Gud, Bibelen og politiske Justice: Kapittel 14
Del tre: Politiske Lærdommer fra jødisk historie
Kapittel 14
Abraham til Moses
The vast majority of the Old Testament focuses on political leadership. From Genesis to the prophet Isaiah, 15 av 22 books are primarily telling the story of what was happening in Israel in the political realm. In the prescriptive Laws God tells us what He wants from political leaders and the people. I de historiske hendelsene Gud forteller oss hva de gjorde og profetene legger konsekvensene av disse valgene.
As we fly over this vast two thousand year landscape of political leadership we are looking for God’s emphasis. What is He telling us? Why does He include these details? What are we to take from this selected history of Israel into our lives and work today? We are looking for the meaning of the history God gives us in the form of eternal values and principles of the Kingdom.
De Tribal Beginnings
Abraham 2166-1991 F.Kr. *
Abraham er født i Ur, moderne Irak, near the Euphrates river and near the location considered the likely sight of the Garden of Eden. Abraham’s family is Chaldean. Hans far hadde begynt å flytte vestover til Kanaan, men stoppet i Karan, Sørøst Tyrkia i dag, hvor han døde i 205 år.
Abraham is called of God to leave his extended family and tribe in Haran and set off again for Canaan. God promises him that he will father a new nation and that all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through him. At 75 år han setter ut med sin kone Sarai, sine tjenere, arbeidere og nevø Lot, ankommer i Sikem, det vi nå kaller Vestbredden, nær Mt. Ebal og Mt. Garisim.
Abram is a good man. He builds alters and worships the Most High God, he gives the better land to his selfish nephew Lot when they part. He fights to free Lot from his political enemies and refuses any blunder from the war. He believes God will give him an heir late in life and is willing to offer this same child as a sacrifice if that is what God is saying. At 99, før han har hatt sin mirakel sønn, Abraham believes God and performs the first rite of circumcision on all the males of his clan including himself. This patient man rescues his nephew a second time from the violence of Sodom and Gomorrah. He understands God’s heart to bless nations and pleads for all the mercy God is able to extend to its villainous people.
Og likevel, i hans 170 år på jorden, denne samme mannen ligger to nasjonale ledere for å beskytte seg selv og sin rikdom, the Pharaoh of Egypt and King Abimilech of the Philistines. He laughs at the promise of God for a child in old age. It is Abraham that gives us the concubine solution, which produces his heir Ishmael who will also be promised by God of the blessing of a great nation through his sons. And these tribes will be at war with their cousins, stammer Isaac, gjennom hele menneskehetens historie.
Geografi Gud lovet land til Abraham som strekker seg fra elven i Egypt, sannsynligvis Nilen, til den store elven Eufrat et område som strekker seg muligens fra Rødehavet øst gjennom Egypt, Jordan, Libanon, Syria, Israel and possibly parts of northern Saudi Arabia and much of north and south west Iraq today. This land, som omfatter det meste av hva Genesis kapittel to beskriver som Edens hage, will never all belong to the heirs of Isaac but most of it will be inhabited by the ancestors of Abraham through Isaac and Ishmaels sons and later the heirs of Jacob and Esau. In the late 1940’s the King of Jordan will be quoted as saying, "La jødene kommer tilbake, de er våre fettere og de vil velsigne oss. "
Abraham på dette 175 år.
Isaac 2066-1886 F.Kr. *
Isaac er et mirakel barn født av foreldre i 100 år. He inherits Abraham’s promise from God that his ancestors will become a great nation and that nation will bless all the nations of the world. He grows up among the Hittite people from whom his father has bought land. He settles in what would now be the southern most boarder of Israel. God miraculously provides the wife from his fathers’ people near Haran, nå sørøstlige Tyrkia, in the land of the Amorites. Rebekah is Aramean and she is promised that she will give birth to two nations and the younger, Jacob vil tjene eldre, Esau.
Til tross for all denne store velsignelsen Isaac ligger, som hans far gjorde, to Abimilech King of the Philistines. He breaks the treaty his father has made with Abimilech and then makes a new one, fearing God is unable to protect him. His beautiful wife proceeds to poison their son Jacob with the need to lie, manipulate and deceive their father in order to get the blessing God had already promised to him. På den annen side, Isak hadde tenkt å gi Esau velsignelse Gud hadde lovet å Jacob på tross av hva Gud hadde allerede fortalt dem om Jacob ledelse. Forfedrene til disse to flotte stammene vil feide gjennom hele historien.
Isaac dør ved 180 år.
Jacob 2005-1859 F.Kr. *
Jacob has an impressive beginning. While still in his mother’s womb God chooses him to lead his tribe. He gets a double blessing from his father, Isaac. On his way to his mother’s family in Haran, God sends Angels in a dream to promise that his ancestors will multiply greatly and through them God will bless all the peoples of the earth. Jacob works very hard for 14 years to obtain his Uncle Laban’s daughters in marriage and God blesses them both with children. Jacob’s business prospers as well as the uncle he serves. When Jacob returns to Canaan with his family God sends an Angel for a second time to wrestle with and bless Him. He is crippled in the encounter but he is also changed and God gives him the name Israel. He reconciles with Esau on his return and buys land from the Philistines in Shechem and settles there.
As blessed and called of God as Jacob is there are areas of his life that are a disaster. He lies to his father and steals his brother’s birthright and blessing. He tries magic to multiply his flock when God has already told him that He will bless him. His wife, tilsynelatende følger i slekten, ligger til hennes far og stjeler hans idoler, hiding them and taking them to Canaan. His first two wives fight their entire life and his sons are a mess. They are jealous, egoistisk, treacherous and violent. They think to murder their little brother Joseph but decide selling him would be more profitable. They lie to the Shecimites and then commit genocide of the male population in order to build their own wealth. Jacob astutely understands this will turn all the tribes in Canaan against them and flees to Bethel the place where God first spoke to him.
Jacob dør ved 146 år.
Joseph 1914-1805 F.Kr. *
God singles out Joseph early on to lead his tribe. He is adored by his father as the son of his first love, Rachel. He is a diligent and honest worker. Although sold by his brothers into slavery, he keeps His trust in God and God exalts him in his work. He is honorable when solicited by his boss’s wife but thrown in prison anyway. He keeps serving God and is blessed again in his work in prison. Because of his relationship with God and the blessing of fellow prisoners he is singled out by the Pharaoh to interpret a dream. Not only does God tell him the dream and the meaning, Joseph is successful in saving the lives of all the other pagan magicians. Pharaoh makes him second in State and puts him over all of His affairs including disaster relief.
Joseph is used by God to save the nations of Egypt and Israel from financial ruin and starvation. Because of Joseph, hans folk er beskyttet og velsignet i Egypt for mer enn 100 år. His two sons are given equal status with his brothers and founded two of Israel’s 12 tribal nasjoner, Manasse og Efraim.
Joseph lyver ikke, jukse, steal or dishonor for personal gain until his brothers come to Egypt for financial help. Joseph becomes unrecognizable with displays of emotion that alert the whole Palace. He lies and manipulates to get his brothers and father back to Egypt even when he has all the power of Egypt to make that happen. Han leder Israel inn i situasjonen som vil slå inn mer enn 400 år med slaveri. Joseph er en dømt sex lovovertreder som har brukt 13 år i fengsel. Og som sin far avviser han nesten Guds utvalgte leder i Ephraim sin yngre sønn, foretrakk den eldste sønnen Manasse.
Joseph døde 180 år.
Moses 1526-1406 F.Kr. *
Toward the end of Israel’s slavery in Egypt God miraculously spares Moses from the genocide of his generation and raises him up as political liberator and leader. Pharaoh’s daughter rescues him from a basket in the Nile and raises him in Pharaoh’s Palace. He is a natural leader. He brings all of Israel and other slaves out of Egypt to freedom with no army or formal government to back him. He receives the Laws from God and builds the foundations for discipling nations. He forms Israel’s first government and priesthood. He builds the Tabernacle. He sees God face to face and performs dramatic miracles that provide food and water for more than 3,000,000 refugees in the wilderness. Beginning at 80 år leder han sitt folk for 40 år i ørkenen uten støtte utenfra system. Og i Matteus fem Jesus sier at han legger grunnlaget for sitt budskap.
Før han oppnår alt dette han begår drap, flykter til politisk asyl, and marries a Midianite whose father is a pagan priest. He nearly dies because he has failed to circumcise his sons. His stepbrother Pharaoh and the elders of Israel reject him as the leader for years. Millions of lives are lost and billions in property value will be devestated in Egypt under his leadership. He fears failure, fears public speaking and sees Israel build a Golden Calf under his brother Aaron’s leadership. He responds in such anger and frustration, ta æren for et mirakel Gud utførte at Gud forbyr ham å gå inn i løftet land.
Days at Moses 120 år.
Når vi avslutter dette kapittelet i Israels politiske historie hva skiller seg ut?
*De er alle valgt og kalt.
*De har alle store bragder av tro og personlig engasjement.
*De har alle formidable feil og gjøre alvorlige feil.
*Den har alle store familie problemer.
*De få svært vanskelige tider til sine nasjoner historie.
*De har alle skjeletter i skapet.
Er det mulig de ville alle ha en hard tid å bli valgt til kontoret i dag? And yet God uses them.
Det er også interessant å merke seg at landet strategien i Kanaan opp til dette punktet i historien har vært å kjøpe.
Nå ser vi på historien til Josva og dommerne.
