Sat.’s Devo - The Tribal Blessings

Read: Deuteronomy 33:1-29; Luke 13:1-21; Psalm 78:65-72; Proverbs 12:25 After God gave them such a depressing song to sing, He blessed them like a father would bless his beloved sons. God sees his hopes for us and blesses us with a good destiny. It is our choice to walk in it and it was Israel’s choice to become their blessing. Moses depicts God as the sun who rose at Mt. Sinai and shed his rays of light all the way to Canaan. Moses named the tribes and gave them specific blessings. Even though Reuben lost its right to the first born, he was blessed to live and not die. At the time Reuben was more numerous than several other tribes but eventually shrunk to a small nomadic tribe. Simeon is not mentioned although scholars who studied the writings of the Septuagint claim that the second part of Reuben’s blessing was for Simeon. It read “…and let not his men be few”. Judah was blessed with strength to fight their enemies. Judah was the tribe that led them into battles. Levi was commended in their faithfulness to the Lord even when it came to killing their own relatives who rebelled against the Lord with the golden calf. Benjamin was favored and given land bordering Jerusalem. Mt. Zion was in Judah, but Mt. Moriah was in Benjamin. Joseph was in the hills rich in wood, water, olives, grapes and figs. Zebulun was given land by the sea and became a commercial place of imports and exports. Issachar chose to live in their towns and were not as adventurous as Zebulun though both became wealthy because of trade. Gad had chosen the rich land east of the Jordan which was larger than their land would have been in Canaan. They stayed true to their promise to fight for the other tribes in Canaan. Dan was described as a young lion leaping. He was given land in the south but when it was too small, he went to the north and established a colony. This could have been his “leap”. Naptali was blessed with fertile territory to the west of lake Merom and Chinnereth with Dan to the south. Asher was blessed with land full of earthly bounty. He would dip his feet in oil, probably referring to pressing out olives. Then it refers to shoes of iron and brass which could refer to the shoes they wore in rocky coasts and during battle. His territory was located on the coast of Carmel and Sidon. Moses concluded with praise to their God. There was no one like Him. They were privileged to have Jehovah God as their God and protector. He had given them this blessed land because of his great love for his people. In Luke, Jesus made the point that everyone is going to die one day. They may not chose how or when they die, but they can choose where they go when they die. Death is a punishment to some but a promotion for God’s people. Jesus gave a parable about Israel, God’s fig tree. In a nutshell, he was giving it another year before he cursed it and cut it down. Jesus healed a crippled woman and the Pharisees were outraged that he did it on the Sabbath. Jesus gave them examples of how they worked on the Sabbath also. They would release their oxen and donkey’s on the Sabbath to get water, wasn’t it right to release a person who had been in bondage for years. This shamed the religious leaders while the people rejoiced. Jesus explained that the kingdom of God was like a little seed, it started with one person then grew and grew. He was that one person and through him the kingdom would grow and grow. Lord, may we walk in your blessings and spread your kingdom.