Tag: blessing

The Intended Blessing

Posted on by jovial_cynic
We know the story of Isaac giving Jacob the blessing instead of giving it to Esau. But do you recall that there are two blessings given to Jacob?

The first is in Genesis 27, where the blessing is primarily about material abundance and position among his brothers, and among the nations:

Now may God give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the fatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
May peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you;
Be master of your brothers,
And may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be those who curse you,
And blessed be those who bless you.”
Genesis 27:28-29 (NASB)

The second blessing is in Genesis 28, where Isaac pronounces God’s blessing over Jacob. It’s a much bigger blessing. It’s the IMPORTANT one.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a multitude of peoples. May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, so that you may possess the land where you live as a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.”
Genesis 28:3-4 (NASB)

Here, Isaac is not deceived. He knows exactly who he is giving this blessing to.

So I wonder if Rebekah’s intended deception was unnecessary. Perhaps she was so worried about material possessions and status of her son, she forgot that God had already promised to bless Jacob.

Perhaps Isaac was always going to give this bigger blessing to Jacob.

Blessing in Famine

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Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundred times as much. And the Lord blessed him.
Genesis 26:12 (NASB)

The importance of Genesis 26:12 is only understood in the context of Genesis 26:1.

The text starts off telling us that there is a famine. But also, this blessing doesn’t happen until Isaac tells Abimelech the truth about his wife.

Caught in a Lie

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Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife;
Genesis 20:12 (NASB)

When you read this plainly, it appears that Abraham and Sarah are half-siblings. However, the Hebrew is full of people using familial words to describe both close and more-distant relationships.

Much later, we’ll see that Jacob refers to his “father Abraham,” but he is talking about his grandfather, so this feels legitimate.

Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Lord, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’
Genesis 32:9 (NASB)

So is Abraham really being honest here?

In a previous post, I said Sarah is described oddly at the top of the chapter; we can link the Abraham->Sarah relationship with Israel->Ark, where the ark is merely being used for victory. A stolen blessing.

Look closely at this next instance of misrepresentation to gain a blessing…

Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Come now, sit and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.”
Genesis 20:19 (NASB)

Moment of Wrath

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The destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was a demonstration of God’s wrath and anger.

The rabbis asked about this anger and poured over the scripture to understand it better.

God is a righteous judge,
And a God who shows indignation every day.
Psalm 7:11 (NASB)

On the one hand, Psalm 7 teaches us that God is angry every day. In verse 11, some translations say “anger at the wicked,” but this is not what the text says.

It says anger. Every day.

So in response, the rabbis then ask, “if God is angry every day, surely God is not angry all day long.”

In Psalm 30, they point out that God’s anger only lasts “for a moment.” (phew!)

For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.
Psalm 30:

But then, how long is “a moment?”

There are several answers they provide as possibilities. Among them, this is my favorite:

“One fifty-eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty-eighth of an hour, that is a moment.”

God’s anger lasts a moment. And how long is a moment? One fifty-eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty-eighth of an hour, that is a moment.
Berakhot 7a:8

This translates into 1.01 seconds. God is angry for just one second per day! But… when?

Which second of the day is reserved for God’s anger?

One teaching says that nobody knows, except for one person in the world: Balaam, the wicked. If you recall, he’s the one who tried to curse Israel, but God flipped the script on him, causing him to bless Israel instead.

Then he took up his discourse and said,

“The declaration of Balaam the son of Beor,
And the declaration of the man whose eye is opened,
The declaration of him who hears the words of God,
And knows the knowledge of the Most High,
Who sees the vision of the Almighty,
Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered:
Numbers 24:15-16

The teaching says Balaam had secret knowledge of the exact moment God would be angry. Balaam tried to focus that anger at Israel to curse them, but he was unsuccessful. And so they suggest that even though Balaam knew the moment of God’s anger, God simply withheld his anger during that time, leaving only blessings available for Balaam to use on Israel. They point to Micah 6:5 as a remembrance of God witholding His anger.

It’s a fun thought, but it’s weird to think that Balaam would have this secret knowledge. It feels like a stranger-than-normal kind of thing.

Another teaching says that God’s anger occurs specifically at sunrise, linked to the kings of the earth setting their crowns on their heads at sunrise, giving their worship to the sun, and this teaching points to Sodom and Gomorrah.

The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven,
Genesis 19:23-24 (NASB)

There’s a figure of speech that’s related to this: “the moment of God’s anger,” which is tied to when the sun rises, or more specifically, “when the rooster crows.”

And this is also tied to when a curse is possible, tying back to Balaam’s story.

A certain heretic who was in Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi’s neighborhood would upset him by incessantly challenging the legitimacy of verses. One day, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi took a rooster and placed it between the legs of the bed upon which he sat and looked at it. He thought: When the moment of God’s anger arrives, I will curse him and be rid of him. When the moment of God’s anger arrived, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi slept. When he woke up, he said to himself: Conclude from the fact that I nodded off that it is not proper conduct to do so, to curse people, even if they are wicked.
Berakhot 7a:19

Isn’t that interesting?

Gifts from the Empire

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Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
Genesis 16:1-2 (NIV)

The text is quite clear. We are not called to use the gifts of Empire to try to force God’s blessing into our lives.

It’s not by our efforts, nor the might of Empire that moves God to keep His promises.

Curses

Posted on by jovial_cynic

And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Genesis 12:3 (NASB)

As far as Genesis has taught us, you can’t curse anyone God has blessed. So what does it mean when God says “anyone who curses you, I will curse” after He blesses Abram in verse 2?

As it turns out, there are two different words being translated as “curse” in this verse!

The first is kalal, which means to revile or dishonor or slight.
The second is arar, which means to bind with a curse.

The God of the Impossible

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Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the people which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; so they came to the land of Canaan.
Genesis 12:5 (NASB)

If you recall that “people which they acquired” is literally “the living souls they made,” you’ll see Abram and Sarai were given the power to be fruitful and multiply, even though Sarai is barren. Being fruitful and multiplying is a spiritual blessing, and God makes it happen, long before Sarai miraculously gives birth to Isaac.

Nothing is impossible for God.

Great

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And I will make you into a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing;
Genesis 12:2 (NASB)

In Genesis 12, God mentions this word “great” twice to Abraham, and if you’ve been following along, you know this means we should look more closely. Perhaps there is something here.

God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
Genesis 1:16 (NASB)

The very first time this word shows up in the Scriptures, it also shows up twice: the two great lights. And there is a mention of governing. Ruling. Something you expect a great nation to do well. So this feels related.

And God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:21 (NASB)

But in the same chapter, this word comes up again. The great sea creatures. Or perhaps great sea creature, which the rabbis suggest is the Leviathan: the great trouble of God’s people. And yet… given greatness. Authority. Like a kingdom of the sea. Or of darkness.

So we have these links between greatness and authority, and that all makes sense, although some will scratch their head at the Leviathan, unwilling to accept that the Serpent was also created by God. That’s fine.

But it’s the next instance of great that caught my attention.

Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to endure!
Genesis 4:13 (NASB)

Cain murdered his brother, and God assigned a punishment: the ground will no longer yield fruit. You will wander forever.

The verse says: וַיֹּאמֶר קַיִן אֶל־יְהוָהגָּדוֹל עֲוֺנִי מִנְּשֹׂא

“My punishment is too great to endure!”

We read this in English, and it feels like a complaint: “You are too harsh!” And then it appears that God provides a protection over Cain, to prevent anyone from killing him.

The rabbis see something else here. Something greater.

The word “punishment” is an odd translation choice. It is the Hebrew word עָוֹן (“ah-vone”), which means “iniquity.” It is almost always translated that way in the rest of Scripture.

So in actuality, it reads: “My iniquity is too great to endure,” and in these words, the rabbis see a question, not a statement.

Cain is not saying that it is too great for HIM to bear. He is asking God: “is my iniquity too great for YOU to bear?”

Cain knows the story: his father Adam brought death to ALL humanity through disobedience, yet God covered him. He continued to bless him. He continued to loved him.

So Cain asks God: Is my sin too great? Can I not also be redeemed?

And in response, God covers Cain, this time with a mark to protect him from death.

Perhaps this is God’s greatness: Even though Adam brought death to us all, God has authority over death to redeem. Even though Cain brought death to his brother, God has the authority to restrain death from seizing Cain.

You have not met someone God cannot redeem. He can save you. He can even save me.

Will Shem have Children?

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Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.
Genesis 10:21 (NIV)

Jewish commentaries say the phrase “were also born” is a narrative device that’s meant to come after a pause. The readers should wonder if Shem will have children. The writer delays giving the answer.

“Blessed” Noah had no more children, so how will God fulfill his Promise to bless the world? Would the blessing on Shem be the same or something different? And now we have the answer. Shem will also have children.

Be Fruitful and Multiply

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 10 is the “Table of Nations.” It outlines the descendants of the three sons of Noah.

While there isn’t much narrative in this text (though there is some!), what you should notice is that all of Genesis 10 is a fulfillment of God’s 3x blessing to Noah:

Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
Genesis 8:17 (NASB)

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
Genesis 9:1 (NASB)

As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.
Genesis 9:7 (NASB)