Overcome Despite Your Heritage - Part Two
No matter what your pedigree is you can have a degree of usefulness. Millions of people have no heritage to be proud of. When they look at their lineage they see only drunkards, murderers and other outlaws. Is their hope for those who find themselves in this situation? Is it possible to break this vicious cycle?
We are told in Gen. 34 that Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was taken by Shechem who raped her. Simeon and Levi, her brothers, were very angry so they deceived Shechem and the males of his city by entering in a pact with them whereby Shechem and the males would be circumcised and the Israelites would give their daughters to Shechem’s people in marriage. When Shechem and the other males were sore on the third day, Simeon and Levi took a sword and killed all the males of the city. They then took all their wives and little ones captive. Listen to their father’s reaction:
“And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.” (Gen. 34:30)
When Jacob was about to die in Egypt many years later, he had this too say about these two cruel sons who had caused him so much heartache:
“Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
…. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” (Gen. 49:5,7)
“Instruments of cruelty” he called them. Could any good thing come out of these instruments of cruelty? Today we can gladly say “Yes, yes, yes.!” When we look at Levi’s family tree we see his famous, useful, descendants – all the priests of Israel who ever lived – an essential part of the Old Testament sacrificial system. The Levites turned out to be one of the two most important tribes in Israel.
When we look again at Levi’s descendants we see Moses, helped by his brother Aaron and Miriam, their prophetess sister. We see Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah who were both priests and prophets as well as vessels God used to write the Bible! Ezra, the Levite priest, also wrote the historical books of the Bible. He was also a great help in seeing about the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Jew’s long period of Babylonian and Medo-Persian captivity.
Now comes the ironic part. Jacob called Levi and Simeon “instruments of cruelty.” The three main men in charge of instruments and music in King David’s time were all Levites – Heman, Asaph and Ethan. Levi had three sons – Gershom, Kohath and Merari. From the line of Gershom came Asaph. From Kohath’s line came Heman and from Merari’s line came Ethan. From instruments of cruelty to instruments of music in the Lord’s house! What a transformation in the lineage! These three Levites wrote many of the psalms in the Bible! No matter what your pedigree is God can transform your life! Do not let your pedigree determine your degree of usefulness in God’s cause.
If you missed the first part of this series see:
Overcome Despite Your Heritage - Part Two
We are told in Gen. 34 that Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was taken by Shechem who raped her. Simeon and Levi, her brothers, were very angry so they deceived Shechem and the males of his city by entering in a pact with them whereby Shechem and the males would be circumcised and the Israelites would give their daughters to Shechem’s people in marriage. When Shechem and the other males were sore on the third day, Simeon and Levi took a sword and killed all the males of the city. They then took all their wives and little ones captive. Listen to their father’s reaction:
“And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.” (Gen. 34:30)
When Jacob was about to die in Egypt many years later, he had this too say about these two cruel sons who had caused him so much heartache:
“Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
…. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” (Gen. 49:5,7)
“Instruments of cruelty” he called them. Could any good thing come out of these instruments of cruelty? Today we can gladly say “Yes, yes, yes.!” When we look at Levi’s family tree we see his famous, useful, descendants – all the priests of Israel who ever lived – an essential part of the Old Testament sacrificial system. The Levites turned out to be one of the two most important tribes in Israel.
When we look again at Levi’s descendants we see Moses, helped by his brother Aaron and Miriam, their prophetess sister. We see Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah who were both priests and prophets as well as vessels God used to write the Bible! Ezra, the Levite priest, also wrote the historical books of the Bible. He was also a great help in seeing about the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Jew’s long period of Babylonian and Medo-Persian captivity.
Now comes the ironic part. Jacob called Levi and Simeon “instruments of cruelty.” The three main men in charge of instruments and music in King David’s time were all Levites – Heman, Asaph and Ethan. Levi had three sons – Gershom, Kohath and Merari. From the line of Gershom came Asaph. From Kohath’s line came Heman and from Merari’s line came Ethan. From instruments of cruelty to instruments of music in the Lord’s house! What a transformation in the lineage! These three Levites wrote many of the psalms in the Bible! No matter what your pedigree is God can transform your life! Do not let your pedigree determine your degree of usefulness in God’s cause.
If you missed the first part of this series see:
Overcome Despite Your Heritage - Part Two