Father's Day Message About Asher

Happy Asher

June 21, 2020

I don’t think we know too many people who are named HAPPY. Did you ever see the movie Happy Gilmore? It’s a pretty funny and silly movie! Did you know that the most famous person named Happy is a marvel character. If you’re a marvel fan, you know who I’m talking about. It’s Harold Joseph "Happy" Hogan. In the movies, he’s shown in the Iron Man movies and more.

Well on this Father’s Day, I want you to know about a guy from the Bible who was not named Happy, but his name means happy.

His story is spread over the first 5 books of the Bible. He was born into one of the most dysfunctional families in the Bible. Any guesses which family that might be? If you were thinking it had to be Jacob’s family . . . well, you’re right!

This kid was the 8th son of Jacob. But he was not born to one of Jacob’s two wives. He was born to one of his wive’s servants. So, let’s look take a quick look back.

Abraham had a son named Isaac and Isaac had 2 sons, Jacob and Esau. Very quickly . . . Jacob stole Esau’s blessing by lying to his father. Jacob decieved Esau and his father. Jacob wanted to marry Rachel, but his father in law duped him into marrying her sister Leah. Then made him work for 7 more years before he could marry Rachel.

Adding to all of that, there was parental favoritism, sibling rivalry, deceit, and longstanding resentment. I hope you know there are really no perfect families in the Bible. There's hardly a single model family for anyone to look up to with either awe or envy.

Leah, the not favored wife bore children for Jacob, but Rachel couldn’t. So, she had Jacob sleep with her servant who bore him sons. This made Rachel happy. But Leah was now no longer able to provide children for Jacob, had him sleep with her servant as well. And more kids were born.

Actually, I think they were ahead of their times. Almost sounds like a modern day family.

Well, Leah’s servant, Zilpah, had a son . . . and now Leah was happy. Genesis 30 tells us --

12 Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 And Leah said, “Happy am I! For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher. Genesis 30:12-13

He was 8th on the list of kids born. He wasn’t first nor last. He wasn’t the strongest, most successful or smartest. He was just one of the kids.

He also participated in having his younger brother, Joseph, thrown into a pit, sold into Egyptain slavery. Watched as his father grieved the loss of his son, whom they said was killed by a wild animal. Only to find years later, that their brother was able to save them as second in command in Egypt.

It’s a pretty wild story.

Now, we don’t have any individual acts of heroism, bravery, signs of intelligence or anything from Asher. What we have are a collection of stories which add up to something I believe we need to hear this morning. This is not just for the men, but for all of us!

He left behind a legacy of wisdom, faith, character, and service to his nation at large: a legacy not only attached to him, but to his descendants. Let’s look at stories about him . . .

Asher was the father of four sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. We also know he had a daughter, and her name was Serah. – Genesis 46:17

What's fascinating about this is Serah was the only granddaughter mentioned among 53 grandsons in the lineage of Jacob. There were other granddaughters, usually the sons were named, but for some reason, Srah, couldn't be left out.

Jewish history says she was a woman of great virtue. Also, Jewish rabbinical literature tell us - Serah was actually Asher's stepdaughter. It’s been said, Asher married a widow named Hadurah when Serah was three years old. So Asher was the father of a blended family. She was included in the lineage of his family, as the only granddaughter. That says something about Asher!

It was customary when a father was dying, he would give a blessing to his children. So, when Jacob was dying, he had each of his 12 sons come to his bedside. Each child received a message from Jacob. Some were not really so kind and hopeful. Asher went to his father’s bedside and in Genesis 49, we read -

20 “Asher's food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies. - Genesis 49:20

Some sons had a paragraph which told of their destruction. Asher had one sentence.