Tag Archives: God’s love

Jehu – The Start

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Jehu, the army commander, which the Lord commissioned to destroy the house of Ahab and then to rule Israel almost, missed his appointed time. If it were not for the officers that were with him that day he would have ignored the prophet. A look at why the attitude is necessary.

The Northern Kingdom under Jeroboam had diluted the worship of Jehovah and started a new priesthood. Jeroboam had made images of a bull and goat and set them up as the gods of Israel. God’s love was manifested at this time by Him sending prophets to Judah and Israel, but mainly to Israel so that they would not forsake Him (See Prophets of Rehoboam and Jeroboam) but the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat continued. Ahab and Jezebel added to this sin by starting Baal worship and killing off the Lord’s prophets. This confused mixture of religions is what Jehu grew up in. In 2 Kings 9:11 Jehu responds to the mocking of the officers, that called the prophet a “madman” by playing off the anointing. The facts here, however, provoke the officers in verse twelve to keep asking: 1. They recognized the young man as a prophet of the Lord 2. Jehu has oil dripping from his head 3. The young man runs.

Jehu trying to brush off the anointing may have been a “wait and see” response. So when the officers took this scene to the next level by blowing trumpets and spreading cloaks Jehu still responds with a, “If this is how you feel.” Knowledge of the true God was still present and real and the anointing was taken seriously and replaced the mocking but you get the feeling it could have gone either way.

Tribes of Israel – Reuben

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The first-born son of Jacob by Leah was Reuben.

Genesis 29:32  Reuben sounds like the Hebrew for he has seen my misery; the name means see, a son. Like all of the sons you should not only look at them but what happened with their families. All of the boys have prophecy about them form Jacob and then one for them/their tribe from Moses.

Jacob’s statement before he died concerning Reuben was “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. 4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it. Genesis 49:3  (NIV 1984)

Moses’ statement to the tribe of Reuben before he died was found in Deuteronomy 33:6 “Let Reuben live and not die, nor his men be few.” (NIV 1984) A footnote in the NIV says that the meaning of this phrase is uncertain.

As I mused about Reuben I knew he had been removed as family leader but he was still family and loved by God. God did not throw him away because of the mistake. Reuben did try to save Joseph from his brothers (Gen. 37:29) and he tried to take the lead in Genesis 42:37 for getting food for the family when Jacob was reluctant to risk another trip. His family fulfilled the agreement with Moses when they took the lead with their troops going first into the Promise Land 9 (Joshua 1:16). Men from the tribe supported David at a critical time when he needed help (1 Chronicles 12:37).

God still honored him/his family; in Ezekiel his allotment is between Ephraim (Joseph) and Judah on the north side of the City and in Revelation 7 he is second on the list under Judah. Again in Ezekiel 48 his gate is with Judah and Levi on the north side of the City.

Their gate on the north side is a interesting direction but I guess it is because north is where trouble comes from so the strongest families are facing that way. Sounds like another Bible study to me.