Moses sings! When God wanted the people to remember something, He made it into a song. And, Ho Ho!! I just learned something new!
Songs and music are stored in a different place in our brain. That’s why you can pick up the lyrics to a song before you can remember to clean out the garage, or memorize a bible verse. For some reason, songs and verse seem to have a higher memory priority. I think it’s because they incorporate emotion and the human condition into the text, so that it becomes more than information….it becomes a memory. We remember what song was playing when we first danced with our sweetheart, and who hasn’t felt a cold chill when taps is played? The Creator wired us in this way, and then used the design to help us remember some very important things.
It isn’t until verse 15 that we discover that Israel “soon turned away”. The first verses speak of the terms of the agreement, then it turns to the violation. Essentially, the Lord is saying in song “I am always fair and just, you and I had an agreement and you broke it. Not only did you reject me as your God, you rubbed my face in it by worshiping false gods in front of me. You actions dissolve our agreement, and now instead of being your friend I will be your adversary. Because I am fair and just and always do what I say I will, I am going to send upon you plagues, diseases and misfortune. Then you will know that I am God alone, and there is no God except for me”.
I looked in this song for the promise of restoration, but it isn’t obvious, if it’s even there. That means the people who wandered away and prostituted themselves couldn’t be sure of God’s unfailing mercy and grace. We have the New Testament which sheds additional light on God’s character, and helps us to understand a little better than they.
As I looked over the blessings pronounced on each tribe, I expected to see the tribe of Judah blessed above all others. But here are a few things that I noted which I didn’t expect to see: The tribe of Asher is blessed “above his brothers”. Hmm. I did a little “google research” and discovered that after the Babylonian exile it appears that some of this tribe migrated to the area of Belgium and took root there. It’s speculation to be sure, but they appear to have a thread of reason to support their claim. I wonder how many people with German or British heritage actually have a trace of Israelite in them? I also noticed that the two tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim are blessed as the tribe of Joseph. That’s interesting, because they each received a separate grant of land. And the tribe of Levi has a longer blessing…even though they didn’t receive any land grant.
Here’s my new observation. There are 11 blessings pronounced. Since Levi is included and the sons of Joseph are combined, there should be twelve There are 12 sons, so why not 12 blessings? Because Simeon is missing. That’s right, Simeon is not blessed.
I’ll bet you want to know why.
Well, Genesis 49 will give a clue. Read verses 5-7. In Jacobs blessing of his sons he scolds Levi and Simeon as being ruthless, bloodthirsty and cruel. and in these verses he says they will be dispersed throughout Israel. Levi receives no land, so they are spread out in that way, and Simeon apparently dissolves into the other tribes. Here’s a lesson we should learn: Cruelty will be punished by God, it may take time for our behavior to be reckoned with, but it will come to pass. We live in an age of forgiveness and mercy, but God is also unchanging….have you ever considered in what ways your descendants might be impacted by your thoughts and actions? You should, because the Bible clues us in to the idea that actions will have consequences….even if the sins are forgiven and we eventually end up in heaven…..actions have consequences. If you don’t believe me, then ask Moses…or the tribe of Simeon…if you could find them.
Faithfully,
PR