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Awesome Hands – part 39

“ Whom thy brethren shall praise”

At the end of the conclusion of the previous study, we learned that the elder shall serve the younger and the institution of this spiritual Truth is orchestrated by the “hands” of the living God.

In today’s study, we are going to cover the few times that “hands” are mentioned in chapter 49 of Genesis.

At the beginning of chapter 49, Jacob calls his sons together so that he can tell them what will become of them.

At the start, we should see that this is telling us that God indeed in working all things after the counsel of His own will.

He tells us at the start what His process for our lives and those of the rest of mankind is, though the details vary.

Gen 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
Gen 49:2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

Instead of covering every verse in the chapter, I am going to focus on the context of what is said concerning God working His hands in these brothers’ lives.

Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
Luk 13:35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

From the start of this chapter, we can see a type and shadow which sets the stage for what we are being told.

Jacob tells his children to gather themselves together, but notice he is doing this so that he can essentially instruct them of the judgment that is coming to them.

We can take this admonition and see what we are being told by looking at other examples of being gathered together.

Jer 4:5 Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.

Jer 6:1 O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

So, it is easy for anyone to look for the phrase “gather yourselves together,” but as we all know it is here a little and there a little that we see biblical truths and patterns.

So, I am going to look at a few more examples to get a clearer picture of what we are seeing happening.

Eze 39:17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
Eze 39:18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
Eze 39:19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
Eze 39:20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 39:21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
Eze 39:22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.

Here in Ezekiel, we see judgment is being instituted, but just how is it that judgment happens or “comes from the north?”

Joe 3:9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
Joe 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
Joe 3:11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

Rev 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
Rev 19:18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

“Judgment begins”

What we are reading about in these groups of scripture is none other than the old man being judged along with “Babylon the great.”

What we are seeing is the “people of Israel” being compared with the “gentiles” and the “fowls of the air” being compared with “He who dwells in heaven.”

This all is summed in a very easily understood way by simply being given the eyes to see that “judgment must being at the house of God.”

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

As we look at the rest of the study, we should keep this idea at the front of our minds.

So, let us look at the first time “hands” are mentioned in chapter 49 and then we will divide the verse up into smaller “bite size chunks” of edification and nourishment.

Gen 49:8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.
Gen 49:9 Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
Gen 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Gen 49:11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
Gen 49:12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

We know there are twelve tribes of Israel, and as we read this chapter, Jacob passes judgment on all of the brothers, his sons.

However, for Judah and Joseph we can see some very interesting admonitions of what happens from these two lineages.

It just so happens that these two brothers also have the only specific mentioning of “hands” being mentioned in these judgments. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the Lord isn’t working in the judgments of the others because He is.

What it means for this study is that we will focus our time on Judah and Joseph because they have some very particular judgments which are extremely instructional for the “hope that is in us”.

First notice, that Judah is proclaimed to “receive praise from his brethren and will have his hand on the neck of his enemies.”

It is Jacob, typifying the judgment of the Father, who is passing on this judgment to His “sons”. Christ typifies Joseph and Benjamin typifies the called, chosen and faithful elect.

Even in type and shadow however, we must take the sum of the Word to establish any doctrine or Truth we are trying to understand. With that in mind, we must consider first where Christ came from “in the flesh” and what that flesh means/ shows us.

Out of the tribe of Judah comes Christ.

Rev 5:4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

Psa 78:67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
Psa 78:68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
Psa 78:69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.
Psa 78:70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

So, “in the flesh” comes Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Gen 49:9 Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
Gen 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

In type and shadow, we see the blessing/ judgment that is being passed on Judah as a prophecy of that which will come to pass. David was a man after “God’s own heart,” yet David in the flesh wanted his enemies to have revenge paid on them as he “laid on his death bed.”

Yet, God uses the “seed of David” to merge the “twain into one.”

Act 13:21 And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.
Act 13:22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.
Act 13:23 Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:

Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

The lion of the tribe of Judah, made in sinful flesh, is able to abolish “in his flesh,” the HATRED that is there due to the sin that it is.

If this is what Christ went through, and we are “His flesh”, then this too will happen to us. Continuing we read:

Gen 49:11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
Gen 49:12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

It seems like there is also some cryptic language being used to describe these blessings, but as we compare spiritual with spiritual we start to see a lot more clearly what we are being told.

This is the blessing that has come on the “lion of the tribe of Judah”. You may be thinking that this blessing is on Judah himself, and that is true, but as we know how God sees, He views Judah as his seed and Judah’s seed as Judah. The concept is no different than what Christ told us about Him and His Father, they are One and the same.

Christ, in his flesh, BINDS the FOAL to the VINE and the ASS’s COLT to the choice VINE. This same exact concept is repeated right away in us being told that “his garments” are washed in WINE and his clothes in BLOOD.

If we compare spiritual with spiritual, the fowls of the air and the ass’s colt are DOCTRINES; i. e. not the mind of Christ and His doctrine, and the vine of course, is Christ or His MIND, which is the Father’s mind and will.

The ass’s colt is just a way of saying the “young of the beasts,” and we know that the beasts of the field include us.

What Christ did and does today “in his flesh” is that He brings the flesh into subjection to His mind.

The spiritually minded new man is given dominance over the carnally minded old man.

“Whose branches run over the wall”

So that covers Judah’s blessing, so now we will move on to Joseph’s.

Joseph, of course, typifies Christ, but didn’t we just say Christ is “the lion of the tribe of Judah?” Yes, we did, but everything in scripture is Christ because Christ is the Word of God.

So, when we read Joseph’s blessing/ judgment, we are reading a progression of the type and shadow we are covering today.

As we progress to Joseph, we see:

Gen 49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
Gen 49:23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
Gen 49:24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
Gen 49:25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
Gen 49:26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

The word used here are “bough” is only used here in Gen 49 as bough.

H1121

be n

Total KJV Occurrences:4902

There are 4902 occurrences of this word with 1895 being translated as son, 1543 as children, 1033 as sons and the rest being made up of differing English words. The word used as the ass’s “colt” in Judah’s blessing is the same word H1121.

So the thought that is being conveyed by the Holy Spirit is that this is the fruit of the loin or fruit of the vine. However, the spiritual meaning that we should focus on is this the FIRST son or FIRST fruit.

Here is where this concept comes from:

Exo 12:5 Your lamb H7716 shall be H1961 without blemish, H8549 a male H2145 of the first H1121 year: H8141 ye shall take it out H3947 from H4480 the sheep, H3532 or from H4480 the goats: H5795

Exo 29:38 Now this H2088is that which H834 thou shalt offer H6213 upon H5921 the altar; H4196 two H8147 lambs H3532 of the first H1121 year H8141 day by day H3117 continually. H8548

Eze 46:13 Thou shalt daily H3117 prepare H6213 a burnt offering H5930 unto the LORD H3068of a lamb H3532 of the first H1121 year H8141 without blemish: H8549 thou shalt prepare H6213 it every morning. H1242 H1242

There are many other examples of first, 51 according to strong’s concordance, but that should these verses should be sufficient to make this point.

What we are being told about the blessing that is being bestowed onto Joseph is exactly what we know to be true scripturally and what has already been covered within this awesome hands series.

Joseph was the first in spirit to be separated from his brethren. He is the first fruit in this regard.

Since we have established that Joseph is Christ in type, who are the branches?

Joh 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Joh 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

If the “archers” hated Christ our Master, how much more with they hate the Master’s servants?

Gen 49:23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
Gen 49:24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

Joh 13:13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

Mat 10:24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

Rest assured, just as Christ the first fruit went ahead of His brethren being the “bough of God,” so too, does our Lord and God go before us and strengthen the arms of our hands thus creating in us to be shepherds of the flock!

Joh 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
Joh 10:2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

We are able to do this and the strengthening comes because we have the Living Word sitting on the throne within us, which is what this whole study is focused on.

Christ “in His flesh” abolishes with the cross, the enmity that the flesh represents. The way this is done is that the mind of Christ, the Word of God, is living in “fleshy hearts” which are created because our stony hearts are CRUSHED with the STONE OF ISRAEL.

Mat 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Mat 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Mat 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Joh 10:3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
Joh 10:4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

2Co 3:2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
2Co 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
2Co 3:4 And such trust have we through Christ to God- ward:

This all comes about because the blessings that are given to “him that is separated from His brethren.”

Just as Joseph who was loved by His Father more than his brothers, and received a coat of many colors because of that love, so too, are these “kinds of first fruits” who go through this process first, now while in this tabernacle of flesh where Christ has come.

Gen 49:25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
Gen 49:26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

“All things are yours” means just that. The God of our fathers, “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” is and has blessed us with the blessings which are of heaven above and ALSO with blessings of the DEEP.

The fiery trials we must endure are BLESSINGS which show us the judgment of the Father on our lives.

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Christ suffered, Joseph suffered and we too, if we are loved by our Father, will also be judged and TRIED in the Fire of the Word so that the chastening in us produces the righteousness of God.

This whole process is so important and precious to our Father in heaven.

1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

Finally, in this type and shadow we see the blessing on Benjamin which goes as follows:

Gen 49:27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

God will give Benjamin the blessing of being blessed in the morning and the night. In other “spiritual” words, the chosen elect of God will be given the whole scope of blessing of which we have seen come to Judah and Joseph.

Of course, the other brothers received blessings, too, and we will in our time live out those words of the Lord as well.

Our focus in this study today though is to see what the Lord is doing with those of whom He is building up His spiritual Kingdom in now.

This chapter finishes up with Israel blessing his sons, (just as God blesses His sons) and then he instructs his sons to bury him appropriately with his kinfolk.

Gen 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

Gen 49:33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.