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Memorial Day causes us to look to the graveyard or if you will, the fields of the dead to remember with esteem those of the military who gave their lives serving our nation. So, I do with all others again this year. The ‘“cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre’” in Israel is the burial place of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their respective wives Jews look to remembering the progenitors of their ethnic heritage (Genesis 49:29-33, NKJV). Jacob, God named Israel, fathered twelve sons by four wives, six of them borne by Leah who is buried with him. How this came about and on this Pentecost, the body of Leah’s greatest Descendant not in a tomb concerns this post.
Leah, daughter of Laban and sister of Rachel examined in last week’s post,1 was honored with burial in the patriarchal cave by her husband, Jacob. She had been his first wife through the deceit of her father when he switched her out for Rachel on what was supposed to be her younger sister’s wedding night (Genesis 29:15-30). For whatever all of the reasons including perhaps, the physical issue with her eyes noted in the referenced passage, Leah as the older of the two sisters had not yet married when Jacob arrived on scene. As with most women of her time, marriage and family were the twin aims of her life and surely the reason in part she cooperated with her father’s treachery.2
In the polygamous marriage to Jacob as his first wife, but second to Rachel because he loved her more, Leah found herself “unloved;” literally hated by her husband. Fortunately for Leah and all women in marriages where their husbands do not love them, God was watching and on the case for her. “He opened her womb” out of mercy, but kept Rachel’s shut (Genesis 29:31, NKJV). While His observation of women in marriages where they are unloved by their husbands is a universal reality that should spur them to prayer for help, God’s specific actions for Leah are not. He acts in accord with His sovereign will, wisdom, unique purposes for all who call upon Him and His glory!3
Leah rightly concluded that the Lord had seen her “affliction” of being unloved by Jacob when she bore him a son she named, Reuben, for that reason (Genesis 29:32, NKJV). However, her hopes Jacob would love her because of this son and the next two that followed were dashed (Genesis 29:33-34). From the seed of her third son, Levi, would come her descendants Aaron, father of Israel’s priesthood and God’s great lawgiver, Moses (Exodus 6:16-27). On her fourth son, Leah seemed to get that God should be praised for her fruitful motherhood and declared: ‘“Now I will praise the Lord.’” So, she named him, Judah, which means praise (Genesis 29:35, NKJV).
From the seed of Judah came Israel’s second king, David, and an eternal, royal dynasty terminating in “Shiloh” God foretold first through Jacob and promised several centuries later by the prophet, Nathan, to the king (Genesis 49:8-12; 2 Samuel 7:1-17, NKJV). This Shiloh, is none other than He Jacob had wrestled with and who came to earth to begin to fulfill all that was written of Him forty-two generations after Abraham (Genesis 32:22-32; Matthew 1:1-17). Of the things written of Him were His birth to a virgin also a descendant of Leah through David and the first priority of His work as Israel’s final King embodied in His name, “JESUS,” (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 3:23-31, NKJV).
Indeed, Jesus Christ, King of the Jews, completed His work to save His people from their sins as foretold (Psalm 22:1-21a; Matthew 27:32-50; John 19:17-30). On the same day before sunset, He was buried in a rich man’s tomb and on the third day after God resurrected Him (Psalm 22:21b; John 19:38-20:18).4 Following that on the fortieth day, “He was taken up” and glorified; seated at God’s right hand to await His return to rule not only Israel, but the whole earth! On the fiftieth day, “Pentecost,” He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell those who believe and enable His apostles to preach the Gospel about as well as “be witnesses to” Him “to the end of the earth,” (Psalm 22:22-31; Isaiah 53; Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:14-20; Luke 24:36-53; John 20:19-29; Acts 1:4-2:40, 3:11-26, NKJV).
Leah continued to compete with Rachel for Jacob’s love through childbearing; making the same mistake as her sister in giving him her maid for a wife, but to no avail (Genesis 30:1-21). He did honor her above all at her death. Also, not only did Leah prevail in the fruitful bearing of six to Rachel’s two sons, but unknown to her God’s favor ran much deeper. She bore one from who would come Israel and history’s greatest King; even He who is “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David,” (Revelation 5:5, NKJV)! From what God did through unloved Leah, both His aspiring strong men and great women in the image of Christ are reminded He has worked and wills to work in us far beyond what we could have ever imagined to His glory (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)!5 Let Him have you!
1 Read the May 21, 2023 post, Lessons From Rachel For Aspiring Great Women, under the category, The Cause.
2 Another reason was the universal reverence given to fathers and modeled by God as the heads over their daughters until marriage only rebelled against in this latter days generation (Genesis 2:18, 21-22, 24:47-51; Numbers 12:14-16) though, Leah out of greater reverence for God and as a matter of character could have objected to being a party to deceit.
3 Christian women please note how the Holy Spirit led me to write broadly of women in marriages with husbands that do not love them. In His perfect will and your obedience to marry “only in the Lord,” such a situation should not exist for you. However, if for whatever reasons you are in a situation like this, you all the more know seeking God in prayer is the first right step followed by doing what His Word teaches in longsuffering while you wait on Him to act as He wills. And yes, the same goes for any Christian man in similar circumstances as it is written (1 Corinthians 7:10-16, 39; 1 Peter 3:1-2, NKJV).
4 Because Christ is risen from the dead, we Christians do not look to tombs or graveyards to remember and honor Him as One still slain in battle. But we exalt and magnify Christ within our hearts as our living Savior, Warrior-King and Lord; fellowshipping with and serving Him who is “alive forevermore” as He promised (John 14:18-24; Revela- tion 1:17-18, NKJV). If as a professed Christian you are not inwardly enjoying the resurrection life of Christ, disobedience in sin may be the reason. Watch our latest Strong Man Of God Online Rally on YouTube, Return To The Lord, to hear His summons!
5 Learn more about this by reading my book, The Strong Man Of God; Back To Basics! Get your Hard or Soft Cover or E-Book Edition of the book as well as companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study in the Strong Man Store, among internet booksellers and brick and mortar book- stores.
To all of the mothers reading this post, Happy Mother’s Day! Though she has gone to be with the Lord, as my brother, Richard, reminded me a year or so ago at this time while we talked about our mother, the song performed back in the day by The Intruders, I’ll Always Love My Mama, well captured the truth about her.1 Motherhood is a female’s greatest gift to the world because as that very simple, but powerful song says, “She brought me in this world” and “you only get one.” A biblical worldview of female design and purpose confirms motherhood as her greatest gift.2 The older we get, the more we appreciate what our mothers taught and sacrificed working to help provide for us.
If a female is never recognized for anything else in this life, her greatest gift and contribution to the world is in having been or being a mother of (or to) children! Even in the twisted soap opera-like drama of Jacob, Rachel and Leah I touched on in a post earlier this year, the positive biblical worldview of motherhood shines through.3 Jacob’s uncle, Laban, had two daughters. Leah was the oldest, had “delicate” eyes and given the description of her younger sister, Rachel, as “beautiful of form and appearance,” was not as pretty. Laban deceived Jacob on his wedding night he had worked seven years to have with Rachel by switching out the women (Genesis 29:15-25, NKJV).4
The matter was resolved by Laban promising to give Rachel to Jacob if he would serve him another seven years. Jacob agreed to do so and took Rachel to himself; loving her “more than Leah,” (Genesis 29:26-30, NKJV).5 In the rivalry for Jacob’s love (attention, affection, affirmation etc.) that ensued between the sisters, a core value of their existence as females and greatest gift to him as well as the world by divine design came to the forefront as they vied for who would first bear him children and the most. On that score, Leah prevailed because God had compassion on her though, it is sad to see her using childbearing in attempts to gain Jacob’s love (Genesis 29:31-30:24, 35:16-20).
Many females, of course, down through history have had Leah’s motive for getting pregnant and in no less of a time than our own especially among teenagers. Most females feared pregnancy enough to at least offer initial stiff resistance to intercourse back in the time of my late 1960s-mid 70s teens. But because of the competition particularly for popular males, they would abandon their fear of pregnancy for typically the short-lived or shared love of their suitor with another female. Many still got pregnant with the appearance of birth control pills and even after legalized abortion, kept their children largely because like Leah with her husband, they wanted baby daddy’s love.6
While Scripture does not tell us if Jacob ever came to love Leah as he did Rachel, it appears he had a very high regard for her at the end. This is seen in Jacob referring to her as “your mother” to Joseph in an incident long after the death of Rachel, his mother, and the act of burying only Leah of his wives in the burial plot of his “fathers” Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 37:9-11; 49:29-33, NKJV). No doubt Jacob’s high regard for Leah is tied in some measure to the many sons and a daughter she bore him which men of ancient times up until these latter days greatly appreciated (Psalm 127:3-5).7 Indeed, without authentic females of God’s design and creation, motherhood as their greatest gift to husbands and the world would not be nor any of us (Genesis 1:26-28, 2:18-25, 3:20, 28:1-5).
1 The 1973 song released near the close of the message music era was written by Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff who were among the leading and prolific contributors to the genre at The Sound Of Philadelphia Record Label. Back then and to us baby boomers and older still to this day, the song reso- nated because very few did not have a mother or grandmother for which the song’s lyrics did not ring true. Tragically, this is not the case today for many children born and raised into a time of widespread parental self-preoccupation and selfishness.
2 Read the May 9, 2021 post, Mothers Are A Design Marvel Of God, under the category, Glory To God!
3 See the January 15, 2023 post, Rachel’s Children Live!, under the category, Instruction.
4 Lots of wine, face covered veils and darkness easily makes Jacob’s failure to notice the switch plausible.
5 In those days still close to the aftermath of Noah’s flood when genetically, family intermarriage was safe and before His Law to Israel, the Lord in His perfect will did not pro- hibit Jacob’s marriage to his two cousins (Genesis 9:1, 7, 18-19, 11:27-30, 20:1-13; Leviticus 18:1-18). In His permissive will, God permitted Jacob’s polygamy and did not hide in it or that of any others, the inherent pitfalls of this arrangement. God’s perfect will for marriage is monogamy (Genesis 2:24).
6 Keeping it real, a number also wanted and felt secure in the government assistance they would receive! Bringing children into the world for any other motive or circum- stance than married parental love is not only wrong-headed, but detrimental to the spiritual, mental and emotional well being of all concerned, but most especially the chil- dren. As I write in The Strong Man Of God; Back To Basics, aspiring strong men and great women of God in the image of Christ have their children in the context of mari- tal love and to please God for the best hope of healthy families. Pick up a Hard or Soft Cover or E-Book Edition of my book as well as companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study in the Strong Man Store, among internet booksellers and brick and mortar bookstores.
7 Every male on the planet ought to appreciate the mother who bore him and any woman that bears him children!
It is only fitting that after examining his wives, Rachel, his second who he loved and Leah, his first who bore him six sons and he honored with burial next to him, that Jacob also be looked at for what God would have His aspiring strong men in the image of Christ learn from him.1 Indeed, as the last of the three revered Jewish patriarchs God had Personally interacted with to bring this ethnic people into existence, Jacob in heart and character is very important in His plans and actions during those days. The world today in post-Christianity rebellion against God may be rejecting the role of men as patriarchs in His order of mankind, but He continues to honor it for good cause.
Let me start as the Lord leads by declaring unequivocally that Jacob as all other men from Adam was born a sinner to parents that each was one too! Yet, this did stop God from assigning him a place in the godly line of men from Enosh, grandson of Adam down through his grandfather, Abraham, and father, Isaac, both of whom “called on the name of the Lord,” enjoyed relationship with Him as well as received His covenant of promise (Genesis 4:25-26, 12:1-9, 26:1-6, 12-25, NKJV). No mortal human existence from Adam much less a godly line could have continued unless his seed had made it possible as understood in the term, “begot,” (Genesis 5, 10, 11:10-26, 21:1-7, NKJV).
The godly line eventually comes down to Jesus of Nazareth biologically and most awesome, spiritually, since He is described as “the son of God” and “the only begotten of the Father,” (Luke 3:23-38; John 1:14-18, NKJV). God the Father begets His Son in the sense of providing the command for His incarnation and supernatural power through the Holy Spirit upon the seed of the virgin to make it happen as I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics (Luke 1:30-35)!2 The Son in turn becomes a spiritual father to all who look to Him for salvation and new birth through faith and the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 9:6-7, 53:10-12; John 1:10-13, 3:1-8, 6:63, 20:19-23).3
God’s sovereign election of Jacob to walk in the destiny and promises of Abraham and Isaac before conception in their mother’s womb, rendered the struggle with his fraternal twin, Esau, unnecessary for nothing can thwart His will (Genesis 25:19-23; Malachi 1:1-3a; Romans 9:6-13)! Nevertheless, true to the name his parents gave him which means supplanter, Jacob came out of the womb clutching his brother’s heel as if to replace him in the birth order (Genesis 25:24-26). They were not only different in appearance, but interests and dispositions also. Esau grew up to become “a skillful hunter, a man of the field; Jacob a mild man dwelling in tents,” (Genesis 25:27, NKJV).
The interests and dispositions of Esau and Jacob would play vital roles in the outcomes of their respective lives and those of their descendants. Esau would prove to be wild, independent, impulsive and dull of thinking; Jacob, though quiet and loyal to his family as a herdsman and tent dweller like his forefathers, was calculating, laid back and patient. While He can and does work with both types of men if they are willing, it is important for men that aspire to become strong men of God in the image of Christ to note Jacob in the natural was more like Him than Esau.4 Now, “Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob,” (Genesis 25:28, NKJV).
The parental favoritism of their respective sons facilitated the great deceit that was to take place in the aftermath of Jacob’s to obtain Esau’s “birthright,” (Genesis 25:29-34, NKJV). His mother and Jacob successfully conspired to deceive Isaac into bestowing Esau’s birthright blessing of the firstborn on him instead (Genesis 27:1-38). Fear of Esau’s threat of murder and once again his mother’s cunning led to Jacob leaving for what she purposed as a short stay in “Padan Aram” among her people ostensibly to seek a wife (Genesis 27:41-28:5, NKJV). She never saw him again. Meanwhile, on the first night of his nearly 500 mile journey north, Jacob had the first of what would be many encounters with God. To this point, he plainly had only known of God, but did not know Him!5
Jacob’s first encounter with God came by way of a dream. In it, he saw “a ladder” erected from earth and reaching into Heaven where “the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.”6 He also saw “the LORD” standing “above” the ladder who then, began to introduce Himself as ‘“the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.’” From there, God restates to Jacob the covenant promises He made to Abraham and to Isaac (Genesis 28:10-14, NKJV). After this, He promises Jacob His presence and protection and assures He will bring him back to the land he was leaving (Genesis 28:15). Jacob wakes up in awe of God’s presence. In the morning, he names the place “Bethel.” Then, Jacob makes his own solemn promise to God (Genesis 28:16-22, NKJV).
1 Read the May 21, 2023 post, Lessons From Rachel For Aspiring Great Women, under the category, The Cause and that of May 28, 2023, Leah Unloved, Favored By God, under the category, Glory To God!
2 The Hard or Soft Cover or E-Book Edition of the book as well as companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study are available in the Strong Man Store, among internet booksellers and brick and mortar bookstores.
3 Christ is God the Word which as living spiritual Seed is planted into the hearts of those who receive Him through the Gospel and energizing power of the Holy Spirit who causes new birth and development (John 1:1-5; 1 Peter 1:22-2:3; 1 John 3:9)!
4 Yes, as the Lord leads, I am saying the lopsided wild, outdoorsman persona some of my brothers in the Christian men’s movement want to present as manhood God seeks to build in us is not biblical. The Lord was not a wild man. One has only to objectively examine His Persona and measured aggressive actions in passion for God and His purposes along with His own description of Himself in the Gospels to see this (Matthew 11:28-30, 12:15-21, 21:12-17). The Lord spent much time outdoors with His disciples (some of the key men were fishermen by trade) because they traveled throughout Israel preaching and teaching.
5 Sound familiar? Jacob’s head knowledge of God up to this point had come by listening to and watching his father, Isaac, and is typical of many professed Christians as re- ligious impostors. Time and again in witnessing to folks and asking whether they know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord I have heard the retort, “My mother (or grandmoth- er and most rarely, father)….” You cannot know God through someone else; you must know Him for yourself!
6 The Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament validates Jacob’s dream and connects Himself to it as the unique Ladder into Heaven (John 1:47-51; 14:6).
True to the epilogue of a literary work, the Lord leads me to provide some hopefully clarifying and helpful additional information on some issues not more fully presented or addressed at all in the three-part post, Jacob, God Named Israel, under the category, The Cause, just concluded June 18, 2023. In doing so, I am being especially sensitive to help those who have only recently become Christians and aspiring strong men of God in the image of Christ to develop a basic understanding of our God; His ‘“thoughts’” and ‘“ways’” which ‘“are not’” and infinitely ‘“higher’” than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9, NKJV).1 He is after all, God Almighty who made us and not the other way around (Isaiah 40:12-26)!
First, God is sovereign. This means He is the highest authority in all of existence (Psalm 9:1-2; Isaiah 44:6). Whatever He chooses to do in Heaven and His creation is His business for which He has no obligation to give an account to anyone. In accord with the foregoing, God’s election of Jacob over his fraternal twin, Esau, to be the heir of the covenant of promises made to their forefather, Abraham, and father, Isaac, was His sovereign business He does not have to explain nor does anyone have the right to question (Romans 9:6-21)! That said, neither Ishmael nor Esau rejected as heirs of the covenant of promises went unblessed (Genesis 17:18-22, 27:38-40; Deuteronomy 2:1-5).
Also, concerning Esau, Jacob and their divergent interests and dispositions, I was led by the Lord to point out Esau’s wild outdoorsman persona passed off as prototype manhood by some in the Christian men’s movement is not biblical.2 Truly, no portrait of manhood coming from the will of sinful men (and there are many) finds favor as a preference with God our Creator. The portrait of manhood God designed and exalts begins and ends in His Son, Jesus Christ! For this cause, more important than any manhood persona devised by men or what we do as responsibilities in all other roles of biblical manhood is who we are as “sons of God” in Christ’s “image” (Romans 8:12-30, NKJV)!
Second, Jacob came by his use of deceit in his affairs honestly from both Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 12:10-20, 26:6-11).3 How could God be so favorable to such men? How can God be so gracious to all sinners including us saved through the blood of Christ, the promised Seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Besides being back to His sovereignty and the fact He can choose to work with any sinful man He wills, you have conveniently forgotten the patriarchs were saved by faith as we are (Romans 3:20-4:25; Galatians 3:15-18). So, if God had not interacted with sinful men, none of us would be here because as Scripture shows, He would have destroyed all by now (Genesis 6:5-8)!
Third, Jacob’s attitude toward Leah in what amounted to a forced marriage was not right, but understandable in the sinful flesh. He did not love Leah, but mechanically fulfilled his marital expectations including sleeping with her. God did not make Jacob love her as He does not force us to love Him! Instead, He intervened for and blessed Leah with fertility while making Rachel infertile during the first fourteen years of the polygamous marriage. Too, He worked in the mess Jacob had made from failing to seek Him to serve His purposes and grow him as He does with us. Meanwhile, the Lord also took Rachel from him without apology as she died giving birth to only their second child.
Fourth, incestuous polygamy was dealt with in this year’s Mother’s Day post.4 As noted then, marrying two sisters became sin and all of the sexual sins that come up during our examination of Jacob were later addressed with his descendants and the world through the one and only written Law God gave them. Marriage to sisters was forbidden in Leviticus 18:18. Raping an unmarried virgin and sex with the wife of one’s father both arise in the final Jacob, God Named Israel post (Genesis 34:1-2, 35:21-22a). God’s commands about these two issues are found written one after the other in Deuteronomy 22:28-30.5 His perpetual moral standards in these and all the commands of the written Law are integrated into the New Testament as well (Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 5, 6:9-20).
Finally, among the ways I was taught and built up by the Lord writing as a focus on Jacob of the three Jewish patriarchs, is having a greater appreciation for the end of the journey. Abraham, followed by Isaac and Jacob appeared on God’s generational stage performing their parts ultimately in the drama of His plan from eternity to redeem fallen mankind through their greatest Descendant, the Lord Jesus Christ, then died. How the sons and family of each patriarch gathered to and buried them touched me deeply. Giving me a right now, application, the Lord took pioneer Christian broadcaster, Pat Robertson, 93, home during these posts. He was clearly a patriarch to his family, those at CBN, other ministries he founded and many Christians during his time on God’s stage.6
1 While acknowledged, nowhere in the Bible will one find God being okay with weak and feeble devotion to Him! To the end of helping professed Christian men passionately press to “be strong in the Lord” as He wills, I wrote the book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics (Ephesians 6:10, NKJV). Its Hard and Soft Cover or E-Book Edi- tions as well as companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study are available in the Strong Man Store, among internet booksellers and brick and mortar bookstores.
2 Read the June 4, 2023 part one post, Jacob, God Named Israel, under the category, The Cause.
3 Despite all of the good God did through the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they left a legacy of using deceit in situations especially of fear with their descendants (technically, Abraham did not tell the whole truth which is still deceit--see Genesis 20). Beyond what was noted in the June 18, 2023 post about the use of deceit by the “sons of Jacob” after the rape of their sister and making him with all the rest of the family believe Joseph had been killed and eaten by an animal (Genesis 34:13-29, 37: 23-35, NKJV), it has played a role in their biblical history and attempted even to the face of God in Christ (Exodus 2:23-25; John 8:31-33).
4 See footnote 5 in the May 14, 2023 post, Motherhood: A Female’s Greatest Gift, under the category, Biblical Worldview.
5 No one guilty of sin before the written Law got away with anything! Reuben, Simeon and Levi are examples of those who received enduring divine judgment from the lips of their father, Jacob, for their sins (Genesis 49:3-7). And note the fear of retribution in all of his guilty sons concerning their brother, Joseph (Genesis 42:18-24, 50:15-21).
6 CBN stands for Christian Broadcasting Network.
God’s promises to Jacob were unconditional, but his to Him made on the condition God would keep His.7 Such is the baby, but heartfelt faith of 77 year-old Jacob beginning his life journey with God as he traveled to the land and people of his mother he had undoubtedly learned most about from her. Though the Lord initiated the relationship with and conveyed the covenant promises of his fathers to Jacob, just as with baby Christian men aspiring to become strong in Christ’s image, God would begin working with him to dislodge his grip on sin and self-reliance in using deceit to gain his way in conjunction with molding his character through the crucible of painful life experiences.
Reaching near to his destination after about ten days or so, Jacob confirms his uncle, Laban, is still alive with men from the same area of Haran. The men point out Laban’s daughter, “Rachel,” was coming toward them at the well they stood next to (Genesis 29:1-6, NKJV). Beyond the joy a close relative approached, it must have been love at first sight for Jacob since he immediately tried to move the men along so he could talk to her alone, but they declined. Then, as any love struck male, he set about helping Rachel until he could contain himself no more and tearfully kissed and loudly told her who he was; she ran and told Laban who came to welcome his nephew (Genesis 29:7-14).
At the end of a month in which Jacob served in the family business voluntarily, his uncle asked him “what should your wages be,” (Genesis 29:15-17 NKJV). Without seeking God in prayer and moved by love for Rachel, Jacob blurted out, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter,” (Genesis 29:18-19, NKJV). Let every aspiring strong man of God in the image of Christ recognize Jacob’s error and first hard lesson about relationship with God: take everything to Him in prayer (Luke 6:12-16; Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Hebrews 5:5-7)! As it turns out, Jacob the deceiver was deceived by his uncle with painful and enduring consequences (Genesis 29:20-30).
Among the natural consequences of his failure to consult God about Laban’s offer was the reality he had two wives to be a husband to. Out of marital obligation he slept with the first one, Leah, who desperately wanted from him the kind of loving devotion he was giving her sister, Rachel. Also, while Leah bore him children, the love of his life he surely prayed for God to bless bore him none. Her unfruitfulness frustrated and created conflict between them (Genesis 29:31-30:2). The sinful competition between Jacob’s first two wives and their remedy for unfruitfulness (it was only a lull for Leah) added two more wives to him; no doubt causing him to pray regularly (Genesis 30:3-21)!
Jacob’s regular consultation with God becomes very evident at the end of the fourteen years he had spent working off the bride-price of his wives and finally, Rachel having her first child, Joseph. He was ready to leave and told Laban so (Genesis 30:22-26). His uncle, however, after acknowledging “the LORD has blessed me for your sake,” talked Jacob into staying or so it seemed. For his wages, the ability to “provide for” his “own house” and ultimately ‘“Return to the land of’” his ‘“fathers and…family’” as God commanded, Jacob presented a plan he later tells his wives came from Him (Genesis 30:27-31:16, NKJV). Jacob was now, fully trusting in, relying on and obeying God!8
Twenty years after his departure from Canaan, at God’s directive Jacob with all his family, servants and possessions pulled up stakes to return. He does so without telling Laban (who was warned by God “in a dream” about how he should “speak to” him) for fear of losing his family he tells him at his query after catching up to them (Genesis 31:17-31, NKJV). God at times directs His aspiring strong men to do things that in the natural produce fear. But just as He promised Jacob to be with and protect him in his journey, so, we are to trust God will do as promised us! Jacob in anger at Laban’s pursuit and (unknown to him) true accusation of theft of his idols by Rachel, rebukes him and testifies to God’s involvement in his life leading also to peace (Genesis 31:32-55).
Even after the good end with Laban and seeing angels along their travel route, great fear would again rise up in Jacob with severe distress at the prospect of seeing his twin brother, Esau, who despite the elapsed time, might still bear a murderous grudge. So, he took natural action (Genesis 32:1-8). Then, as he had learned, Jacob prayed with experiential knowledge of, humility before and faith in God seeking His deliverance from Esau while also afterward hoping to persuade him from doing harm with a gift (Genesis 32:9-21). As he waited for Esau, Christ pre-incarnate wrestled with him and changed his name to “Israel,” (Genesis 32:22-32, NKJV). Esau came and brothers tearfully reunited.9 As his God had promised, Israel was back in the land (Genesis 33).
7 See the end of the June 4, 2023 post, Jacob, God Named Israel, Pt. 1, under the category, The Cause.
8 Jacob’s remarkable spiritual maturation shows the consistent end of God’s training program for His sons throughout the Bible since aspiring strong men of God in the image of and as Christ have the four distinctive characteristics of accepting the roles God assigns, obedience, reliance on and trusting Him for vindication (note God says to Jacob in Genesis 31:12, ‘“I have seen all that Laban is doing to you,’” NKJV). Also, let every man reading this see how Jacob assertively embraced his God assigned responsibility to provide for his “own house” and through his own enterprise; not being content to live off of his father-in-law (Genesis 30:30-31, NKJV). This is not to say every man is to have his own business, but to be willing to labor by whatever honest means to provide for his own without mooching off of others in- cluding the government (2 Thessalonians 3:6-15).
9 Scripture does not tell us whether Jacob ever went to Seir to visit with Esau. It does inform us that the brothers came together again to bury their father, Isaac (Gene- sis 35:27-29). The genealogy of Esau as Abraham and Isaac’s descendant, the reason he and Jacob did not reside together in Canaan and his ruling descendants of the land they dwelt in called after him, Edom, are also given (Genesis 36:1-19, 40-43). While Esau may have personally reconciled with his brother as a good thing, his descendants did not follow suit and are under the prophecies and curse of God that He began to speak when he was still in the womb with his brother (Genesis 25:22-23, 27:36-40; Exodus 17:8-16; Numbers 20:14-21, 24:15-20; Isaiah 34:5-17; Ezekiel 25:12-14, 35; Obadiah; Malachi 1:3b-5). Esau’s lasting legacy as a wild man is that of a sober warning not to imitate his godless way and experience its end (Hebrews 12:12-17)!
I will soon wrap up the series of posts the Lord Jesus Christ has led me to make since November 27, 2022 examining His foreknowledge then, literal experience of persecution to the death in God’s will as an instructional example to us Christians. Before this though, I want to revisit an event and a person in those posts that impact critical issues in our times. Today, on this Sanctity Of Life Sunday dedicated to urging every citizen in our nation to treat human life beginning at conception as from God and sacred (Psalm 139:13-16; Isaiah 44:24; Luke 1:30-35), I bring the Lord’s Word and a warning to those who continue to wickedly clamor for the right to murder the unborn.
The event that inspires this post is Herod’s massacre of the male children two years old and under in Bethlehem and its surrounding districts in his attempt to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ as a young Child he feared as a rival to his throne.1 Make no mistake about it; the dark and evil heart that could murder babies and toddlers out of the motives of fear and narcissism is the same one in those that would take out the unborn in their mother’s wombs. I know this from the forgiven guilt and shame of having been a teen father that gave consent as well as relieved endorsement to the abortion of my children before and during the days of Roe v. Wade as I wrote in previous posts and my book.2
The apostle Matthew is led by the Holy Spirit in his Gospel to comment on Herod’s massacre of the children that it “fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah; lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more,’” (Matthew 2:17-18, NKJV). At first glance, it seems that the Lord simply foretells this event over 600 years in advance rightly acknowledging the grief of the Bethlehem mothers figuratively represented by a woman named Rachel, but quite unfeelingly offering no explanation of why or comfort. However, deeper Bible study bears great fruit showing otherwise!3
Led by the Holy Spirit, a deeper Bible study involves examining the background of Rachel and God’s prophecy as it originally appears in context. Indeed, Rachel is the second of two wives of Jewish patriarch, Jacob, that were sisters when he was sent to get one by his father, Isaac, from his mother’s people (Genesis 28:1-5). He meets and falls in love with Rachel and works seven years per agreement with her father, Laban, to marry her. But Laban deceitfully sent in his older daughter, Leah, when it was time to consummate the marriage and gave Rachel to Jacob only if he served him another seven years--he did (Genesis 29:1-30). The women competed to bear him children.
Leah and her maid gave Jacob eight sons and one daughter, while the maid of barren Rachel bore him two sons. By God’s grace Rachel was finally able to conceive and bore Joseph to Jacob (Genesis 29:31-30:24). She also bore him the last of his twelve sons, Benjamin; dying in the process with great sorrow and was buried as the family made their way from Bethel to “Ephrath” “(that is, Bethlehem),” (Genesis 35:16-20, NKJV). Though she had borne him fewer children than Leah, Rachel is considered the mother of all Israel because Jacob loved her. Her burial location would prove significant in what are actually two future events involving Rachel’s children.
In Jeremiah’s day hundreds of years later, Babylon’s invasions of Judah as God’s judgment yielded captives that were marched in chains on the well traveled road northward from Bethlehem and other cities to various staging locations that included Ramah (Jeremiah 40:1-6). The Lord used Rachel as the mother of Israel to figuratively represent all the affected mothers weeping at their children being taken away. But this Word was given in the larger context of Jeremiah 30-33 as God spoke of a future day when He brings a remnant back to the land complete with Messiah their King and “a new covenant,” (Jeremiah 31:31-34, NKJV). So, He tells Rachel to ‘“Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears for your work will be rewarded…,’” (Jeremiah 31:16-17, NKJV).
There was hope for the future because God would bring Rachel’s children that were taken back as a remnant to Israel’s border (Isaiah 49:8-26)! But they are not all of them. As this prophecy is true in the natural, so too, in the spiritual and applies to the male children Herod killed instead of Christ. They live as does every unborn child ever aborted (Ecclesiastes 12:7)! The innocents killed by Herod died in Christ’s place so He could live and die for them and all mankind on the cross!4 As a result, the innocents will be raised at Christ’s command among all who have ever lived and with the saints, enjoy immortal glory (Psalm 90:3-4; Isaiah 26:19; Luke 20:37-38; John 5:24-30, 11:23-27). Woe to all the unrepentant murderers of the unborn (Genesis 9:5-6; Revelation 20:11-15)!5
1 Read the December 18, 2022 post, Christ Persecuted As A Child, under the category, Instruction.
2 Concerning previous posts see for example, the one on January 21, 2018, Protecting Our Children, under the category, Biblical Worldview. You can pick up a Soft or Hard Cover copy of my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics at your favorite internet bookseller or brick and mortar bookstore and the Strong Man Store.
3 If you want to learn how to get the most out of your Bible study, I invite you to take the layman’s Fruitful Bible Study Self-Paced Video Course the Lord led me to develop to help. Get an overview of the course in the introductory first session at https://youtu.be/uufAkc3aYSc on our Strong Man Virtual Institute YouTube Channel.
4 The unborn and young children are not without the nature and taint of sin from Adam (Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12). So, it must be atoned for as Christ accomplished on Cal- vary. They are however, innocent of willful sin because of not having yet reached the age of accountability before God which is generally when they have the ability to un- derstand biblical right from wrong (Proverbs 20:11; James 4:17).
5 While I and to be sure, every other born again, biblically conservative Christian advocate for the unborn in America continue to rejoice in the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in June of 2022, the spirit of murder behind legalized abortion remains intact and influential throughout the land (John 8:44). This is evident in the protest marches and persecution of Christians to include attacks on associated properties such as churches, businesses and pregnancy resource centers that have erupted. It is also seen in the efforts State by State to retain legal sanction for murdering the unborn and once again grant it nationally, this time through congressional legislation. Let all deceived and led by the spirit of murder to kill the unborn recognize if you will that the Lord is being gracious to allow you the opportunity to give heed to His warning and repent now, since no such opportunity will be offered on judgment day (2 Corinthians 5:9-11)!
To all of the fathers reading this post, Happy Father’s Day! As I remember with appreciation my own departed father and the Lord leads, what an appropriate occasion to conclude looking at the Jewish patriarch, Jacob, God named Israel for what He would have aspiring strong men in His image learn from him. So far, we have seen that he like us as sinners without personal knowledge of God and new believers had to come into it through the crucible of painful life experiences; he learning as we do for example, to pray about everything. Once he got rolling, Jacob became a devoted man of prayer God visited, taught and guided to maturity as the patriarch of a family and future nation.
After his high moment of worship at Shechem that ended Genesis 33 and last week’s part two post,10 Jacob was blindsided with the rape of his daughter, Dinah, by a prince of that region (Genesis 34:1-5). Although there was not yet any written Law from God in the world, men in conscience considered certain things wrong beyond what He had declared to Noah and his sons about murder after the flood (Genesis 9:1-7); raping a man’s daughter was clearly one of them as the grief and rage of Jacob’s sons reveals he too shared, but held in (Genesis 34:6-7). Against Jacob’s better judgment his sons led by Simeon and Levi “deceitfully” exacted vengeance (Genesis 34:8-31, NKJV).
The Lord did not condone Simeon and Levi’s actions He later foretold through their father He would severely punish and later still through Levi’s descendant, Moses, declared why (Genesis 49:5-7; Deuteronomy 32:34-35)! Moving from the treachery of his sons, God called Jacob ‘“up to Bethel’” where He had at first met with him to do so again.11 Asserting the headship of “his household,” Jacob gave direction to ‘“Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments’” as preparation for all to go with him to meet with God at Bethel (Genesis 35:1-4, NKJV). This was certainly when Jacob also discovered Rachel’s theft of her father’s lifeless idols.
As they traveled, God also once more intervened to allay a fear Jacob had this time about the people of Canaan assembling to destroy him and his family because of his son’s vengeance for their sister. God put the “terror” of Him on them (Genesis 35:5, NKJV). When Jacob and his household arrived at Bethel, the place he first encountered God, “he built an altar there” and renamed it, “El Bethel” widely translated God of the house of God.12 Then God came down to Jacob and spoke with him. He reviewed his name change and commanded him to ‘“Be fruitful and multiply;’” foretelling ‘“a nation and company of nations…and kings shall come from your body,’” (Genesis 35:6-11, NKJV).
Following that, the Lord confers the promise of the land as part of His covenant with Abraham and Isaac upon Jacob and his ‘“descendants.’” “Then God went up from him” and Jacob worshipped by setting up a “pillar of stone” to mark the place he met with God as he had done the first time (Genesis 35:12-15, NKJV). Apparently already pregnant, Rachel, the love of Jacob’s life died giving birth to their last child together he named Benjamin as they traveled from Bethel en route to Isaac in Hebron. He buried and erected a pillar as a memorial to her near Bethlehem. As they moved on, his firstborn with Leah, Reuben, betrayed him by sleeping with his wife, Bilhah (Genesis 35:16-22a).
Nevertheless, Jacob now, had twelve sons who would become the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel destined to be a nation as God had foretold and willed (Genesis 35:22b-29, 46:2-3)! Foremost among his sons were not the oldest, but the two youngest Rachel had borne to him. “Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because,” he rationalized, “he was the son of his old age;” even making “him a tunic of many colors.”13 In his favoritism, Jacob committed the error of his parents with the same outcome of family division, sibling rivalry and hatred. On top of this, Joseph came across arrogant with his dreams. This all led to heartbreak for Jacob God did not deliver him from until twenty-two years later after he had turned 130 years old (Genesis 37, 44-47:10, NKJV).14
Reunited with Joseph in fulfillment of the prophetic dreams God had given him and for the good purposes He allowed his enslavement, Jacob lives another 17 years with all his family in Egypt (Genesis 45:7-8, 47:11-12, 27-28). As his death approached, Jacob made Joseph swear an oath to bury him with his fathers Abraham and Isaac at the designated ‘“burial place’” in the land of Canaan God had promised to their descendants; displaying his faith it would be so (Genesis 47:29-31, NKJV). Following this, Jacob blessed Joseph’s two sons and adopts them as his own then, blesses the twelve sons from his body (Genesis 48:1-49:28).15 Giving a final command about his burial as the patriarch of his family to his sons, Jacob died. His sons did as he willed (Genesis 49:29-50:14).16
10 See the end of the June 11, 2023 post, Jacob, God Named Israel, Pt. 2, under the category, The Cause.
11 Here is another place of reminder to all aspiring strong men of God in the image of Christ and professed Christians when you need to reconnect to God and spiritually recharge--go back in your mind if nothing else to the place you first met God as Andre Crouch & The Disciples sing so well in their song, Take Me Back. This is also this Ministry’s intended help in our latest Strong Man Of God Online Rally you can view on YouTube, Return To The Lord.
12 Let every aspiring strong man of God take due note that Jacob is not sending his household, he is leading them to and in worship. This is a very important responsi- bility of family leadership you have from God I write about in The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics and present in a Strong Man Of God Resources short YouTube video, Men Leading Family Worship At Home, promoting the Strong Man Store free document download.
13 Beyond question Jacob’s love for Joseph, his firstborn with Rachel, was also a continuing expression of the deep love he retained in his heart for her.
14 Why God in his sovereignty chose to let Jacob grieve Joseph’s presumed death all those years is not declared in Scripture. However, a context clue suggests one possible reason is rooted in Jacob’s great love for Rachel and Joseph. Loving anyone or thing more than God is a no-no stated later in His Law to Israel and by Christ to any would be follower and certainly every aspiring strong man of God in His image (Deuteronomy 5:6-10, 6:4-5; Mark 12:28-30; Luke 14:25-26)! With Rachel and Joseph gone, Jacob would learn to love God above all. Also, Jacob learned another painful lesson about favoritism and deceit which his sons had been acting out of as he once did.
15 God has made a father’s blessing like none other not even a mother can reverse. His bestowal of good brings inspirational joy; his condemnation a lifetime of troubling!
16 The commanding authority of patriarch, Jacob, speaking to his surrounding sons he had fathered is movingly beautiful in its simplicity and pictures the respect God ex- pects all fathers to receive taught throughout His Word. Indeed, for God the Father has modeled human patriarchy on His own standing as the Patriarch of His hea- venly Family (John 3:31-35, 8:28-29, 48-49). Rebellion against God’s perfect order of mankind and patriarchy is in part causing our society to unravel. You, O aspiring strong man of God in Christ’s image, by His will as a father are a patriarch and to stand for patriarchy to your last breath!
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