The Bible says in Deuteronomy
33:13-17, And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the
precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,[14] And for the precious fruits
brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,[15]
And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things
of the lasting hills,[16] And for the precious things of the earth and
fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the
blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that
was separated from his brethren.[17] His glory is like the firstling of
his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall
push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten
thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
The blessing for Joseph had a lot to do with the land. Joseph was given more
land in Israel than any of the other sons of Israel. That is seen by the fact
that the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, were each given an
inheritance and each given their own territory. With all that land, they
definitely needed the blessing of the Lord so that the land would be fruitful.
God has provided what the earth needs so that it will be fruitful: the sun, and
the water, and the plants. But when you have the blessing of the Lord, you have
an additional quality that makes everything work and produce so much better.
That principle is true for anything that we do. Do your best, use the materials
and opportunities that God gives to you, and seek Gods blessing through Christ
on all that you do.
It says about Joseph in Deuteronomy
33V16, him that was separated from his brethren. That is a
very polite way of putting it. Josephs brothers sold him into slavery, and
then lied to the father and said that Joseph was dead. That was a terrible
circumstance, but God made it all work out for good, because Joseph eventually
rose in power in the land of Egypt, and God used Joseph to help the entire
family when they all came into Egypt. The ways of God are past finding out. But
also God seemed to bless Joseph for what he suffered. God is like that. He will
reward you if you are patient, and do things His way. Jesus died on the cross
for the sins of the world, and now He is the King of kings.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy
33:18-19, And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and,
Issachar, in thy tents.[19] They shall call the people unto the
mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall
suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand.
The first word in the blessing to Zebulun and to Issachar is the word
rejoice. That is a great blessing to be able to rejoice. Many people are sad,
or depressed, or worried: and have no joy in them at all. Christians are told,
Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say,
rejoice. We can rejoice that Jesus died for
us. We can rejoice that Jesus loves us. We can rejoice that He is always with
us. We can rejoice because we have the Bible. We can rejoice because of all the
promises that God has made for us. We can rejoice because our sins are forgiven
through Jesus Christ. We can rejoice because Jesus is coming back some day. We
can rejoice because we will live in heaven with Him forever.
An interesting phrase is used in
Deuteronomy 33:19, they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness. In the Old
Testament a sacrifice was characterized by righteousness. What does a sacrifice
have to do with righteousness? The most important reason is that a sacrifice is
the only way to obtain righteousness. All of the animal sacrifices of the Old
Testament were simply symbolic of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Those
Old Testament sacrifices could never take away sin, but Jesus can. Once Jesus
becomes your personal Savior, then your righteousness is based upon the
righteousness of Christ. The righteousness of Christ is credited to your
account, and thus once you believe in Jesus with saving faith, God views you as
a righteous person. That is why every believer is called a saint in the Bible.
That is a false teaching to say that only a few Christians are called saints.
Every believer is holy, every believer is a saint, and every believer is
righteous before God because of the sacrifice of Christ.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy
33:20-21, And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth
Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with
the crown of the head.[21] And he provided the first part for himself,
because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with
the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments
with Israel. The phrase, Blessed
be he that enlargeth Gad, makes an important point that actually applies to all of
Israel. God will bless those that bless Israel, and God will help those that
help Israel. God made a promise to Abraham and God is going to keep that
promise. A wise person and a wise nation understand this truth. Woe to those
who violate it. God is going to make Israel the greatest nation on the earth,
and Jesus Himself will rule the earth for a thousand years from His capital in
Jerusalem. The blessing for Gad spoke of a lion. A lion is at the top of the
food chain. The blessing used the word crown. That symbolizes the one in
authority. Another phrase expressing dominance and privilege is found in verse
21: the first part for himself. Gad was not last or anywhere in between. He was first.
This blessing on Gad is associated with his relationship to God. That is why
verse 21 also says, because there, in a
portion of the lawgiver, was he seated. And
it also says, he executed the justice of
the LORD. To execute the justice of the Lord,
you must know the Word of the Lord. Gods thoughts must become your thoughts.
You need to become wise at recognizing the difference between the philosophies
of the world and the truth of God.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 33:22, And of Dan,
he said, Dan is a lions whelp: he shall leap from Bashan. This is not
the first time that a blessing on one of the sons of Israel had to do with a
lion. A lion represents strength and dominance. Christians who walk close to
the Lord are the strongest people in the world. Paul said, I can do all
things through Christ who strengtheneth me. Jesus said
in Mark 9:23, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth. When the blessing says of Dan, he shall leap from Bashan, it means
that he shall have an influence beyond his own habitat. That is what all
believers hope to have because the Holy Spirit leads us to seek opportunities
to spread the Gospel of Christ. One simple statement is this blessing made to
Dan. Would to God that we all had this blessing.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 33:23, And of
Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour,
and full with the blessing of the Lord: possess thou the west and the south. There are
three great words used in this blessing: satisfied, favour,
and full. The only thing that will truly satisfy any human being deep down
inside is to be saved from his or her sins and to walk in fellowship with God
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every person needs the unmerited favour of God. We can never earn Gods favour.
That is impossible because of the human nature that is so unholy naturally. We
are born without the capacity to please God, but thankfully He created the
means whereby He will look at us favorably even though we do not deserve it and
never will deserve it.
The Bible says that human beings cry
out, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. They do not
have peace in their heart because they do not have peace with God, and they do
not know the Prince of Peace. That is why they are never satisfied and are
never full. They always want more, more, more of whatever they are pursuing,
but they are never satisfied. They never find peace. What a great blessing was
pronounced upon Naphtali: satisfied with favour,
and full with the blessing of the Lord. Just knowing that Jesus loves you,
and that God regards you favorably freely is all that anyone needs to be
satisfied with life. And do not think that you need anything but faith in Jesus
to get this favour: not communion, not baptism, not
church attendance, not giving money to the church will gain you this favour with God. If you trust in Jesus and are relying upon
Jesus alone, then you have the favour of God for that
reason and for that reason alone.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy
33:24-25, And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let
him be acceptable with his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes
shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be. Having
children was very important to the Israelites because that is how their nation
grew from being a family of twelve sons to being a nation that would one day
rule the world. (The part about ruling the world has not happened yet, but it
will happen once Jesus comes back and rules from the throne of David in
Jerusalem.) It was also good to have a lot of children in those centuries where
most work was manual labor. The more children that you had, the more hands that
you had to do that work. Just think of the potential of a child. Every child is
unique, and if that child grows up to know the Lord Jesus and to serve the
Lord, then there are no limits to what that child might accomplish. But in
todays world you want to think clearly about having children. You want to make
sure that you and your spouse are ready for the responsibility to teach, to
supervise, to protect, and to provide for a little one. And make sure you give
some reflection to what happened to the first two children born into the world.
Adam and Eve had two sons: the first was named Cain and the second was named
Abel. Abel obeyed God concerning the offering and sacrifice, but Cain did not.
And then Cain killed his brother Abel. Adam and Eve had two sons: one served
God and one became a murderer. In spite of the best efforts of Christian
parents, there are no guarantees because each child will eventually make his or
her own decisions. If things do work out for any parents in this world, there
can be only one conclusion: the Lord blessed you just as He said that He would
bless Asher.
In the blessing to Asher the Bible
says, let him be acceptable with his brethren. This has to
do with your reputation among men. You want to do everything that you can do to
have a good reputation for the sake of the name of Christ. That is part of what
Jesus meant when He said, Let your light so shine before men that they may
see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. In order to do that we need help from God. We need the power
of the Holy Spirit. That is exactly what is symbolized with the blessing to
Asher says, let him dip his foot in oil. The anointing with oil symbolizes
the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It says that the feet are anointed. The feet
represent where we go, and thus represents our walk through life: where life
takes us and where we decide to go or not go. One thing for certain: in this
life we are walking through a battlefield. The world is not a peaceful garden
where everything and everyone is at peace. The world is a warzone where a
spiritual battle is constantly taking place. The spiritually weak will not
survive. They will be swallowed up by the enemies of truth. And so it is nice
to know that we can have strength from the Lord because we definitely need it.
It says in Ephesians 6:10, Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his
might.
Of course, you can only have the
blessing of strength from God if you know Jesus as your Savior. If you do not
know Jesus as your Savior, today you can turn from your sins and turn to
Christ. He will forgive you of your sins.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2016 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved