Jacob and his descendants - Heb 11:21 -

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/221325329963

 

"By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. (Heb 11:21)“

"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet. (Gen 49:10)"

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​Suppose an old man with no money and many children is about to die and makes a will to his sons sitting around him.

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"You, the first, shall have a piece of land in Gangnam, which is very expensive like gold. You, the second, shall have the land next to it. .... You, the youngest, shall have the famous building in Gangnam. (But the owners of the land and the building are living energetically now in Gangnam. The old man, though the landed estate and the building are not his, is arbitrarily giving them for inheritance to his sons. This old man goes on to the extremity.) You, the fourth, look at me. Your descendants shall be the presidents of this nation! (Oh, my God!)"

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​What a laughable deathbed when seen by a third person!

 

 

At first glance, Jacob died with such a funny will. In Genesis 49, Jacob bequeathed others' land, the land of Canaan whose owners were dynamic and very strong, to his sons, and in particular, he promised the fourth son Judah that his descendants would be kings. (Canaan was the best land because it was a region of military and economic importance and was a good place to live in.) Then he died.

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Jacob's descendants, naive(?) or foolish(?), had not forgotten Jacob's will for 430 years in Egypt. However, the owners of the land still had been living there and keeping the land. Were the descendants of Jacob sane, who still believed the promise of their ancestor Jacob hundreds of years before, a promise to give others' land to them?

 

 

However, about 400 years after Jacob's death, his descendants came out of Egypt and conquered Canaan and possessed the land.

 

 

Jacob believed God when he promised him to give the land of Canaan to his descendants though it was others' land then, and Jacob, by faith (but it looks really funny), blessed his descendants and bequeathed the land to them, and (but it looks funny indeed) his descendants, by faith and for 400 years, waited for the absurd(!) promise Jacob had made, and at last occupied the land.

 

 

Had Jacob and his descendants not believed God's promise because it looked ridiculous, their prosperity and glory would not been possible. It is important not to lose trust and faith in God's promise.

 

 

On the contrary, the Canaanites had kept their eyes open wide for thousands of years to keep their land, but the land did not belong to them. However alert those who do not believe in God and defy his commandments may keep themselves to keep their property, it immediately goes to the blessed ones who fear God if God decides it.