Author: barbaramcox

I am the author of The Step-Father’s Step-Son. The book is available through Family Matters Publishing at www.stepfathersstepson.com and Amazon.com. The book covers subjects such as: adultery, family, relationships, and parenting. The book is written primarily for the first family and the children of the parents of the first family.

Sons of Jacob – listen to Israel your father: Part IV

Genesis 49: 1-2, “Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.”

First Jacob addressed Leah’s first four sons and his first four sons that he had with Leah, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.

Next he spoke to Leah’s sixth son, Zebulun, who was Jacob’s tenth son. Zebulun’s people are merchant marines that provide haven to ships and “his border shall be unto Zidon.” (Genesis 49:13)

Then he spoke to Leah’s fifth son, Issachar, who was Jacob’s ninth son. Issachar’s people are laid back and even though quite strong, they gave up their might and strength to their neighbors on both sides of the border. (Genesis 49:14)

Bilhah’s (Rachel’s handmaid) first born son, Dan, and Jacob’s fifth son was next. (Genesis 49:16) “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bitteth the heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy salvation, Oh Lord.” Dan may be the people that use terrorism to accomplish their goals. These people will never win their salvation by instilling fear in others. Jacob prayed for their salvation because they also are lost children of the house of Israel.

Then came Gad, Zilpah’s (Leah’s handmaid) first born son and Jacob’s seventh son. (Genesis 49:19) “Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.”

Asher was next, being the second son of Zilpah (Leah’s handmaid) and Jacob’s eighth son. “Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.” His people  use yeast to make the bread rise and are great bakers of culinary confections.

Next was Naphtali (Rachel’s handmaid) who was Bilhah’s (Rachel’s handmaid) second son and Jacob’s sixth son. “Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.” (Genesis 49:21) Evidently Naphtali’s people are great talkers, but do not do very much.

These are Jacob’s tens sons. Tomorrow I will write about Joseph and Benjamin, Rachel’s two sons, and Jacob’s eleventh and twelfth sons.

 

 

 

 

Sons of Jacob – listen to Israel your father: Part III

“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. Gather yourselves together, and hear ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.” (Genesis 49:1-2)

Judah is the fourth son of Leah, Jacob’s second wife.

“Judah is a lions welp, 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?

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.

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: his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.” (Genesis 49:8-12)

If you go  back and read Genesis 38, it is recorded for the first time that there were “father-in-laws”. The term daughter-in-law had been used previously in scripture regarding Abraham’s father, Terah, who referred to his daughter Sarai (Sarah) as his “daughter-in-law” and most likely, she was a child that he had with his second wife. But now, with Judah, daughter-in-law meant his son’s wife. Judah took family law one step further. This time it was to force the break up of the first family with divorce, remarriage, and laws. With the laws that he put in place, it would have been easy for Jacob to leave Rachel and start another family with Leah. This is what Leah, his mother, wanted from the beginning. She wanted Jacob for her husband and she would not have shared him with Rachel.

Judah, Leah’s fourth son, was a very controlling man. Rather than using violence, as his brothers Simeon and Levi did, he chose to use laws to create his “perfect” world. But the punishment for disobeying “laws” must have meant death for the one that broke the “law”. Judah was a “Lord” in his day, meaning that he was a highly respected and feared man within his community. (Even Sarai (Sarah) called Abraham her Lord early in their life together.) Judah treated his family as puppets – ready to do his bidding. In reading Judah’s story, I get the feeling that his oldest son who was described as evil and was killed by the “Lord” may have been a good man. I think that he disobeyed his father. Following his oldest son’s death, Judah demanded that his second son lay with his oldest son’s wife and impregnate her. This young man did go in and lay with her, but he chose to ejaculate onto the ground. For this reason, the “Lord” killed him also. Next Judah’s daughter died also.

So Judah’s oldest son’s wife, Tamar, who was a widow, decided to play the role of a harlot or whore. As Judah traveled with his sheep shearers, he came upon a prostitute and asked to lay with her. He promised her a kid goat as payment, but she asked to have his bracelets, signature ring, and his staff. He gave these things to her and laid with her and she got pregnant. Judah had a friend deliver the kid goat, but the harlot could not be found.

Well, three months later, someone told Judah that his daughter in law was pregnant by whoredom. Judah commanded that his own daughter in law be burned. (Genesis 38:24) When she was brought forward, she accused her father in law and presented the signature ring, bracelets, and his staff. He said, “She hath been more righteous the I, because I gave her not to Shelah my son.”

Family members were disposable – all family was now based upon “law”. Lawyers are the props that keep Judah’s tribe standing and it is here that the gathering of the people will be. There are broken homes, broken families, and violence. Jacob explained exactly how it must be done. He is to take his second wife’s children to his first family. The he will lift his oldest child to the choice vine – the one that springs from his first wife and lift this child up as the cornerstone of his whole family. In essence, this requires that the man put his family back together. This is when a man’s family becomes God’s family and one that is not based upon “laws” and what lawyers believe based upon their laws.

Sons of Jacob – listen to Israel your father: Part 2

“Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.” (Genesis 49: 1-2)

Simeon and Levi, Jacob’s second and third sons with Leah, Jacob’s second wife

“Simeon and Levi, are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. Oh, 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 self will they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger for it was fierce; and in their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob; and scatter them in Israel.” (Genesis 49: 5-7)

Simeon and Levi are the ones that lied to Shechem, Dinah’s (their sister) love. While Dinah was visiting friends in the city, she met Shechem and fell in love with him. When Simeon and Levi heard that Shechem had laid with Dinah, they concocted a plan to kill him. When all was over, Shechem was dead along with his father and many other men. The aftermath was so gruesome that Jacob struggled to keep the memories from disturbing the peace within his soul. Simeon and Levi dug down a wall that was created when Shechem and Dinah became one flesh.They killed the man that Dinah, their sister, loved! (Genesis 34: 1-31)

 

Sons of Jacob – listen to your father Israel. Part I

“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. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob and hearken  unto Israel your father.” (Genesis 49: 1-2)

He spoke first to Reuben, his oldest son with Leah. He said, “Reuben, thou art my first born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: 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.” (Genesis 49: 3-4)

Reuben went and laid with Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid and Jacob’s concubine. (Genesis 35:22)

Jacob’s sons with his second wife, Leah, wanted to kill Jacob’s first born son with Rachel. Reuben was the one that suggested that they not kill Joseph. So Jacob’s sons abandoned Joseph in a pit which led to him being taken as a slave to another land. (Genesis 37:1-36)

Is your family planted by God?

Is your family planted by God or was it planted by you?

The first family is a threesome based upon love. It consists of the first husband, the first wife, and God. The man is the father of the body, God is the Father of the soul, and the woman is the mother of the body and of the soul. This is the reason that the first family is so important. Unfortunately, there are people that believe, based upon commandments of men, that this union can be broken. We have men and women that divorce their spouse and marry someone else. We have men that marry a man’s divorced wife. These laws involve the legalized theft of a spouse from another spouse and from God. Worse still, it enables parents to walk away from their children and live with someone else. How is it that we are not able to love the children of the first family enough not to steal their parent? Why is it that we choose to follow laws that are established for the break up of the family – laws that were created to give everything to the second family at the expense of the first family? I know why…It is to honor the second wife or the second husband and reward them accordingly. Jacob’s second family, his children with Leah, would have loved these laws. Leah’s sons did everything that they could to eliminate Joseph from “their family.” We follow the laws established by the lost children of the house of Israel! Save the first family!

“For in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. ” (Matthew 15:9)

“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.” (Matthew 15:19)

“Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone; they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” (Matthew 15:13-14)