40.d. “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it”

 

 

Genesis 49:28  All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.” When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

 Exodus 28:21     There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes.

 1 Kings 18:31   Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, “Israel shall be your name,”

 Revelation 7:4     And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

 Job 5:26     You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season.

 Job 14:10   But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?

 Ecclesiastes 12:7     and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

 Isaiah 57:1-2    The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;  he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness.

 Hebrews 11:13-16    These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.  For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.  If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.  But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Each son and each tribe that would come from them had their own calling and destiny. Yet the remarkable promise remained – that they each would survive and grow into significant tribes, without one perishing during the centuries to come in Egypt. (Guzik)

Jacob blessed every one according to the blessings God in after-times intended to bestow upon them. He spoke about his burial-place, from a principle of faith in the promise of God (Henry)

all these are the twelve tribes of Israel—or ancestors. Jacob’s prophetic words obviously refer not so much to the sons as to the tribes of Israel. (Jamieson-fausset-brown)

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel,…. The twelve sons of Jacob before mentioned were heads of twelve tribes, who were afterwards seated, and had their part in the land of Canaan; there were indeed thirteen tribes, two springing from Joseph; but then the tribe of Levi had no part in the land of Canaan, which was divided into twelve parts; this shows that the above predictions respect not the persons of the patriarchs, but their tribes and everyone according to his blessing he blessed them; according to the blessing which was appointed to them of God, and was in later times bestowed on them, Jacob under a spirit of prophecy was directed to bless them with, or to foretell what blessings should come upon them, and which accordingly did. (Gill)

He gathered up his feet into the bed, not only as one patiently submitting to the stroke, but as one cheerfully composing himself to rest, now that he was weary. He freely gave up his spirit into the hand of God, the Father of spirits. If God’s people be our people, death will gather us to them. Under the care of the Shepherd of Israel, we shall lack nothing for body or soul. We shall remain unmoved until our work is finished; then, breathing out our souls into His hands for whose salvation we have waited, we shall depart in peace, and leave a blessing for our children after us. (Henry)

 “Jacob did not yield up the ghost until he had delivered the last sentence of admonition and benediction to his twelve sons. He was immortal till his work was done. So long as God had another sentence to speak by him, death could not paralyze his tongue.” (Spurgeon)

This ends the life of the last of the great patriarchs, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet the work and plan of God did not end. It continued through men and generations to come. (Guzik)

1.y. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

2 Chronicles 13:1   In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah. He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. Abijah went out to battle, having an army of valiant men of war, 400,000 chosen men. And Jeroboam drew up his line of battle against him with 800,000 chosen mighty warriors. Then Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim that is in the hill country of Ephraim and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel! Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord, and certain worthless scoundrels gathered about him and defied Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and irresolute and could not withstand them.

“And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods. Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes for ordination with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are not gods. But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him. We have priests ministering to the Lord who are sons of Aaron, and Levites for their service. They offer to the Lord every morning and every evening burnt offerings and incense of sweet spices, set out the showbread on the table of pure gold, and care for the golden lampstand that its lamps may burn every evening. For we keep the charge of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken him. Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.”

Jeroboam had sent an ambush around to come upon them from behind. Thus his troops were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. And when Judah looked, behold, the battle was in front of and behind them. And they cried to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets. Then the men of Judah raised the battle shout. And when the men of Judah shouted, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. The men of Israel fled before Judah, and God gave them into their hand. Abijah and his people struck them with great force, so there fell slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men. Thus the men of Israel were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers. And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took cities from him, Bethel with its villages and Jeshanah with its villages and Ephron with its villages. Jeroboam did not recover his power in the days of Abijah. And the Lord struck him down, and he died.

Psalms 22:4-5   In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.  To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

Daniel 3:28    Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

Nahum 1:7     The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.

Psalms 146:5    Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,

Ephesians 1:12   so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

To hope in God in a time of trouble is a wise decision/choice.  In life, we more than likely will come up against a trial or some trouble that is very real and much bigger than we can handle either physically or mentally.  We see Abijah faced with almost certain defeat being outnumbered 2 to 1.  To get this in perspective, Abijah had 400,000 valiant men that went to defend against Jeroboam’s 800,000 chosen mighty warriors.  What thoughts would be going through your head if you were faced with this?

Abijah called out Jeroboam’s sin and disregard for God, warning him that God was on their side and to fight them was to fight against God. But Jeroboam did not listen and such it is with those who disregard God and serving Him.  Abijah and those 400,000 men called on the Lord and were given success over Jeroboam and the 800,000 warriors.  500,000 men lost their lives that day following after false gods and idols.

Power, financial stability, and worldly wisdom do not give us success. In fact what is more than likely going to happen is a harden heart, deaf ears, stiff neck, and blind eyes to the things of God.  These all come at a cost to your soul if you have not chosen in your heart and mind to humbly serve, honor, follow, trust, and obey Jesus Christ.  It seems as though we give a nod toward Jesus on Sunday but then lose sight of living for Him soon after.  Neglect of His word and complacency are certain to happen when serving and honoring Jesus is not our intentional heart and mind choice.  We pretend we are ok and we try to perform good things to act as though we honor and serve Him but His word and the want of His word is not first in our heart and mind.  Shallow thoughts will never lead us to honoring Jesus Christ.  Partial obedience will never honor Jesus Christ.  Sporadic time in His word will never grow us into mature Jesus honoring followers.

Humbly honoring, serving, following, glorifying, trusting, and obeying Jesus Christ is a heart and mind choice that is so more than a one-time commitment at the time of seeking forgiveness and repenting of your sin to Jesus Christ.  It is so much more than a one-time event.  It is a conversion of the heart and mind and then a daily surrender of self for the single purpose of Humbly honoring, serving, following, glorifying, trusting, and obeying Jesus Christ.  Why this daily surrender?  If we don’t we certainly will not find the heart, mind, and soul-deep satisfaction that comes through intentionally and purposely surrendering each moment of each day for the purpose of honoring Jesus Christ.  Without this intentional choice, our heart and mind will be led by self and all of its meaningless follies in search of satisfaction.

187. O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

2 Kings 19:27  “But I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me. Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came. “And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord will do this.

“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Psalms 139:1-11    O LORD, you have searched me and known me!  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.  You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.  Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.  You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.  Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!  If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,  even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.  If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”

Jeremiah 23:23-24    “Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away?  Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD.

The King of Assyria was full of pride.  He brought to Hezekiah’s attention that all of the other lands he had conquered and that these kingdoms and their gods could do nothing to stop them.  We read God responding to Hezekiah’s prayer and Assyrian King Sennacherib pride.  God’s response; “I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me”  Nothing is hidden from God and though the Assyrian King thought himself to be something God made it clear that He would put a hook in his nose and a bit in his mouth and lead him right back the same way he came.  Can you imagine being the King of Assyria and waking the next morning and 185,000 of your army is dead?  Sennacherib gave no thought to the one and only true God.  To him, the gods were all the same and have no power.

David knows God is everywhere and sees everything.  He proclaims God knows our thoughts from a long way off and that a word does not form on our tongue but what God does not know it already.  Knowing God this way builds our faith, trust, and reliance.  Knowing God is always present gives us hope, peace, joy, love, and courage to face whatever comes our way.  We have confidence that our God is in control and that “all things work together for the Good of those called by Him.

God is ever-present, all powerful, all knowing, and steadfast in His love for those who choose to humbly serve, honor, and obey.