Reaping What We Sow
A. In our Lives
B. In Dying and the things thereafter
DBF, Sunday Worship, 6/23/02
My Father was always fond of people with political connections and money.
He thought that there was something special about them and he would often tell anyone listening to him this.
I have seen however, that most of the people he has held in high esteem back in Louisiana have gone away.
One man he dearly loved to lift up was the owner of numerous different shipyards…he had a heart attack then because of what he sowed by drinking and living a life of immorality when his body was crippled he had nothing else to live for so he committed suicide.
Governor Edwin Edwards, fought numerous legal battles with the federal prosecutors and has served several years in jail.
A number of others have succumbed to their greed and wanting.
Two men sold underground storage of heavy water, one died shortly thereafter and the other has had a number of his children die from cancer.
I really like the way that Alaska at least looks at the issues that make life worth living and looks upon things with some stewardship principals in mind.
The escapement of salmon on yearly runs often is a bitter debate in fishing circles…but shows the wise stewardship which is needed to ensure future runs of the salmon this region so depends upon.
You see, if I can catch 500 fish today and catch them all, not leaving any to spawn, I deplete my food source and a future food source of my children.
God absolutely calls you and I to be wise stewards and he shows us in the lesson this week that there are things we reap from our actions.
A. In our Lives
Genesis 49:1-27 (KJV)
And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. [2] Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.
[3] Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: [4] Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
[5] Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. [6] O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. [7] Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
[8] Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. [9] Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? [10] The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. [11] Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: [12] His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
[13] Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.
[14] Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: [15] And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.
[16] Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. [17] Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. [18] I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.
[19] Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
[20] Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.
[21] Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.
[22] Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: [23] The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: [24] But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) [25] Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: [26] The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
[27] Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.
Verse 1-2
And Jacob called his sons—Jacob’s last address is a blessing to all his sons. “Gather yourselves together.” Jacob’s words are the same that you and I are called to be in. Do you gather yourselves together as God calls you too with your brothers and sisters in Christ?
“That which shall befall you in the after days.” The time spoken of is between then and the end of our days on this earth.
“Hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken to Israel your father.” Jacob the man father has become the Prince of God Israel. It shows the equivalence, and at the same time the
distinction, of Jacob and Israel.
They both apply to the same person, and to the race of which he is the head. The one refers to the natural, the other to the spiritual.
Verse 3, 4
Reuben, the first-born by nature, has first place in the address. My might. In times and places in which a man’s right depends on his might, a large family of sons is a great source of strength and safety. “excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power”—the rank and authority which belong to the first-born. “Boiling over as water.” Unstable, passionate…things to be disdained. “Thou shalt not excel.” If you are a feelings/passions oriented individual, you will not excel in the work of God.
By the dispensation of Providence the double portion went to Joseph, the chieftainship to Judah; and the priesthood to Levi. Because “To my couch he went up.” You see he reaped what he sowed. He sowed dishonor to his father—he received dishonor among his brethren, but he still had his place in the promised land
Verse 5-7
“Simon and Levi are brethren,” by temper as well as by birth. “Into their counsel.” This refers to the plot they formed for the destruction of the inhabitants of Shekem. Jacob pronounces a curse upon their anger, not because indignation against sin is unwarrantable in itself, but because their wrath was marked by deeds of fierceness and cruelty. “I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” This is similar to a parent today telling a child they do not want them hanging around with this one because they may lead their child astray. He does not cut them off from any part in the promised inheritance; but he divides and scatters them.
Verse 8-12
Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, receives great reward. “Thee shall thy brethren praise.” “Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies.” He will have dominion over his enemies. “Thy father’s sons shall bow down to thee.” Where was Jerusalem?
This announcement sees Judah not as an individual, but as the head of a tribe in Israel, and will therefore, correspond in duration with that commonwealth.
A lion’s whelp is Judah.—In physical strength Judah is compared to the lion, the king
of beasts. At first he is the lion’s whelp, the young lion, giving promise of future vigor;
then the full-grown lion, exulting in his irresistible force, seizing and overmastering the
prey, and after reaping the fruits of his victory, ascending to his mountain lair and
reposing in undisturbed security.
Verse 10
From his physical force we now pass to his moral supremacy. “The sceptre,” the staff
of authority. “Shall not depart from Judah.” The tribe scepter did not leave Judah so long as there was a remnant of the commonwealth of Israel. Long after the other tribes had lost their individuality, Judah lingered in existence and in some measure of
independence; and from the return his name supplanted that of Israel or Jacob, as the
common designation of the people. “Nor the lawgiven from between his feet.” The Jewish law has been from Jerusalem to the day of Jesus.
And unto him be the obedience of the peoples.—“Unto him” means naturally unto
Shiloh. “The obedience” describes the willing submission to the new form of
sovereignty which is ushered in by Shiloh. “The obedience” intimates that the
supremacy of Judah does not cease at the coming of Shiloh, but only assumes a grander
form. Not only the sons of Israel, but all the descendants of Adam will
ultimately bow down to the Prince of Peace.
This is the seed of the woman, who shall bruise the serpent’s head, the seed of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed, presented now under the new aspect of the peacemaker, whom all the nations of the earth shall eventually obey as the Prince of Peace. He is therefore, now revealed as the Destroyer of the works of evil, the Dispenser of the blessings of grace, and the King of peace.
Do you bow down to the Prince of Peace today?
Verse 11, 12
The exuberant fertility of Judah’s province is now depicted. Judea is justly described as abounding in the best of wine and milk. This fine picture of Judah’s earthly abode is a fitting emblem of the better country where Shiloh reigns.
Verse 13
Zebulun means “dwelling,” and his tribe will be “At the haven of seas.” This tribe touched upon the coast of the sea of Kinnereth and of the Mediterranean. It probably possessed some havens for shipping near the promontory of Karmel: and its northwestern boundary touched upon Phoenicia, the territory of Zidon. He is placed before Issakar, who was older, because the latter sank into a subordinate position.
Verse 14, 15
“An ass of bone,” and therefore, of strength. “Couching between the hurdles”—the pens or stalls in which the cattle were lodged. Rest in a pleasant land he felt to be good; and hence, rather than undertake the struggle for liberty and independence, he became like the strong ass a bearer of burdens, and a payer of tribute. He is thus a hireling by disposition as well as by name.
Verse 16-18
The sons of the handmaids follow those of Leah. “Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.” He will maintain his position as a tribe in the state. When threatened by overwhelming power he will put forth his native force for the discomfiture of the foe. The adder is the cerastes or horned serpent, of the color of the sand, and therefore, not easily recognized, that inflicts a fatal wound on him that unwarily treads on it. The few facts in the history of Dan afterward given correspond well with the character here drawn. Some of its features are conspicuous in Samson Judges 13–16. “For thy salvation have I waited, O Lord.” The patriarch, contemplating the power of the adversaries of his future people, breaks forth into the expression of his longing desire and hope of that salvation of the Almighty by which alone they can be delivered.
Verse 19
Gad also shall be subject to the assaults of the enemy. But he shall resist the foe and
harass his rear. This brief character agrees with his after history. He is reckoned among
the valiant men in Scripture 1 Chr. 5:18.
Verse 20
Asher shall have a soil abounding in wheat and oil. He occupies the low lands along
the coast north of Karmel. Hence, the products of his country are fit to furnish the table
of kings. Gad and Asher are placed before Naphtali, the second son of Bilhah.
Verse 21
Naphtali is a hind let loose. The hind or “gazelle” is agile and nimble. When free on its
native hills, it roams with instinctive confidence and delight. It is timid and irresolute in
confinement. This is probably the character of Naphtali. “He giveth goodly words.” Here we pass from the figure to the reality. Eloquence in prose and verse was characteristic of this particular tribe. We can study the song of Deborah and Barak, Judges 4:5. In this passage we may study the character of the tribe.
Verse 22-26
When he comes to Joseph, therefore, the mingled emotions of affection and gratitude burst forth from his heart in language that cannot be restrained by the ordinary rules of speech. The first thing connected with Joseph in the patriarch’s mind is fruitfulness. The image is vivid and striking. “Son of a fruitful tree.” A branch or rather a shoot transplanted from the parent stem. “By a well;” from which it may draw the water of life. “Whose daughters”—luxuriant branches. Run over a wall—transcend all the usual boundaries of a well-enclosed garden. This fruitfulness attaches to Joseph in two respects. First, he is the prudent gatherer and the inexhaustible dispenser of the produce of Egypt, by which the lives of his father and brethren were preserved. And then he is in prospect the twofold tribe, that bursts the bounds assigned to a twelfth of the chosen people, and overspreads the area of two tribes.
Verse 27
Benjamin is described as a wolf who is engaged morning and evening, that is, all day
long, in hunting after prey. He was warlike by character and conduct Judges 20–21, and
among his descendants are Ehud, Saul, and Jonathan.
We see that each brother’s promise is a receipt for what they have sown, likewise you and I will receive of the things that we have sown—whether of light and love or of darkness and death.
B. In Dying and the things thereafter
Genesis 49:28-33
28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. 29And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. 31There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. 32The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. 33And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.
Every one according to his blessing—That is, guided by the unerring Spirit of
prophecy, Jacob has foretold to each of his sons all the important events which should
take place during their successive generations, and the predominant characteristic of
each tribe; and, at the same time, made some comparatively obscure references to the
advent of the Messiah, and the redemption of the world by him.
Jacob’s last request is Bury me with my fathers, —From this it appears that the cave at Machpelah was a common burying-place for Hebrews of distinction; and indeed the first public burying-place mentioned in history. From Genesis 49:31 we find that Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah, had been already been buried there, and among them Jacob wished to be buried.
What will be your final resting place?
He gathered up his feet into the bed—It is very probable that while delivering these
prophetic blessings Jacob sat upon the side of his bed, leaning upon his staff; and having
finished, he lifted up his feet into the bed, stretched himself upon it, and expired!
And was gathered unto his people—The testimony that this place bears to the
immortality of the soul, and to its existence separate from the body, should not be lightly
regarded. In the same moment in which Jacob is said to have gathered up his feet into the
bed, and to have expired, it is added, and was gathered unto his people. It is certain that
his body was not then gathered to his people, nor till seven weeks after; and it is not
likely that a circumstance, so distant in point both of time and place, would have been
anticipated, and associated with facts that took place in that very moment.
It would appear that when a holy man “set apart of God” ceases to live among his fellows, his soul becomes an inhabitant of another place, and is joined to the spirits of just men made perfect.
We have now seen the life of Jacob brought to a close; and have carefully traced it through all its various fortunes, as the facts presented themselves in the preceding
chapters.
Jacob has come from a place where he did not stand on the Lord at all to a place where he continually stands on the Lord. It is amazing to see the manner in which Jacob has grown to become Israel and the strength and character of the nation of Israel being built from its foundations.
The greatest foundation that the nation had of course was its belief in God.
We likewise must come to a point in our walks that we understand that we reap what we sow. And we will received the rewards of what we reap and sow in life and in death.
God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit never would have you believe that there are not eternal consequences for a life spent not in their will. There are numerous places in the bible that tell you that you will face the very pits of hell if you live a life apart from what God calls you too.
The only way out of this reaping is to turn and believe on Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, believe that HE is the Son of God who has come and given Himself so that all who believe might not die but have eternal life. Oh what a glorious day, that saw my Saviors face, I could not, would not, should not have been allowed, but for calling upon His righteous name I have life.
I pray that you have made this all important decision in your life today and that people are seeing the fruits of Christ in your life.
If you have any prayer requests are concerns we ask you to bring them forward or let us know, we would love to pray for you as you continue to strive for the light that is in Christ Jesus, Our Lord.
Closing prayer.
Who, seeing the end of this illustrious patriarch, can help exclaiming, There is none like the God of Jacob! Let Jacob’s God be my God! Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! Reader, God is still the same: and though he may not
make thee as great as was Jacob, yet he is ready to make thee as good; and,
whatever thy past life may have been, to crown thee with loving-kindness and
tender mercies, that thy end also may be peace.
