TWELVE SONS OF ISRAEL

BOOK OF GENESIS

CHAPTER 35

           Glad you could return again for today’s Daily Bread.  Remember that Jesus said, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  Matthew 4:4.  Where is it written, you may wonder?  It is in Deuteronomy 8:3.  And where is the Word of God?  In the Bible.  Daily Bread is here to help you understand His Word better so that you can better do His will.

            Let’s continue with the life of Jacob now and see what happens to him next.  As you recall, his sons, Simeon and Levi just killed all the males in the city Shechem in revenge of Shechem shaming their sister, Dinah. 

            Jacob was troubled by it and feared for his life and the life of his family.  But God took care of all that.  He told Jacob to go stay in Bethel and make an altar there.  Bethel is where God first appeared to Jacob when he fled from Esau.  It’s the same place where he dreamt of the ladder and where he set up the stone that he used for a pillow as a pillar that he anointed with oil.

            So, Jacob gathered his family and all of his servants.  He told them to get rid of any idols that they had, and to change their clothes and be clean because they were going to Bethel to build an altar to God.

            They brought all their idols and the earrings they wore and Jacob buried them under an oak tree in Shechem.  As they traveled, the fear of God didn’t allow the Canaanites in the surrounding cities to harm Jacob’s sons for what they did to Shechem. When they arrived in Bethel, Jacob built an altar to God.

            And God blessed Jacob again and God promised Israel that a number of nations would come from him and the land that was given to Abraham and Isaac, God gave to Israel and his descendants after him.  Jacob set up another pillar of stone there where God talked to him and they left there and went in the direction of Hebron.  

            Rachel was expecting a child at that time and as they left Bethel, they weren’t far from Bethlehem when she went into hard labor.  The midwife told her not to worry, that she would give birth to this son too.  Rachel died while delivering the baby boy.  In her dying breath she called his name Benoni, which means, Son of my sorrow.  But Israel called him Benjamin, which means, Son of the right hand.

            Israel buried Rachel on the way to Bethlehem and put a stone on top of her grave.  Then Jacob went back to Hebron, to where his father Isaac lived, and where his grandfather Abraham once lived also, the Promised Land that God spoke of.  Isaac lived to be 180 years old, and died.  His sons Esau and Israel buried him.

            Now Israel (Jacob) has twelve sons, which will become the twelve tribes of Israel.  But before that happens, there is some mischief that takes place among the sons of Israel that end up with some pretty serious dilemmas for one of them.  All that and more, ahead in your Daily Bread.
      

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