One of My Favorites - The Hot Water Bottle

 Read Isaiah 65:24

Every 3 or 4 years I find I reason to tell this story. The chapter that is exclusively about Esau’s descendants is as good a reason as any.  There is nothing wrong with this chapter, but I want to give you something to chew on this week.

It is very much a true story.  It comes from a missionary sent from England to Zaire many decades ago.  Her name is Dr. Helen Roseveare.  She died at the age of 91 in 2016.  I have read most of her books and can say without equivocation, that the things that she went through in God’s service would make most Marines feel like a bunch of wimps.

Here’s the story that you have heard before, but it gets to me every time I read or hear it, so you are getting it again.

One night, in Central Africa, I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all that we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying, two-year-old daughter.

We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive. We had no incubator. We had no electricity to run an incubator, and no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts.

A student-midwife went for the box we had for such babies and for the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly, in distress, to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst. Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates. “…and it is our last hot water bottle!” she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk; so, in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over a burst water bottle. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways. All right,” I said, “Put the baby as near the fire as you safely can; sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.”

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with many of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle. The baby could so easily die if it got chilled. I also told them about the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died. During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt consciousness of our African children. “Please, God,” she prayed, “send us a water bottle. It’ll be no good tomorrow, God, the baby’ll be dead; so, please send it this afternoon.” While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added by way of corollary, ” …And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she’ll know You really love her?” As often with children’s prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, “Amen?” I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything: The Bible says so, but there are limits, aren’t there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses’ training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time that I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda, was a large twenty-two-pound parcel! I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone; so, I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then, there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children began to look a little bored. Next, came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas – – that would make a nice batch of buns for the weekend. As I put my hand in again, I felt the…could it really be? I grasped it, and pulled it out. Yes, “A brand-new rubber, hot water bottle!” I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, “If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!” Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone: She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, “Can I go over with you, Mummy, and give this dolly to that little girl, so she’ll know that Jesus really loves her?”

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday School class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God’s prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. One of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child — five months earlier in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it “That afternoon!” “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Isaiah 65:24.

We are studying Genesis.  It’s full of stuff that happened long, long ago.  It’s ancient.

This story about the water bottle tells us that God still works in this world today.

Approach the throne of Grace boldly.  Ask for the things of God.  Expect God to answer your prayer.

Amen.

Descendants of Esau

 Read Genesis 36

Read 2 Kings 3

It’s easy to preach about the descendants of Jacob, who we know as Israel.  That’s who God gave the Promised Land to and that’s who the Law of Moses would come through.  That’s who would spend over 400 years as Egyptian slaves.  That’s the line through which the Christ will come.

But what do we do with the descendants of Esau?

Let’s look at a couple of places where we see them in our Bibles.  One is when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. Edom denied those who were with Moses passage through their land.

The harmonious reunion of Jacob and Esau had somehow given way to this less-than-hospitable state of affairs. The Israelites had to take the long way around, but they would take 40 years to enter the promised land, so maybe it was no harm, no foul.

Let’s look farther down the road to a time after Solomon and when the Kingdom of Israel was a divided kingdom.  This will come from 2 Kings 3.

The King and the land of Edom was involved, though the message of this passage is mostly about Israel.  It is interesting to see that both Judah and Edom allied themselves with Israel in this endeavor. The descendants of Jacob and the descendants of Esau unite in this effort.

Moab owed tribute to Israel. It was a big annual payment of 100,000 rams and the wool of 100,000 sheep.  That’s a big-time payment.

When the king of Israel—Ahab—died, Mesha, the king of Moab, decided to test his successor.  Ahab was succeeded by his son, Joram. How did he test the new king?

Moab stopped the tribute.  How would this new king respond?

We are told that Joram did evil in the sight of the Lord, but he wasn’t as bad as his parents.  Now there’s a bullet to put on your resume.  At least I’m not as bad as my mother and father…

Joram wasn’t going to let Moab’s insubordination pass.  He rallied the support of the kings of Judah and Edom and set out to make war with Moab.  That’s what you did when somebody didn’t pay their tribute.

That was politics long ago.  When you defeated someone in battle or just had the upper hand on them, you wanted to keep it that way.  Those were the politics of the world probably until the end of WWII when the United States introduced the Marshall Plan.  After that, it was profitable to lose a war to the U.S.

Let’s get back to these 3 armies marching toward Moab.

Now to get to Moab, you had to cross a lot of desert.  After a week, there was water for neither man nor beast. You want to see an ancient army or a modern army come to a halt?  See what happens when there is no more water.

You can have diesel fuel and ammunition galore, but if you are out of water, you are not going to defeat anyone.  In fact, you become a very vulnerable target for your enemy.

The king of Israel asked, has God called us together just to let Moab kill us?  Evidently, Joram had some regard for the one true God.

It seems that there wasn’t a logistician among them who would have figured out this water problem before embarking on this campaign, but there was a prophet.  Elisha was summoned by King Joram. 

Elisha didn’t care for Joram.  He was still doing evil, even if he wasn’t as bad as Mom and Dad.  He told Joram if it wasn’t for King Jehoshaphat, he wouldn’t give them the time of day.

In fact, Elisha told Joram, why don’t you just seek a prophet from those who worship false gods, like your parents did?  You have to love Elisha’s directness and lack of tact in dealing with these heads of state.

Because the King of Judah was there, Elisha agreed to seek God’s direction.  He needed a harpist.  There are a lot of unanswered questions here.

Why was Elisha going on this trip?

Why wasn’t he summoned before Israel decided to declare war on Moab?

Why does an army run out of water but happens to have a harp and a harpist available?

Those are rabbit trails for another day. Elisha got his music and delivered directions from the Lord to the kings.

He said to have your men dig ditches—trenches if you will.  You will not see a cloud or a drop of rain, but God will fill these ditches with water and deliver your battle with the Moabites to you.

In today’s world, the leaders would have just asked for another prophet.  This one is bonkers.  Get me one that won’t cause my army to rebel.

Why would the army rebel?  They are out of water and you want them to dig ditches. You can imagine that the army is in hunker-down mode, seeking shade, and conserving what water they still have in their bodies.

But the kings did as instructed and ditches were dug.

The next morning water began flowing from the direction of Edom and it filled all of the ditches.  There wasn’t a rain cloud to be seen but the ditches were filled and the army—man and beast alike—was replenished.

If you have ever gone by Lake Lugert—the one by Quartz Mountain State Park—you have seen what I am talking about.  The lake will be down.  It doesn’t rain anywhere in Greer County but somewhere miles and counties away, the rain falls and heads south to fill the lake.

Those ditches--dug in the heat of the day when the army was already out of water--were filled.

Now Moab got wind that the armies of 3 kings were headed their way.  You have to figure if you don’t pay the tribute that you owe, there might be someone headed your way to make you change your mind.  I would expect that Moab had some scouts out looking to see if trouble was heading their way.

So early in the morning, the army of Moab approached the encampment of these invaders.  It must have been about sunrise and the armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom must have been sleeping in because the encampment did not appear to be well guarded. No activity was detected.

The sun hit the water in such a way as to make the ground appear red like blood.  The Moabite commander assumed the 3 armies had fought each other and that most everyone was dead.

All that was left now was the plunder.  The Moabites could claim the spoils of war without having to win a major battle. The men were turned loose to claim the spoils from the battle they never fought.

The problem was that the soldiers of the 3 armies were not dead.  They were watered and rested and ready to fight.  They easily defeated the disorganized Moabites and quickly turned this victory into the first of many and the 3 armies went into Moab and destroyed anything of value and fouled the land.

God had delivered Moab unto Israel, Judah, and Edom.

The battle was won not in the early morning but in the hot sun when the men were out of water but the ditches were dug.  The battle was won by faithfully following the instructions of the Lord delivered by his prophet.

This was a story of faith.  Think of ordering your very thirsty army to dig ditches in the heat of the day with no rain clouds in sight based upon words that came from a prophet who didn’t like you.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Genesis 36 is about the descendants of Esau, some of whom were involved in this story of faith. Some of these descendants claimed victory over the Moabites delivered by God through their faithfulness.

The descendants of Jacob and the descendants of Esau would share in this victory because they were faithful to the command of the one true God.

The lineages had separated.

Geography separated the people of Jacob and the people of Esau.

In this moment, faith in God united them in victory.

How do I connect this with our present situation? 

Faith is always connectable to your situation, but the lesson here is that God may call us to do something where we cannot connect the dots.  He may ask us to dig ditches in the heat of the day without a cloud in sight.

What do we do?

Trust in the Lord without all our heart.  Lean not on our own understanding.  In all our ways acknowledge him. Take the path that he gives us.

What do we do?

Break out our shovels and start digging. Trust that God delivers on his promises.

When God tells us to do something and our own understanding tells us that he is crazy, we do what God tells us to do, even if it’s digging ditches in the hot sun when we are completely out of water.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Keep your shovels at the ready.  We might just have some ditches to dig this year.

Amen.

How many stops did the bus make?

 Read Genesis 35

Read Revelation 7

The bus has 4 passengers when it leaves the bus station. 

At the first stop 2 get off and 2 get on.

At the next stop 1 gets on and 2 get off.

At the next stop 3 get on and 1 gets off.

At the next stop 1 gets on and nobody gets off.

At the next stop 2 get off and nobody gets on.

At the next stop, 1 gets on and 1 gets off.

At the next stop 7 get on and 5 get off.

Are you still with me?  How many stops did the bus make?

Jacob was moving to Bethel with everyone and everything he owned.  It was a setting apart.  He had to leave everything associated with his old self behind.

Folks, there’s a cache of earrings buried somewhere in the Promised Land.  It was the original geocache. In my retirement, I think I will write a story about someone finding the buried false gods and a huge stash of earrings.

Reuben slept with one of his dad’s concubines.

Rachel died in childbirth, but not before giving birth to Benjamin.

Jacob moved again, near present-day Bethlehem.

Isaac died and both of his sons came for the funeral.

Israel now has 12 sons.

 The sons of Leah:

Reuben the firstborn of Jacob,

Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.

The sons of Rachel:

Joseph and Benjamin.

The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah:

Dan and Naphtali.

The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah:

Gad and Asher.

So are these the 12 tribes?

Yes and no.  If you go to Revelation 7, the list is slightly different. Each tribe has 12,000 witnesses.  The tribes are:

Judah

Reuben

Gad

Asher

Naphtali

Manasseh

Simeon

Levi

Issachar

Zebulun

Joseph

Benjamin

If you are keeping score at home, you probably have the following question. So, what happened to Dan and who is Manasseh?

It looks like once the Tribe of Dan entered into the Promised Land, they began idol worship and blended with the locals. It was something like in the choose this day moment, they said they would choose the one true God, but that didn’t last long.

All of Israel had its moments of apostasy, but evidently, Dan’s hit the tipping point.  They are not in the final list of tribes that will be witnesses for God at the end of the age. They went native.

Manasseh was one of 2 sons born to Joseph.  Both Manasseh and Ephraim were considered as Jacob’s own sons.  In some parts of the Bible, they are referred to as half-tribes.  They both got Joseph’s share.

By the end of the age, the tribe of Dan is gone from the list and Joseph is listed with only one of his sons, Manasseh.

So who are the 12 tribes that will receive territory in the Promised Land?

Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim and Manasseh.

Which of the 12 sons of Jacob would not receive a piece of territory in the Promised Land?

That would be Levi.  They would be a tribe of priests distributed among all of the tribes.

Ready for the test?

How many stops did the bus make?

Next week, we look at the descendants of Esau and the Edomites.

So what do I take home with me this week?  Know the tribes but live by love.  Sometimes the message is just to love one another even when the text is about people and tribes.

Love one another.

Amen.

Set Apart

 Read Genesis 35

Jacob was living in a land where there had been much death and desolation at the hands of his sons.  Even though the pagan peoples around him did not band together against him, property values had surely bottomed out.

Yes, he had all the grazing land that he wanted but this place would always be a reminder of sin taking hold of his entire family.  It was time for a change.

The change came about not because Jacob reasoned that he needed to move.  God commanded him to move, and this would not just be a change of scenery.  It would not just be moving to a better neighborhood.

This would be a setting apart of Jacob and his family.

God told Jacob to go to Bethel.  Remember, you met me there before. Do what you did the first time.  Set up an altar to me.  This was the place where Jacob had his vision.  This was the place Jacob named Bethel because God was in that place.

Now God was sending Jacob to that place.

This was more than just a road trip.  Before everyone left—and we are talking not just blood relatives but all who had been acquired by Jacob over the course of time, including those spoils from killing all of Hamor’s men—Jacob command them to give up their false gods.

This is something of a choose this day moment for Jacob’s people. There could be no sitting on the fence. There might not have been much choice involved.  It sounds like everyone was voluntold to get cleaned up and get rid of their pagan baggage.

Jacob told his people to purify themselves and put on new clothes. The exact purification ritual is not clear, but this was to be a change of everything—heart, mind, body, spirit, and clothing, and you surely don’t put clean clothes on a dirty body.

They also took off their earrings.  Some commentaries say that these were part of pagan practices or superstitious rituals.  In any case, they were not going to make the trip.

Jacob buried all of these in a place where they were not likely to be found.

Why not destroy them?  There is no definitive answer, but the hiding of them accomplished what destroying them would have done and would surely provide the plot for a Hollywood movie when some unsuspecting putz stumbled upon them in 2024.

In any case, the people who made this trip would not be encumbered by the trappings of their pagan past.

Jacob did what was commanded of him.  He set up the altar and later a pillar. He had come to this place where he had seen angels ascending and descending between earth and heaven and God had plans for him.

God had told him this once before, but at this time and place, its purpose became clear. 

God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.”

Jacob left the old ways and was set apart for God’s work.  Even the old name had to go.  He was now Israel.

God passed the promise given to Abraham and Isaac on to Jacob.

·       You will have many descendants.  You are now the mainstay of this Father of Many Nations business.

·       This land in which you now reside—more than just the parking place that you now occupy—is my gift to your descendants.

This whole Father of Many Nations thing has been going on for a while.  Jacob and his 4 wives put it into high gear, but now we see God setting apart a people. 

Somehow Jacob—Israel—knew this.  He knew this was significant. He was to be different from the pagan people who surrounded him.  We don’t seed the words chosen people, but we see the setting apart.

We don’t really see the full manifestation of God’s Chosen People until they emerge from Egypt centuries later.  The essence of this setting apart comes to us in Leviticus.

You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.

If you ever wonder why there were all of these laws—some seem obscure—given by God in what we know as Leviticus, understand that God was setting apart a people to be like him.

But why this law or that one.  Did God really have to tell people that?

God noted that it was because the people in the land that was given to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did these things that were repulsive to the Lord. You are set apart for God.  We don’t do these things because we belong to God as his own. We are his special people.

We are to be holy as he is holy.

That setting apart was underway with Israel and his family.  Isaac died soon after Israel was sent to Bethel.  Israel, tribes, and chosen people were what was to come.

That story is on our near horizon, but let’s jump to 2023 and our group of believers.  Have we been set apart? Is that just a Hebrew thing?  Is it just for pastors, or maybe elders? Are we special?

Are we set apart?

You know the answer.  God chose us—we were preselected to be with him for eternity.  We didn’t earn anything.  It was a gift but we received the gift by faith.

We are chosen.  We are set apart.  We are his.  We are to be holy as God is holy.

We are not going to get a perfect score on the Law of Moses test.  Only Jesus could do this.  He said that he came to fulfill the law and he did.

Praise the Lord that he did because that gave God the Father the Unblemished Lamb that would be sacrificed for our sins.

But we must always remember that we are set apart for God.  How?

Many ways, but the most essential is love.  We are to be known by our love.

We should see ourselves as set apart for God.  We are known to each other not only by acknowledging God in everything we do but by the presence of love in everything we do.

Others should see us as set apart for God.  The world may praise us for this or the world most likely will condemn us for this, but the world should not be confused about us.  We belong to God.  We are set apart by God.  We are to be known as followers of Christ Jesus by our love.

The lost should see us as set apart by God and for God.  The lost should see the light of God shining through us. The lost should know the love of God through us.

Make no mistake, you are set apart by God and for God.  He works in us and through us and as it turns out he is always working for us.

And if God is for us, who then can be against us?

Think this day on being set apart for God and his purpose.  Know that our part in this is to repent of the ways of the world and seek the ways of God.

This is a wholesale exchange of body, mind, soul, and spirit.  We leave the old behind and take on our new nature.  We are a new creation and God has purpose for our lives.

We are set apart to bring glory to his name and be known as his disciples by our love.

We are brothers and sisters with Christ.

We are not troubled by trouble in this world but we take courage in the One who overcame the world.

We know that this present suffering that we endure—sometimes much and sometimes little—is nothing compared to what the God who set us apart has in store for us.

If the world says, “Dude, you’re just different”, respond by saying, “I know.  I’m set apart by God for his good works.”

In my profession of faith and baptism, I have been purified by God’s own Spirit.

I put off the old clothes and put on the new.  I am a new creation.

I cast off everything—not just earrings—that gets in my way of following God.

I am ready to go to Bethel and seek God and his kingdom and his righteousness.

You are set apart by God for God and you should rejoice in that.  We should enjoy being different from the world.

Let us rejoice in being set apart for God!

Amen.

 

Three Questions -- One More Time...

 This is what you have been waiting for all year, a chapter on rape and circumcision, and the vengeance of brothers upon every one of the Hivite men.  Just when you thought it was safe to go out in the water, here comes circumcision again.

We are going to save all of that for the next service.  There really are not two distinct stories here that deserve to be split between services, so I am going with an old favorite—three questions.

The questions are:

How long will God love you?

How much does God love you?

What are you going to do about it?

To the first question. How long will God love us?

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:

I have loved you with an everlasting love;

    I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

Here it is in The Message translation.

God told them, “I’ve never quit loving you and never will.

    Expect love, love, and more love!

It seems that our world is going absolutely bonkers, but our God just won’t stop loving us.  It’s not about how well the world is doing.  It’s not about our performance, though our very lives should be a living sacrifice—on ongoing offering—to God.  It’s not about how well we scored on our Law of Moses test.

It’s about love.  It’s all about love.  Why?

God is love!

God wants us to have his divine nature. He wants us to know love and to be love and to do that he just keeps on loving us. 

Evidently, he thinks that we are worth it.

Question 2.  How much does God love us? We know this answer by heart.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

I can comprehend my own child going into the service and perhaps risking his life for his country.  I get that.

I have a hard time comprehending the trust that Abraham had in God when he told him to sacrifice his one and only son, Isaac. That’s some stuff right there.

Risk of death is one thing.  Giving your son over to death is another.  I am glad that God called me to be a Marine officer and to pastor a church in Burns Flat, America.

I don’t know if I would have it in me to sacrifice my own son.  As much as I preach trust in the Lord and as much as I try to live trust in the Lord, sacrificing your own son just seems like a bridge too far.

Yes, there were some teenage years when it might have been easier, but sacrificing your own son is too much.

When it came to loving us, God said that no price is too high. He paid the price in his own blood—the blood of Christ Jesus.

When you wonder how much God loves you, visualize Jesus on the cross.  His arms are stretched out wide to make it difficult to breathe.  The Romans were devious like that.  They built good roads and aqueducts, but they knew how to maximize pain as they killed you.

But as you visualize Jesus being executed on the cross think of his arms stretched out for you. How much does God love you?  More than you can imagine.

So now, to my favorite question.  What are you going to do about it?  What are you going to do in response to this fantastic, unbelievable love of God that we know in Christ Jesus?

Our salvation rests in our belief.  We believe in Jesus and the One who sent him.  In our profession of faith resides our salvation.

But we are promised more than just being saved from the flames of hell.  We are promised fullness. We are promised abundant life.

Our salvation is one thing. Our response to salvation is another.  Our response is our discipleship and our discipleship begs the question:  Do we realize how much God loves us?

How could our response be anything less than everything we have given willingly to God.  Yes, we tithe and make offerings and sing hymns of praise and sometimes stay awake for the sermon, but I am talking about more. 

I am talking about in everything we do, doing it for the Lord.  Our jobs, our school, our time with our families, and our time alone is all meant to be an offering to God.

God wants to see us bring glory to his name and enjoy him while we do it.

Do we comprehend that?  God wants us to enjoy bringing glory to his name.  It’s not a gotta-do.  It’s a get-to-do—a blessed-to-do.

Even our loving response to God’s unfathomable love is designed to be a blessing to us.

Let’s respond to God’s love by living fully for him and enjoying him every step of the way!

Amen.

Unbridled Vengeance

 Read Genesis 34

And so, we come to one of the landmark precursors to an eye for an eye.  Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, was out and about talking with the local gals when she was taken and raped by the local ruler’s son.

Shechem, the son of the local ruler, Hamor had violated the only daughter of Jacob who was named among his offspring.  Perhaps there were more, but she was named with the sons, possibly because of what happened to her.

Now this was not just a one-and-done deal for Shechem.  He wanted Dinah as his wife.  He was taken with her and convinced his dad that he couldn’t live without her.  Their rather truncated courtship notwithstanding, this was going to be the love of Shechem’s life.

OBTW—Dinah remained in Shechem’s household while the rest of the story unfolded.

Dad, I need you to get this girl for me.

Dad gave it a shot and talked with Jacob.  He and his son tried to make this the deal of the century for Jacob.  Just ask whatever you want for a dowery.  We will pay it.

Besides, we are neighbors now.  Your sons are going to need brides someday.  Having our two peoples become one would be advantageous for both of us.

Jacob had been known as the deceiver before God renamed him Israel.  Some of those deceptive traits might have been passed on to his offspring.  Consider this thirteenth verse from today’s chapter.

Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob’s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor.

They noted that they had this whole circumcision thing going on.  It was from God’s covenant with Father Abraham.  It was a sign in the flesh.  It was a big deal.

All of those things were true, but not the motivation of the brothers.  We are told that there was deceit in what Dinah’s brothers ask of the Hivites.  Every single one of your males must be circumcised.

Shechem and his father discussed this.  It seemed like a good deal for them.  Jacob wasn’t just some yahoo camped out in the backyard.  He was a man of substance.  That substance could be absorbed into the Hivite community. This whole circumcision deal seemed reasonable considering what they stood to gain other than the girl.

Perhaps, there was a little deceptive motivation in Hamor and Shechem going along with this request.  What we don’t see is the reaction of all the men in the country.  Really!  We are going to have to do this just so you get the girl?

This gives a whole new meaning to taking one for the team.

There is also the question never asked but which was answered in the course of the story.  C’mon, the old Marine officer here knows to trust but inspect.  I remember the Reagan years and dealing with the Soviets—trust but verify.

Who was going to inspect?  Who was going to verify?  I’m pretty sure that duty was going to fall to the youngest brother.  C’mon, who wants to get stuck with circumcision inspection duty?

We don’t see any inspection but evidently, all the males did what was required by their leader.  They were circumcised.  They were in pain.

And on the third day, two of Dinah’s brothers attacked these men and killed them all, including Shechem and his father—the ruler of the Hivites.  Only 2 of Jacob’s sons took to the sword, but the Hivites were no match in their present condition.

The rest of the brothers joined in the looting.  Back in the day, if you defeated somebody in combat, you took anything of value as the spoils of war.

The brothers also rescued their sister from Shechem’s household.

Jacob was in shock.  What if the other pagan peoples now banded together against him?  This could really be his undoing.

The sons of Jacob asked him, “What! We should have let them treat our sister as a prostitute.”  I think that they all had tee shirts made up that said, DON’T MESS WITH MY SISTER!

Jacob seemed to have forgotten that God was with him.  In all of his deceptiveness and even in the deceptiveness and ruthlessness of his sons, God was with him.

It seems that he also forgot one more thing. Maybe it just wasn’t included in the text. After victory in battle, Abraham made a tithe to Melchizedek. At the place he named Bethel, Jacob promised to tithe to God.

Just as a side note, it seems that Jacob’s dad is still alive at this point.  We don’t have a record of any visits by Jacob or Esau but just file that one away for later.

For this morning, let’s return to where we began. And so we come to one of the landmark precursors to an eye for an eye. 

What is an eye for an eye?  It is the law of retaliation established by God.  It was not in effect at this time.  So, when Dinah’s brothers discovered that their sister had been raped, they didn’t go rape some Hivite girls in retaliation.  They killed all of the men.

They killed all of them!

Understand when we get to the Law given to Moses and to the law of retaliation, this is an improvement to the law of unbridled vengeance. It is an improvement to the hate and vengeance that resides in the human heart.

While there was some sense of justice outside of God’s people; even God’s people were subject to the darkness that is within every heart.  Sin didn’t just make a brief stopover in Genesis.  It survived the Garden of Eden, It survived the Land of Nod, and it survived the flood.

Sin resides in every human heart. Sometimes, it is unleashed and it feels right to us. Sometimes the thought, kill them all and let God sort ‘em out, sounds like sound reasoning, especially when we let sin in the driver’s seat.

We know that human anger cannot bring about the righteous life that God desires. We know this but we also know that we still contend with anger.

It appears that Jacob survived this outburst of human anger, though his offspring would spend over 4 centuries as Egyptian slaves.  God told Abraham that this would happen long before Jacob walked the earth and that slavery does not seem related to the massacre of the Hivites.  In any case, the massing of pagan forces against Jacob did not occur.

Much later, Jesus would teach that an eye for an eye was not the longstanding law that God desired.  God desired his children to love one another and forgive one another.

We know the desire of God’s heart.  We know the darkness within our own hearts.  We have seen the mitigation strategy of Lex Talionis. Lex Talionis reduced the effects of hatred in the human heart.

Jesus came to make our hearts more like his Father’s.

What about us?  Where do we stand?  Do we also have love as our first nature?

We are still at war with God’s heart and our own.  Our own desires sometimes win out over the divine love that we should emulate. We are, in fact, very much of the earth.

We are made in God’s image but we are made of the humus of the earth. We struggle.

But we must remember that God has good plans for us.  We must never stop seeking to please God.  Our salvation resides 100% in our belief in Jesus Christ and the One who sent him, but our lives that should be lived in loving response to God’s love are a struggle.

Why do we struggle?  We don’t trust God enough.

We love God’s forgiveness for ourselves but we long for him to exact justice from others. Will the judge of the earth not do what is right?

Of course he will, but it may not match up to our worldly model.  He may forgive the unforgivable—at least the unforgivable in our eyes.  But we are called to have eyes to see.

See what?

The divine love of our heavenly Father.  The mercy and grace of God in heaven that we know in Christ Jesus. The Way, the Truth, and the Life of God the Father that we know in Christ Jesus.

Vengeance is mine says the Lord. We are counseled against our anger but sometimes we deceive ourselves into thinking that our anger is righteous anger.  Only God is entitled to righteous anger.

But I’m on God’s side in this!  I deserve to share in God’s righteous anger.  There is a theological term for that sort of thinking—horse hockey, and I am not talking about equines on ice.

God said that vengeance belongs to him.  We must trust that the Lord of all the earth will do what is right.  God is sovereign and it is not our prerogative to preempt his sovereignty.

We must trust that God will do what is right.  It might be judgment and punishment.  It might be forgiveness.  It might be totally beyond our comprehension.

We know God’s heart.  God has revealed his heart to us. He desires none to perish. He desires all to come to him in repentance and belief in Christ Jesus, but our part is to trust him and take his love and good news to the world.

That’s a tall order if our heart seeks vengeance.  That’s impossible if we can’t bring ourselves to forgive. It is hypocrisy if we say we love God but can’t forgive our brothers and sisters.

Had I been a brother to Simeon and Levi, I probably would have picked up a sword as well. It’s our human nature, but today, we know better. Given only to my human nature, I would have done some sword swinging too.

We long to be known as Christ’s disciples by our love.

It’s a struggle.  It’s a challenge. It is exactly what we are called to do. It is contrary to our human nature that wants more vengeance than an eye for an eye.  That was mitigation.  We want our vengeance to hurt and hurt badly.

So, where does that leave us?

Learn the history. Live the lesson. 

That lesson is that we who have been saved by the mercy and grace of God are to be known as Christ’s disciples by our love.

We are to be known by the divine heart of God that is within us.

Let God’s heart overtake and overwhelm your own and live a life of love.

Amen.

God will accomplish his plan

 Read Genesis 33

Do you want to know where you stand in your family?  Who is the favorite?  Who is the black sheep? Who is the no-filter uncle?

It was easy in Jacob’s family.  Everyone was on a track to meet Esau and his 400 men.  He had already divided his estate into 2 camps in case Esau attacked.  Maybe some could get away.

But the time had come to meet his brother and see what the future held.  Jacob was up front, but he was followed by his two servant wives and their children.

Behind them were Leah and her children.  Finally, there was Rachel and Joseph.  If they were attacked, maybe Rachel would get away. Maybe she could safely find her way to one of the camps and survive with Joseph to continue the line in fulfilling this Father of Many Nations business.

Remember, this whole 20 years in Paddan Aram began with Jacob wanting Rachel as a wife.  He ended up married to Leah first, but he really loved Rachel. In all, he worked 14 years to get Rachel as his wife.

He stayed there a total of 20 years, but the last few were just growing his flocks.

So here we are coming face to face with Esau and his 400 men and Jacob is totally unsure of how this will go.  He had sent gifts to try and appease his brother, but anger is anger and we might ask, did 2 decades soften it or intensify it?

Really, who shows up to meet their brother with 400 men? This might not go well, but it did.

Esau ran to greet his brother.  He asked him about all the flocks and herds, and then told Jacob that was not necessary.  Esau had plenty. Jacob did not need to give him anything.

Finally, Esau accepted the gifts.  Jacob did not want to go back with his brother right then.  He said the herds with mothers and their offspring couldn’t go further without rest.  It wouldn’t be so easy on the human kids either.

So Esau returned home.

Jacob did not follow.  He went to a place that would be called Sukkoth near the city of Shechem and settled there.  Sukkoth means shelters.

Why is any of this important?  Was Jacob back to his deceptive nature? Was this just practical?  Really, Jacob showing up at Esau’s place with everything he owned and saying, “Mind if we stay a while, would be a bit overwhelming.”

We don’t know all of the particulars, but we know that Jacob bought some property in  this area and settled down. Again, what is the significance?

The place where Jacob settled was part of what God promised Abraham.  The place where Esau settled was not.  It was just outside the Promised Land in present-day Jordan or perhaps as far as Saudi Arabia.

Edom—the land of Esau’s descendants—would be part of the southern border of the Promised Land.

So was Jacob—now called Israel—back to his deceptive ways or just being practical—the whole this town ain’t big enough for the both of us sort of thing?

In any case, the story that would take all of Jacob’s family into Egypt would move forward from this place in the Promised Land.

God was with Jacob as promised.  Esau did not destroy him.

Jacob did not live on top of his brother.  He put some space between them.  They were still neighbors in one sense, but each would live their own lives.

Jacob had not married from the local pagan girls.  Esau did, plus he had one wife who was a descendant of Ishmael.

These two brothers, both descended from Abraham, had different callings in life. Jacob’s family would save the known world through Joseph, produce God's Chosen People, receive God’s law through Moses, return to the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership, and produce the Savior of the world.

Esau’s family would be known as Edom.  Remember that Edom means red.  Esau was reddish and harry when he was born and he sold his birthright for a red-looking bowl of stew.

Edom means red and so the Edomites are named after a red person.  Have you ever heard anything like that before in your life?

Anyone take Oklahoma history?  Oklahoma means red people.  I don’t think there is any biblical significance in that, but it’s a nice rabbit trail.

Edom is involved in more biblical history, but most of the story follows Jacob’s line. Jacob’s family would leave the Promised Land for Egypt and in something over 400 years, return to it.

This was God’s plan. You are part of God’s plan. Your job or next job, your education or your dropping out of school, your perfect game or your game with 4 errors are part of his plan.

It is sometimes hard to see at the moment, but we are being molded like clay into the creature—the new creature that God wants us to be.

Almost 10 years ago, I was sitting in my office as part of a ministerial alliance meeting.  Two of the pastors were going on mission trips.  Both said, we can always use another pastor.  It’s easy to find people to give out food and Bibles but a little more difficult to find someone equipped to preach, teach, baptize, and pray without notice.

I said, “I’ll know when God calls me to go.” This discussion did not seem like a call to me, but it preceded one.

The next week, I received an email from someone in Kenya claiming to be a bishop and wanting me to come to preach to and teach pastors and church leaders.  After some due diligence—I have also received those emails that say for just $1000 charged to my Visa, an imprisoned Kenyan prince would give me half of his multimillion-dollar fortune—I answered his email.

In the course of emails and phone calls, I asked him how he came up with me.  He said that he read one of my articles.  I think it was the one about love being the strongest force in the universe.  That’s when he contacted me.

I went to Kenya twice.  Most of you remember that, but I wrote that article with you as my target audience.  It was connected to a sermon a dozen years ago.

God will do what God will do and he will direct our paths to accomplish his will.

If you took some time to contemplate all of the seemingly insignificant things in your life, you might just see God at work.

So, your challenge for this week is to do the Psalm 46:10 thing and be still.  Know that he is God and reflect upon what is happening in your life.

Some of it might be to show you the path to which you are called.  Some might be to let you hit rock bottom so you trade in your own understanding for trusting God. Some of it is just too logical.  Some is not.

This morning’s message is that God will use your decisions to accomplish his will and finish the good work that he began in you. Make the best decisions that you can always seeking to please God, but remember, his plan will be accomplished.

You might mess up, make a complete mess of everything you thought you were accomplishing, and even find yourself at rock bottom, but you can’t mess up God’s plan, and that includes God’s plan for your life. 

You are not that powerful!

Because you have received Jesus as Lord, you are his and he won’t lose you.

Never give up for God never gives up on you.

Amen.