Story within a Story - Genesis 39

The seed of the woman that will come to crush the head of the Satan is traced throughout the Old Testament. From Abraham to his son Isaac to his son Jacob and then he has twelve sons and the promised is passed on through Judah!

It's life Joseph's story is a story inside a story. Judah get's one chapter in Genesis and it is said that he happened to go down and down he went. Marries a Cannanite woman and has 3 pretty pathetic sons and even eventually gets his daughter in law pregnant! Nice going Judah.

But then in steps in Joseph, second youngest and son of Jacobs loved wife Rachel. The story of Joseph though is about how God is using the messed up people to accomplish he purpose. A story of how he is using broken humanity to bring about his ultimate salvation. Joseph doesn' happen to go down, the very next chapter in Genesis tells us that he was "brought down" chapter 39. Brought down to Egypt a place of sin and slavery. Joseph comes unto his own and his own reject him, "kill" him off and he ends up in a foreign land. God is with him though and he goes from bad to worse, a slave, a prisoner innocently blamed. But,... God was with him and his pure life of God honoring devotion ends him at the right hand of the king and in a position to bring salvation to all the nations!

It is through Judah that salvation, a king will come but then you read about this story of a young boy named Joseph who assumes his position at age 30 it says. Joseph doesn't live on in history in any spotlight. It's the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... but not Joseph. His sons are given the blessing of a land a double blessing for his family but the name of Joseph is almost erased from Israel's history. No tribe of Joseph, no land of Joseph. It's almost like he comes and lives a life that brings salvation and it's almost like a dream and fades away.

But he lived his life as a picture of one who would come in the line of Judah and that's why Jacob gives his blessing to Judah at the end of his life, a blessing that describes

what we have just read of Joseph's life, like Joseph's life was mean to be a picture to us of the one who would come, Jesus!

Palm Sunday, Psalms Sunday

What a weird day.

Quick, grab some big branches from that palm tree and put it on the road, Jesus is coming! He had been just on the other side of the ridge in the town of Bethany and had brought his friend Lazarus back to life, why didn't they do the palm branch thing then?

And what script were they reading from? How did they all know what to shout, was it just one person that screamed something catchy that others joined in on, like the chants at a hockey or soccer game?

Maybe there was more...

It seems like they had been reading the Psalms. Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Who can stand in Zion? Who is the messiah/king that the Lord has appointed in Psalm 2? And now we have Jesus healing the sick, raising people from the dead on his way 'to ascend' to Jerusalem, could this be the one?

"This is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. 118:24)" 

What day is that? The day that the king is revealed and ascends the hill of the Lord, what the book of Psalms has been leading up to. And what should they do to rejoice? What should they say or do? Just keep reading...

"Save us, (Hosanna) we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD. The Lord is God,and he has made his light shine upon us. With big boughs in hand (could be palm branches), join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. (Ps. 118:25-27)"

A festal procession with big branches that ends in sacrifice! They weren't simply creating a new holiday, they were proclaiming that Jesus is the King who is worthy to ascend the throne. This is it, this is the day that the Lord had made 1,000s of years ago, it was taking place! 

So as you may prepare to join that celebration this week, to welcome the long awaited Messiah, may the palm branches remind you of the Psalms. Jesus 'triumphal entry' into Jerusalem is the ascension of Jesus to the 'horns of the altar' where he would lay down his life in sacrifice for you and me.  

The journey of ascent. Psalm 24 and others...

The book of Psalms begins in chapter two with God responding to the wickedness of man by saying

As for me, I have set my king on Zion, 

my holy hill. (2:6)

Then we come to Psalm 24 and the big question of the book. 

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

And who shall stand in his holy place? (24:3)

We'll, we already know it is the king who God has established, but just for a minute suspend New Testament knowledge. Who is this king? If you were sitting in Babylon or later Persia looking back to the hill of Jerusalem, who can ascend that hill? Who will lead them back to freedom, where is the King that God will set up?

And then we are given more description of who can ascend it.

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who does not life up his soul to what is false 

and does not swear deceitfully. (24:4) 

The King they are looking for to ascend the hill of the Lord will be perfect, clean hands, pure heart, completely devoted to Yahweh. And in response to the one that is worthy to ascend the hill of the Lord, the gates of defense around Jerusalem are to be opened to receive the King.

Lift up your heads, O gates!

And be lifted up, O ancient doors, 

that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord of hosts

he is the King of glory! Selah  (24:7-8)

The King is God but he also sure sounds like a perfect man. When he ascends, the enemy will be crushed like it says in Psalm 2 and the righteous citizens under the protection of the King will rejoice. In the desert wandering after Egypt, they longed for this. In the exile in Babylon they longed for this, and in our rebellion and exile we long for this. We read about this in Psalm 68

God will arise, his enemies shall be scattered;

and those who hate him shall flee from him! (68:1)

You ASCENDED on high, 

leading a host of captives in your train

and receiving gifts among men, 

even among the rebellious, the Lord God may dwell there.(68:18) 

So it seems that only God is worthy to ascend this hill but by his ascension he has made it possible for us to follow him, he lead us out to freedom.

So in response we offer praise because "his steadfast love endures forever" because the King is worthy to ascend the hill of the Lord and has made it possible even in our rebellion to follow him.

Open to me the gates of righteousness,

that I may enter through them

 and give thanks to the Lord.

This is the gate of the Lord;

the righteous shall enter through it.

I thank you that you have answered me

and have become my salvation.

The stone that the builders rejected 

has become the cornerstone (Ps. 118:19-22)  

a clear reference to Jesus the King!

And how will we recognize this King that the builders will reject? First, he will be rejected, but He will also perfectly fulfill Torah, A-Z as the acrostic poem of Psalm 119 shows us. 

Then in response to this King who perfectly fulfills Torah, Messiah (118) Torah (119)

we have the... drum roll...

Psalms of Ascent!!! (120 - 134)

  In the grammatical - historical approach these were songs sung by worshipers on their way to the temple to worship, climbing, ascending the hill of the Lord. In a broader picture of how the Psalms are compiled is sure seems like this is in response to the question of Psalm 24, who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Jesus!

So maybe it's not about us being good enough, or ascending to God in our own efforts but that we have a King who is perfect and if we follow him, he will lead us, protect us and provide for us who are in relationship with the King or as it says in Psalm 2

Kiss the Son, the King, the anointed one, because he is worthy to ascend the hill of the Lord.

Gospel in Psalms!

Ps 26

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man ...

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the sea of scoffers

 Psalm 26 then seems to be saying that he is that blessed man spoken of in Psalm 1

I walk in your faithfulness.

I do not sit with men of falsehood,

nor do I consort with hypocrites.

I hate the assembly of evildoers,

and I will not sit with the wicked. (3-5)

David is once again writing this but the next few verses are a bit shocking then. 

I wash my hands in innocence

and go around your altar, O Lord, 

proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, 

and telling all your wondrous deeds. (6-7)

So whoever the blessed man is (David?) seems to have somehow been innocent and fulfilling the role of a priest going around the altar, the altar speaks of sacrifice, and worshiping God. We know that David wasn't really "innocent" and that he was from the line of Judah not Levi, a kingly line but then again he often intermixed the role of priest and king.

Book I -  David - King

Book II - starts with son of Korah - Priests

Book III - starts with Asaph - Priest

Book IV - begins with Moses - Leader of exodus from Egypt - Prophet (Duet. 18:15)

Book V - no one mentioned..... hmm

King, Priests, and Prophet all pray the Psalms. Interesting...

He goes on to say that he loves where the Lord dwells and requests that God not sweep his life away with the sinners. And then a final statement by the blessed man.

But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;

redeem me and be gracious to me.

My foot stands on level ground;

in the great assembly I will bless the Lord (11-12). 

Why does he need to be redeemed or ask the Lord to be gracious to him if he is walking in integrity with his foot on level ground? Is the key back in Psalm 1-2?

Blessed is the man.... and ends with blessed are all who take refuge in him, blessed are they who take refuge in the blessed man of Psalm 1.  So two blessed people that will be hard to distinguish between the two because one blessed people will take refuge in the blessed man....so his blessing becomes our blessing if we are found in him not walking, standing or sitting with sinners.

Unique child... lonely? - Psalms 25:16

Ps. 25:16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. 

If you've ever had a rough day this is a good Psalm to pray but maybe more than just a devotional thought. It almost seems as though David prayed this and Jesus could have prayed this too.

In the previous article I mentioned that this word lonely is "unique child" everywhere else in the Bible outside of the book of Psalms. A little exercise here, could we put in 'unique child' here and it make sense for Jesus as well? 

Ps. 25:16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am a unique son and afflicted.

It seems that though David penned Psalms 22-24, they are dealing with Christ's death, resurrection and reign in some sense so is chapter 25 dealing with Jesus as well? 

Let's keep reading...

17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distress. 18 Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. 19 Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me. 20 Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. 21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. 

Forgive all my sins? Surely that couldn't be Jesus. But then you notice on what basis he is asking for forgiveness... consider my affliction and my trouble. Who else can say I have suffered enough for forgiveness of sins but Jesus alone. Now maybe David wrote this not thinking that he had suffered enough for forgiveness but was merely saying look I'm in anquish here the least I could ask for is forgiveness or repreave from the weight of sin... maybe but it reads as though this is a life or death situation.

Troubles enlarged... check.

Waiting for God to rescue, deliver him.... check.

Lots of foes that hate him... check. 

Taking refuge in God... check

May integrity and uprightness preserve me.... 

...slow down David. Does he really think that his integrity and uprightness will be enough to preserve him? Does David really know what he is asking? Can I say let my integrity and uprightness preserve me? But he takes refuge in God and he doesn't say 'my' integrity though it almost assumes it.

So could we translate 'lonely' as 'unique child'? David was a unique child and afflicted as well, God called him his son (2 Sam. 7:14) and it was his hand that wrote these words. He finds refuge in God and calls for his holiness to preserve him... However you translate that word it seems that in the background a picture of Jesus emerges. Interesting.

Unique child...unique word

If you know a verse you know this one:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his 'one and only' Son, (unique Son) that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

That word occurs 9 times in the New Testament each time referring to a unique or only child except one in John 1:14 that I believe is simply calling the Son, God.

Luke 7:12 - only son

Luke 8:42 - only daughter

Luke 9:38 - only child

John 1:14 - only Son

John 3:18 - only Son

Hebrews 11:17 - only son

1 John 4:9 - only Son

I make this point because the Hebrew equivalent is translated the same way. 

Genesis 22:2 - only son

Proverbs 4:3 - only one (in the sight of my mother)

Jeremiah 6:26 - only son

Amos 8:10 - only son

Zechariah 12:10 - only child

Judges 11:34 - only child

BUT! when we get to the book of Psalms it translates the 4 times it is used as life, lonely, precious, and solitary... what? clearly there is a sense in which this word has the meaning of a unique child everywhere else, did the Psalmist just discard that meaning?

Read Psalm 22 and you see that David is describing in some prophetic sense the death of Jesus or at least Jesus pics up on that when he cries "my God my God why have you forsaken me" (check out a previous post for more info on that). He says in verse 20

Deliver my soul from the sword,

my precious soul from the power of the dog!

The word they translate precious is everywhere else translated 'only child'. Interesting. 

Again in Psalm 25 another Psalm of David, it says in verse 16

Turn to me and be gracious to me,

for I am lonely and afflicted.

Again this word lonely is everywhere outside of Psalms translated 'only' or 'unique child'. So maybe it just has that distant meaning but what an interesting place to find this word show up.  It's almost as if we don't have a category in the Psalms for a picture of a coming unique Son of God.

I don't know what to do with this yet and I am no language scholar so I guess I'm left with wondering about this unique word's usage in the Psalms.

Spoken word

God created the universe with a spoken word. 

"And God said..." seven times in Genesis one and the earth was formed. 

Then God brings all the beasts of the field and birds of the air to "see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name (2:20)

Man was given the responsibility to create an identity with a spoken word, label and give meaning. Man assisted in creation with a spoken word.

Then...

                        The fall 

                                               Curses

and the promise that the seed of woman will crush the head of Satan

But everything seems ruined by sin. Paradise is lost. But directly after the curses were pronounced Adam names the woman, after all of this! Instead of blaming her for the whole incident, naming her

 bringer of death

failure

deceived

He calls her name Eve, which means giver of life! 

After the curses, enmity is introduced between man and woman, but Adam speaks meaning, worth into the woman and gives hope. God doesn't take back the responsibility of man to speak identity, we see Adam's first response after the fall is to speak hope. You will be called Eve because from you will come life not death! This is coupled with the gift of God covering their nakedness with animal skins, man and God together speaking hope into the darkness, order into the chaos of life.

In creation we see the role of the husband and father and that responsibility still exists. The role of the husband was to label, identify and give meaning through a word. That is my role as a man, a husband and father. Through my words to offer hope, give meaning and identity to my wife and children.

What words will you choose to speak today?