53
— 1 Chronicles 6:31-48
— 2 Samuel 9-10
— 1 Chronicles 19:1-19

365 Daily Bible ReadingsMarch 20, 2024February 8, 2024 by lacoplin

Day 79 (March 20): Moses reviews Covenant, God shows mercy, life choices, Joshua is Israel’s new leader, Book of Instruction, God predicts disobedience

Wong Chim Yuen

Today’s Reading
— Deuteronomy 29:2-31:29
(1406 BC) Click here for a timeline of the entire Bible.

Questions & Observations

Q. (Deuteronomy 29:29): This is an interesting verse. Has God said this before that there are secrets that He has not revealed?

A. I don’t think it has come up to this point, but honestly, there will always be things about the infinite God that are incomprehensible to the finite “us.” I don’t really like the way that this verse in translated in this version. The NIV makes Moses’ point more carefully. The focus is not on God and His secrets, i.e. things He has not revealed, but rather on the Law as a blessing to the people and future generations of their children.

O. (30:1-10): Yeah! God has mercy on the Israelites. God is merciful.

O. (30:9-10): This passage made me smile. It’s nice to know we can delight God. So many times, it feels like we can either make Him happy or make Him mad. But, the thought that we can bring joy to His heart brings joy to my heart, much like when I look at my girls and think how lucky I am that God made them a huge part of my life.

Q. (30:17): I know these commandments are for the Israelites — I never really differentiated that rules were for them and not necessarily for us today until Rob explained that — nevertheless, we can still learn from them, right? Here Moses is telling the Israelites that if they worship other gods, they will be destroyed. There are other false gods to worship, but I think that once you become a Christian, you are not likely to be lured by other cults, religions, etc., but we have idolatry of today — TV, work, money, hobbies, food, alcohol, sports, travel, lust — anything that we give so much importance to that we forget about God. Would you say that applying this passage to today in this way is accurate?

A. I think it is. You have begun to see the way that we should think about idolatry today: as anything that competes with God for our attention and time. It is anything that we trust in besides God. Having said that, I think that we as a society are moving toward a more open view of mixed religious theology. We usually call it pluralism, and say things like, “all roads lead to God.” Unfortunately, this goes exactly against what Moses is teaching the people here. We must be very careful about allowing other religious ideas to infiltrate our faith. Intermixing their faith in God with other faiths will get the Israelites in a lot of trouble.

O. (31:1-8): Just reading this gets my heart pounding. I imagine the Israelites thinking about how big and numerous these inhabitants were and here God said He is going to conquer them. And now, since they did not actually see the miracles in Egypt, there may be many who doubt His power. But, Moses keeps reminding them of the deliverance and miracles and I’m sure their parents did — the loyal, wise ones anyway.

Q. (31:12): What is in the Book of Instruction? The curses and the blessings? Was this book placed in the Ark of the Covenant also? Do any of these exist in museums today? That’s another question: Can you give us a nutshell version of where all of the scrolls that form the Bible were found?

A. The Book of Instruction is the Law. It is basically some form of the previous four books we have been reading: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. I suspect the versions of the books that we have been reading were edited together to combine the instructions of the Law with the journey in the wilderness that we have been reading about. There will be various references to copies of the Law throughout the OT, but it appears a copy of the Law did end up in the Ark. It is very unlikely, however, that it was a copy that would have been used. It is likely that other copies made by the priests were used for everyday study.

Regarding your other question, you’ve touched upon a complex subject: the transmission of the OT. There’s a few things to note. First, the oldest known copy of the complete OT in Hebrew is called the Masoretic Text (usually MT), which is a medieval copy of the OT from the Middle Ages. We have portions of the OT that are found throughout the Middle East, but there’s a catch. In the late BC era, the OT was translated into ancient Greek, to create a document known as the Septuagint (from the Greek word for seventy from the number of translators who worked on it). Most of the ancient copies of the OT are Septuagints: Greek, not Hebrew copies. Modern Jews reject the use of the Septuagint (probably because it’s the version that many early Christians, including Paul, used), and feel that only the Hebrew is valid for translation. So while we have many fragments of the OT in Hebrew, and several copies in Greek, the oldest complete text comes from the Middle Ages.

I hear the questions rising now: isn’t that a long time? Yes it is, but one of the coolest discoveries of modern Biblical archeology was the discovery of what is known as the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s and 50s- found near the Dead Sea in the West Bank. This was a collection of nearly a thousand clay pots that contained scrolls of various sizes. These scrolls contained various portions of nearly every book of the OT (the exception was Esther, for reasons that don’t concern us here). The ultimate find, however, was a full-length copy of the Book of Isaiah on a 12-foot scroll. The coolest part of the discovery: the text of Isaiah matched more than 99% of the Masoretic text, despite being more than a thousand years older! This, I think, tells us the great care with which Jews have copied their sacred text (and the way early Christians transmitted theirs), and gives me great confidence that the copies of the Bible that we have today are accurate representations of what the original author and editors desired to write about God.

O. (31:16-18) I doubt this is news that sits well with Moses, especially on the day of his death!

Q. (31:29): So much for peace in the valley of milk and honey. Why does the disobedience have to continue? From reading the Bible thus far, it seems that God does have a hand in what disasters strike. Is this just more of God testing to see who deserves His blessings?

A. The people continue to rebel against God. And just because God can “see it coming” as it were, does not make the people any less responsible for their actions, which is part of what God is telling Moses here. The purpose of the curses, the droughts, the conquest by other tribes, these are all tools used by God to call His people back to Him. None of us deserve the blessings God provides for us. Like the Israelites, our call is to be faithful to God, and He will handle the rest.

Tune in tomorrow: a song God gave Moses to share with the Israelites.

For further study: What are the oldest copies of the Bible? https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2019/02/06/the-three-oldest-biblical-texts/

Shop: We are so blessed to have a merciful God who forgives us 70 x 7! https://livinlight.org/product/490/

Tomorrow’s reading
— Deuteronomy 31:30-32:52
— Psalm 90

Blessings and curses. Moses renews Covenant with all of the Israelites

365 Daily Bible ReadingsMarch 19, 2024February 8, 2024 by lacoplin

Day 78 (March 19): Offering of first crops of new land, obey God’s commands, blessings and curses

Credit: Wong Chim Yuen

Today’s Reading
— Deuteronomy 26-29:1
(1406 BC) Click here for a timeline of the entire Bible.

Questions & Observations

Q. (Deuteronomy 27:15-26): I don’t remember the implementation of curses thus far. How is “cursing” different from laws, rules and covenants?

A. As this passage is laid out, the curses have nothing to do with the Law. Where the blessings and curses come into play is they are the result of obedience to God’s law (blessing) or disobedience/rejection of God’s law (curse). Don’t think of the curses or blessings as being in a separate category from the regulations, they are the result of them. That covers the laws and rules part of the question, and basically, Moses is telling people THIS is the covenant: if you obey, God will bless you like you have never known, and if you disobey, God will make you wish you were never born. In the book of Judges in particular, we will see periods of both: disobedience brings about curse (the people are defeated in combat, crops don’t grow, etc.) and this, in turn, causes the people to repent of their sin, at which point, the curse is lifted. Repentance will play a big role in the way the rest of the story will unfold in the OT.

Q. (Deuteronomy 28:15-68): Wow. I don’t see that the Israelites really had a choice not to follow God. I don’t know if this text is foreshadowing what will happen — that people are cursed in future readings because of disobedience — or the curses scare them so bad that they dare not disobey.

A. As I mentioned in the previous question, we will actually see instances of both. Blessings and curses will also be central themes in the book of Judges, which we should be getting to in a week or two. Hang in there.

Blessings! See you tomorrow!

Podcast: The roles of blessings and curses of Deuteronomy, https://bibleproject.com/podcast/covenant-curses/

Shop: Following God will lead to immeasurable joy! https://livinlight.org/product/overflow-t-shirt/

Tomorrow’s reading: Deuteronomy 29:2-31:29

Redemption and blessings. Moses passed down all the laws from God to the Israelites Credit: Sweet Publishing / FreeBibleimages.org

365 Daily Bible ReadingsFebruary 25, 2024January 26, 2024 by lacoplin

Day 56 (Feb. 25): Property redemption, poor and enslaved redemption, blessings, punishments

Sweet Publishing / FreeBibleimages.org

Today’s Reading
— Leviticus 25:24-26:46
(1445 BC) Click here for a timeline of the whole Bible.

Questions & Observations

Q. (Leviticus 25:24-34): This type of land agreement doesn’t make sense to me. Why should the seller have a right to buy back the land?

A. Because they were the permanent owner. Most of the land would be transferred back to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee. The system was designed to prevent the type of situation that we have in our country now: too much wealth in the hands of a few people, which allows them to do as they please without consideration of others. The wealthy in this system were not permitted to exploit those who fell upon hard times, and this is just one example of how this was carried out.

Q. (25: 44-46): We have discussed already that slaves have had an important role in the societies of the OT. Here, it sounds that they are just to the side, but I think these verses are just being straight to the point: Slaves were a reality then as a part of a working society. We have learned in previous readings that God does not want slaves treated harshly. He rescued the Israelites who were enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. But, it is hard to read that God would allow slaves and children to be sold. Rob, can you offer any thing more?

A. The system is designed to protect the Israelites, and sometimes this comes at the expense of the people around them, as it does in this case. Now having said that, even though it was clearly part of their society to have gentile, i.e. non-Jewish slaves, such slaves could NOT be mistreated, as we read in Exodus 23:9, and were to be loved as you love yourself,” as we saw in Lev 19:33-34. So there were slaves, including children, as part of the cultural system in place, but it was the job of the Israelite owner to bear in mind their own responsibility to not exploit them.

O. (26:1-13): I have to comment on all of this good stuff. Notice here that in the first two verses, God only asks that the Israelites not worship anything except Him, keep the Sabbath day of rest and revere His sanctuary. Then, if they did all of that, He will give all of this: rains, crops, fruit, more than enough to eat; peace, no cause for fear, riddance of wild animals and enemies; make them fertile and multiply, a surplus of crops and that He will walk with them.

Q. (26:14-46): Here is the wrath of God which elicits the Fear of God to show how disobeying the Father causes devastation. This passage sounds like God is foretelling that the Israelites will break His laws. I like at the end, where after talking about the destruction that He will cause if the Israelites disobey, God will not reject them because of the Covenant He made. Although God sounds harsh with all of His laws and punishments, we have to remember that He does it out of love. It’s not a matter of that God is the boss, although He is, it’s a matter of listening to Him because He is the Creator, the Blesser … the Father. He knows what He is talking about. He tells us these rules to keep us on the right path for our own good. Rob, did I say all of this correctly?

A. Yup: looks good to me. This theme of choosing life over death will be repeated in Moses’ farewell address in the book of Deuteronomy. But essentially, God is laying out a warning here that will NOT be heeded by the people. They will turn from Him and break His laws: they will worship other gods and pay the penalty for it over and over. These are truly prophetic words that God is laying out here: Israel has great success when it honors God (under David and Solomon for example), but horrid failure under many of the later kings, such that huge portions of the nation will be wiped off the map by foreign armies, and the entire surviving nation will be taken into captivity in Babylon. Yet through it all, we see that God is true to His word: He does not abandon His people, and He will again and again redeem a remnant of His people in order to carry His message to all nations. I can’t wait to walk with each of you the way the story will unfold, but you get a pretty good preview of it here!

For further reflection: Why did God punish more than the offender? https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell/video/7234330466264927531

Shop: In all this talk of punishment, we must remember that God was setting up His people to stand apart. He had rules that they would be under His wing as long as they followed His rules that would keep order, harmony, goodness and give Him glory so others could see his character. Help others know that God is good! https://livinlight.org/product/god-is-good/

Tomorrow’s reading: Leviticus 27; Numbers 1

365 Daily Bible ReadingsJanuary 18, 2024January 21, 2024 by lacoplin

Day 18 (Jan. 18): Jacob gives blessings to descendants, Jacob foretells future of sons, Jacob dies, Joseph reassures brothers, Joseph dies

The Jewish Museum / A gift of the heirs of Jacob Schiff

Today’s Reading
— Genesis 47:28-50:26
(1875-1859 BC) Click here for a timeline of the whole Bible.

Questions & Observations

Q. (47:28): There is about a 140-year discrepancy when this story took place? Can you explain anything about how scientists have a hard time pinning down the dates?

A. I am honestly surprised that they can even make the two estimates that they have. I feel that the dates they suggest are a bit too specific for my taste, mostly because you are talking about a period that was more than 3,500 years ago.

Here’s how it breaks down: we have some dating and archeological evidence for the united kingdom of Israel (which was ruled by Saul, David, and Solomon — recorded in 1 and 2 Samuel) that exists somewhere around 1000 BC. The OT tells us that each of these men ruled for 40 years each, so there is a 120 year period (roughly) of united leadership before the nation fractures and falls apart after Solomon’s death (recorded in 1 and 2 Kings and Chronicles). So basically, from there, scientists (this would include archeologists, but also linguists and other fields of study) have to work their way back to the previous events as presented in the OT (there are some scholars who doubt the authenticity of most of the writings that predate David’s kingdom, so that option is “on the table” too, though I think these scholars are TOO skeptical).

Working our way back, the OT (mostly Joshua) tells us that Joshua and the armies conquered Canaan after 10 years or so, and that the Israelites were in the desert 40 years, and in Egypt around 400 years. So now we are back 450 years from around 1000 BC (so somewhere around 1450 or 1500 BC — you see we’ve already got a “rough” date for anything further back). From there, you can work your way back using different versions of the ages of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, but you’re really only going to be able to estimate the dates from there. The two numbers that you see probably represent a more “conservative” and more “liberal” dating of the event in question. It’s at least partially guess work: that’s the best we can do.

Q. (47:29): I think we saw this practice somewhere else for making an oath. What is the significance of a hand under the thigh?

A. Um….Hum. See, here’s the thing, when the Bible speaks of the hand “under the thigh”, that’s not really an accurate translation — it means grasping something, uh, near the thigh on a man. (We saw this once before with Abraham’s servant who went find Isaac a wife) Basically, by grasping the object in question, the person swearing the oath is basically swearing on the family line. (Isn’t Bible knowledge fun!)

Q. (48:3) Can we talk about blessings? We have read where God blesses people, Jacob got the blessing from Abraham before he died. Abraham blessed Joseph and his sons in 49:15-16, which is a beautiful tribute from Abraham to God for all He has done for him. This may sound like a silly question, but what is the nature of a blessing? Do all blessings come from God? Are they a hope, or something definite? Today, we say we have many blessings. The noun form is easy to understand, it just means all of the goodness around. But, when someone says, “May God bless you,” do we have the right to say that? I don’t feel that anyone can speak on God’s behalf. Or, is it a request to God?

A. In the ancient world, it was understood that rulers and patriarchs had a power that extended beyond their physical power: the ability to bless and curse. It was thought that the gods (or God in this case) was especially receptive to a dying patriarch’s wishes for his children or others that he wished to pass his “blessing” on to. So in our case, the blessing is something of a request to God (not a promise God makes if you will), but we could most clearly think of it as something of a magical pronouncement that had the power to accomplish what the speaker requested, whether for good (blessing) or evil (curse). This is why it is such an important part of the story of say Isaac and Jacob and Esau, or Jacob and Joseph in this case.

O. (48:19): Like Jacob himself was chosen by God instead of his older brother for his father Abraham’s blessing, Jacob says that Joseph’s younger son, Ephraim, will be blessed more than his older brother, Manasseh. As we have seen before, birth order does not seem to be important to God.

Q. (49:7): We talked about blessings. Let’s talk about curses. Is Jacob speaking for God here? Does cursing end the men’s bad behavior or say it will cause their ruin?

A. The curses here are the result of Simeon and Levi’s violent actions in avenging their sister (which was allowable, but didn’t exactly help Jacob’s reputation), as well as some other violence that we are not privy to. While Jacob’s curse did not cause the ruin of Simeon and Levi’s descendants, they did come true. In the book of Joshua, the land is divided up by casting lots, and the blessings or curses that are mentioned here seem to have their “pay off” in that story. Simeon’s descendants are chosen by lot (basically seen as God’s will) to receive land within Judah’s allotment — reducing the prominence of his tribe despite being one of the oldest sons. Levi’s descendants had a central role in the religious life of Israel: they became the priesthood. But because of this central religious role, the tribe of Levi received no land to themselves, and were dispersed among the other 11 tribes. Thus, we see how the curse comes to fruition: both Simeon and Levi’s descendants see themselves dispersed among the other tribes and lose their political power.

Q. (49:10) This is getting exciting. Here we see that “the one it to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor” is Jesus Christ? So, Judah’s descendants will rule the Israelites until their No. 1 descendant arrives, Jesus? Am I reading this right or totally off base?

A. Well, you’ve read it correctly, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. What Jacob is saying here is that the line of kings will come from Judah’s line — this is, kingship will be the most important contribution of this line. There’s at least one little hiccup: Saul, the first king of Israel, is not of Judah’s line, for reasons that will become clear sometime down the road (it’s not worth going into now). But after him, David and his descendants will mostly rule (I’m not sure of the exact pedigree), but as you get further and further from David and Solomon, the line becomes corrupt, and before the destruction of Jerusalem (way way way down the line), God declares in Jeremiah 22 that a descendent of David (via Solomon) will no longer sit on the throne, so the family was cut off. This was the last king that Israel would have (around 580 BC) before Jesus came to rule. So, there was a period of almost 600 where Israel had NO king before Jesus (who was a king in a different sense anyway), but up until that point, the line of David was (almost) always in the picture, even if they became corrupt.

Q. (49:1-28): Oh, where to start on this one? Can you tell us what we need to take from Jacob’s blessings to his sons?

A. As I’ve been mentioning, some of this information will come into play during the land distribution in Joshua, and I think it will be mostly clear then. Two things come into play here: Reuben (as firstborn) should be entitled to the “best” blessing, but he screwed up (no pun intended) and got passed over. We’ve already discussed Simeon and Levi. The big “winners” in this are Judah (which we discussed), Joseph (it doesn’t say it here, but Joseph’s two sons that Jacob blesses get the inheritance meant for Joseph — one of them gets Levi’s place so the math still comes out to 12), and Benjamin (who gets a good blessing despite being the youngest). I don’t think there is much else to discuss here for the other sons, but if we come across something later that references that section, I will mention it.

O. (49:29-32): Jacob must have been saddened that he was not able to bury Rachel in the cave with his father, grandfather and Leah since she died alongside the road.

O. (49:33): I picture Jacob here so relaxed. He has seen his son Jacob that he thought was dead, he has seen Jacob’s sons, the ones that will carry on the blessing, he has given his blessing, and he has nothing left. This reminds me when my grandma passed. I was fortunate to be with her when she left. She was 96, a devout Christian and had a fairly healthy life. She was lying there, taking long, slow breaths with the help of an oxygen mask. We were the only two in the room … that I could see. She kept trying to take off her oxygen, but I kept putting it back on and she would take another deep breath like she had just come up from being under water. She had her eyes shut, but she still knew what she was doing. She wanted the mask off! It was late. I had flown overseas to see her. I finally nodded off and she had pulled the mask aside again. I stirred and tried to put it back on her, but she had gone. She looked so peaceful. My neighbor said that when his dad died, the ones around could see him going through judgment. His dad was talking to someone. He said, “Wait, they’ve got some questions for me.” Then, he said, “OK, I can cross now.” Then he said when his mom went through judgment, it was terrifying. That’s not a great note to end on, so does anyone else have a story they would like to share of witnessing someone going to heaven?

Q. (50:16-17): This is a lie? I don’t remember anyone ever telling Jacob the truth about his brothers selling Joseph into slavery. Is the important part here Joseph’s recognition that it was God’s work?

A. Yep, the fellas are lying to try and protect themselves, but it doesn’t matter. Joseph has forgiven them and seen the way that God worked everything out.

Q. Do we know anything outside of what the Bible says about Joseph’s death? He was the second to youngest, yet his older brothers outlived him?

A. The story doesn’t indicate how many brothers were still alive, but it appears that at least some of them outlived him. We have no record of any sort about Joseph or his brothers in Egypt as far as I know outside of the Old Testament.

O. (50:24) I have spoken of this before, but I think it’s worth highlighting again. It almost feels like God did not have the outward relationship with Joseph as he did with Isaac and Abraham. Here he says, “God will surely come to help you …” which sounds like there is a hint of a doubt. It seems that he is passing this message down from what his father had been told by God. We never hear God talking directly to Joseph, only in his ability to interpret dreams. But, obviously, Joseph was filled with the Spirit. To me this just goes to show that the relationship God has with one person can appear different than any other relationship. We should not compare how others revere Him, just be happy they know God and you know God in your own special way. We all have different gifts!

For further interest: Blessings may be a little different than you think: https://hebraicthought.org/what-is-a-blessing-in-scripture/

Shop: Both Jacob and Joseph had some unrighteous moments, they learned from them and turned to Live for the Lord. This super comfortable T-shirt design reminds us to do just that. https://livinlight.org/product/live-for-the-lord/

Tomorrow’s reading: Job 1:1-4:21

Day 132 (May 12): Praise God, Protection, My salvation, Punish wicked, Praise God for answering prayers, God’s deeds are awesome, God’s blessings