Kingdom Come

Archaeological evidence shows a plethora of ancient curses…such beliefs and practices have continued to the present day…sometimes called jinx, hex, or black magic…The aim is to see harm befall the recipient – bad luck may dog them, death may take them, or any number of dire (or annoying) fates may plague them. In antiquity a curse was a powerful phenomenon, the presence of evil forces.

Jacob wins the sibling tug of war for the appointment because he values it so much he risks multiple curses on his life, beginning with the risk of being severely cursed by his own father,

Then Jacob was forced to flee his home and inheritance when he was cursed by his brother.

“And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and…he lighted upon a certain place…And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth,  and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep / guard / provide for thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land…

And Jacob vowed a vow, saying,

• If [this] God [of the many gods known to men at that time] will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s house in peace;
• then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28)

Jacob is being rational, checking out the faithfulness of the other party before committing to a disaster of being bound to a cruel master. And Jacob was living in highly unreliable and dangerous Wild West times.

And YHVH obliges Jacob by providing proof after proof of his faithfulness to rescue Jacob from curse after curse. Will Jacob prove to be faithful to YHVH?

• After enduring years of virtual slavery, he and his family were forced to flee another curse.
• After being confronted with an unwinnable battle with Laban when Jacob frankly admits to Laban that “I was afraid,” (Genesis 31:31).
• Only to meet up with his nemesis, brother Esau “and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.”

“And Jacob said…Deliver me, I pray thee…thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude…Jacob…there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day…And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.“

God confirmed Jacob as Melchizedek after Jacob proved he has what it takes.

 

Endurance.

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves…And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony…when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak…And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another…The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord…If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Fear them not therefore…These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Matthew 10:16-26, John 16:33)

“And God said unto him, thy name / identity shall not be called any more Jacob / Deceiver, but Isra-El/ Prince of / Ruling as the Righteous God shall be thy name, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” (Genesis 32:28)

Put this in context of the Messianic announcement that “the government shall be upon his shoulder…his name shall be called…The Mighty God…The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Isra-El is simply another form of Melchi-zedek King of Righteousness. 

Finally! Peace!

Nope. This has more drama than a soap opera.

“And they journeyed…And Jacob came to [Jeru]Salem, [same root word for Shalom, peace] a city of [under the control of] Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. And he bought a parcel of a field…And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Isra-el.

• El had kept him safe from Esau the hunter who could have easily tracked him down and killed him as he slept,
• El had kept him safe from the Canaanite giants who played The Most Dangerous Game throughout the land he traversed – alone – before finding relative (get it?) safety in numbers in Padan-aram,
• El had multiplied him in family and herds while in Padan-aram,
• El had kept him safe from Laban when he escaped his labor trafficking,
• El had kept him safe from Esau’s planned vengeance,

Turns out Jacob’s wife Rachel is pregnant. At laaaassssst!  This is an extremely precious pregnancy, only her second, as she had always had difficulty getting pregnant. Plus she was a lot older now, and has been through terrible traveling conditions under duress from danger at any turn.

Certainly Jacob’s purchase of land and planned good relations with Hamor’s powerful clan at Shechem was intended to provide a safe haven during Rachel’s pregnancy and delivery of a treasured child. And Simeon and Levi totally messed up that plan when they reacted to their sister Dinah’s bride-kidnapping with extreme violence instead of the requested parley.

“two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi…took each man his sword, and came upon the city [of Shechem] boldly, and slew all the males…and spoiled the city [ruined it for habitation by breaking down the walls, filling up the wells to curse it]…took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city…And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive [as slaves].”

Archaeologists…discovered the remains of a 6,000-year-old massacre that…was likely carried out by “furious ritualised warriors”. The Neolithic group appeared to have died violent deaths, with multiple injuries to their legs, hands and skulls.” They were very brutally executed and received violent blows, almost certainly from a stone axe.” 

“And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the [hybrid giant] Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house [only 70].”

This is precisely the conditions demanding a Melchizedek. Jacob leads the worship, praise and testimony service.

“Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him…”

This tells us that other peoples had joined themselves to Jacob for protection under his God from the cruel subjugation of the Canaanites, demonstrating that Jacob is serving his purpose as Melchizedek.

“Put away the strange gods that are among you…And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 

“let us arise, and go up to Bethel / House of God [for protection]…And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And…Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.  And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.” (Genesis 35:16-17)

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Jacob also lost Joseph as a consequence of Levi’s actions at Shechem.

“And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem?…Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren…

And they took Joseph’s coat…and dipped the coat in the blood; And they…brought it to their father…And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son…he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.” (Genesis 36-37)

And Jacob was utterly broken.

As Jacob bestows his last will and testament on Joseph, he expresses the paradox between the fruitfulness blessing that God promised him with his unbearable losses in life.

“And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and…said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee…And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine…As for me / in contrast to you…

Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath / אֶפְרָת, and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath.” (Genesis 48:3-7))

The word Ephrath is simply the feminine form of Ephraim, meaning Fruitful.

Can we not recognize the metaphor in the original language when Jacob says “there was but a little way – we were so close! – to come to fruitfulness in God’s promises to me!”

Like Barry Manilow’s song “Looks Like We Made It” – the real meaning is the opposite: “Left each other…”

Consider the parallel with Job. Satan surely tried to crush his faith in God and pressure him in his anguish to curse God, but no, Jacob remains Isra-El / Prince of El, even when he is overwhelmed with loss.

There is a permanence to some crushing in our soul, which either mellows into sweetness like fine wine, or turns into the bitterness of gall. It depends on whether or not we identify with, become one with, God’s plan of salvation which requires a transfer of the consequence of sin from the sinner to the forgiver.

Read the following passage in the context of Jacob’s forgiveness of his sons. He is, after all, Isra-El, Prince of God.

• “He [Jacob] is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
• Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
• All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
• for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” (Isaiah 53)

The same process of proving faithfulness by identifying with the Christ applies to all who are not simply redeemed by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, but also hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10)

“ye shall have tribulation…be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10)

 

¹⁰ And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.