Tag: Abraham

Judea – the Land Promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Posted on by K.B. Vogelman

Judea – the Land Promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

 

Canaan, Palestine, Judaea, Judea, the land of Abraham – all refer to the same place today known as Israel.[1] Judea’s 2000-year history preceding the era of Jesus of Nazareth began with Abram who was ironically born in the land of Babylon in present day Iran, a mortal enemy of Israel.[2]

Young Abram married Sarai in Ur of the Chaldees. His father, Terah, then moved his family to Haran in the land of Canaan.[3] One day God appeared to Abram telling him to move his own family to another place that God would show him promising:[4]

Gen. 12:2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.”(NIV)

Abram and Sarai, along with nephew Lot and his family, eventually resettled near Salem. One day, an enemy raiding party captured Lot, his family and their possessions whereupon Abram took up arms and set out on a rescue mission.[6]

Victorious in battle and rescuing Lot’s family and possessions, Abram returned home to a hero’s welcome greeted by Melchizedek, priest and King of Salem. He blessed Abram in the name of the most high God, creator of the heavens and earth.[7] Soon thereafter, God promised Abram’s descendants would inherit the land although after first being enslaved in a foreign land for 400 years.[8]

Thirteen years later at the age of 99, God blessed Abram changing his name to Abraham; his wife’s name from Sarai to Sarah; promised them a son to be named Isaac; and reaffirmed His promise that Canaan would be a permanent possession.[9]

Gen. 17:8 “I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing to you and your descendants after you as a permanent possession. I will be their God. (NET)

Jacob, son of Isaac and Rebekah, was blessed by God changing his name to Israel and promised that his descendants would produce an assembly of nations and kings. The sons of Israel became the fathers of the tribes of Israel.[10]

Just before Jacob died, he blessed each son. To Judah, he specifically passed on the blessing of his grandfather Abraham foretelling Judah would become the father of the tribe of royalty.[11]

Events took a major detour as prophesied before God’s promise to Abraham was to be fulfilled. Jacob had a favorite son, Joseph, causing jealousy among his brothers.[12] They ambushed Joseph and sold him as a slave to a passing caravan bound for Egypt, then lied to their father saying the boy had been killed by a wild animal.[13]

Many years later during a famine in Canaan, Jacob resorted to seeking food from Egypt and eventually discovered that not only was Joseph alive, he was second in power only to Pharaoh himself![14] Under the protection of Joseph, all the sons of Israel left the land of Abraham and moved to Egypt where, over the next 400 years, they became slaves of the ruling Pharaohs.[15]

Moses was then called by God from a burning bush at the base of Mt. Sinai to lead the Hebrews on the Exodus out of Egypt. Back at Mt. Sinai after the exodus from Egypt, God gave the Law to Moses which included five big promises, all tied to God’s plans for the place in the land promised to Abraham:[16]

EX 23:20 “I am going to send an angel before you to protect you as you journey and to bring you into the place that I have prepared.”(NET)

EX 33:1-2 “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’” (NASB, NKJV)

Canaan, the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had borders that were spelled out spanning from the southern tip of

the Dead Sea,

Dead Sea

to the Negev Desert,

Negev Desert

to the Mediterranean Sea,

Mediterranean Sea, southern Israel
Mediterranean Sea, northern Israel

to the headwaters of the Jordan River,

Headwaters of Jordan River

and the River to the Dead Sea.[17]

Jordan River

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Poised to return to the land of Abraham, the waters of the Jordan River were miraculously parted allowing the Hebrews to cross on dry ground.[18] Inhabitants were certainly not willing to give up their land to the Hebrews – military force was required.

As part of their conquests in the land of Abraham, the new Hebrew King David battled the inhabitants of Jebus, formerly known as Salem. Once David established his throne in the City of David, the city became known as Jerusalem encompassing Mt. Zion and Mt. Moriah where the Temple would eventually be built.[19]

Over the next several centuries, David’s kingdom of Israel degraded when successive kings and the Hebrews did not abide by their agreement with God’s covenant presented by Moses at Mt. Sinai. The covenant, a type of contract, had a penalty clause which was enacted by God.

Split into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians. Judah was conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar and taken away captive to Babylon.

Persia vanquished Babylon while the Hebrews were still in captivity providing the opportunity for the Hebrew wise man, Daniel, to serve kings in both Empires.[20] Under decrees by Persian Kings Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, the Hebrews were allowed to return to the land of Judah and rebuild Jerusalem.[21]

Conquests of Alexander the Great expanding the Greek Empire included the land now called “Palestine.”[22] In 333 BC, Alexander’s army was met outside of Jerusalem by the Jewish High Priest Shimon HaTzaddik in a successful attempt to prevent the army’s destruction of the Jewish Temple.[23]

Jerusalem was spared and the Jews viewed Alexander as their liberators, in part, because Hellenism under the new Greek Empire allowed them religious freedom. In fact, Greek eventually became the common language in Palestine.[24]

On the stage of history, the Greek Empire was replaced by the Roman Empire and Palestine picked up a new name, Judea. Caesar Augustus and the senate allowed Judea, with Jerusalem as its capital, to be ruled by a new ruthless king named Herod.[25]

During the reign of King Herod, Jesus of Nazareth of the lineage of Abraham, Judah and King David, was born in Bethlehem. He traveled throughout Judea and Samaria teaching and healing until one day during the Passover in Jerusalem, Jesus was captured, tried and crucified.

Was it merely a coincidence that over the course of 2000 years, the geographic land promised by God to Abraham remained essentially unchanged and the same city, known as Salem, Jebus then Jerusalem, remained at the center of this land until Jesus of Nazareth arrived on the scene?

 

November 4, 2023.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

REFERENCES:

[1] “Palestine.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2019. <https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine>  Niese. B., ed. Flavii Iosephi opera. 1892. J. Book 5, Section 117 [AJ 5.1], footnote 1. <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0146:book=5:section=1&highlight=palestine> Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities of the Jews. Book 20, Chapter 11.2.<https://books.google.com/books?id=e0dAAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=Palestine&f=false>
[2] Genesis 11:31,12:1-4; 13:12-17; 15:7. “Historical Timeline.” The Biblical Zionist. BiblicalZionist.com. 2009. <http://www.biblicalzionist.com/timeline.htm>  Uittenbogaard, Arie “Salem meaning | Salem etymology.” Abarim Publications. n.d. <http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Salem.html#.U5SQqCjyTih> Josephus, Flavius. Wars of the Jews. Book VI, Chapter X. <http://books.google.com/books?id=e0dAAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false> “Ur of the Chaldees.” Penn Museum. n.d. project. <https://www.penn.museum/sites/ur> Wooley, Leonard. “Ur of the Chaldees:  a record of seven years of excavation.” Internet Archives. video. 1952. <https://archive.org/details/urofchaldeesreco00wool>
[3] Genesis 11:27-31.
[4] Genesis 12:1.
[6] Genesis 14:11-16.
[7] Genesis 14:18-20.
[8] Genesis 15.
[9] Genesis 31:1  CR. Quran. Pickthall translation. Surah 21:72. <http://www.islam101.com/quran/QTP/index.htm>
[10] Genesis 35:9-13.  CR. Quran. Trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali. 40 references to “Children of Israel.” <http://search-the-quran.com/search/Children%20of%20Israel> 
[11] Genesis 49:8-10.
[12] Genesis 37:3-4; 18-28.
[13] Genesis 37:18-28.
[14] Genesis 42-46.
[15] Exodus 12:40.
[16] Exodus 19:1. Ryrie. Charles C., ed.  Ryrie Study Bible. New American Standard Trans. 1978. “Laws relating to conquests, [Ex] 23:20-33.” [xvii] Joshua 15.  Mark, Joshua. “Canaan.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. 2018. <https://www.ancient.eu/canaan>  “Canaan.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2019. <https://www.britannica.com/place/Canaan-historical-region-Middle-East>  Jarus, Owen. “Who Were the Canaanites?”  LiveScience. 2016. <https://www.livescience.com/56016-canaanites.html>
[17] Joshua 15. Giamberini, Mariasilvia; Provenzale, Antonello. “Negev Desert.” EGU Blogs. Photo. 2018.  <https://blogs.egu.eu/geolog/tag/negev-desert> Turnage, Marc. CBN Israel. “Biblical Israel: Dead Sea.” Photo. 2021. <https://cbnisrael.org/2021/04/06/biblical-israel-dead-sea> Amir, Rebecca Stadlen. Israel21c. “10 spectacular photos of sunsets in Israel.” photo. <https://www.israel21c.org/10-spectacular-photos-of-sunsets-in-israel>  “Nahariya Beaches – Northern Israel.” Visions of Travel. photo. 2020. <https://www.visionsoftravel.org/nahariya-beaches-northern-israel> “Israel, The Jordan River Near Tel Dan.” Sonia Halliday Photo Library. photo. 2010. <http://www.soniahalliday.com/category-view3.php?pri=IS19A-13-21.jpg>  “The Jordan River.” Good Shepherd Travels. photo. n.d. <https://www.tourtheholylands.com/holy-land-tour-locations/holy-land-tours/the-jordan-river-7-stories-of-feet-and-an-ax-head> Last accessed 7 Sept. 2022.
[18] Joshua 3:9-17.
[19] Samuel 5:6-9; I Chronicles 11:4-8;  2 Chronicles 3:1;
[20] Ezekiel 1:2-3.
[21] Ezekiel 6:7, 12; 7:12-13, 23, 26.  Josephus. Antiquities. Book XI, Chapter V.1.
[22] “Palestine.” Encyclopædia Britannica.  Maier, Paul L. The New Complete Works of Josephus. Trans. William Whiston. 1999. p 385. <http://books.google.com/books?id=kyaoIb6k2ccC&lpg=PP1&dq=the%20complete%20works%20of%20josephus&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false>  Herodotus. The Histories. 440 BC. English Trans. A. D. Godley, Ed. 1920. Book 7, Chapter 89.<http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D89>  “From Alexander the Great to ad 70 Hellenistic Greece.” Washington State University. 6 June 1999.  Archived URL. Archive.org. 4 Jan. 2011.  <http://web.archive.org/web/20110104072822/http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/ALEX.HTM>
[23] “Palestine.”  Encyclopædia Britannica. 2014.  Spiro, Ken.  “History Crash Course #27: The Greek Empire.” Aish.com. 2001. <http://www.aish.com/jl/h/cc/48939587.html>  Hooker, Richard. “Hellenistic Greece: Alexander the Great.” Washington State University. 1999. <http://web.archive.org/web/20110104072822/http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/ALEX.HTM>
[24] “Hellenism.” Jewish Encyclopedia. 2011. <http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7535-hellenism>  Josephus. Antiquities. Book XII, Chapter II.1.
[25] Maier. The New Complete Works of Josephus. p 491. “Actium (31BCE).”  Livius.org. Ed. Jona Lendering. 2019. <https://www.livius.org/articles/battle/actium-31-bce/>  Josephus. Antiquities. Book XV, Chapters V-VI; Book XVII, Chapter VIII.1.  “Herod the Great.” Livius.org. Ed. Jona Lendering. <http://www.livius.org/articles/person/herod-the-great/?>  Villalba i Varneda, Pere. The Historical Method of Flavius Josephus. p 14. <http://books.google.com/books?id=kdUUAAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA14&ots=2ek7SgCy2c&dq=josephus%2C%20battle%20of%20actium%2C%20herod&pg=PA14#v=onepage&q=josephus,%20battle%20of%20actium,%20herod&f=false>

 

Mount Moriah – the Connection

Posted on by K.B. Vogelman

Mount Moriah – the Connection

 

Mount Moriah is first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis going back to the days of Abraham when it first gained importance as a sacred site.[1] Set-up by way of the place, the mount has a direct connection to the Messiah.

By birth a Chaldean, Abraham followed God’s instruction to leave for an unknown land with a blessing that his name would be great, the father of a great nation in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed.[2] Abraham eventually settled in Canaan at Hebron about 20 miles south of the mounts of Moriah and Salem, the city one day to be called Jerusalem.[3]

God tested Abraham’s faith by telling him to offer Isaac, his only son with his wife Sarah, as a sacrifice in “the land of Moriah…on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”[4] Human sacrifices were not uncommon in that era, such as to the pagan gods Baal and Moloch.[5]

Faithfully Abraham built an altar on God’s chosen Moriah mount and was in the act of offering Isaac as a sacrifice when an “angel of the Lord” stopped him. A ram stuck in a thicket became a substitute sacrifice. Known as “The Binding of Isaac” in Jewish tradition, the story in Genesis is read on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.[6]

Moriah means “chosen by Jehovah” albeit Abraham was so moved by the experience with his only son, he called this particular Mount of Moriah, hwhy har or Y@hovah ra’ah meaning “the LORD will Provide.”[7] Some Bibles translate the Hebrew name it as Jehovahjireh.

“The Lord will choose and see for Himself this place, to cause His Divine Presence to rest therein and for offering sacrifices here…that [future] generations will say about it, ‘On this mountain, the Holy One, blessed be He, appears to His people.’” – Rabbi Rashi [8]

Several hundred years later, soon after the Exodus from Egypt, the Hebrew nation encamped at Mount Sinai. God handed down the Law to Moses which included prophetic promises about the place hinting that the land of Moriah was part of God’s future master plan.

One promise was that God would lead Israel to the land He swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In two promises, God promised He would provide a permanent place for His Name to dwell and to observe the Passover.[9]

In the land of Abraham, King David established his throne in the city of Jerusalem encompassing Mount Moriah. A most unusual set of circumstances brought the Mount to center stage.[10]

King David angered God due to his lack of faith by conducting a census leading to a severe judgement on his kingdom of Israel. Taking responsibility, David pleaded with God to stop the judgement on the people because it was his own sin, not theirs. The angel executing and halting the judgment because visible to the King.

Through the prophet Gad, God instructed David to offer an atonement sacrifice for the people of Israel.[11] Preparing for the sacrifice, David bought the threshing floor of Araunah (Ornan) located on Mount Moriah.[12] David personally purchased the entire threshing floor, its oxen and its equipment.[13]

On Mount Moriah David built the altar, slew the oxen for the offering and used the wood from the threshing floor implements as fuel for the altar’s fire. Then something miraculous happened – fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice.[14] Deeply affected, David proclaimed:

I Ch. 22:1 “This is the place where the temple of the Lord God will be, along with the altar for burnt sacrifices for Israel.”(NET)

God informed David that his son would build the House of God, not him.[15] After David’s death, in the fourth year of King Solomon’s reign, the building of the Temple commenced on Mount Moriah:

2 CH 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. (NASB)

Seven years later the Temple was completed under Solomon’s reign.[16] To commemorate the occasion, the King held a public consecration and blessing acknowledging the fulfillment of God’s promises:

2 CH 6:2, 4 “I have surely built You an exalted house, and a place for You to dwell in forever.” …  “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,

2 CH 6:5-6 “‘Since the day that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel. Yet I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there; and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’(NKJV)

In spectacular fashion, that day on Mount Moriah God once again sent fire down from heaven to consume the first sacrifices offered at the new Temple. The celebration continued for seven days and with the completion of the Temple, it became the place to permanently offer the Passover sacrifices:[17]

DT 16:2 “You shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the LORD chooses to establish His name…”

DT 16:5-6 …You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns which the LORD your God is giving you; but at the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover…”(NASB)

A thousand years later on the sacred Mount Moriah in the holy city of Jerusalem, Jesus of Nazareth stood on trial before the Priests and Scribes of the Temple, the House of God, and declared himself to be the Son of God. Perceived as a blasphemy, it triggered a string of events in the following hours leading to the crucifixion of Jesus on the first day of the Passover.

United States Federal legal definition of the Doctrine of Chances is the premise for the obvious question: What is the probability of chance that the location, the timing, and the circumstances of the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth were all an accident?

 

Updated December 21, 2023.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

REFERENCES:

[1] “Abraham.” Jewish Virtual Library. 2018. <https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/abraham>
[2] Genesis 12.
[3] Genesis 11-15. “Hebron.” Bible-History.com. 2017. <http://www.bible-history.com/geography/ancient-israel/hebron.html>
[4] NRSV.
[5] Genesis 22. Quote – all mainstream Christian and Jewish Bible translations. Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities of the Jews. Book I, Chapter XIII.  The Complete Works of Josephus. Trans. and commentary. William Whitson. <http://books.google.com/books?id=e0dAAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false>
[6] Genesis 22. “The Binding of Isaac.” My Jewish Learning. 2018. <https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-binding-of-isaac> “The Great Test: The Binding of Isaac.” Chabad.org. 2018. <https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/246616/jewish/The-Great-Test-The-Binding-of-Isaac.htm> “Human Sacrifices.” Bible-history.com. n.d. <http://www.bible-history.com/backd2/human_sacrifice.html>  Hefner, Alan G. “Baal.” Encyclopedia Mythica. 2004. <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/b/baal.html>  “Sacrifice.” Jewish Encyclopedia.
[7] Net.bible.org. Genesis 22:2, Hebrew text Mowriyah <04179>; Genesis 22:14, Hebrew text “ra’ah <07200>;” Y@hovah <03068>;” “Y@hovah yireh <03070>”
[8] Rashi, Shlomo Yitzchaki. The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary. Bereishit – Genesis 22:14 commentary. <https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/8217#showrashi=true>
[9] I Chronicles 17.
[10] I Chronicles 17; 2 Samuel 5, 7. Josephus. Antiquities. Book VII, Chapter III.
[11] II Chronicles 3.
[12] I Chronicles 21; 2 Chronicles 3; 2 Samuel 24. Josephus. Antiquities. Book VII, Chapter III. “Herod’s Temple.”  Bible-History.com. 2017. <http://www.bible-history.com/jewishtemple/JEWISH_TEMPLEThe_Site.htm>
[13] I Chronicles 21; 2 Samuel 24.
[14] 2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21.
[15] I Chronicles 22, 28.
[16] 1 Kings 6; 2 Chronicles 3.  Wiemers, Galyn. Generation Word. “Chapter 21 – Solomon’s Temple Mount.” image. 2018. <https://www.generationword.com/devotions/photos-diagrams/diagrams/oct-digrams/29a-solomons-temple-mount-retaining-wall-2500-jpg.jpg>
[17] CR Leviticus 9.

Abraham – Patriarch of Jews, Muslims and Christians

Posted on by K.B. Vogelman

Abraham – Patriarch of Jews, Muslims and Christians

 

One of the biggest, if not the biggest, irony of all the major world religions is that Jews, Muslims and Christians have a common religious patriarch – Abraham. Muslims trace their lineage back to Ishmael, son of Abraham.[1] Jews trace their ancestry back to King David,  Jacob, and Isaac, son of Abraham. Similarly, Christians trace the lineage of Jesus through the line of David all the way back to Abraham.[2]

As a Chaldean born in Ur of the Chaldees, a future region of Babylon, Abram moved with his father, Terah, and their entire family to Haran in the land of Canaan.[3] Decades later as a 75-year old man, God told Abram to move his own family to an unnamed destination promising “…and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[4]

Faithfully, Abram eventually resettled not far from the mounts of Moriah near a city named Salem. Abram eventually questioned God … how would His blessing be honored since he and his wife, Sarai, were childless and very old?

“The Wanderings And Life of Abraham The Patriarch.” Ortelius – 1592

Second guessing God’s promise, the couple agreed that Abram would produce a child through Sarai’s maid servant, Hagar, their son named Ishmael. At age 13, Ishmael and his mother parted company with Abram with Ishmael going on to father the Arab nation.

When Abram was 99 years old, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah God and promised she would miraculously have a son at her old age of 90, the newborn to be named Isaac.[5]

God’s blessing also included a promise that Abraham’s descendants would produce nations and kings, a seemingly difficult concept for a man who had no nation to call his own:

Gen. 17:5-6 “And your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings will emerge from you.” (Complete Jewish Bible)

After Isaac was older, God tested Abraham’s faith once again. He instructed Abraham to sacrifice his only son without whom the promise of a royal legacy would also die.[6]

Human sacrifices were not uncommon in that era such as to the pagan gods Baal and Moloch. On the sacrificial alter, Isaac was spared at the last moment by the Angel of the Lord and was redeemed with a substitute sacrificial of a ram entangled in a thicket.[7]

Isaac went on to marry Rebekah, a story in its own right. To them was born a set of paternal twin boys, Esau and Jacob, with completely opposite personalities.

Eventually Jacob, the second born, would deceive his blind father and steal Esau’s firstborn blessing.[8] Isaac unwittingly passed along to Jacob his inheritance blessing that he received from his own father Abraham.

Enraged by the stolen blessing, Esau planned to kill his twin brother, but Rebekah tipped off Jacob who fled the country. Over the next 20 years in exile, Jacob fathered 10 sons through his first wife, Leah, and one to his second wife, Rachel. Jacob decided to risk returning to his homeland with all his family and possessions still believing Esau might want to kill him.[9]

Ratcheting up the fear factor, the night before entering his homeland Jacob received word that Esau was coming to meet him with a band of 400 men – certainly not the appearance of a friendly welcome home party. In a dream that night, God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.[10] The next day, Israel entered the land of Abraham and much to his relief, Esau welcomed him with open arms.[11]

Rachel would die during the childbirth of Israel’s last and 12th son, Benjamin. She was buried near Ephrath, in the district of Bethlehem, a very short distance from Salem, one day to be called Jerusalem.[12] Israel’s sons would live to become known as the fathers of the 12 tribes of the Children of Israel.[13]

Years later, Israel still often called Jacob, and his sons were forced to flee their enemies. Returning with his clan to the site of Bethel, he offered a sacrifice at the place where God had changed his name to Israel. God reappeared to Jacob and blessed him saying:

Gen 35:11 …”I am the Almighty God; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a multitude of nations shall come into existence from you, and kings shall come forth from your loins. (CJB)[14]

A severe famine in the land of Canaan compelled Israel to send his sons to Egypt in search of food as his grandfather Abraham had once done. The second most powerful man in Egypt turned out to be their long lost brother, Joseph, whom the jealous brothers had sold into slavery years earlier and lied to their father he had been killed by a wild animal.[15]

Returning home to get their father and families, eventually all would be joyfully reunited in Egypt with Joseph where they lived out their lives under his protection. Before Israel died, he gave a blessing to each of his sons. For only one son, Judah, did he provide a blessing of power and royalty describing him as a lion:

Gen 49:8-10 “Judah, [as for] you, your brothers will acknowledge you. Your hand will be at the nape of your enemies, [and] your father’s sons will prostrate themselves to you.  A cub [and] a grown lion is Judah.  From the prey, my son, you withdrew. He crouched, rested like a lion, and like a lion, who will rouse him?  The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the student of the law from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him will be a gathering of peoples.” (CJB)

Rabbi Rashi, one of Judaism’s most revered scriptural interpreters, identified Shiloh as the “King Messiah, to whom the kingdom belongs” and the scepter refers to the royal lineage of David and thereafter.”[16] According to Rashi, the prophetic blessing of Judah was a pretext to the establishment of the kingdom of David.

Jesus of Nazareth is a direct descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,  all of whom were blessed by God to produce a kingdom – was it merely by chance that Jesus was born in this lineage, one prophesied for the Messiah?

 

Updated August 29, 2023.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

REFERENCES:

[1] Qur’an Surah 2:127-128, 133; 3:68, 84.  CR Surah 3:65; 4:163; 6:84; 19:47-52; 29:27; 33:7; 38:45-47.
[2] I Chronicles chapter 1. Matthew 1. Luke 3. Qur’an Surah 3:33; 19:58. 
[3] Genesis 11- 12.
[4] Genesis 12:3; 15:4.  NASB, NKJV, NRSV.
[5] Genesis 15, 17, 21.  Qur’an Surah 11:69-73; 14:39; 21:72; 37:109-112. Ortelius, Abraham. Kestenbaum & Company. “Abraham Ortelius.” map. 1592. <https://www.kestenbaum.net/auction/lot/Auction-77/077-107> <https://i.pinimg.com/originals/61/17/5e/61175ea5254a4cb8979365ada64d42ea.jpg>
[6] “Human Sacrifices.” Bible-history.com. n.d. <http://www.bible-history.com/backd2/human_sacrifice.html>  Hefner, Alan G. “Baal.” Encyclopedia Mythica. 2004. <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/b/baal.html>  “Sacrifice.” Jewish Encyclopedia.  2011.
[7] Genesis 22.
[8] Genesis 25, 27, 29.
[9] Genesis 29-30.
[10] Genesis 32, 35.
[11] Genesis 33.
[12] Genesis 35.
[13] Genesis 35; I Chronicles 2.  Qur’an cites the “Children of Israel” 41 times – Trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
[14] Cross reference Qur’an Surah 19:6; 21:71
[15] Genesis chapters 37; 39-47.  Qur’an 12:4-102, 111.
[16] Rashi. The Compete Jewish Bible – with Rashi Commentary.  Commentary on Gensis 49:10.  “Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki).” Jewish Virtual Library. 2017.  Mindel, Nissan. “Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki – Rashi.” Chabad.org. 2017. <http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111831/jewish/Rabbi-Shlomo-Yitzchaki-Rashi.htm>