Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: covenant

  • Hebrews 8- Minister of the Holy & true Tabernacle

    The Main Point


    Now the main point of what is being said is this:

    We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,  a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man.

    Hebrews 8:1-2 CSB

    Let’s not miss this, the author of Hebrews emphasizes the ‘main point’ of the letter (not just this chapter, a reference added to the Letters later). Let’s look more closely.

    • ἀρχιερεύς – archiereus, High Priest in english points to the ‘chief priests’ of Judaism and also to Christ.

    Specifically, by the text which follows, the author affirms a text familiar to some from Luke 22:69 and other references. “[He] is seated at the right hand of God].”

    Ministers

    Now the writer of Hebrews points beyond the authority, nearer to our experience. God assigns a High Priest to minister to His people. Consequently, the High Priest is: “A minister of the sanctuary.”

    “Minister” is a favorite description of the leader of some denominations of Christianity, and for good reason. Because a minister is a servant, perhaps even a public servant of his community. He may even be a tax collector, assigned as a minister of the state or your servant of government delivering some military labor.

    Yet τῶν ἁγίων λειτουργὸς καὶ τῆς σκηνῆς, “a minister of the sanctuary and true tabernacle” serves the Lord God. A High Priest ministers to God’s people from the sanctuary.

    Reverends

    Of course we commonly hear of the esteemed leaders of some churches referred to as Reverend Soandso or the Reverend Doctor Soandso. But ‘reverend relates more to their position in the sanctuary, ἅγιον hagion, defined as: reverend, worthy of veneration; of persons whose services God employs; set apart to God; in a moral sense, pure sinless upright holy.

    Once again, from the text of Hebrews (in Greek) the imagery of holiness points back to the position of the High Priest in the Holy of Holies. And that is where the author points next.

    and of the true Tabernacle

    καὶ τῆς σκηνῆς τῆς ἀληθινῆς

    Hebrews 8:2b gk.

    Perhaps we understand the Holy of Holies more in the context of the Temple, yet it’s description as an exact place for God to come down to the High Priest is a temporary meeting place within a tent.

    Hebrew מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan), Tabernacle in English.

    Therefore, the Tabernacle, σκηνή skēnē is a tent, a shadow of the place of holiness like prescribed to Moses. This was why Peter wanted to build three tabernacles when he witnessed Moses and Elijah with Jesus.

    Exodus 25:

    8 “They are to make a sanctuary for me so that I may dwell among them. 9 You must make it according to all that I show you—the pattern of the tabernacle as well as the pattern of all its furnishings.

    The key point of the author of Hebrews is this ‘pattern of the tabernacle.’ Consequently Jesus the Messiah becomes a minister of the sanctuary and ‘true tabernacle.’ His appointment as a minister of Authority at the right hand of God makes Jesus a better High Priest.

    The tabernacles of the earth (including the Temples of Jerusalem) are temporary.

    These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle.

    Hebrews 8:5

    Covenant

    What is a covenant? (Twenty-first century Christians and Jews can hardly imagine its impact, because we do not even keep our less solemn promises.)

    ‘I’ve heard of it. I think God may be involved in a covenant.’

    “I will establish My covenant with you,” said God [אֱלֹהִים] to Noah.

    And “the LORD [יְהֹוָה] made a covenant with Abram.”

    But covenants may also be made between men. A covenant [בְּרִית bĕriyth] [διαθήκη diathēkē] is and alliance and pledge, a solemn promise to the agreed relationship.

    The Person of God our Father in heaven has made a covenant with you. Who do you think would break it? Certainly not the LORD!

    And Jew and follower of the Way knew scripture well enough to recall their heritage of breaking covenants with the Lord God. For a long history of kings ‘did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.’

    The Prophet Jeremiah

    By Микеланжело Буонаротти - Электронная библиотека.Музеи Ватикана., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2284599
    Jeremiah by Michaelango

    Jeremiah lived about 600 years before the writer of Hebrews. His witness of the fall of Jerusalem follows calls for repentance which went unheeded.

    “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Cursed is the man who does not heed the words of this covenant which I commanded your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Listen to My voice, and do according to all which I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God,’ in order to confirm the oath which I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.”’” Then I said, “Amen, O LORD.”


    11:6  וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֵלַ֔י קְרָ֨א אֶת־כָּל־הַדְּבָרִ֤ים הָאֵ֨לֶּה֙ בְּעָרֵ֣י יְהוּדָ֔ה וּבְחֻצֹ֥ות יְרוּשָׁלִַ֖ם לֵאמֹ֑ר שִׁמְע֗וּ אֶת־דִּבְרֵי֙ הַבְּרִ֣ית הַזֹּ֔את וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם אֹותָֽם׃


    And the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying,

    ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them.

    Jeremiah 11:6

    The author of Hebrews now quotes scripture they know.

    Jeremiah 31:31-34 excerpts

    I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

    Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8:8

    “… My covenant which they broke… – Jeremiah 31:32

    I showed no concern for them, says the Lord,
    because they did not continue in my covenant.

    Hebrews 8:9B

    32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors… —the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts…

    “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.

    Jeremiah 31:34D; Hebrews 8:12

    A Superior Covenant

    His point: we broke the old covenant and the intercession of human priests is insufficient.


    The author of Hebrews shows how the Temple and tabernacle were mere shadows of the relationship to the Lord yet to be fulfilled in a superior covenant. He then continues after quoting Jeremiah’s prophesy with hope for a more perfect outcome of its fulfillment.

    13 By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away.

    The author of Hebrews will proceed by contrasting Jesus with the old covenant.

    To be continued...

  • A River of Redemption Flowing from Eden – Commandments and more

    Moses Descends With Commandments of the Lord

    Moses has before saved Israel from destruction, but this time  an angry Lord God could have justly killed these covenant-breaking Hebrews, who heard the Commandments of the LORD God! 

    Do you recall how when Israel had first heard the voice of the Lord speaking the Commandments to them how they feared the Lord?

    Previously, in Exodus 19:

    9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you and will always believe you.”

    14 Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and consecrated them… 

    16 On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people in the camp shuddered. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

    18 Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

    Just imagine what it must have been like for those consecrated and gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai before the LORD. 

    Exodus 20:

    Then God spoke all these words:

    This is superscript preceding the Ten Commandments. THE LORD SPEAKS!

    Yet It ought to be enough that the Commands, whatever they may be, come directly from the Voice of the Lord, Who begins:

    2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

    The Ten Commands are specific, spoken directly to this Hebrew audience with the LORD GOD. And these Commandments of which many of us know only a few also become foundation for Law.

    Would you claim any law as inviolable? And does a foundational principle given by our Creator not perfectly define justice for all mankind, even to this day?

    Consider the Commandments here as translated from their Hebrew root words (linked to Strong’s Concordance in the Blue Letter Bible).

    TEN WORDS עִבְרִית

    20:3 לֹֽא יִהְיֶֽה־לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים עַל־פָּנָֽיַ

    20:4 לֹֽא תַֽעֲשֶׂה־לְךָ פֶסֶל וְכָל־תְּמוּנָה אֲשֶׁר בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל וַֽאֲשֶׁר בָּאָרֶץ מִתַָּחַת וַאֲשֶׁר בַּמַּיִם מִתַּחַת לָאָֽרֶץ

    20:5 לֹֽא־תִשְׁתַּחְוֶה לָהֶם וְלֹא תָעָבְדֵם כִּי אָֽנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֵל קַנָּא פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבֹת עַל־בָּנִים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִים לְשֹׂנְאָֽי׃

    20:6 וְעֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד לַאֲלָפִים לְאֹהֲבַי וּלְשֹׁמְרֵי מִצְוֹתָֽי׃ ס

    20:7 לֹא תִשָּׂא אֶת־שֵֽׁם־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לַשָּׁוְא כִּי לֹא יְנַקֶּה יְהוָה אֵת אֲשֶׁר־יִשָּׂא אֶת־שְׁמֹו לַשָּֽׁוְא׃ פ

    20:8  זָכֹור אֶת־יֹום הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשֹֽׁו

    20:9 שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תַּֽעֲבֹד וְעָשִׂיתָ כָּל־מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ

    20:10 וְיֹום הַשְּׁבִיעִי שַׁבָּת לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לֹֽא־תַעֲשֶׂה כָל־מְלָאכָה אַתָּה וּבִנְךָֽ־וּבִתֶּךָ עַבְדְּךָ וַאֲמָֽתְךָ וּבְהֶמְתֶּךָ וְגֵרְךָ אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ

    20:11 כִּי שֵֽׁשֶׁת־יָמִים עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֶת־הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֶת־הַיָּם וְאֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־בָּם וַיָּנַח בַּיֹּום הַשְּׁבִיעִי עַל־כֵּן בֵּרַךְ יְהוָה אֶת־יֹום הַשַּׁבָּת וַֽיְקַדְּשֵֽׁהוּ׃ ס

    20:12 כַּבֵּד אֶת־אָבִיךָ וְאֶת־אִמֶּךָ לְמַעַן יַאֲרִכוּן יָמֶיךָ עַל הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָֽךְ׃ ס

    20:13 לֹא תִּרְצָֽח׃ ס

    20:14 לֹא תִּנְאָֽף׃ ס

    20:15 לֹא תִּגְנֹֽב׃ ס

    20:16 לֹֽא־תַעֲנֶה בְרֵעֲךָ עֵד שָֽׁקֶר׃ ס

    20:17 לֹא תַחְמֹד בֵּית רֵעֶךָ לֹֽא־תַחְמֹד אֵשֶׁת רֵעֶךָ וְעַבְדֹּו וַאֲמָתֹו וְשֹׁורֹו וַחֲמֹרֹו וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר לְרֵעֶֽךָ׃ פ

    I invite you to study the translation below and where you question a 21st c. English wording of the Commandments to study the linked Hebrew.

    TEN WORDS – ENGLISH EQUIVALENT 

    1. You shall have no other gods before GOD
    2. You shall not create man-made dead art (idols) of the LIVING GOD. Do not bow in worship to idols, and do not serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ guilt of immorality, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate the LORD GOD, and showing mercy to thousands of them who love me and who keep my Commandments.
    3. Do not say, ‘Lord God,’ lightly without meaning or with deceptive intention; for THE EXISTING ONE will not hold guiltless any who take his name in vain.
    4. Recall the sabbath to keep it holy. Labor and do all your work in six days, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work; you, your family, servants, working animals or guests within your gates.
    5. Give weight to consideration of the significance of your father and your mother, that your days may grow long on the earth your Lord God gives you.
    6. Do not murder.
    7. Do not be unfaithful to your husband, your wife or the Lord God.
    8. Do not steal.
    9. You shall not answer testifying with lies, deception or inaccuracy against friend, companion, fellow citizen or other.
    10. Do not desire the house, wife, servant, work animals or anything belonging to your friend, companion, fellow-citizen or another.

    Reaction and Response to Receiving God’s Commandments

    Israel, therefore, responded differently to the LORD each time the Commandments were given.

    First, the Lord spoke the Commandments within hearing of all the Hebrew people. And what was their response?

    Exodus 20:

    18 All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it they trembled and stood at a distance. 19 “You speak to us, and we will listen,” they said to Moses,

    “but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

    20 Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not[c] sin.”

    21 And the people remained standing at a distance as Moses approached the total darkness where God was.

    What next?

    Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.”

    And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. – Exodus 24:3-4

    12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay there so that I may give you the stone tablets with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

    16 The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the cloud. 17 The appearance of the Lord’s glory to the Israelites was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop.

    18 Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

    After the Stone Tablets

    We now return to where we left off previously in The Ten Commandments to Moses’ second return in Exodus 34.

    Moses’s Radiant Face

    29 As Moses descended from Mount Sinai—with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands as he descended the mountain—he did not realize that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with the Lord. 

    30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone! 

    They were afraid to come near him. 

    31 But Moses called out to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he commanded them to do everything the Lord had told him on Mount Sinai. 

    33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out.

    After he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 and the Israelites see Moses’s face, that the skin of his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the Lord.

    Response to Moses’ giving of the Law

    Everyone whose heart was moved and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the Lord… Exodus 35:21a

    After their earlier rebellion by worship of the golden calf, Israel finally yields to the Lord. (Yet their obedience will remain situationally spurious.) Their exodus continues from Sinai to the Jordan. Yet first the Lord commands the making of a traveling place of worship, a Tabernacle and place of meeting.

    Leviticus further outlines worship and duties of priests exclusively assigned to the descendants of Levi. Moses’ five books move on to Numbers, the Hebrew title is Bemidbar or “In the Wilderness” (rbdmb) (of Sinai?). Because we cannot dwell on additional important moral direction given by the Lord in these books, I only mention them here. However any look at the Commandments would be incomplete without consideration of Moses’ final book of Deuteronomy.

    Deuteronomy

    We would do well to remember that Moses’ life may be simply summarized in three parts of dual generations. Moses was born as a Hebrew slave, but raised in the palace of Pharaoh with great favor until age forty.

    He then was forced to flee to Midian, where he raised a family until age eighty. Finally, and most amazingly, most everything we read in the Books of Moses takes place between the ages of eighty and one hundred and twenty.

    Some of the record of Deuteronomy was no doubt recorded in writing by Moses’ assistant and successor, Joshua.

    Deuteronomy also reconfirms the Commandments and makes reference to them more than forty times.

    Call to Obedience

    4 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 

    We will defer a look at statutes and ordinances to a later post in this series. Before we once again point to the Ten Commandments, just one brief glance:

    8 And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?

    The Lord chose Israel as example of His righteous leading to the nations whose redemption will come later in Christ Jesus.

    Deuteronomy 5:

    Moses summoned all Israel and said to them… 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb…

    6 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery…

    7 Do not have other gods besides me…

    (and nine more)

    Have you considered God’s Commandments and how you must apply them to your life and relationships? For the Lord our God is a personal and loving Creator of all things and Judge of all men.

    32 “Be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or the left.

    To be continued…

     

     

  • Disaster From Disobedience, A Savior From Before Eden – 8

    A Savior From Before Eden

    I introduced this series about a savior, Christ Jesus, who had confirmed to the religious authorities: “Before Abraham was, I AM!” Our evidence in Disaster From Disobedience, A Savior From Before Eden – 1  points back toward Jesus, our personal savior, who was here before the first adam. 

    We then examined Adam’s relationship with God both before and after original sin. Disobedience and consequence of sin follows. Brief glances at scripture will confirm man’s disobedience to the Lord God. Just from part 1 of our series scriptures about disobedience include: Exodus, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and the Gospels of Luke and John.

    Scripture – Reading, Study & Application

    We have spent nearly a month [June 2018] just scratching the surface of man’s disobedience to God. Although I have touched on topics preceding the narrative of Genesis, we have much more to consider.

    Our most recent look at Noah brings us only to Genesis 9, on page 15 of 1804 in my HCSB. I could easily envision a ‘Disaster from Disobedience – 30,’ but this is neither a novel nor exhaustive commentary. Today our brief attention spans require both an end to this series and connection to the next. 

    I trust the Lord will lead you deeper into scripture, revealing personal application of good and evil. I encourage you to study books of the New and Old Testaments in depth. To remain obedient to the Lord, we must apply the truth of scripture to our daily lives. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

    These serial scriptural posts designed to incite specific study contain frequent links to Bible verses and study. Take a look as you read.

    Before Israel, Before Abraham and After Noah

    Moses’ five books do not and cannot explain everything. Yet in addition to creation, good and evil, sin, law and some subsequent history, parts of the Pentateuch  provide God-given foundation to scripture’s purposeful truth. I would point you to a handful of concepts not to be missed in these scriptures.

    Noah demonstrates one principle on dry land related to knowing good and evil, after the Lord’s cleansing and recreation of mankind. Although related to worship by Abel and Cain, this principle of good remains more important than any historical detail of the flood.

    The rainbow becomes symbol of the Lord’s agreement. Sacrifice by Noah to the Lord is man’s continuing evidence of faithfulness, gratitude and obedience. Worship of the Lord always requires sacrifice. And right relationship with the Lord becomes a most-personal committed relationship.

    The principle of this solemn agreement is known as covenant.

    Covenant, consequential promise to inviolable truth.

    We cannot study it in any detail here, but covenant always connects a sacrifice to an action with a sealed approval. 

    There is no good without God and no disobedience without disbelief.

    Therefore, inviolable truth always relates both to the Lord and our relationship to others of mankind.

    Truth has no foundation without God and human life no purpose without relationship to both our loving Creator and our fellow man.

    Israel, Abraham, Joseph and other Jews

    One concept important to our understanding of the Lord and promise involves the who, what, where and why of God’s chosen. It is a promised land, you  are a chosen people. Again, concepts too important to slight, yet this series’ focus is on broken promises, followed by inclusion of others in the Lord’s redemptive plan.

    (You can learn much more about God’s redemptive plan by study of adoption;  an inclusive personal demonstration of God’s love we will not explore here.)

    Moses explains nations and outlines their genealogies. Israel had been redeemed by the Lord from Egypt, where Joseph became powerful in the land. Understand that Joseph’s father Jacob holds promise of the Lord’s inheritance for his twelve sons. 

    Genesis 28:

    Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him: “Don’t take a wife from the Canaanite women… 

    3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples. 4 May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”

    Doesn’t this blessing sound somewhat familiar, like the Lord’s command to Adam and also to Noah?

    ‘Be fruitful and multiply…”

    But Jacob is a liar and a deceiver. For he has purchased the blessing of the firstborn, Esau, who had no regard for the Lord. Now Jacob fears the fate of Abel, murdered at the hands of his brother.

    Although the Lord will drive his descendants into Egypt from the promised land, Jacob will receive an inheritance. 

    10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place…

    “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on. 14 Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

    There it is: God’s promise, as Jacob flees this ‘promised land,‘ an oft-repeated scenario in Israel’s history.

    Does it seem a familiar story, a middle-east refugee fleeing danger in one land and living as an alien in another?

    Israel’s Serial Soap Opera

    So Jacob’s story gains in complexity (once again, not examined here) and the drama continues. He has four wives (not recommended) and twelve sons. (Daughters receive no inheritance and seldom receive mentions in these genealogies).

    Many years pass and a married Jacob with children hears of and fears Esau’s approach. Once again Jacob hears from the Lord. In fact, he wrestles with the Lord (a most personal encounter).

    Genesis 32:

    Here is first mention of “Israel,” because the LORD makes Israel Jacob’s new name.

    27 “What is your name?” the man asked.

    “Jacob,” he replied.

    32:28 וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא יַעֲקֹב יֵאָמֵר עֹוד שִׁמְךָ כִּי אִם־יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּֽי־שָׂרִיתָ עִם־אֱלֹהִים וְעִם־אֲנָשִׁים וַתּוּכָֽל׃

    28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” He said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

    29 Then Jacob asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.”

    But He answered, “Why do you ask My name?” And He blessed him there.

    Before Israel, God Prevails

    Jesus the Messiah proclaimed, “before Abraham was, I AM!” His reference means more than genealogy, place, Law, leadership or religion, per se. 

    Israel’s father was Isaac,  יִצְחָק Yitschaq (laughter), given by the Lord when a childless old couple doubted any possibility of fulfillment of a promise in their old age.  In fact, controversy yet remains about the first born of Abraham and Hagar, the Egyptian. 

    The continuing drama of Genesis 17 could warrant much more study; but let us concede the meaning of Israel’s name. God prevails. Yes, God prevails even when life drives us in a direction away from God’s promises.

    The Lord’s covenant though Abraham is confirmed:

    18 So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to You!”

    19 But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his future offspring.

    Before Abraham, many descendants of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth chose between good and evil as they populated God’s creation. And we will see in our next series a continuing theme of disobedience to God by Israel’s descendants as well.

    Why would the Lord choose Israel as a people led by Him? Remember Jacob’s new name means, God prevails.

    Joseph and Israel’s Eleven Other Sons

    We have not yet spoken of the Law of Moses and its defining choices of good and evil. The sojourn of Israel into Egypt and back is yet another story and illustration that God prevails. 

    If you have never noticed a connection between Genesis and Exodus, you may want to focus on Joseph. We tend to see Israel (Jacob) and then Moses and later David as most important to Israel’s history. Yet we often overlook the role and connection of Israel’s preeminent son, Joseph.

    A continuing theme of man since Adam has been disobedience, a theme which we will continue. Moses will give us God’s Law and Joseph will demonstrate God’s goodness. 

    May the Lord walk with you in the wilderness of your heart.

    To be continued in our next series, God willing…