Jacob's "blessings" for his children are certainly
a mixed bag. He essentially curses his
oldest son Reuben in much the same way Noah cursed his son, Ham. He has never forgiven for going in to Jacob's
concubine, Rachel's maid, Bilhah and having intercourse with her. Simeon and Levi are, likewise, given no
blessing based on their actions at Shechem in retaliation for the rape of their
sister Dinah. On Judah and Joseph real
blessings fall. Judah is the one we have
seen who has grown more than all the rest in his life. He was the one willing to take the place of
Benjamin in order to spare his father the loss of what he believed was the only
remaining son of Rachel. He, then, is
given the blessing of ruler among all the children of Jacob. With Joseph, it is almost as though Jacob
isn't quite sure how to bless him so he just blesses him and blesses him, using
the word bless six times in his little speech about Joseph. His love for this first-born of Rachel is
evident and his joy at being reunited with him has overwhelmed him. We know that Judah, through David and then
through Jesus, will always reign over not only his brothers but over all the
earth forever. Jacob got at least that
one right.
In both these stories, Jesus is dealing with non-Jewish
people. They Syro-Phoenician woman
perseveres through a rough conversation to get Jesus to heal her daughter. The exchange between her and Jesus would be
offensive to say the least. He compares
her, as a Gentile, to dogs in rebuffing her request but she is willing to
accept that insult if, in the end, she gets what she wants, healing. Her faith isn't based on anything other than
what she has seen and heard about Jesus.
The second story, the restoration of hearing, takes place either in or
near the Decapolis, the area where the Gerasene demoniac incident occurred. The man is brought before Jesus and He takes
the man away privately to heal him. The
people will not be dissuaded from talking about this healer. His fame is spreading beyond the Jews.
There are two different issues here. One is that we shouldn't participate in pagan
feasts where food is "blessed" and dedicated to some god that is
nothing more than a demon. Anything that
lays claim to being God but is not is a demon.
The other issue is that in Corinth and even in our world today we have
no idea where our meat comes from. Some
today is killed in keeping with Islamic practices in order that they might be
able to sell to Muslims who keep dietary restrictions in this regard. Paul says, don't worry about that, you can't
avoid it and an idol is nothing at all.
At the house of a non-believer Paul says to eat what you're offered but
if you are told that it has been sacrificed to an idol, then abstain from
eating so that you don't affirm this practice.
We are to eat and do all else to the Lord, He should always be uppermost
in our minds. We are always witnesses to
Him, just as Jesus showed in these lessons today.
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