The Sons of Jacob
Notes
Transcript
When we talk about the Nation of Isreal we are talking about a family
We are talking about the 12 Tribes of Isreal
And those 12 tribes come from 1 Man named Jacob who was later named Isreal
But He had 12 sons
As you read through the Old Testament one of his sons is the main character
In fact we will talk about that one son next week
You have guessed it Joseph the second youngest
He is sort of the main character as you read through the the earlier books of the Old Testament
Sort of a Christ Like Figure if you will
But understand those 10 older brothers are a key part of the nation of Israel
In fact Jesus is of the line and linage of David who is of the line and linage of Judah
So Jacob has 12 sons
23 the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun; 24 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; 25 and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali; 26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
These are his sons
Remember Jacob married Leah first but loved Rachel and married her second
Then because Rachel couldn’t have kids she gave Billhah to Jacob to have kids
Then when Leah stopped having kids she gave Zilpah to Jacob to have even more kids
Just as a side note do you see how the fall back in Genesis 3 is affecting the family
Leah desires for her husbands affection
Jacob is running after his fleshly love
These 12 men turn into 10 of the tribes of Israel
You can read through the sons of Israel in Numbers
You can read who they were and how many their are
It should be noted that when Israel finally goes down to Egypt because of the famine he goes down with are 70 people
In Numbers when they are walking through the wilderness with the tabernacle they are number at 603550 people
As we look more into the sons of Israel
They are not the best boys around and yet God still uses them to further is plan
18 When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer! 20 “Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!” 21 But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not take his life.” 22 Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father. 23 So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; 24 and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it. 25 Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.
Reuben who is the oldest comes up with a plan to not kill him but to save him
Maybe in hopes of putting him into good graces with his father again
But then Judah thinks why let him waste away lets make some money off of him
He convinces the others to sell him and make a profit off of him
And we know what happens
We will talk more about that next week
Then they move down to Egypt
Before Israel dies he gives each a blessing and or a curse
1 Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come. 2 “Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob; And listen to Israel your father.
Reuben is Israel’s firstborn and historically they are given the first born blessing
But he sinned and so He is told that he will be uncontrollable as water
Ever tried to control water, water does its own thing
Then Simeon and Levi
What you would think should be a blessing is sort of a curse
Israel is saying that he doesn’t want to enter into his council
That cursed is their anger
Which is interesting because later on during the exodus and into the wilderness
God takes the tribe of Levi as his own and they are not given a piece of the promise land like the other tribes
They go on to be the priest of the nation of Israel
We will wait for the blessing of Judah till the end
So to the son Zebulun
Not much is said about Zebulun other than he will dwell by the seashore
Even though their allot of land when in the promise land is landlocked
They will be near the coastal city of Sidon
It would seem that they will benefit from the sea trade
Issachar doesn’t seem like much of a blessing maybe more prophecy or curse than anything
Israel seems to be saying that Issachar will be lazy and because of that will become a slave of forced labor but will still be strong
Dan is said to be a judge of his people
The only judge from the tribe of Dan is Samson
We like to think the judges were good and that Samson was good
But Samson seemed like the sea going this way and that
Here Dan is also talked about being a serpent
In the Bible is not the best thing to be compared to a serpent
At the End of Dan’s blessing or foretelling
We see that after you say Dan you will be a judge or you are a serpent
Lord we wait on your salvation
So it would be safe to say salvation is not through dan
Not through the judges
Gad seems to be persistent
Asher seems to be a good cook or have good rich food
Possibly the beginnings of the Southern Baptists, of course that is a joke
Naphtali would be free and where they were located in the promise land they could expand
Joseph the one distingushed among his brothers
This is the longest blessing and it would appear that Israel had a special place in his heart for Joseph
Remember Joseph is the 11th son but first born of Jacobs true love Rachel
So he cared for Joseph probably more than the others and it shows in his blessing
Benjamin is described as a ravenous wolf
The tribe of Benjamin would later go on to be fierce warriors
Then remember church we intentionally missed one
Then probably one of the more famous tribes at least for us since we have read the rest of the story
The tribe of Judah
8 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. 9 “Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? 10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. 11 “He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 “His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk.
Jacob says of Judah your brothers will praise you
Remember Rueben the actual first born is passed over because he slept with a maid
Simeon and Levi killed a bunch of people who took advantage of their sister
So the 4th child is Judah
vs 10 the scepter shall not depart from Judah
Their will always be someone from the line of Judah seated on the throne
Judah and the tribe would go on to be king over the Nation of Israel
Now church I am certain I have heard that before
12 “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.
We see God speaking to King David through the Prophet Nathan
David when it is time for you to come home permanently I, God will raise up one from your line and establish His kingdom
I will add the forever
Church we know that to be Jesus the Son of God
the Savior of the universe
You can go and read Matthew 1.
Yes it is a bunch of names
But Judah is mention then some names then David is mentioned
King David then a bunch of names then Joseph and finally a son named Jesus
Jesus is fulfilling the prophecy given to King David since Jesus has established His Kingdom
And since He is seated on the throne in Heaven and since He Jesus is of the line and linage of David who is of the line and linage of Judah
Who Jacob said the scepter would not depart
So church yes Jacob had 12 sons
It might seem boring to read about the names but because of those names written down you and I can trust the word of God to be true
We can read it for ourselves
We can read how those prophecies have been fulfilled
We can read about Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords
We can read about how a son of David went to the cross
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant—
David of the line and linage of Judah
Church these are more than just some names written in a book
These are how God brought about salvation to the entire world
33 When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 35 When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, “Behold, He is calling for Elijah.” 36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. 38 And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
This is what your salvation and my salvation looked like
Jesus the Son of God the linage of David and ofJudah who was promised so long ago to be a King of Kings and Lord of Lords
The Perfect Son of God willingly went to the cross and took your place and my place on that cross because of our sin
Jesus loved us so much
Church do you understand how the Bible showed us this so long ago and yet we get caught up in the names and it is hard to pronounce them and they are just names
Yes they are just names but we are literally reminded of the faithfulness of God when we read Matthew 1.
We know that salvation only comes through Christ
That by his death we are made alive in Christ
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
That the chastening for our own good fell upon Christ
God caused your sin and my sin to fall on Jesus
Because He loved us enough
To receive the free gift of salvation we must turn from our sin and trust in the Lord
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Paul tells us that if we confess Jesus as Lord of our life which is to denounce the other small l lords in our life
Which is to repent and turn from the old ways of our life and turn to Jesus
That is we believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead
To believe that Jesus is who He says He is which is the son of God and to believe that He did what He said He would do which is to rise from the dead 3 days after he was crucified
Paul gives us the assurance that if we believe in God as our personal Lord and Savior
We will not be disappointed
So church as we move to our time of invitation and the band begins to come forward
Understand the list of names we read about through out the Bible are their for a purpose
They are there to give us the knowledge that we can believe the Bible
That all the way back in Genesis when it says that the scepter will not depart form you
When in 2 Samuel when it says that God will have someone from the line of David sit on the throne
Church we see that fulfilled in Christ
To know Christ personally is to be saved
We want to make sure you don’t leave this place this morning with out having the opportunity to do business with Christ
So if you are here and do not know Christ personally we would invite you to come down to the front and speak with someone ask questions
Or maybe you just need to spend sometime in prayer
the alter is open
