Bible Study and More
Will David physically return to this planet to reign as king? This document explores texts that speak of David in a future role. Some texts are long, but I have placed them to establish contexts and the environments of fulfillment, setting the name David in bold. Please read them carefully.
There is no difference. Allowing and permitting are exactly the same thing. The problem is this: they both are meaningless due to the way we use them in English. Thus, I must be more specific: what Yehovah allows is not wrong.
I will show you how those words are meaningless in English by this made-up story:
A mother has a young child who wants to play with a ball in the yard. The yard is fenced. The mother says to her son, “You may go outside and play on one condition: if the ball goes over the fence, you will not go after it. You will come and tell me. Do you hear me?” He answers, “Yes, ma’am.” He goes to play. She watches him, looking every few minutes. He is doing fine. Then she sees the ball go over the fence. It doesn’t go far; it is right by the gate. She decides to watch to see what he will do. He looks around to see if she is watching, but she is hidden from his view. He looks at the ball, then back again. Then he goes for the gate. She doesn’t move. She desires to see if he will obey. He opens the gate, runs out just a few steps, gets the ball, runs in, and closes the gate.
Now, here is the question: Did she allow him to get the ball? Did she permit him to get the ball? If you answer, “Yes, she did, because she didn’t stop him,” that is true. If you answer, “No, she did not! She told him not to get the ball if it went outside the fence,” that is true. Thus, allow and permit both have no real meaning in these ways. Just because she didn’t stop him doesn’t mean that she gave her permission; the terms have no meaning.
If God commands against something, He does not allow it or permit it. Yet, He usually doesn’t stop the person from doing it; He keeps an account. This has confused many.
I am also familiar with this teaching. It is common, and it is the cornerstone of some denominations.
Yehovah does not have two wills. If He did, He would be schizophrenic! He never wills anyone to do wrong, and thus no form of His will exists for a person to disobey.
The real problem with this theology is with the person, not with the True and Living God. The person is under the allusion that there is a perfect will that God employs for everyday decisions. Thus, if a woman chooses the right dress—the dress that is in the perfect will of God, events that day will fit perfectly with God’s plans, and things will go right. If she isn’t sensitive, and thus doesn’t discern His will, thereby choosing the wrong dress, decisions that day will not be the best, and she will miss the perfect will of God. Therefore, she must be constantly on the alert to sense His perfect will for all things. That includes praying at all times in order to get God to reveal to her His perfect will. This is living in mysticism (in the view that God takes a personal interest in and gives directions for every decision that a person makes in life), and this is living in an occult dream. Biblical Saints never viewed things this way, and they certainly didn’t consult God for His will all the time. Living by faith is the opposite of living by mysticism. Faith always includes a certainty; mysticism always includes the unknown.
The Saints knew very well that Yehovah easily had the power to inform them by some direct means if some decision that they were about to make needed to be made in a certain way. When it came to other decisions, they knew that they were doing right as long as they didn’t sin. Thus, if a woman put on a certain dress, she would already know that Yehovah will do what He wants regardless of her dress choice, since He isn’t strapped by her decision. If He really desires her to put on a certain dress, He will tell her. Therefore, she can relax. The life of faith is not a life of tyranny, fear and dread of accidentally not hearing God’s voice. That will drive sensitive persons to total insanity.
When Esther’s turn came to spend the night with the king, she didn’t concern herself with what to wear or not wear; she hearkened to the eunuch, and left it at that.
Those who cling to a god who has two wills cling to a very cruel god. That god makes all of life a constant gamble; the likelihood of failure is far greater than the likelihood of success. If their lives turn out to be bitter, they just know that it was because they missed the perfect will of God. (They don’t consider that they live in a world tainted by sin.)
Jacob was in the will of God (I say will, because there is only one). Yet, he told Pharaoh that his days were few and bad. Still, Pharaoh was pleased to receive Jacob’s blessing!
Romans 12:1 I therefore beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living, holy sacrifice, acceptable unto God, your reasonable service. 2And don’t be ye conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind so that ye will prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
This text directly refers to the perfect will of God. It also refers to the good will of God and the acceptable will of God. It doesn’t refer to wills, but to one will. There is only one will. This entire group (the brethren in Rome) will prove the good, acceptable and perfect will of God if they, as a group, are transformed by their common mind being made new.
2 Kings 13:14 Now, Elisha was fallen sick from his sickness from which he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him. And he wept over his face. And he said, “My father! My father! The chariot of Israel and his horsemen!” 15And Elisha said unto him, “Take bow and arrows.” And he took bow and arrows unto him. 16And he said to the king of Israel, “Put thine hand upon the bow.” And he put his hand upon it. And Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands. 17And he said, “Open the window eastward.” And he opened it. And Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “The arrow is deliverance to Yehovah, and the arrow is deliverance via Syria. And thou shalt smite Syria in Aphek, unto thy consuming them.” 18And he said, “Take the arrows.” And he took. And he said unto the king of Israel, “Smite upon the ground.” And he smote thrice, and stood. 19And the man of God was furious with him. And he said, “To smite five or six times! Then thou would have smitten Syria unto a finish! And now, thou shalt smite Syria thrice!”
Did Joash perform in God’s permissive will? He obviously did not do what was the best. Would he have obtained a much better promise, had he performed in God’s perfect will? Joash didn’t listen and didn’t hearken to the words of a prophet.
Elisha told him, “Take bow and arrows.” Joash hearkened (listened and obeyed).
Elisha commanded him, “Put thine hand upon the bow.” Joash hearkened. Elisha then put his hands upon the king’s hands.
Elisha commanded him, “Open the window eastward.” Joash hearkened.
Elisha commanded him, “Shoot!” Joash hearkened. Elisha then interpreted the actions: “The arrow is deliverance to Yehovah, and the arrow is deliverance via Syria. And thou shalt smite Syria in Aphek, unto thy consuming them.”
Elisha commanded him, “Take the arrows.” That command assumed taking all the arrows, and Joash hearkened.
Elisha commanded him, “Smite upon the ground.” Joash smote three times, and then he just stopped. The meaning of his action of smiting was now clearly established. Why did Joash stop? He had no good reason to stop until all the arrows were used up! Elisha was furious with him for obvious reasons. In other words, Joash disobeyed. When Elisha commanded, “Smite upon the ground,” that command referred to all the arrows that he took. Joash disobeyed; that isn’t part of God’s will at all!
2 Kings 20:1 Hezekiah was sick unto death in those days. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him. And he said unto him, “So says Yehovah, Set thy house in order. For thou shalt die and not live.” 2And he turned his face to the wall. And he prayed unto Yehovah saying, 3 “I beseech thee, Yehovah, remember now how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in Thy sight.” And Hezekiah wept sore. 4And he was before Isaiah was gone out into the middle court. And the word of Yehovah came to him, saying, 5 “Turn again. And tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, ‘So says Yehovah the God of David thy father, “I have heard thy prayer. I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will heal thee. On the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of Yehovah. 6And I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. And I will defend this city for my sake and for my servant David’s sake.”’” 7And Isaiah said, “Take a lump of figs.” And they took and laid it on the boil. And he recovered. 8And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that Yehovah will heal me and that I shall go up into the House of Yehovah the third day?” 9And Isaiah said, “Thou shalt have this sign from Yehovah, and Yehovah will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?” 10And Hezekiah answered, “It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees. No, but the shadow shall return backward ten degrees!” 11And Isaiah the prophet shouted unto Yehovah. And He brought the shadow ten degrees backward in which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. 12At that time Berodachbaladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah. For he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13And Hezekiah hearkened unto them. And he showed them all the house of his precious things—the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious ointment and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah didn’t show them. 14And Isaiah the prophet came unto King Hezekiah. And he said unto him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come unto thee?” And Hezekiah said, “They are come from a far country, from Babylon.” 15And he said, “What have they seen in thine house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They saw all the things that are in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I didn’t show them.” 16And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, “Hearken to the word of Yehovah! 17Behold, the days are coming, and all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day shall be carried into Babylon! Nothing shall be left,” says Yehovah. 18And they shall take away from thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget. And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon!” 19And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, “The word of Yehovah that thou hast spoken is good!” And he said, “Is it not good if peace and truth are in my days?”
Was Hezekiah’s original death time Yehovah’s perfect will, and Hezekiah’s extended life Yehovah’s permissive will? After all, had Hezekiah not lived, he would not have done the unintelligent action that he did, showing messengers of Berodachbaladan all his stuff, and Isaiah would not have prophesied that all that stuff would be carried into Babylon. Can we conclude, therefore, that Yehovah’s permissive will was activated instead of His perfect will? We can conclude this if we also conclude that Yehovah changed His mind. Other cases where it appears that Yehovah changed His mind include refraining from destroying Nineveh after 40 days, as He had Jonah prophesy, and refraining from destroying Israel and raising seed to Moshe, and He said He would do (in the following text):
Exodus 32:7 And Yehovah said unto Moses, “Walk! Get thee down! For thy people that thou broughtest from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves! 8They have turned aside quickly from the way that I commanded them! They made them a molten calf, and they worshipped it, and have sacrificed unto it. And they said, ‘These are thy gods, Israel, who exited thee from the land of Egypt!’” 9And Yehovah said unto Moses, I have seen this people. And, behold, it is a hard-necked people! 10Now, therefore, let me alone, and my wrath will heat against them! And I will consume them! And I will make of thee a great race.” 11And Moshe stroked the faces of Yehovah his God. And he said, “Yehovah, why does Thy wrath heat against Thy people that Thou exited from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians speak and say, ‘He exited them for mischief to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the faces of the land’? Turn from Thy fierce wrath! And grieve of this bad against Thy people! 13Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou swore by Thyself. And Thou said unto them, ‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens! And I will give unto your seed all this land of which I have spoken! And they shall inherit her to Hider!’” 14And Yehovah grieved of the bad that He thought to do unto His people.
If Yehovah can change His mind, that means that He doesn’t know the future. If He knows the future, He already knows what He will do. He can most certainly declare what would happen if certain things were true and certain other things were not true, but that isn’t changing His mind.
In Hezekiah’s case, the man would have died had Yehovah not intervened. Yehovah did intervene, however, answering Hezekiah’s prayer. That was Yehovah’s will (call it perfect if you desire). Hezekiah’s showing off ‘his’ possessions wasn’t Yehovah’s will. Just because Hezekiah lived doesn’t mean that this caused Hezekiah to be foolish. Yehovah did his will (His only will) by healing the man, and the man did not do Yehovah’s will in response. There was nothing permissive about Yehovah’s will.
Do enemy attacks against Israel after Israel has continued in sin demonstrate Yehovah’s permissive will? The following texts will demonstrate what is occurring:
Leviticus 26:21 “And if ye walk contrary unto me and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.”
Leviticus 26:25 “And I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the fight of my covenant! And when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you! And ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.”
Leviticus 26:32 “And I will bring the land into desolation. And your enemies that dwell in her shall be astonished at it!”
No group can touch Israel without going through Yehovah. It is as simple and as complex as this.
But is it Yehovah’s ‘perfect’ will to bring slaughtering and murderous enemies against Israel? It is Yehovah’s will (of any kind, since there is only one will) that Israel will walk righteously. If Israel will not, it is Yehovah’s will to dramatize to Israel and the word that He will not tolerate Israel’s sinning forever. He will judge after a long time and after many warnings in His Scriptures, by truthful teachers, and in other ways (by causing Israel to be weak, as Israel was under the rulers that brought pogroms against villages). If Israel continues to not heed the warnings, Yehovah will finally make Israel’s slaughters so disgusting, that other races will see and will fear. Yet, Yehovah will preserve the race of Israel and the People of Israel, and will remarkably destroy many of Israel’s enemies.
While the word better is used 119 times in the King James Version, it isn’t in the Hebrew text. Since better is comparative in English, a reader might think it belongs there. The Hebrew expression, good than seems to mean better, but it differs. The word good is absolute in Hebrew. The expression good than indicates that something truly is good, and what follows than is not good, but is truly inferior or bad. That isn’t comparative. One text shows this:
Exodus 14:12 “Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone, and we will serve the Egyptians’? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.”
The flavour of the text is more like this:
Exodus 14:12 “Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone, and we will serve the Egyptians’? For it had been good for us to serve the Egyptians, from (akin to and not) that we should die in the wilderness.”
Yehovah has a view of what is good and what is not good, and therefore bad. His thinking is not like ours, since He sees all things perfectly. Just as He sees what is good, He declares what is good. If He had two wills, one would be good, and the other would be less than good. What is less than good? Is it merely good with some good parts missing? The entirety of Scriptures does not declare Truth in this manner. Truth is what is absolute from Yehovah’s perspective. Whatever is not absolute is not Truth. If it isn’t Truth, it is not merely inferior to Truth; it is error or a lie. In the same manner, what is not good is not merely inferior to good; it is either bad (harmful, destructive, injurious, etc.) or it is evil (morally and/or ethically sinful).
Children tend to see things as good or bad; they have to be taught to reckon shades of gray. Once they do this, they become easy prey to sin, since they learn to not see things as right or wrong. The Bible is designed for children. Its premises always include right and wrong (as absolutes). This is one reason why so many reject the Bible.
I haven’t found any indication in the Bible that Yehovah has or maintains two wills, or that He is double-minded. I instead find that He knows what is good (implying that it is perfect), and what is bad (indicating that it is destructive or harmful). Those who believe in two wills usually (perhaps always) do not know which of the two to follow, since they cannot easily discern God’s voice in every choice they must make in a given day. They have a much greater likelihood of following the inferior will, since they would have to have the very same view as God to know what choice is the best. This is a very mystical (and therefore occult) approach to Godliness, and is akin to a guessing game. Saints in the Bible never had this difficulty; thus, they never had this view.
Printed Text: Genesis 31:55-33:20
Genesis 31:55 And White (Laban) early-rose in the morning. And he kissed to his sons and to his daughters. And he blessed them. And he walked. And White (Laban) returned to his place.
1And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) walked to his way. And messengers of Elohim encountered into him. 2And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) said, just-as he saw, “This is the camp of Elohim!” And he called the name of that place Two-Camps.
3And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) sent messengers to his faces unto Hairy his brother toward the land of He-Goat field of Red. 4And he commanded them to say, “Thus ye shall say to my lord, to Hairy, ‘So said thy slave He-Will-Heel (Jacob), “I sojourned with White (Laban), and I afterwarded unto now. 5And an ox is to me and an ass, a flock and a slave and a woman-slave. And I sent her to tell to my lord to find favour in thine eyes.”’”
6And the messengers returned unto He-Will-Heel (Jacob) to say, “We came unto thy brother, unto Hairy. And also he walked to meet thee. And four hundred man are with him!” 7And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) feared very-much. And he ‘tribulated’ to him.
And he halved the people that is with him and the flock and the herd and the camels to two camps. 8And he said, “If Hairy will come unto the one camp and he will smite him, and the remaining camp will be for an escape.”
9And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) said, “Gods of my father Father-Of-A-Multitude (Avraham) and Gods of my father He-Will-Laugh (Isaac), Yehovah Who said unto me, ‘Return to thy land and to thy childhood,’ and ‘I have good-done with thee,’ 10I smalled from all the graces and from all the Truth that Thou did with Thy slave. For I crossed-over this Jordan via my staff. And now I was to two camps. 11Deliver me, na, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Hairy (Esau)! For I am fearing him lest he will come and will smite me, mother upon children! 12And Thou, Thou hast said, ‘Good-doing, I will good-do with thee,’ and, ‘I will put thy seed as sand of the sea that he will not scroll from multiplication.’”
13And he lodged there in that night. And he took a rest to Hairy his brother from the comer into his hand: 14two hundred she-goats and twenty butt-ers, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty lactating camels and their children, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten he-asses. 16And he gave into the hand of his slaves, a flock a flock by himself. And he said unto his slaves, “Cross-ye-over to my faces. And ye shall put a breather between flock and between flock.” 17And he commanded the head to say, “For Hairy my brother will meet thee. And he will ask thee to say, ‘To whom art thou?’ and ‘Where wilt thou walk?’ and ‘To whom are these to thy faces?’ 18And thou shalt say, ‘To thy slave—to He-Will-Heel (Jacob). He is a rest sent to my lord—to Hairy. And behold, he is also after us.’” 19And he commanded also the second, also the third, also all the walkers after the flocks to say, “Ye shall speak as this speech unto Hairy in your finding him. 20And ye shall also say, ‘Behold, thy slave He-Will-Heel (Jacob) is after us.’” For he said, “I will cover her—his faces—via the rest walking to my faces. And afterward I will see his faces. Perhaps he will carry my faces.” 21And the rest crossed over upon his faces. And he lodged in that night in the camp.
22And he, he arose in that night. And he took his two women and his two womenslaves and his eleven sons. And he crossed-over the Jabbok crossing. 23And he took them. And he crossed-them-over the brook. And he crossed-over what is to him.
24And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) remained alone. And a man wrestled with him unto the ascending of the sunrise. 25And he saw that he will-not-be-able to him. And he touched in the palm of his thigh. And the palm of He-Will-Heel’s (Jacob’s) thigh dislocated in his wrestling with him. 26And he said, “Send me! For the sunrise ascended!” And he said, “I will not send thee but-rather thou blessed me!” 27And he said unto him, “What is thy name?” And he said, “He-Will-Heel (Jacob)”. 28And he said, “Thy name shall no more be called ‘He-Will-Heel (Jacob)’, but-rather ‘He-Will-Prince-Mighty-[One] (Israel).’ For thou princed with Elohim and with men, and thou wast able.” 29And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) asked. And he said, “Tell, na, Thy Name.” And He said, “Why is this? Thou wilt ask to my name?” And He blessed him there. 30And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) called the name of the place Faces-Of-Mighty-[One]. “For I saw Elohim faces unto faces, and my being was rescued!”
31And the sun sun-rose to him just-as he crossed-over They-Turned-Mighty-[One]. And he is limping upon his thigh. 32Therefore the children of Israel will not eat the sinew of the tendon that is upon the palm of the thigh unto this day. For He touched in the palm of He-Will-Heel’s (Jacob’s) thigh in the sinew of the tendon.
1And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) lifted up his eyes. And he saw. And, behold, Hairy came. And with him are four hundred man. And he divided the children upon Weary (Leah) and upon Ewe (Raquel) and upon two of the slavewomen. 2And he put the slavewomen and their children headward and Weary (Leah) and her children afterwards and Ewe (Raquel) and He-Will-Gather (Joseph) afterwards. 3And he crossed-over to their faces. And he prostrated landward seven strokes unto his nearing unto his brother. 4And Hairy ran to meet him. And he embraced him. And he fell upon his neck. And he kissed him. And they wept.
5And he lifted up his eyes. And he saw the women and the children. And said, “Who are these to thee?” And he said, “The children that Elohim favoured thy slave.” 6And the slavewomen neared there and their children. And they prostrated. 7And also Weary (Leah) neared and her children. And they prostrated. And He-Will-Gather (Joseph) neared after, and Ewe (Raquel), and they prostrated. 8And he said, “Who is to thee? All this camp that I encountered?” And he said, “To find favour in the eyes of my lord.” 9And Hairy (Esau) said, “I have much, my brother. He will be to thee what is to thee.” 10And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) said, “Don’t, na, if, na, I found favour in thine eyes! And thou shalt take my rest from my hand. For therefore I saw thy faces as seeing faces of Elohim. And thou desired me. 11Take, na, my blessing that is brought to thee. For Elohim favoured me, and for there is to me all.” And he urged him. And he took.
12And he said, “We shall journey. And we have walked. And I have walked to straight-in-front-of thee.” 13And he said unto him, “My lord knows that the children are tender. And the flock and the herd ascend upon me. And they shall drive them one day. And they shall die—all the flock. 14My lord shall cross-over, na, to the faces of his slave. And I, I will conduct-myself for gentleness to the foot of the errand that is to my faces and to the foot of the children until that I will come unto my lord Goatward.” 15And Hairy (Esau) said, “I will post, na, with thee from the people that is with me.” And he said, “Why this? I will find favour in the eyes of my lord!”
16And Hairy (Esau) returned to his way in that day, Goatward. 17And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) journeyed Camouflagesward. And he built to him a house. And he made camouflages to his cattle. Therefore he called the name of the place Camouflages. 18And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) came to Peace, a city of Shoulder that is in the land of Merchant in his coming from Ransom-Of-I-Will-Elevate. And he camped to the faces of the city. 19And he acquired a portion of the field that he spread his tent there from the hand of the children of Ass father of Shoulder via a hundred certified. 20And he positioned an altar there. And he called to him Mighty-[One] Gods of Israel.
Laban rose early in the morning. He kissed his sons and his daughters. He also blessed them. He then took his journey, going back to his place.
1. Why did Laban get up so early? He had a long way to travel. He needed to take advantage of all the light he could.
2. Who were his sons? They were his grandsons! Grandsons, great grandsons, etc. are considered sons in the Bible! As far as I am aware, all of Laban’s direct sons stayed with Laban; he did not need to kiss them.
3. Why did his daughters accept being kissed by him when he had been so mean to them? They still loved their papa. They would not have been rude to him; that would have been wrong.
4. How did Laban bless his sons and daughters? The Bible doesn’t tell. His blessings would have been according to his faith, and he didn’t have the same faith as Jacob. When Saints blessed their children in the Bible, when the blessings were recorded, the blessings were prophetic and from the Spirit of Yehovah. They were therefore true blessings. I don’t know the source of Laban’s blessings.
5. Was Laban better able to think, now? Yes, he was. Jacob had stolen his mind, but Laban seemed much more at peace since they made the vow.
Jacob also walked, continuing on his journey. Messengers of Elohim encountered him. Jacob described what he saw: “This is the camp of Elohim!” He named the place Two-Camps.
1. Who were these messengers? They were angels, though other messengers can easily be humans. Readers have to determine whether they are angels (which means messengers) or humans.
2. What does “encountered into” mean? This means that they came right up to Jacob in a way that Jacob would not have been able to go around them! Also, this implies (to me) that Jacob had stopped, and the angels had come right into his camp. He declared it to be the camp of Elohim.
3. How did Jacob know that this was the camp of Elohim? Elohim means Gods, and refers to the One Who created all things. Elohim is over the angels. If there were many angels there, it must be the place where Elohim, the Commander, is camped!
4. Why did Jacob call the name of that place Two-Camps instead of Camp Elohim? Jacob’s camp was there, and Elohim’s camp was also there!
5. Why was the camp of Elohim there, and did the angels have anything to say to Jacob? I propose that the camp was there to cause Jacob to know that an entire army of Elohim was ready for any trouble!
I cannot see where they said anything to Jacob. Elohim desired for Jacob to see them; that was enough for now.
6. Was Jacob nervous, seeing this camp of angels? Would you be nervous? I don’t get the impression that Jacob was nervous at this time. He had been through too many difficulties to be nervous over this. He feared Elohim; that is always right! Yet, that doesn’t mean that he was nervous. Avraham had feared Yehovah, and Avraham questioned Him about His justice!
You will need to answer whether you would be nervous if you were in a camp, and you saw what you knew were angels coming toward you.
Jacob sent his own messengers in front of him to go to Esau. Jacob commanded them to say, “Thus ye shall say to my lord, to Esau, ‘So said thy slave Jacob, “I sojourned with Laban, and I ‘afterwarded’ (stayed after) unto now. And an ox is to me and an ass, a flock and a slave and a woman-slave. And I sent her to tell to my lord to find favour in thine eyes.”’”
1. Why did Jacob send messengers to Esau? Jacob was very nervous about meeting with his brother! The last time Jacob and Esau had been together was when Esau had determined to murder Jacob! Sending messengers might give Jacob an idea of whether there would be trouble or not.
2. Where is the land of He-Goat, the field of Red? This is located in Seir (which is He-Goat), in the field of Edom (which means Red). See if you can find it on the map.
The print is very faint at the bottom of the map. Below (EDOM) you will see Mt. Seir. (This map is from the ACCESS Foundation, Zaine Ridling, Ph.D., Editor.)
3. Why did Jacob call his brother, “my lord”? Jacob was expressing humility and the willingness to serve his brother. He was also acknowledging that Esau was the older brother!
4. Why did Jacob call himself, “thy slave”? Jacob was very willing to serve his brother. He did not desire to have war with him.
5. What does “I afterwarded” mean (since this is not proper English)? Jacob stayed (after the time that he agreed to slave for the two women, Raquel and Leah). That is why he hadn’t returned until now, and he desired Esau to know that.
6. Did Jacob have just one ox, one ass, one male slave and one female slave? Why did he word it this way? Jacob had much, much more than this. I propose that he worded it this way because he refused to brag. He was just describing the different living possessions that he had acquired.
7. Who is her in, “I sent her to tell to my lord”? I had to think carefully about this. The word for messenger is malakh in Hebrew, and the word for errand, which is what a messenger does, is malakhah, which is feminine. Right now, I suspect that it refers to the errand that the messengers were sent to do.
8. Explain the expression, “find favour in the eyes” of someone: If a person favours another person, this will show in the person’s eyes. The person will see the other person in a favorable light. Children can often tell if certain adults favour them by the way their eyes look at the children.
9. How would sending the messengers on this errand to tell Esau make it so that Esau would favour Jacob instead of hating him? I propose that Jacob hoped that Esau would see the messengers, and would see them in a fond and good light, preparing Esau to meet with Jacob. Jacob hoped that Esau would be willing to see him without being angry.
The messengers returned and told Jacob, “We came unto thy brother, unto Esau. And also he walked to meet thee. And four hundred man are with him!” This terrified Jacob. It put Jacob into tribulation—that is, into a continuous state of fear from which he could not escape.
1. What did Jacob think Esau might do? Jacob thought he was coming to attack him over the birthright.
2. Why did Esau have four hundred men with him? Esau was on the move with much cattle, sheep and goats! His men traveled with him.
3. What does tribulation mean? The Hebrew word translated this way means to be in a squeeze—a tight spot with very few or no good ways of escape, and with enemies who are pursuing to do great harm or to kill. It describes a very frustrating and almost defenseless situation that lasts for a long time.
4. Why was Jacob so afraid when Elohim had appeared to him? Jacob had heard no promises from Elohim that indicated that innocent folks would not be killed. Jacob did not assume anything about what Elohim would or would not do. All Saints in the Bible refused to assume what God would do.
Jacob had a strategy. He divided the camp into two camps. He figured, “If Esau will come unto the one camp and he will smite him, and the remaining camp will be for an escape.”
1. Why would Jacob think that Esau would attack and kill one camp, if not both? Jacob only remembered the great anger of Esau. He knew that some who become set on doing murder will increase in their bitterness over time.
After Jacob set the plan in motion, he spoke to Yehovah. He started by identifying the Gods to whom he spoke: “Gods of my father Avraham.” He then identified Him as “Gods of my father Isaac.” Next, “Yehovah Who said unto me, ‘Return to thy land and to thy childhood,’ and ‘I have good-done with thee.’”
He next contrasted his own position with all the graces and all the Truth that Yehovah did with His slave, with Jacob: “I ‘smalled’ from all the graces and from all the Truth that Thou did with Thy slave.” Jacob recounted how he had originally crossed the Jordan River with just his staff, and how he was now two full camps.
He asked Yehovah to deliver him from the hand of his brother Esau. Jacob was fearing Esau, knowing that he might come and smite him, “mother upon children.”
Jacob reminded Yehovah, “Thou, Thou hast said, ‘Good-doing, I will good-do with thee,’ and, ‘I will put thy seed as sand of the sea that he will not scroll from multiplication.’”
1. Why did Jacob use the following three identifiers for Yehovah?
Jacob recognized the importance of the Covenant that Yehovah made with Avraham, that He also confirmed with Isaac. Jacob reminded Yehovah that He had commanded Jacob to return to his land and to his childhood, and that Yehovah had promised to do good with Jacob. Jacob didn’t presume that there would be no violence. The promises of Yehovah did not exclude violence from happening.
Many truly believe that they will be kept safe from harm if they have God on their side and if they are born of God. The Bible shows that these things are not guaranteed. Saints often suffered because they did right! Jacob did not assume anything.
Since Yehovah promised that He will do Jacob good, Jacob used this to request that Yehovah will deliver him from the potentially violent hand of his brother.
2. What does “I smalled from” mean? This means that Jacob became smaller and smaller, contrasted with what he then mentioned.
3. What does grace mean in the Bible? It is a fervent (that is, very strong), ardent (that is, burning, showing much power) zeal (something about which a person or God truly cares) by which one is actuated (motivated to take action—for or against another). Again, it is a very strong and very powerful zeal that drives a person or God to take action—either against someone else or for someone else.
Grace is the very reason why there is Salvation from sin and everlasting life, and it is also the very reson why there is an everlasting Lake of Fire and burning Sulfur! Every person will experience the Grace of God, and most will experience it in the most terrible way! Those who fear Him and believe His words to the point of doing right before Him will experience it in the best way.
4. What are all the graces that Jacob mentioned? They are all those things that Yehovah did from the time that Jacob left home to the present, including Yehovah’s enabling Jacob to become independent of Laban by giving Jacob the ability to breed sheep and goats at a very high rate, and taking care of Jacob through all the great difficulties. Yehovah appeared to Jacob, and He guided him. All these were graces of Yehovah—where Yehovah showed His zeal for Jacob.
5. What is truth in the Bible? It is what is absolute (unchanging, always certain, never wrong, never incorrect, sure) from Yehovah’s perspective.
Truth always is connected with a god. Without a god, there is no truth. Every god that humans recognize has its own truth. In the same manner, Yehovah, the only true and living God, has His Truth. His Truth never changes. It doesn’t change with new inventions; it doesn’t change with different cultures. It doesn’t change under any circumstances.
If (as some suppose) there is no god, there is also no truth. Anyone who might say, “Well, that is truth!” could easily have someone else say, “No, that isn’t truth.” There would only be opinions.
Messiah Yeshua stated,
John 14:6 “I am the way, the Truth and the life.”
He declared Himself to be the Truth, so that anything else that is Truth in this universe must either be Him or come from Him. Thus, if He says something, it is also the Truth.
6. What Truth did Elohim do with his slave, Jacob? Elohim extended the Covenant of Avraham and Isaac to Jacob, a Covenant that included their becoming a great race. Jacob had many children, and Elohim protected them and gave their family what they needed to succeed in the sheep, goat, camel and ass business! Yehovah kept His word to Avraham. That is Truth.
7. What does “I crossed-over this Jordan via my staff” mean and indicate? That is all Jacob had for transportation when he crossed the Jordan the first time.
8. What does na mean in Hebrew? This is a part of speech called a particle—a word that has only one form. It is a softener in Hebrew. A person can say something that sounds very demanding. If the word na is included, it removes the demands from the statement, indicating that it is being said without demands, without anger, without anything that would be considered rude or hard.
9. Why did Jacob need to be delivered from the hand of his brother? Was his brother holding him using his hand? The hand of anyone or anything is its power and authority. Jacob feared the power of his brother to do damage. It was as if Jacob were a prisoner of his brother, since that is what the mind does. If I fear anyone, I am in that person’s hand. Jacob asked Elohim to deliver him from the hand of his brother so that both the power to do harm and the fear would both go away.
10. Why did Jacob say both “my brother” and “Esau,” since both are the same? The word brother is used for any relative in the Bible. Jacob desired to be specific.
11. Was Jacob’s fearing Esau wrong or sin? No, it wasn’t. Yehovah has given humans the ability to fear to preserve them from many dangers. Fear is not sin.
Some types of fear will lead folks to sin! If a person fears not being accepted by a group, and if that group sins, that person will do what is necessary to fit into the group, and will therefore sin. If the fear of Yehovah is the person’s greatest fear, that person will not sin in order to fit into a group that promotes sin.
12. Was Jacob concerned that his own mother might be killed? No. The expression, “mother upon children,” means that mothers and their children will both be targets. If Esau is angry enough, he will kill both mothers and their children.
13. Jacob said, “I am fearing him lest he will come and will smite me, mother upon children.” Jacob used me, then mother upon children. What connection was Jacob making between himself and the mothers and children? As far as Jacob was concerned, to smite (hit, usually to kill) any of the mothers and their children in Jacob’s camps was to smite Jacob. Jacob did not disconnect himself from those in his camp.
14. What does “Good-doing, I will good-do with thee” mean? This means, “while doing good, I will do good with thee.” This promise of Elohim guarantees that He will benefit Jacob, and will use Jacob for benefit (those are not the same).
15. Can the number of offspring equal the number of grains of the sand of the sea? Explain. The number of grains of sand on the sea exceeds the number of humans that the planet could hold. Many more than trillions of grains of sand are on the sea.
16. If the answer to the last question is true, what does “I will put thy seed as sand of the sea that he will not scroll from multiplication” mean? This means that Elohim will multiply Jacob’s offspring so much, that counting (taking a census of) the population won’t be possible, since new children will be born before the numbers have been tallied. The word scroll means to count, to record, to take a record of. Taking a record of a population that increases while the record is being written means that the record will be inaccurate (wrong). That is a big population!
Jacob lodged (found a place to stay) there in that night. Instead of sleeping, he took valuables from all that he had acquired to give to his brother. These items together were called a rest because Jacob determined to rest them before his brother as a gift.
This rest included the following:
Jacob gave this rest into the hand of his slaves, each flock separated from the other flock.
He next instructed his slaves: “Cross-ye-over to my faces (in front of me).” He then said, “And ye shall put a breather (a space) between flock and between flock.”
Jacob now spoke to the head of the slaves: “For Esau my brother will meet thee. And he will ask thee to say, ‘To whom art thou? (To whom do you belong?)’ and ‘Where wilt thou walk? (Where are you going?)’ and ‘To whom are these to thy faces? (To whom do these that are in front of you belong)?’ And thou shalt say, ‘To thy slave—to Jacob. He is a rest sent to my lord—to Esau. And behold, he is also after (behind) us.’”
Jacob gave the same commands to the head of the second flock and the third, and to all to say the same things. They were also to include this information: “Behold, thy slave Jacob is after (behind) us.”
Jacob also said, “I will cover her—his faces—via the rest walking to my faces (going in front of me). And afterward I will see his faces. Perhaps he will carry my faces.”
The valuable animals that made up Jacob’s rest crossed over in front of Jacob. Jacob remained that night in the camp, lodging there.
1. What does lodge mean? It means to take a room, or in the case of a tent, to make camp and set up the tent. It doesn’t have to mean to sleep, since folks often use lodges for places to take their meals and to get together with friends.
2. What is a rest? It is like a gift (because it is given), but it is placed in front of another to receive it, and thus it is rested in front of another. This will have everything to do with other texts that speak of entering into Yehovah’s rest.
3. What is the comer into his hand? This refers to the items and persons that came into Jacob’s hand—the items and persons that Jacob acquired (either by working for them or being given to him).
4. What are ‘butt-ers’? They are animals that butt—that is, they ram other animals. (They often aim for the rear ends of humans, if they have a chance! That may explain the word butt referring to the rear ends!) This is an unusual word for he-goats.
5. What is a ewe? That is a female sheep.
6. What kind of animal is this ram? It is a male sheep.
7. What is a lactating camel? That is a female camel that is giving milk to a baby or young camel. Lactation in humans is giving breast milk, and is therefore called breastfeeding when a baby or young child obtains that milk.
8. Are lactating camels worth more than camels that are not lactating? They are worth more when they are with young, because one is obtaining two animals!
9. Who are these children? They are the young camels!
10. Why did Jacob always give more female animals than male animals? Female animals are always worth more than males! Males compete, and they don’t bear young. Males get into trouble more than females. Thus, they are considered dinner more than of other uses. Only breeding males with superior characteristics are considered more valuable.
11. Why did Jacob desire his slaves to cross over to his faces (in front of him, where he could see them)? Jacob desired to watch them go, to see if he could tell how they were proceeding as they went. I do not know if Jacob could see all the way to Esau, or not. If the slaves came running back, Jacob would know that Esau had attacked.
12. Why did Jacob desire a breather (a spacer) between each flock? If Esau attacked the first group, that would give the second group time to flee, and the two camps also time to split up and flee.
13. What does “To whom art thou” mean? It means, To whom do you belong, and it implies that Esau will know that they belong to someone else. I am not certain of the traditions and cultures regarding dress; I am guessing that slaves wore differently colored and marked clothes than their masters. If I am right on this, Esau would be able to tell that these are slaves. Yet, every person also belonged to his family just as you belong to your family or caretakers. Everyone belongs to someone, even if the person doesn’t know it. The best is to belong to Yehovah/Yeshua.
14. Why would Esau ask, “Where wilt thou walk” instead of, “Where wilt thou go”? In Hebrew, to walk is to go! The English word go has too many meanings. It can mean exit, use the restroom, travel, etc. Hebrew is far more specific. Walking is not the same as exiting or traveling.
Humans did much, much more walking in those days than they do at this time. They often covered many miles in a week’s time as part of their regular routines. They could ride animals, but walking was an important part of being with others and learning what others knew.
15. Identify these in, “To whom are these to thy faces”: They are the animals mentioned above.
16. Why did Jacob desire his slaves to answer, “To thy slave—to Jacob”? Jacob desired that Esau would know that Jacob was willing to serve his brother.
17. Why did Jacob tell each group to include, “And behold, he is also after us”? I am thinking that Jacob desired his brother to wear out any anger he had by being given these animals before seeing Jacob.
18. Explain Jacob’s thinking: “I will cover her—his faces—via the rest walking to my faces.” Jacob desired to cover her—Esau’s nose (I propose, since the nose is where anger is expressed), and also Esau’s faces so that Esau won’t see Jacob, but will see the gifts Jacob is giving to him.
19. What does “Perhaps he will carry my faces” mean? To carry is to forgive in Hebrew, if a relationship has been strained. What does carrying have to do with forgiving? If I offend you, you must carry my offense. (That will often show up as hurt feelings.) Yet, since I offended you, I must carry the wrong I have done. It is on my record. Suppose, now, that I realized I did you wrong, and I offended you. Suppose I come to you and confess (admit) what I did, and that it was wrong. If I then ask you to forgive me, I am asking you to carry the offense that I did and the wrong that I did against you so that our relationship can be returned to a state of peace. If you agree to do this, you are agreeing to voluntarily carry my offense against you and the wrong that I did, so that we can have a relationship that is brought back to peace.
Jacob understood this. He knew that he had offended his brother, though Jacob had done no wrong. He still desired to have a relationship of peace. Jacob thought about the rest that he sent his brother; perhaps it would be enough so that Esau would carry Jacob’s faces—either forgive his faces, or lift Jacob’s faces so that they could face each other in peace.
20. Why did Jacob send the rest in the evening? This way, Esau could sleep on the gift that Jacob had given.
21. Why didn’t Jacob also go see his brother that night? If there would be any violence, Jacob didn’t desire to deal with it at night. There were no streets with street lights! Violence at night with no lights is especially frightening. Jacob could see what was occurring during the day.
I don’t know whether Jacob slept that night or not. He arose while it was still night. He took his two women and his two womenslaves and his eleven sons.
He crossed over the Jabbok crossing. He brought them over the brook. He then caused all his possessions (“what is to him”) to cross over the brook.
1. Why did Jacob travel at night? Jacob looked for some strategic place where all could flee if Esau attacked. If the attack from Esau came in the morning, Jacob’s moving the camps might give those camps more time to flee.
2. Where is the Jabbok crossing?
If you find the word Mahanaim in the middle of the above map, above this word is a rather unclear blue writing that says, Jabbok R. It is a river that goes east (to the right) from the Jordan River. (This map is from the ACCESS Foundation, Zaine Ridling, Ph.D., Editor.)
3. Explain a little about the Jabbok stream. According to Easton in Easton’s Revised Bible Dictionary,
[Jabbok means,] a pouring out, or a wrestling, one of the streams on the east of Jordan, into which it falls about midway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, or about 45 miles below the Sea of Galilee. It rises on the eastern side of the mountains of Gilead, and runs a course of about 65 miles in a wild and deep ravine. It was the boundary between the territory of the Ammonites and that of Og, king of Bashan [see Joshua 12:1-5 and Numbers 21:24], also between the tribe of Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh [see Numbers 21:24 and Deuteronomy 3:16]. In its course westward across the plains it passes more than once underground. “The scenery along its banks is probably the most picturesque in Palestine; and the ruins of town and village and fortress which stud the surrounding mountain-side render the country as interesting as it is beautiful.” This river is now called the Zerka, or Blue River.
4. Why did Jacob take all his possessions with him? Jacob had no reason to leave anything or anyone behind. Yehovah hadn’t promised Jacob’s safety, so Jacob was ready to flee, if necessary, with all his items.
Jacob went somewhere alone after this crossing. An unidentified man came to Jacob in the dark. The two wrestled. It was an unfriendly match that lasted hours.
The sun began to rise. The text then says, “And he saw that he will-not-be-able to him.” It does not say who he or him is! The unidentified man touched in the palm of Jacob’s thigh, and the palm of his thigh dislocated while Jacob wrestled with the man.
The man said, “Send me! For the sunrise ascended!” Jacob responded, “I will not send thee but rather thou blessed me!” The man asked Jacob, “What is thy name?” Jacob gave his name: “He Will Heel.” The man said, “Thy name shall no more be called ‘He-Will-Heel (Jacob)’, but-rather ‘He-Will-Prince-Mighty-[One] (Israel)’. For thou princed with Elohim and with men, and thou wast able.”
Jacob then asked, saying, “Tell, na, thy name.” The man responded, “Why is this? Thou wilt ask to my name?” The man then blessed Jacob right there!
Jacob named the place ‘Faces Of Mighty One,’ saying, “For I saw Elohim faces unto faces, and my being was rescued!”
1. Why did Jacob remain alone? He had a lot to consider. He had much on his mind.
2. Why didn’t he tell his wives about what was troubling him? I don’t know if they knew about what had occurred between his brother and him. If he had told them, they might have become fearful. His telling them would only have put fear into them without giving them any response in the matter. Instead, he carried this alone.
3. Who was this man??? If you read all the verses, you will find the following things about him:
Who has all these characteristics at one time, and appears as a man to wrestle with another man, yet can be put into a wrestling hold by a mortal like Jacob? This is Messiah Yeshua!
The following is another text that speaks of this event:
Hosea 12:3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: 4Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed. He wept, and made supplication unto him. He found him [in] Bethel, and there he spake with us—5Even Yehovah God of hosts. Yehovah is his memorial.
I propose that the part that connects is this: “By his strength he had power with God. Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed.”
The man is called God (Elohim) and the angel (the messenger).
4. What does “he will not be able to him” mean? This sounds like a piece of a sentence, but it isn’t in Hebrew. To be able in any area of life is to succeed, or, in battle, it is to overcome, be victorious. “He will not overcome to him.” The word to shows the direction. We would say, “He will not overcome against him,” or just, “He will not overcome him.” Hebrew often places the preposition to where we would not use it.
5. Who is he and who is him in “he will not be able to him”? He is Elohim! Him is Jacob. I can tell, because the text states, “And a man wrestled…” It continues, “He saw…” followed by “He touched…” Thus, I concluded that the man is he in these statements.
6. Why was Elohim not able to… well, overcome Jacob, or do whatever the text doesn’t mention after the word able? This is not a case of the lack of power. Elohim always succeeds in whatever He desires to do. Elohim appeared as a man, in this case. He wrestled as a man. Jacob had twenty years of experiences, and Jacob was a very muscular man, very tough and strong. Even wrestling all night didn’t wear Jacob out, and the sun began to arise. Thus, Elohim, appearing as a mortal (a person who is capable of dying, and therefore is capable of tiring out), could not outwrestle Jacob before the sun arose.
7. Why was this so important, that it had to put into the Bible? This event teaches many things about Jacob and about Elohim, including the following:
Readers would not have figured out some of these things, had this text not been put in the Bible.
8. Why did Elohim put Jacob’s thigh out of joint? Jacob now could not run, and he could not ride an animal. He was both very tired and incapable of escape. Elohim rendered him powerless to even fight off a child.
9. Who said, “Send me”? Elohim said this!
10. Why did He say this, instead of just leaving? Just leaving in the cultures of that area of the world would be rude, and might show that the one who left was a criminal. Criminals go secretly; guests, friends and relatives wait to be sent.
When Elohim said, “Send me,” He was behaving as Jacob’s guest. Jacob’s refusal to send Him until He blessed him was Jacob’s right as a host.
11. Why did Elohim desire to leave before the sun rose any further? I propose that Elohim did not desire to be seen by others in the camp. He had come for Jacob. Others in the camp would have asked Questions that Jacob did not need to answer.
12. Why did Jacob desire to be blessed by a man who just caused him great pain, and made him defenseless? Jacob now knew who this man was: he knew He was Elohim. He desired a blessing from Elohim. Jacob wasn’t anywhere as concerned over the palm of his thigh as he was over receiving a blessing from Elohim.
13. What is the palm of the thigh? That is the part of the thigh that is shaped like the palm of the hand. It is the part that goes around the ball of the leg. (See the pictures from Wikipedia.org below.)
14. Did all stop calling Jacob by the name ‘Jacob,’ and start using ‘Israel’ after this, since Elohim said, “Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but-rather Israel”? Elohim Himself continued to use the name Jacob in the Bible, and the name will be used into the End Times. This is a prophetic promise that will occur in the Millennium (during the 1,000 years that Messiah Yeshua will be King over all kings and Lord over all lords). Until then, both Israel and Jacob will be in use.
15. Was something wrong with the name Jacob? No! The name was very good. Jacob, as a baby being born, took hold of his brother’s heel. Thus, he was behind his brother in birth, pulling on his heel. This was prophetic. He will come out second behind his brother, and will pull his brother’s heel just as his brother is about to get ahead.
Yet, this isn’t the way the story will end. The new name tells that part of the story.
16. What does the name Israel tell? Since it means, “He will prince Mighty One,” this tells that Jacob, as Israel, will coronate (crown) Prince Mighty One—Prince Mighty One of Israel, Prince Elohim! Thus, Israel will be the group that will crown Messiah Yeshua as King over all and Lord over all.
17. What does “thou princed with Elohim and with men, and thou wast able” mean? There is no verb to prince in English. If there were, it would mean to behave as a prince and to coronate others as princes. Jacob behaved as a prince with Elohim (Who is the King), and he also acted as a prince among the races. He also set up others in other races as princes. Yet, he hasn’t done any of these things yet. They will occur in the future!
Being able again means that he had the power (ability) and authority (the rank) to succeed and to overcome, and he used that power and authority. This is again prophetic; it will occur in the future. Israel isn’t in a very good position at this present time.
18. Why did Jacob ask this man’s name? Jacob knewwho he was; he wanted to confirm the identity of this man. He didn’t know who he was until the man put his thigh out of joint. He instantly knew who he was at that point. Now, Jacob asked for identification to confirm his identity, and he refused to confirm it. I can tell that Jacob knew who he was because Jacob insisted on a blessing before sending him.
19. What was the man’s name? I will show another text that is very similar to this one, with the same man making an appearance and with the same question being asked:
Judges 13:17 And Manoah said unto the angel of Yehovah, “What is thy name, that we will do thee honour when thy sayings come to pass?” 18And the angel of Yehovah said unto him, “Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is Pele?”
His Name is Pele, meaning miracle, but in a different way—as His being the source of miracles and His being the great miracle of Yehovah. He is the Messiah, Messiah Yeshua, Whose very birth is a miracle.
20. Was Jacob still clinging to him while He blessed him? Jacob would not let go until He blessed him.
21. Did Jacob send him after He blessed him? Jacob did!
22. What did Jacob name the place, why did he name the place, and why is the name different from what Jacob said? Jacob named the place Faces-Of-Mighty-[One], referring to the faces of the One Who wrestled with him. He named the place because of the significant event that happened in that place. This was a common practice. Jacob said, “For I saw Elohim faces unto faces, and my being was rescued!” The name of the place mentions Mighty-One; yet Jacob identified Him as Elohim. Thus, we, as readers, can know that Elohim and Mighty One are the same. Jacob named the place the way he did because Jacob was prophesying. When the Israelis come to realize that the Mighty One of Israel is Elohim, then and only then will they be able to come to faith in the Messiah of Israel.
23. Why did Jacob say, “and my being was rescued”? Who did the rescuing, and from whom was Jacob rescued? This text is also prophetic! Jacob will be rescued from the very Being who will wrestle with him (that is, with the People of Israel) during the Tribulation.
Jacob crossed Penuel, limping on his thigh. From that time on, the Israelis (who believed the text and who understood it) refused to eat the sinew of the tendon that is upon the palm of the thigh. Elohim had touched in the palm of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the tendon.
1. Why don’t the Israelis (who follow this tradition) eat the sinew of the tendon that is upon the palm of the thigh? What animals are involved in this? The animals involved are the clean land animals (cows, bulls, sheep, goats, deer, caribou, reindeer, etc.). I don’t expect that this includes chickens and turkeys, etc.
They don’t eat this piece of meat in order to recall what this man, Elohim, did to Jacob just before He blessed him!
2. Did this hurt very much? It did! It continued to hurt for a long time!
3. Why did Elohim hurt Jacob? Had Jacob done wrong? Jacob hadn’t done anything wrong. Elohim hurt Jacob
Yehovah sometimes inflicts pain on true prophets so that others who are watching Yehovah’s show-and-tell of what will occur understand how real what they are seeing and hearing from the prophet really is. This is done to save lives. Yehovah rewards such prophets very well. Jacob never complained.
Jacob lifted his eyes. He then saw Esau coming with four hundred men. He divided the children among the four women, placing the slavewomen and their children in front, then Leah, then Raquel with Joseph.
Jacob then crossed over in front of the groups.
Before he came to Esau, he prostrated in front of him seven times between his approaches.
In the meantime, Esau ran to meet Jacob. Esau embraced him, fell upon his neck, and kissed him. Both of them wept.
1. If Jacob lifted his eyes, where were they focused before lifting them? They were focused on the ground. The land is quite uneven, and tripping while walking is a regular concern. A person must watch for the next step to avoid such hazards.
2. How could he recognize Esau after all this time, and at such a distance? Jacob had had much practice seeing both friends and animal attackers during his twenty years of shepherding. A person can become very good at identifying others at a distance by this means.
3. Why does my translation say, “four hundred man” instead of saying, “four hundred men”? Biblical Hebrew switches to the singular form when the number becomes large.
4. Why did Jacob divide the children according to their own mothers? If Esau attacked, and if any of the women and children survived, they needed to be grouped with mothers having their own children.
5. Why did Jacob put the slavewomen and their children first? If Esau was determined to take prisoners and slaves for himself, the women were already slaves; they would need the children to go with them. If Esau commanded a slaughter, Jacob had worked for Raquel (and secondly for Leah); Jacob hoped that they at least might escape.
6. Why is Joseph (of all Jacob’s sons) the only one mentioned by name? This is again prophetic. Put “Ewe” with “He will gather,” and the text reads, “He will gather a ewe (a girl sheep).” That is exactly what will happen during the Tribulation! Yehovah will gather the most endangered parts of Israel: women with young children, bringing them to Mount Zion where they will be safe. Names in the Bible are often prophetic!
7. Why did Jacob then cross over in front of all the groups? He had determined to face Esau first before all, knowing that Esau’s murderous anger, if it still existed, was directed toward him. If Esau struck out against him, that might assuage (calm down) Esau’s anger, and thus spare others from harm. Jacob desired to save lives, not spare himself at the expense of others.
8. Why did Jacob prostrate (lie flat) before his brother, then come closer, then again prostrate before his brother, then come closer… seven times? He physically showed his brother that he was willing to serve his brother. He hoped that this would convince his brother that he was not claiming the firstborn status to lord it over his brother.
9. Why did Esau run to meet Jacob? Esau desired to see his brother! He loved him.
10. What does “he fell upon his neck” mean? This means that he both hugged him and put his neck on his brother’s neck in a most affectionate embrace!
11. Why did they both weep? Esau was so glad to see his brother. Jacob was so relieved that his brother didn’t still hate him, and he was glad to see his brother under these circumstances! They missed each other.
Esau was interested in seeing his brother. He then lifted his eyes and saw the women and children. Esau asked, “Who are these to thee?” Jacob answered, “The children that Elohim favoured thy slave.”
The slavewomen and their children neared Esau, and prostrated. Then Leah and her children did the same thing. Finally, Joseph neared, along with Raquel. Esau was amazed. “Who is to thee? All this camp that I encountered?” Jacob’s answer was curious: “To find favour in the eyes of my lord.”
Esau expressed that he already had much, and what is to Jacob must be to Jacob (what Jacob owns Jacob needs to keep).
Jacob respectfully insisted that Esau take Jacob’s rest from his hand. Jacob compared seeing Esau to seeing the faces of Elohim, and that Esau desired Jacob. Jacob stated, “Take na my blessing that is brought to thee. For Elohim favoured me, and for there is to me all.” Jacob urged Esau, and Esau was finally willing.
1. Why was Esau amazed that Jacob had so many persons and animals? There is no way that anyone could have gained what Jacob gained in twenty years. A person might become very wealthy, but having twelve children, two wives, and all those animals—that just isn’t possible in that brief amount of time. Twenty years may seem like a long time, but it really isn’t!
2. What did Jacob mean by, “The children that Elohim favoured thy slave”? Jacob told Esau that Elohim had favoured Jacob, a slave of Esau, by giving him all those children!
3. Why did the different women and their children prostrate before Esau? They watched Jacob, and that was also part of their cultures. That was a demonstration of respect.
4. What question was Jacob answering when he said, “To find favour in the eyes of my lord”? He was answering the question, “Why did you give me these items?”
5. What did Jacob mean when he answered, “Don’t, na, if na I found favour in thine eyes”? He meant, Don’t refuse to accept the rest that I gave to you.
6. Was Jacob exaggerating when he said, “For therefore I saw thy faces as seeing faces of Elohim”? Jacob didn’t exaggerate. Such an exaggeration would have been a lie. Jacob feared Elohim (in a good way), and he feared his brother (as a potential threat). Jacob’s reaction to seeing both was the same: he feared.
7. What does “thou desired me” mean? This means that he (Esau) wanted to see and continue a relationship with Jacob. Had Esau been furious with Jacob at this time, he would not have desired to see him; he would have either desired to not see him, or to see him dead!
8. What does “for there is to me all” mean? All those items and persons that Esau saw are ‘to Jacob’ (are in his possession). Thus, Jacob could spare what he gave to his brother.
9. Why did Esau take the items from his brother? His brother urged him, and Esau saw that this was important to Jacob. Thus, Esau was willing, and Jacob was relieved.
The text does not give the amount of time that Esau and Jacob spoke together. The next part of their conversation involved Esau telling Jacob, “We shall journey. And we have walked. And I have walked to straight-in-front-of thee.”
Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are tender [they are not used to traveling for distances]. And the flock and the herd ascend upon me. [Both the large cattle and the small, like sheep and goats, ascend upon/by Jacob at his command.] And they [the cowboys] shall drive them one day. And they shall die—all the flock.”
Jacob’s idea was this: “My lord [Esau] shall cross-over, na, to the faces of [in front of] his slave. And I, I will conduct-myself for gentleness to the foot of the errand [to the foot of moving the flock] that is to my faces and to the foot of the children until that I will come unto my lord toward Seir.”
Esau then volunteered to post (assign to a task) some of Esau’s men with Jacob. Jacob’s reaction was quick: “Why is this?” Then he said, “I will find favour in the eyes of my lord!” That was akin to saying, “If you will be pleased to permit me to take care of this myself.
1. Why did Esau desire to walk straight in front of Jacob? Jacob didn’t know, and I don’t know. That made this offer seem suspicious.
2. Can one person determine or figure out the motives of another person? Unless Yehovah tells someone another person’s motives, no person can read the mind of another, and no person can know another person’s motives with certainty. Trying to figure out the motives of another is wise. Claiming to know what the motives of another person is wrong, and has caused much permanent damage to relationships in the history of the world. All will be judged by the works (actions) they did and by their words. Judging actions is right. Judging motives is always wrong. Even if a person tells you why he or she did something, that doesn’t mean that he or she gave you all the reasons, and it doesn’t mean that he or she was honest with you or with himself/herself. Stay away from judging motives.
3. Would the entire flock die if it were driven along with the cattle? Jacob knew sheep and goats. He knew that many could easily die if they were overdriven without sustenance.
4. When Jacob said, “My lord shall cross-over, na, to the faces of his slave,” wasn’t this the same as Esau’s proposal, “I have walked to straight-in-front-of thee”? It is different. Jacob will remain stationary (not moving), while Esau will walk. In Esau’s proposal, he would lead, and Jacob would follow.
5. What is “the foot of the errand”? If the head of the errand is its beginning, the foot will be its conclusion. Jacob will conduct himself and his camps in a gentle manner until the errand of transporting them to the new grazing grounds has been completed.
6. What does “the errand that is to my faces” mean? The errand is transporting Jacob’s camps. The errand that is to Jacob’s faces is that part of the errand that must be immediately attended; it is straight in front of Jacob.
7. Explain “I will conduct-myself for gentleness … to the foot of the children”: I propose that Jacob will be gentle with driving his camps right down to considering the foot of the children: down to the smallest and slowest-moving child.
8. Is “until that I will come” good English grammar (proper writing or speaking in English)? It isn’t. The word that doesn’t fit in English. It is present in the Hebrew text.
9. Why did Esau offer to post some of his men with Jacob’s camps? I am not certain, and I don’t know if Jacob knew the reason. This again seemed suspicious. This part of the world was very dangerous, however, and Esau’s offer may have been out of concern for the safety of Jacob’s camps.
Whatever the reason may be, Jacob declined (didn’t accept) the offer.
10. Why did Jacob add, “I will find favour in the eyes of my lord”? This could have been Jacob’s way of showing appreciation for Esau’s willingness to help Jacob with the guards. This willingness showed that Jacob obtained and found favour in the eyes of Esau.
Esau then returned to Seir, his home.
Jacob journeyed to Succot. He built an actual house. He constructed camouflages designed for cattle. That is why he called the place Camouflages.
Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shkhem in the land of Canaan when he completed his journey from Padan-Aram. He camped in front of the city.
He acquired a portion of the field upon which he spread his tent from the hand of the children of Hamor who is the father of Shkhem. The cost was one hundred certified.
Jacob positioned an altar there. He “called to him” (named him) Mighty-One, Gods of Israel.
1. Why did Esau go away from Jacob? They both had to find good grazing for their animals. Staying together could result in conflicts over the pasture.
2. Why did Jacob build a house for himself? Since the text doesn’t say, I can only guess: he desired to have a permanent structure for his wives and children, a place with more comfort that was not as susceptible to storms. Yet, he didn’t stay there! He traveled to the city of Shalem that is near Shechem; that is where he stayed. Thus, building this house may have been part of the camouflages that he set up for his cattle.
3. Explain “he made camouflages to his cattle”: The Hebrew word succot comes from the Hebrew root sokh that describes a covert—a hiding place. I found that this word describes camouflage—any form of an enclosure (or clothing) that gives the impression that it is no different from its surroundings.
I then thought about why Jacob might do this for his cattle. This area of the world was very wild, and potentially very violent. Cattle would be easily rustled, since cattle spread out to graze. Rounding up the cattle during the night in a place that looks like the rest of the surrounding area would be a way to protect the cattle from rustlers, making it difficult to find them at night. (There were no flashlights back then, and torches were not very bright—except to give away the positions of those holding them.) While a full moon and clear skies did light up the night, having the cattle camouflaged would deter rustlers from coming after them, since cowboys would also be lurking in the area. I propose that Jacob considered these things.
4. Why did he name the place Succot? He named it Succot (camouflages) because that is what he built there. Future generations might remember what he did. His men might later be located elsewhere, and he could send them to this location, since it had a name.
5. Why did Jacob decide to travel to Shalem (Peace)? I again can only guess unless I find a text that tells me. Guessing is not a very good idea in the Bible. Folks who started by guessing ended up teaching other folks who thought that those guesses were true. I don’t want you to do this. When I say that I am guessing, that is all I am doing. I do know that Jacob had reasons for what he did, and the reasons involved benefiting others as well as himself.
Jacob had these cowboys and shepherds, their wives, his own wives and children, and animals. His crew could make many things needed for life and living; yet, other items were not available without trading for them. Jacob did not have a source of iron for tools; miners in distant areas dug for iron, and others purified the iron for usage. Jacob needed to trade; having large herds and flocks was only useful if those animals could be traded for other items. His cowboys and shepherds needed other items and varieties of food (besides beef, mutton, etc.), and cities offered variation. I propose that Jacob set up tents near the city for just such purposes, and was able to sell cattle, sheep and goats for good prices, since the occupants desired these items.
Women needed items unavailable on the prairie that they could find in even small cities.
6. Why didn’t Jacob move into the city of Shalem, but instead only camped outside the city, facing it? Jacob did not desire to integrate with the inhabitants of the city. The city was wild, like a town in the wild west of the early United States. If he moved into the city, his family would soon integrate with the inhabitants, adopting their religions, morals and ethics. Jacob knew better, since he had to refuse Canaanite marriages with his own sons and daughter. Being near the city was fine; integrating was not fine.
While Jacob believed in segregation, it wasn’t the evil and violent type of segregation that the United States enforced. Jacob treated others of other races with great respect as having the very image of God. His own cowboys and shepherds may have included Canaanites that he acquired—I don’t know. The Canaanites as a whole were very evil, and were becoming more evil with time. Yet, Rahab and her family, in a text that occurs a long time from this text, were Canaanites, and were heroes benefiting Israel.
Jacob knew the dangers of integrating with a people whom Yehovah will eventually destroy.
7. Why did Jacob acquire a portion of the field? Jacob did not desire to be a trespasser. If he had title to the property, he wouldn’t be trespassing.
8. Explain “he acquired a portion of the field… vial a hundred certified”: Jacob paid one hundred of some form of currency, and the form was certified—it was proven to be right and true. Jacob had not cheated Hamor’s sons.
He did this to avoid Questions regarding the legitimacy (regarding whether it was the real thing) of the transaction (the sale and purchase) he made with Hamor’s sons.
9. Why did Jacob position an altar there? Whenever Jacob made any significant move to a new location or a special place, he always set up an altar, and he also named both the altar and the location. He then called sacrificed to Yehovah.
10. What is the significance of the expression, “Mighty One, Gods of Israel”? Jacob used the new name that Elohim had given to him: Israel. He recognized the man who had wrestled with him as Mighty One and as Gods (Elohim) of Israel. Jacob had been delivered from the hand of his brother.
Printed Text: Genesis 31:55-33:20
Genesis 31:55 And White (Laban) early-rose in the morning. And he kissed to his sons and to his daughters. And he blessed them. And he walked. And White (Laban) returned to his place.
1And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) walked to his way. And messengers of Elohim encountered into him. 2And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) said, just-as he saw, “This is the camp of Elohim!” And he called the name of that place Two-Camps.
3And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) sent messengers to his faces unto Hairy (Esau) his brother toward the land of He-Goat field of Red. 4And he commanded them to say, “Thus ye shall say to my lord, to Hairy (Esau), ‘So said thy slave He-Will-Heel (Jacob), “I sojourned with White (Laban), and I afterwarded unto now. 5And an ox is to me and an ass, a flock and a slave and a woman-slave. And I sent her to tell to my lord to find favour in thine eyes.”’”
6And the messengers returned unto He-Will-Heel (Jacob) to say, “We came unto thy brother, unto Hairy (Esau). And also he walked to meet thee. And four hundred man are with him!” 7And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) feared very-much. And he ‘tribulated’ to him.
And he halved the people that is with him and the flock and the herd and the camels to two camps. 8And he said, “If Hairy (Esau) will come unto the one camp and he will smite him, and the remaining camp will be for an escape.”
9And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) said, “Gods of my father Father-Of-A-Multitude (Avraham) and Gods of my father He-Will-Laugh (Isaac), Yehovah Who said unto me, ‘Return to thy land and to thy childhood,’ and ‘I have good-done with thee,’ 10I smalled from all the graces and from all the Truth that Thou did with Thy slave. For I crossed-over this Jordan via my staff. And now I was to two camps. 11Deliver me, na, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Hairy (Esau)! For I am fearing him lest he will come and will smite me, mother upon children! 12And Thou, Thou hast said, ‘Good-doing, I will good-do with thee,’ and, ‘I will put thy seed as sand of the sea that he will not scroll from multiplication.’”
13And he lodged there in that night. And he took a rest to Hairy (Esau) his brother from the comer into his hand: 14two hundred she-goats and twenty butt-ers, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty lactating camels and their children, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten he-asses. 16And he gave into the hand of his slaves, a flock a flock by himself. And he said unto his slaves, “Cross-ye-over to my faces. And ye shall put a breather between flock and between flock.” 17And he commanded the head to say, “For Hairy (Esau) my brother will meet thee. And he will ask thee to say, ‘To whom art thou?’ and ‘Where wilt thou walk?’ and ‘To whom are these to thy faces?’ 18And thou shalt say, ‘To thy slave—to He-Will-Heel (Jacob). He is a rest sent to my lord—to Hairy (Esau). And behold, he is also after us.’” 19And he commanded also the second, also the third, also all the walkers after the flocks to say, “Ye shall speak as this speech unto Hairy (Esau) in your finding him. 20And ye shall also say, ‘Behold, thy slave He-Will-Heel (Jacob) is after us.’” For he said, “I will cover her—his faces—via the rest walking to my faces. And afterward I will see his faces. Perhaps he will carry my faces.” 21And the rest crossed over upon his faces. And he lodged in that night in the camp.
22And he, he arose in that night. And he took his two women and his two womenslaves and his eleven sons. And he crossed-over the Jabbok crossing. 23And he took them. And he crossed-them-over the brook. And he crossed-over what is to him.
24And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) remained alone. And a man wrestled with him unto the ascending of the sunrise. 25And he saw that he will-not-be-able to him. And he touched in the palm of his thigh. And the palm of He-Will-Heel’s (Jacob’s) thigh dislocated in his wrestling with him. 26And he said, “Send me! For the sunrise ascended!” And he said, “I will not send thee but-rather thou blessed me!” 27And he said unto him, “What is thy name?” And he said, “He-Will-Heel (Jacob)”. 28And he said, “Thy name shall no more be called ‘He-Will-Heel (Jacob)’, but-rather ‘He-Will-Prince-Mighty-[One] (Israel).’ For thou princed with Elohim and with men, and thou wast able.” 29And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) asked. And he said, “Tell, na, Thy Name.” And He said, “Why is this? Thou wilt ask to my name?” And He blessed him there. 30And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) called the name of the place Faces-Of-Mighty-[One]. “For I saw Elohim faces unto faces, and my being was rescued!”
31And the sun sun-rose to him just-as he crossed-over They-Turned-Mighty-[One]. And he is limping upon his thigh. 32Therefore the children of Israel will not eat the sinew of the tendon that is upon the palm of the thigh unto this day. For He touched in the palm of He-Will-Heel’s (Jacob’s) thigh in the sinew of the tendon.
1And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) lifted up his eyes. And he saw. And, behold, Hairy (Esau) came. And with him are four hundred man. And he divided the children upon Weary (Leah) and upon Ewe (Raquel) and upon two of the slavewomen. 2And he put the slavewomen and their children headward and Weary (Leah) and her children afterwards and Ewe (Raquel) and He-Will-Gather (Joseph) afterwards. 3And he crossed-over to their faces. And he prostrated landward seven strokes unto his nearing unto his brother. 4And Hairy (Esau) ran to meet him. And he embraced him. And he fell upon his neck. And he kissed him. And they wept.
5And he lifted up his eyes. And he saw the women and the children. And said, “Who are these to thee?” And he said, “The children that Elohim favoured thy slave.” 6And the slavewomen neared there and their children. And they prostrated. 7And also Weary (Leah) neared and her children. And they prostrated. And He-Will-Gather (Joseph) neared after, and Ewe (Raquel), and they prostrated. 8And he said, “Who is to thee? All this camp that I encountered?” And he said, “To find favour in the eyes of my lord.” 9And Hairy (Esau) said, “I have much, my brother. He will be to thee what is to thee.” 10And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) said, “Don’t, na, if, na, I found favour in thine eyes! And thou shalt take my rest from my hand. For therefore I saw thy faces as seeing faces of Elohim. And thou desired me. 11Take, na, my blessing that is brought to thee. For Elohim favoured me, and for there is to me all.” And he urged him. And he took.
12And he said, “We shall journey. And we have walked. And I have walked to straight-in-front-of thee.” 13And he said unto him, “My lord knows that the children are tender. And the flock and the herd ascend upon me. And they shall drive them one day. And they shall die—all the flock. 14My lord shall cross-over, na, to the faces of his slave. And I, I will conduct-myself for gentleness to the foot of the errand that is to my faces and to the foot of the children until that I will come unto my lord Goatward.” 15And Hairy (Esau) said, “I will post, na, with thee from the people that is with me.” And he said, “Why this? I will find favour in the eyes of my lord!”
16And Hairy (Esau) returned to his way in that day, Goatward. 17And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) journeyed Camouflagesward. And he built to him a house. And he made camouflages to his cattle. Therefore he called the name of the place Camouflages. 18And He-Will-Heel (Jacob) came to Peace, a city of Shoulder that is in the land of Merchant in his coming from Ransom-Of-I-Will-Elevate. And he camped to the faces of the city. 19And he acquired a portion of the field that he spread his tent there from the hand of the children of Ass father of Shoulder via a hundred certified. 20And he positioned an altar there. And he called to him Mighty-[One] Gods of Israel.
Laban rose early in the morning. He kissed his sons and his daughters. He also blessed them. He then took his journey, going back to his place.
1. Why did Laban get up so early?
2. Who were his sons?
3. Why did his daughters accept being kissed by him when he had been so mean to them?
4. How did Laban bless his sons and daughters?
5. Was Laban better able to think, now?
Jacob also walked, continuing on his journey. Messengers of Elohim encountered him. Jacob described what he saw: “This is the camp of Elohim!” He named the place Two-Camps.
1. Who were these messengers?
2. What does “encountered into” mean?
3. How did Jacob know that this was the camp of Elohim?
4. Why did Jacob call the name of that place Two-Camps instead of Camp Elohim?
5. Why was the camp of Elohim there, and did the angels have anything to say to Jacob?
6. Was Jacob nervous, seeing this camp of angels? Would you be nervous?
Jacob sent his own messengers in front of him to go to Esau. Jacob commanded them to say, “Thus ye shall say to my lord, to Esau, ‘So said thy slave Jacob, “I sojourned with Laban, and I ‘afterwarded’ (stayed after) unto now. And an ox is to me and an ass, a flock and a slave and a woman-slave. And I sent her to tell to my lord to find favour in thine eyes.”’”
1. Why did Jacob send messengers to Esau?
2. Where is the land of He-Goat, the field of Red?
3. Why did Jacob call his brother, “my lord”?
4. Why did Jacob call himself, “thy slave”?
5. What does “I afterwarded” mean (since this is not proper English)?
6. Did Jacob have just one ox, one ass, one male slave and one female slave? Why did he word it this way?
7. Who is her in, “I sent her to tell to my lord”?
8. Explain the expression, “find favour in the eyes” of someone:
9. How would sending the messengers on this errand to tell Esau make it so that Esau would favour Jacob instead of hating him?
The messengers returned and told Jacob, “We came unto thy brother, unto Esau. And also he walked to meet thee. And four hundred man are with him!” This terrified Jacob. It put Jacob into tribulation—that is, into a continuous state of fear from which he could not escape.
1. What did Jacob think Esau might do?
2. Why did Esau have four hundred men with him?
3. What does tribulation mean?
4. Why was Jacob so afraid when Elohim had appeared to him?
Jacob had a strategy. He divided the camp into two camps. He figured, “If Esau will come unto the one camp and he will smite him, and the remaining camp will be for an escape.”
1. Why would Jacob think that Esau would attack and kill one camp, if not both?
After Jacob set the plan in motion, he spoke to Yehovah. He started by identifying the Gods to whom he spoke: “Gods of my father Avraham.” He then identified Him as “Gods of my father Isaac.” Next, “Yehovah Who said unto me, ‘Return to thy land and to thy childhood,’ and ‘I have good-done with thee.’”
He next contrasted his own position with all the graces and all the Truth that Yehovah did with His slave, with Jacob: “I ‘smalled’ from all the graces and from all the Truth that Thou did with Thy slave.” Jacob recounted how he had originally crossed the Jordan River with just his staff, and how he was now two full camps.
He asked Yehovah to deliver him from the hand of his brother Esau. Jacob was fearing Esau, knowing that he might come and smite him, “mother upon children.”
Jacob reminded Yehovah, “Thou, Thou hast said, ‘Good-doing, I will good-do with thee,’ and, ‘I will put thy seed as sand of the sea that he will not scroll from multiplication.’”
1. Why did Jacob use the following three identifiers for Yehovah?
2. What does “I smalled from” mean?
3. What does grace mean in the Bible?
4. What are all the graces that Jacob mentioned?
5. What is truth in the Bible?
6. What Truth did Elohim do with his slave, Jacob?
7. What does “I crossed-over this Jordan via my staff” mean and indicate?
8. What does na mean in Hebrew?
9. Why did Jacob need to be delivered from the hand of his brother? Was his brother holding him using his hand?
10. Why did Jacob say both “my brother” and “Esau,” since both are the same?
11. Was Jacob’s fearing Esau wrong or sin?
12. Was Jacob concerned that his own mother might be killed?
13. Jacob said, “I am fearing him lest he will come and will smite me, mother upon children.” Jacob used me, then mother upon children. What connection was Jacob making between himself and the mothers and children?
14. What does “Good-doing, I will good-do with thee” mean?
15. Can the number of offspring equal the number of grains of the sand of the sea? Explain.
16. If the answer to the last question is true, what does “I will put thy seed as sand of the sea that he will not scroll from multiplication” mean?
Jacob lodged (found a place to stay) there in that night. Instead of sleeping, he took valuables from all that he had acquired to give to his brother. These items together were called a rest because Jacob determined to rest them before his brother as a gift.
This rest included the following:
Jacob gave this rest into the hand of his slaves, each flock separated from the other flock.
He next instructed his slaves: “Cross-ye-over to my faces (in front of me).” He then said, “And ye shall put a breather (a space) between flock and between flock.”
Jacob now spoke to the head of the slaves: “For Esau my brother will meet thee. And he will ask thee to say, ‘To whom art thou? (To whom do you belong?)’ and ‘Where wilt thou walk? (Where are you going?)’ and ‘To whom are these to thy faces? (To whom do these that are in front of you belong)?’ And thou shalt say, ‘To thy slave—to Jacob. He is a rest sent to my lord—to Esau. And behold, he is also after (behind) us.’”
Jacob gave the same commands to the head of the second flock and the third, and to all to say the same things. They were also to include this information: “Behold, thy slave Jacob is after (behind) us.”
Jacob also said, “I will cover her—his faces—via the rest walking to my faces (going in front of me). And afterward I will see his faces. Perhaps he will carry my faces.”
The valuable animals that made up Jacob’s rest crossed over in front of Jacob. Jacob remained that night in the camp, lodging there.
1. What does lodge mean?
2. What is a rest?
3. What is the comer into his hand?
4. What are ‘butt-ers’?
5. What is a ewe?
6. What kind of animal is this ram?
7. What is a lactating camel?
8. Are lactating camels worth more than camels that are not lactating?
9. Who are these children?
10. Why did Jacob always give more female animals than male animals?
11. Why did Jacob desire his slaves to cross over to his faces (in front of him, where he could see them)?
12. Why did Jacob desire a breather (a spacer) between each flock?
13. What does “To whom art thou” mean?
14. Why would Esau ask, “Where wilt thou walk” instead of, “Where wilt thou go”?
15. Identify these in, “To whom are these to thy faces”:
16. Why did Jacob desire his slaves to answer, “To thy slave—to Jacob”?
17. Why did Jacob tell each group to include, “And behold, he is also after us”?
18. Explain Jacob’s thinking: “I will cover her—his faces—via the rest walking to my faces.”
19. What does “Perhaps he will carry my faces” mean?
20. Why did Jacob send the rest in the evening?
21. Why didn’t Jacob also go see his brother that night?
I don’t know whether Jacob slept that night or not. He arose while it was still night. He took his two women and his two womenslaves and his eleven sons.
He crossed over the Jabbok crossing. He brought them over the brook. He then caused all his possessions (“what is to him”) to cross over the brook.
1. Why did Jacob travel at night?
2. Where is the Jabbok crossing?
3. Explain a little about the Jabbok stream.
4. Why did Jacob take all his possessions with him?
Jacob went somewhere alone after this crossing. An unidentified man came to Jacob in the dark. The two wrestled. It was an unfriendly match that lasted hours.
The sun began to rise. The text then says, “And he saw that he will-not-be-able to him.” It does not say who he or him is! The unidentified man touched in the palm of Jacob’s thigh, and the palm of his thigh dislocated while Jacob wrestled with the man.
The man said, “Send me! For the sunrise ascended!” Jacob responded, “I will not send thee but rather thou blessed me!” The man asked Jacob, “What is thy name?” Jacob gave his name: “He Will Heel.” The man said, “Thy name shall no more be called ‘He-Will-Heel (Jacob)’, but-rather ‘He-Will-Prince-Mighty-[One] (Israel)’. For thou princed with Elohim and with men, and thou wast able.”
Jacob then asked, saying, “Tell, na, thy name.” The man responded, “Why is this? Thou wilt ask to my name?” The man then blessed Jacob right there!
Jacob named the place ‘Faces Of Mighty One,’ saying, “For I saw Elohim faces unto faces, and my being was rescued!”
1. Why did Jacob remain alone?
2. Why didn’t he tell his wives about what was troubling him?
3. Who was this man???
4. What does “he will not be able to him” mean?
5. Who is he and who is him in “he will not be able to him”?
6. Why was Elohim not able to… well, overcome Jacob, or do whatever the text doesn’t mention after the word able?
7. Why was this so important, that it had to put into the Bible?
8. Why did Elohim put Jacob’s thigh out of joint?
9. Who said, “Send me”?
10. Why did He say this, instead of just leaving?
11. Why did Elohim desire to leave before the sun rose any further?
12. Why did Jacob desire to be blessed by a man who just caused him great pain, and made him defenseless?
13. What is the palm of the thigh?
14. Did all stop calling Jacob by the name ‘Jacob,’ and start using ‘Israel’ after this, since Elohim said, “Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but-rather Israel”?
15. Was something wrong with the name Jacob?
16. What does the name Israel tell?
17. What does “thou princed with Elohim and with men, and thou wast able” mean?
18. Why did Jacob ask this man’s name?
19. What was the man’s name?
20. Was Jacob still clinging to him while He blessed him?
21. Did Jacob send him after He blessed him?
22. What did Jacob name the place, why did he name the place, and why is the name different from what Jacob said?
23. Why did Jacob say, “and my being was rescued”? Who did the rescuing, and from whom was Jacob rescued?
Jacob crossed Penuel, limping on his thigh. From that time on, the Israelis (who believed the text and who understood it) refused to eat the sinew of the tendon that is upon the palm of the thigh. Elohim had touched in the palm of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the tendon.
1. Why don’t the Israelis (who follow this tradition) eat the sinew of the tendon that is upon the palm of the thigh? What animals are involved in this?
2. Did this hurt very much?
3. Why did Elohim hurt Jacob? Had Jacob done wrong?
Jacob lifted his eyes. He then saw Esau coming with four hundred men. He divided the children among the four women, placing the slavewomen and their children in front, then Leah, then Raquel with Joseph.
Jacob then crossed over in front of the groups.
Before he came to Esau, he prostrated in front of him seven times between his approaches.
In the meantime, Esau ran to meet Jacob. Esau embraced him, fell upon his neck, and kissed him. Both of them wept.
1. If Jacob lifted his eyes, where were they focused before lifting them?
2. How could he recognize Esau after all this time, and at such a distance?
3. Why does my translation say, “four hundred man” instead of saying, “four hundred men”?
4. Why did Jacob divide the children according to their own mothers?
5. Why did Jacob put the slavewomen and their children first?
6. Why is Joseph (of all Jacob’s sons) the only one mentioned by name?
7. Why did Jacob then cross over in front of all the groups?
8. Why did Jacob prostrate (lie flat) before his brother, then come closer, then again prostrate before his brother, then come closer… seven times?
9. Why did Esau run to meet Jacob?
10. What does “he fell upon his neck” mean?
11. Why did they both weep?
Esau was interested in seeing his brother. He then lifted his eyes and saw the women and children. Esau asked, “Who are these to thee?” Jacob answered, “The children that Elohim favoured thy slave.”
The slavewomen and their children neared Esau, and prostrated. Then Leah and her children did the same thing. Finally, Joseph neared, along with Raquel. Esau was amazed. “Who is to thee? All this camp that I encountered?” Jacob’s answer was curious: “To find favour in the eyes of my lord.”
Esau expressed that he already had much, and what is to Jacob must be to Jacob (what Jacob owns Jacob needs to keep).
Jacob respectfully insisted that Esau take Jacob’s rest from his hand. Jacob compared seeing Esau to seeing the faces of Elohim, and that Esau desired Jacob. Jacob stated, “Take na my blessing that is brought to thee. For Elohim favoured me, and for there is to me all.” Jacob urged Esau, and Esau was finally willing.
1. Why was Esau amazed that Jacob had so many persons and animals?
2. What did Jacob mean by, “The children that Elohim favoured thy slave”?
3. Why did the different women and their children prostrate before Esau?
4. What question was Jacob answering when he said, “To find favour in the eyes of my lord”?
5. What did Jacob mean when he answered, “Don’t, na, if na I found favour in thine eyes”?
6. Was Jacob exaggerating when he said, “For therefore I saw thy faces as seeing faces of Elohim”?
7. What does “thou desired me” mean?
8. What does “for there is to me all” mean?
9. Why did Esau take the items from his brother?
The text does not give the amount of time that Esau and Jacob spoke together. The next part of their conversation involved Esau telling Jacob, “We shall journey. And we have walked. And I have walked to straight-in-front-of thee.”
Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are tender [they are not used to traveling for distances]. And the flock and the herd ascend upon me. [Both the large cattle and the small, like sheep and goats, ascend upon/by Jacob at his command.] And they [the cowboys] shall drive them one day. And they shall die—all the flock.”
Jacob’s idea was this: “My lord [Esau] shall cross-over, na, to the faces of [in front of] his slave. And I, I will conduct-myself for gentleness to the foot of the errand [to the foot of moving the flock] that is to my faces and to the foot of the children until that I will come unto my lord toward Seir.”
Esau then volunteered to post (assign to a task) some of Esau’s men with Jacob. Jacob’s reaction was quick: “Why is this?” Then he said, “I will find favour in the eyes of my lord!” That was akin to saying, “If you will be pleased to permit me to take care of this myself.
1. Why did Esau desire to walk straight in front of Jacob?
2. Can one person determine or figure out the motives of another person?
3. Would the entire flock die if it were driven along with the cattle?
4. When Jacob said, “My lord shall cross-over, na, to the faces of his slave,” wasn’t this the same as Esau’s proposal, “I have walked to straight-in-front-of thee”?
5. What is “the foot of the errand”?
6. What does “the errand that is to my faces” mean?
7. Explain “I will conduct-myself for gentleness … to the foot of the children”:
8. Is “until that I will come” good English grammar (proper writing or speaking in English)?
9. Why did Esau offer to post some of his men with Jacob’s camps?
10. Why did Jacob add, “I will find favour in the eyes of my lord”?
Esau then returned to Seir, his home.
Jacob journeyed to Succot. He built an actual house. He constructed camouflages designed for cattle. That is why he called the place Camouflages.
Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shkhem in the land of Canaan when he completed his journey from Padan-Aram. He camped in front of the city.
He acquired a portion of the field upon which he spread his tent from the hand of the children of Hamor who is the father of Shkhem. The cost was one hundred certified.
Jacob positioned an altar there. He “called to him” (named him) Mighty-One, Gods of Israel.
1. Why did Esau go away from Jacob?
2. Why did Jacob build a house for himself?
3. Explain “he made camouflages to his cattle”:
4. Why did he name the place Succot?
5. Why did Jacob decide to travel to Shalem (Peace)?
6. Why didn’t Jacob move into the city of Shalem, but instead only camped outside the city, facing it?
7. Why did Jacob acquire a portion of the field?
8. Explain “he acquired a portion of the field… vial a hundred certified”:
9. Why did Jacob position an altar there?
10. What is the significance of the expression, “Mighty One, Gods of Israel”?
Determining the motives of others is wrong. All have motives for what they do. Many of the motives that folks often have are not good. How can one be certain what some else’s motives are? Judging actions is appropriate; God commanded Israelis to do this. There are some great restrictions on judging motives, however. God alone knows the heart:
1 Kings 8:39 Hear Thou in the heavens, Thy dwelling place. And forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart Thou knowest. For Thou, only Thou, knowest the hearts of all the children of men.
Matthew 12:34 The mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart.
A person will talk about what he thinks. Words can be used against the person who spoke the words. Many, however, tend to assume motives based upon their own views and cultures. That is not justice, and it isn’t right. Judgment of any kind must be based upon facts, not upon what might be true or appear to be true.
Everyone’s counsels of the heart will be exposed at the time of judgment (see 1 Corinthians 4:3 below).
Trying to figure the motives of others is not harmful. This is not the same as determining the person’s motives. Concluding what those motives are is wrong, and exposes the faulty character of the person who assumed motives for another’s actions.
Some have the audacity and arrogance to declare why others did what they did: “She did that because she’s just jealous!” “He said that because he’s a liar!” “He gave that to you because he feels guilty.” Anyone who makes such declarations without hearing the motives from the person who did the actions is behaving as if he or she is a prophet/prophetess, speaking the words of God! Some even have the increased audacity to tell folks to their faces why they did what they did: “You wanted to read the will first because you knew that you would get very little!”
Some think they know others very well. They have an idea of why others do what they do based upon watching them and others, and why they themselves might do such actions. If someone’s behaviour ‘bugs’ me, I will probably think that that person ‘bugs’ everyone. Most folks see others according to their own frames of reference (their own ways of viewing things in life). If they respond to others’ actions as if their views are right, they will often improperly respond.
Facts are true, but they don’t always give full information. Getting to the facts is an art for which every Saint is responsible. Judging is rendering a right decision based upon all the facts, not upon the feelings!
Anyone giving a particular side of an issue is giving observations from his point of view. Someone else who saw the very same thing will often disagree with parts of the description, and sometimes will disagree with the entire description. Everyone hearing what happened will hear something different. If two describe the same scene, yet disagree with each other, one might be inclined to say, “You are lying!”
Lying is not merely giving false information; it is giving false information with intent to give false information. One who accuses the other of lying is also claiming that the other is intentionally twisting the facts into a lie. This can result in great and needless offense. If the person is truly lying, this can be a great wrong, but if the person is not, but is mistaken concerning what he or she observed or heard, accusing the other person of lying is a great wrong. Assuming that someone is lying is a great violation of justice, but it is common practice.
Saints in the Scriptures did not assume that others were lying even when it appeared that way. They kept the facts they observed to themselves until all the facts were known, or they dealt with others as if there were no questions about their honesty.
Careful deliberation with patience is very wise. It avoids years of hurt and bitterness, and can avoid bloodshed.
The Scriptures do not teach that all are innocent until proven guilty.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart [mind] is deceitful above all, and terminal. Who can know it?
They teach that violent sinners have a deceitful and terminal mind from the fall of Adam. Yet, the Scriptures also declare that it is wrong to judge anyone before the time of the person’s judgment (whether that judgment is the final one, or is personal or legal):
1 Corinthians 4:3 “It is a very small thing with me that I should be judged under you or under man’s judgment. Indeed, I don’t judge myself! 4For I know nothing by myself; yet, I am not justified by this. But he who judges me is the Lord! 5Therefore, judge nothing before the time—until the Lord comes—Who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. And then every man shall have praise from God.”
A Biblical counselor is not the same as an advisor. A counselor not only proposes what should be done, but also carries the idea out. If a person only gives the idea of what should be done, that is an advisor. If this is true, counsels of the heart are both the plans/plots and the actions done. Since the heart is the mind, all plans/plots of each person’s mind, including what the person did, will be publicly exposed in the judgment. Those who did well will have praise from God.
Anyone who judges before the time prejudges. This is how we get the word prejudice. Assuming that anyone is guilty or innocent is equally wrong. The best way to view each person is with kindness and skepticism (which means that all the facts are not present, and yet automatically trusting folks isn’t wise). If one is kind, he/she will treat others in a way that will carry no regrets in the future. If one is skeptical, he/she will not assume that everyone is harmless or innocent.
When parents treat their children with kindness and skepticism (some call this giving them the benefit of the doubt), those children are given the opportunity to show what they can do, and why. Parents who quickly accuse their children of wrongdoing (without finding what they are doing and why) violate the command to not drive their children to wrath:
Ephesians 6:4 And, ye parents, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
If the parents continue provoking their children, a broken and untrusting relationship with their children will later develop. Parents who believe their children much more than they should will end up with insecure children who will take wrong paths (and will be ‘brats’). Parents who listen carefully to each case and ask their children questions regarding their thoughts (including their motives) will increase the likelihood that their children will talk with them.
It is not wrong to discover motives. There are wise procedures for rightly ascertaining motives, including the following:
Be cautious when attempting to find why someone did something when you are very angry. Anger blinds against justice; lynch mobs prove this. Time can allow anger to diminish so that justice can be pursued. If your anger builds with time, you are probably trying to prove in your mind that the other person is guilty of having evil motives. Some just ‘write someone off’ (“You’re no longer my friend!”) or will try to put what happened out of their minds (a very bad idea). Take the time to find out what you can before giving up or drawing a conclusion why something occurred.
Once anger has cooled enough for justice to be pursued, ask the person (with whom you are angry) questions. Make certain that your questions are not accusatory. “Why did you do such and such?” is quite blunt, and may produce the wrong result. Start by describing the scene slowly: “You and I were outside, yesterday. You were roasting those delicious steaks on the grill—they were very good! When Bobby said, ‘Johnny doesn’t say much,’ you said, ‘Johnny doesn’t have much to say. I laughed, because I normally don’t have much to say. I was wondering, though, do I really give the impression of greater than normal ignorance?”
If you cannot ask right away, wait. If you will never be able to ask, don’t become bitter. You may also say, “What happened confused me; I don’t understand why it took place,” or some other statement like that. This gives the other person a chance to tell what happened before you accuse him of anything.
There is rarely a reason for assuming that someone is guilty of doing a harmful act with evil motives (unless the person is known for violence). There sometimes are reasons for assuming that someone is innocent, but if you want justice, wait and ask. If the other person is also angry, use diplomacy!
After asking and receiving an answer, you will sometimes wonder if the story is true. Ask more questions if you can. There is an art to getting to the bottom of an issue. Columbo, in the famous television series, was an expert. He asked and asked until he obtained answers. He was never offended.
Anyone who truly pursues justice cannot be easily offended. Those who are easily offended make rash decisions and choices, get easily distracted, do violence, become guilty themselves, and teach others to do the same. When folks feel ‘cornered,’ some will sling accusations. Ignore those accusations in order to find justice; they distract and will start a new argument or issue where there was none before.
A defensive person tends to react to what he thinks are accusations against him either by feeling guilty and defending, by backing away from the real issue, by throwing back hard accusations, by sarcasm, or by some other means of shielding himself from bad feelings in the situation. If both become involved in a war of words, the volley will lead to injustice and a stalemate. If justice is not the result of a discussion, anger usually grows. Being ‘unoffendable’ is a key to justice. Agree with the other person whenever possible even if he is slinging accusations at you. This will sometimes disarm him and lead to a resolution. Sometimes it won’t. At least the one seeking justice by proper means has done right.
Parents often struggle with ascertaining the motives of their children. When a youth does something wrong and a parent asks why, a common answer is, “I don’t know.” This response can be aggravating. If the parent starts to lecture, the youth will shut the parent out, hearing only what he wants to hear and becoming very angry. There are now two angry individuals, but the parent has the power. If he responds to the child’s attitude in anger and punishes (I did not say chastises), what good has been accomplished? This is harmful and destructive to the relationship.
Punishment is inflicting bodily damage or loss for an offense that cannot be rectified (made right). Chastisement is properly rearing, teaching, and training another in order to reach the goal of independence.
If a parent responds in anger and the child does not understand the justice of the parent’s anger, a wedge will form in the relationship, giving the youth a desire to escape. The parent will have much greater success if he takes the time to respond to the new issue. The first issue was the offense. The new issue is the child’s not knowing why he did what he did. “It disturbs me more that you don’t know why you did what you did than the act itself. I want you to think about this and let me know. I cannot do justice in this case until I understand why this action took place. Until you know and are able to tell me why you did this, you are grounded…” A very young child will not be able to give a good answer—he did it because he felt the urge. This must be modified for him. Teenagers and pre-teens, however, will be able to respond. This gives the parent a chance to cool off, and it gives the child a chance to construct his case. The teen or pre-teen child will usually desire to get out of the grounding and to minimize damage. If the youth is very bitter, however, grounding will be received with more anger and bitterness; it isn’t a wise route in that case.
How a parent responds at this point is crucial. Discovering the motives and caring about them (the motives), combined with quietness and patience, will do more good than being heavy-handed. If the admitted motives are evil, one course of action is necessary. If the admitted motives are not evil, the parent can either suggest other ways to accomplish something beneficial or can ask the child to come up with other ways to accomplish the goal without causing harm to relationships. If a youth is just a willful ‘hard-head’ (be careful, parent, that you don’t assume this when it is not the case!), take stronger action. Be right, though. You can do damage if you are wrong, and you can do damage if you do nothing.
Do not be quick to assume that rebellion is what is occurring. Teenagers need to learn independence. What appears to be rebellion is often an attempt to gain (or steal) some freedom to make one’s own decisions. Parents who refuse to grant independence will usually finally push a child into rebellion. Parents who grant a measure of trust and equal responsibilities will be much more likely to have a successful relationship.
Seek wise counsel. The Bible mentions the extremes:
Deuteronomy 21:18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them, 19then his father and his mother shall lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders of his city and unto the gate of his place. 20And they shall say unto the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice–a profligate and a drunkard.” 21And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones. And he shall die. So shalt thou put evil away from among you. And all Israel shall hear and fear.
Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Don’t try the Deuteronomy text in our society. You will get what you deserve if you do! Yehovah commanded this to Israel with the proper justice mechanisms in place. A hardened child, however, can be placed in a correctional facility. This is rarely needed, but there are bitter children who are not correctable by ordinary and good means.
Suppose a youth lies about his motive. What should the parent do? Parents often suspect their children of lying, and sometimes they are right. Suspicion is not enough according to the Teaching (Torah, wrongly rendered Law) of Moses. It is better to patiently wait for the youth to get caught, and then take strong action. He needs to be warned, however. “If I find that you lie to me or to anyone, and you are not in the process of saving the life of an innocent person from the hands of guilty criminals, you will find how great my wrath can be.” If the child does lie, inform him that he has destroyed the trust relationship, and it will be very difficult to rebuild it. Ask the youth what he is going to do about this. After this, strong actions of other types will sometimes be necessary: forms of grounding, etc. Violence is never wise. Take your time. Good counsel is vital in these types of decisions. If you find that lying has been part of the child’s behaviour, ask him why. Find out his motives, if you can. If you cannot, take action. A parent does not have to know the motive to respond to the action. Knowing the motive can help.
The same is true in friendship relationships. Carefully confront; do not be quick to accuse. Accusations are rarely ways to make peace.
It is often impossible in life to discover motives for behaviour. Some folks do things without knowing why they did them. Other folks know exactly why they did what they did, but have no intention of telling why; it is none of the business of others, in some cases.
Sometimes a person knows his motives, but is too ashamed to state them. He may give clues, however. If a woman practices bulimia, she may be terrified to give her motives. She may have fears that directly block her from facing these issues. Her discussions, however, will include clues. Wisely trained psychologists know how to gather clues, but wise men and women in general can do the same thing. The discovery of a motive can lead to a correction of a problem.
There is always a motive behind sin. The motive is never good, but it is important. Joshua desired to know Achan’s actions (and motives, if possible) before he killed him:
Joshua 7:19 And Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give, I pray thee, glory to Yehovah the God of Israel, and make confession to Him. Tell me now what thou hast done. Keep it not back from me.” 20And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against Jehovah the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. 21I saw a beautiful mantle of Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a golden bar of fifty shekels weight among the spoils, and I coveted them and took them. And behold, they are hid in the soil in the midst of my tent. And the silver is under it.” 22And Joshua sent messengers. And they ran to the tent. And behold, it was hidden in his tent, and the silver under it. 23And they took them out of the midst of the tent. And they brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before Jehovah. 24And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the bar of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had. And they brought them up into the valley of Achor. 25And Joshua said, “How hast thou troubled us! Yehovah will trouble thee this day!” And all Israel stoned him with stones. And they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones.
Anyone who assumes another’s motives is interfering in Yehovah’s territory, for Yehovah only knows the hearts of all the children of men. Wrong assumptions regarding motives will lead to great injustice. Some parents always assume that their adult children do things with good motives. They are blind to the truth regarding their ‘little innocents.’ Other parents assume that their children have evil motives when this is not always the case, and they become bitter against their children. Children learn, and assume motives in their friends. The court systems in the United States sentence individuals based upon motives. This nearly always leads to injustice. A wise person will seek the motive behind actions while realizing that anyone can lie about his motives and give a strong case built on a lie.
Be cautious. Be careful. And quit reading this document just to find out how many texts I used to prove my points!
Table of Contents
“Again, do I have the obligation to forgive someone who did something evil against me in order for God to forgive and bless me?”
“Does a Christian have the right to forgive the sins of someone else?”
Does God ever give the responsibility of forgiving sins to a group?
Do Roman Catholic Priests have the power to forgive sins?
“Except for the unforgivable sins, does God always forgive the sin of anyone who asks Him?”
“Why does God forgive sins at all?”
“Can Christians refuse to forgive other Christians?”
“When God forgives sins, doesn’t He just do it because He has the power and the right to do it?”
“Can a Christian forgive an unbeliever’s sin?”
“Is there anything else that must be forgiven besides sin?”
“Are there times when Yehovah will not forgive?”
“Is anyone guaranteed forgiveness of sin?”
“Does God ever forgive the sin of one person because of the faith of a group?”
Popular theology teaches that a person who was sexually or physically abused will only find peace with God if she forgives the man who abused her. Women who finally forgave their abusers and who finally found peace with God frequently give testimonies. Texts used include the following:
Mark 11:25 “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any, that your Father also Who is in the heavens may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father Who is in the heavens forgive your trespasses.”
Matthew 6:9 “Therefore pray ye after this manner, ‘Our Father Who art in the heavens, Thy Name is Holy. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as in the heavens. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.’ For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged. Condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned. Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”
These texts assume one thing found in the following texts:
Luke 17:3 “Take heed to yourselves! If thy brother trespasses against thee, rebuke him! And if he repents, forgive him. And if he trespasses against thee seven times in a day, and turns again to thee seven times in a day, saying, ‘I repent,’ thou shalt forgive.”
Acts 8:22 “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee!”
The above texts are commands given by Messiah to Israel. Similar commands are given to the Saints in general:
Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for the Messiah’s sake has forgiven.
Repentance is essential. God will not forgive anyone who does not repent of the sin (with one exception that I have found), and no man has the right to forgive anyone of a sin whom God does not forgive. The one exception is found in the following text:
Luke 23:34 Then Yeshua said, “Father, forgive them. For they don’t know what they are doing.” And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
The Roman soldiers had no idea that they had done a crime against God. They thought that they were executing a criminal. Some of the soldiers later realized that some injustice had been done. Apart from such exceptions, repentance is a necessary prerequisite for forgiveness. If a person chooses to forgive someone else who has not repented, the person is putting himself in the place of God, and is being ‘kinder’ than God. This shows great arrogance. John taught,
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Israel’s forgiveness is not automatic:
1 Kings 8:33 “When Thy people Israel are smitten down before the enemy because they have sinned against Thee, and shall turn again to Thee and confess Thy name, and pray and make supplication unto Thee in this house, then hear Thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of Thy people Israel. And bring them again unto the land that Thou gave unto their fathers. When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against Thee, if they pray toward this place and confess Thy name and turn from their sin, when Thou wilt afflict them, then hear Thou in the heavens, and forgive the sin of Thy servants and of Thy people Israel. And Thou shalt teach them the good way in which they shall walk. And give rain upon Thy land that Thou hast given to Thy people for an inheritance. If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, If there is the caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness, whatsoever prayer and supplication is by any man, by all thy people Israel who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and he spreads forth his hands toward this House, then hear Thou in the heavens—Thy dwelling place, and forgive and do and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart Thou knowest (for Thou, Thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men) that they may fear Thee all the days that they live in the land that Thou gave unto our fathers.”
2 Chronicles 6:27 “Then hear Thou from the heavens and forgive the sin of Thy servants and of Thy people Israel, when Thou hast taught them the good way in which they shall walk. And send rain upon Thy land that Thou hast given unto Thy people for an inheritance.”
Forgiveness is granted for the purpose of doing right after the forgiveness. Anyone who forgives another who has never turned is not doing right. Why would a person forgive another who is not repentant?
A person who has held bitterness and whose bitterness has eaten away at him for years may find consolation in forgiving another. It takes less humility and even some arrogance to forgive another wrongdoer, ignoring the evil works from his own bitterness and putting the focus on the other person.
The following is an example scenario: Janie’s stepfather Sam sexually abused her when she was a child. Janie left home when she was seventeen, running away with her boyfriend. They lived together for a while, and then got married, and then got divorced. Janie went to church. She “found Jesus” there, and “turned her life over to Christ.” She became very active in church, met and married the choir director, and began to teach Sunday School. She realized that she had a problem, however. She could not get over the recurring haunting from her abuse. She hated that man. She wanted to see him dead. When she would meet other men in the church that reminded her of him, she would feel hatred toward them, even though she did not have a clue that they had ever done anything like that. She went to a woman’s seminar. She heard how it was important to forgive the abusers of her past so that she be healed and could grow. She learned that the strongholds of her life had to be broken, and that she was suffering from ‘soul bonds’ that had to be broken, based on these two texts:
Numbers 30:5 But if her father disallow her in the day that he hears, not any of her vows or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand. And the Lord shall forgive her because her father disallowed.
Numbers 30:8 But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard, then he shall make her vow of none effect that she vowed, and what she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul. And the Lord shall forgive.
Janie was told to write her stepfather a letter telling him that she forgave him. She did not have to mail the letter, but it would ‘bring release’ to her. A number of ladies then prayed that her ‘soul bonds’ would be broken. She felt release as she forgave Sam. From that time on, Janie was able to “see Jesus” in the men whom she had formerly held in contempt for no reason. The story sounds good—at least to some who are ignorant of the Bible.
Janie’s problem was not that she had ‘soul bonds’ to Sam. Her problem was not Sam. Sam was an evil man who will pay dearly for his sin, as all sinners will pay, unless he turns and repents and seeks the Grace of God for Salvation. Janie’s problem was her bitterness toward God.
Janie’s problem was her pride. A few who have been abused in the same way or worse have come away with great humility and with an excellent fear of God. Janie came away with no humility or fear of God. She was outraged that Sam could do this to her—that God could abandon her like this—rather than being outraged at sin. She was outraged that God had not kept her from being harmed by this man. She was not outraged at her foolish mother who chose this man as a husband. She saw her mother as a victim, not a participant.
Janie became religious—a very common symptom of bitterness, but her religion did not give her humility. Religion builds pride, and teaches man to finger others (including demons) for one’s own destructive bitterness.
Godliness requires a right view of the deceitfulness of man.
Janie feels so much better, now. She is teaching women’s seminars, telling other women how to break their ‘soul bonds’ (even though the texts Janie uses have nothing to do with Janie’s applications) and how to bring release from captivity through forgiveness. Janie will never know that she has become arrogant. She thinks that she is giving her testimony.
I will continue answering the question, “Do I have the obligation to forgive someone who did something evil against me in order for God to forgive and bless me?” The obligation to forgive does not extend to all persons or all circumstances. No one has the right to forgive another who did not offend the one trying to forgive.
As an example, consider this scenario: John is a preacher. Sam is another preacher. Sam sinned. His sin became public. His sin had nothing to do with John; John was not involved in his sin. John feels that Sam is part of the Body of Christ (though the proof is contrary to this conclusion). Sam’s sin was adultery and participating with a prostitute, cheating his church members by using their funds to buy the services of whores, and so on. John feels that there must be “healing.” John therefore writes a letter, and publicly reads this letter on the air: “Sam, my brother, on behalf of the Body of Christ, I forgive you. I want to see you restored, and our fellowship to be renewed. I love you, my brother. Accept this forgiveness as from the Lord. In the love of Christ, John.” What John has done includes the following:
The above answers another question: “Do I have the obligation to forgive someone who did something evil against the Body of Christ in order for God to forgive and bless me?” No one has the right to do that except the Head of the Body.
Messiah said,
Mark 11:25 “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any, that your Father also Who is in the heavens may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father Who is in the heavens forgive your trespasses.”
He was speaking to Israelis, warning them how they must behave with other Israelis.
But what if the person who seeks forgiveness will repeat the same offense again? Anyone who repeats the same offense has never repented. The Hebrew word for repent means to turn, to return from doing something. Anyone can mouth words. No person has repented who continues with the same evil.
Repentance and forgiveness are reversible:
Matthew 18:21 Then Peter came to Him. And he said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?” Yeshua says unto him, “I don’t say unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy times seven! Therefore the kingdom of the heavens is likened unto a certain king who would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him who owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had nothing to pay, his lord commanded him and his wife and children and all that he had to be sold, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, ‘Lord! Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!’ Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion. And he loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellowservants who owed him an hundred pence. And he laid hands on him and took [him] by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what thou owest!’ And his fellowservant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!’ And he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So, when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very upset. And they came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then, after he had called him, his lord said unto him, ‘Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all that debt because thou desired me! Shouldn’t thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant even as I had pity on thee?’ And his lord was furious. And he delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him! So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye don’t forgive from your hearts every one his brother their trespasses!”
When Messiah said, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you,” He was referring to the reversal of forgiveness! Any person who repents, then turns from his repentance by doing the same thing again, has repealed his own forgiveness!
When Messiah told Peter, “I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven,” I propose that the sins of the brother were not seventy times seven of the same sin, else the brother’s repentance would have been a farce, a way to keep justice from occurring.
In Messiah’s example of the servant and the king, if the servant had again repented, this time for mistreating his own servant, would the king have forgiven him? The text does not indicate this. He repented from his own repentance by not forgiving according to his own forgiveness! The example shows two distinct truths: the Israeli has an obligation to forgive a repentant fellow Israeli, and repentance and forgiveness may be reversed by hardheartedness against another Israeli!
What does the word forgive mean? The Hebrew word literally means to carry. Anyone who forgives another is agreeing to carry the damage from an offense in order for the two to have a peaceful relationship
This presents a problem. Suppose that a Tim is violent, and he frequently punches other men when he becomes angry because he does not demonstrate self-control. Tim works with Bob. Bob tells Tim to move a particular barrel because it is in the way. Bob is a true Christian. Tim is the member of a Baptist church. Tim becomes very angry, though he doesn’t know why. (He does not know that he is loaded with pride, and his pride has been hurt.) Tim gets up into Bob’s face and tells him,
”Who do you think you are? my mother? If you want the barrel moved, move it yourself.”
Bob replies, “I don’t know where the barrel goes, but I do know that each of us is supposed to put away what we get out for the sake of safety. I am not trying to be offensive, Tim, but I know that the boss will be angry if the barrel is still out.”
Tim replies, “So you are acting as the boss now!”
Bob replies, “Never mind. I should not have said anything…”
With that, Tim slugs Bob and knocks him across the room, drawing blood from his cheek. Bob is dazed, but he angrily returns back to his project, not saying a word to Tim. Others saw what happened. After lunch, Tim comes over to Bob in private. He says to him, “I, uh, well, uh, I’ve been thinking. And it was not right for you to tell me what to do, but, uh, it wasn’t right for me to slug you. I, uh, well, I apologize.”
Bob says, “Forget it.”
Tim says, “No, I don’t want to forget it, I want your forgiveness. Forgive me, Bob. I was wrong.”
Bob begins thinking, “This has happened before. It has happened about six times with different ones. Tim has never been fired because his brother in law is the foreman. But Tim will do this again.”
Must Bob forgive Tim? Tim is a repeat offender. Can Tim and Bob form a restored relationship?
Bob answers Tim, “Once I know that you will never do this again to me or to anyone because you have gotten this thing in control, once I know that you have stopped this practice, you will have my forgiveness, and I will be glad to have a peaceful relationship with you. Until then, I don’t trust you, and I don’t want to give you a false impression, Tim. I don’t want to be around you. You are too dangerous.”
Anyone who agrees to forgive is making a very important agreement. It is wrong to lightly or falsely forgive to avoid another problem.
Apart from the exceptions that I have given and some others that I have not, “Do I have the obligation to forgive someone who did something evil against me in order for God to forgive and bless me?” Keep in mind that the texts used above are specifically for unbelieving Israelis. The standards for Saints will be higher. Therefore, the answer is, Yes, with the exceptions given. Those exceptions are important and are frequent. Also, be aware that forgiving does guarantee forgiveness from God or blessing from God. Yehovah’s acceptance of one’s repentance and His willingness to bless must meet Yehovah’s conditions and desire to bless.
Matthew 9:2 And behold, they brought a man sick of the palsy to Him, lying on a bed. And Yeshua seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy, “Son, be courageous. Thy sins are forgiven thee.” And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, “This blasphemes!” And Yeshua knowing their thoughts said, “Why think ye evil in your hearts? For which is easier—to say, ‘sins are forgiven thee,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But so that ye will know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins,” then He says to the sick of the palsy, “Arise! Take up thy bed, and go unto thine house!”
Forgiving sins is the territory of God alone—unless He gives part of that territory to a group. Messiah and Peter discussed this:
Matthew 18:21 Then Peter came to Him. And he said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?” Yeshua says unto him, “I don’t say unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven!”
Is Peter forgiving the sins of his brother?
A sin may be against an individual or a group, a sin may be against God, or a sin may be against both, as the following texts show:
Genesis 39:9 “None is greater in this house than I. Neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”
Genesis 42:22 And Reuben answered them saying, “Didn’t I speak to you, saying, ‘Don’t sin against the child,’ and ye would not hearken? Therefore, behold, also his blood is required!”
Exodus 23:33 “They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me. For if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.”
Deuteronomy 20:18 And they won’t teach you to do after all their abominations that they have done unto their gods, and ye would sin against Yehovah your God.
1 Samuel 2:25 “If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him. And if a man sin against Yehovah, who shall entreat for him?” And they didn’t hearken unto the voice of their father, for Yehovah would slay them.
1 Samuel 12:23 “And as for me, God forbid that I should sin against Yehovah by ceasing to pray for you. And I will teach you the good and the right way.”
1 Samuel 19:4 And Jonathan spoke good of David unto Saul his father. And he said unto him, “Let not the king sin against his servant—against David, because he has not sinned against thee, and because his works toward thee are very good. For he did put his life in his hand and slew the Palestinian. And Yehovah wrought a great salvation for all Israel. Thou saw and didst rejoice. Why then wilt thou sin against innocent blood to slay David without a cause?”
1 Kings 8:46 “If they sin against thee (for no man is who doesn’t sin), and thou be angry with them and deliver them to the enemy so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near…”
2 Chronicles 6:22 If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before Thine altar in this house…
Psalm 119:11 I hidden thy word in mine heart so that I won’t sin against thee.
Jeremiah 51:5 For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God, by Yehovah of hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.
1 Corinthians 8:12 But when ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against the Messiah.
If the sin is against a brother, the brother has the right to forgive the sin. If the sin is against God, only God has the right to forgive the sin—unless God gives that right to a group (as I said above).
John 20:21 And Yeshua again said to them, “Peace unto you! As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” 22And when He had said this, He breathed on them. And He said unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit. 23Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them! Whosesoever ye retain, they are retained!”
This End-Times text will be fulfilled during the Tribulation. Such forgiveness of sin or its retention will be absolutely vital at that time. Forgiving or refusing to forgive sins will be for the purpose of saving lives.
If the group forgives an individual of his or her sins, the person will meet the Biblical requirements for sin forgiveness, and the Spirit of Yehovah will apprise the group that this person has truly turned to righteousness. The forgiveness will be extended on the spot in order to save the individual’s life. (The individual will be in great physical danger.)
If the group refuses to forgive an individual of his or her sins, it will be because the person will not meet the Biblical requirements, and will pose the greatest danger to the group. The forgiveness will be refused because the Spirit of God will apprise the group of the deceit of the person; it will be refused to save the lives of the members of the group!
The group that is given the responsibility to forgive sins or cause them to be retained will consist of Israeli Saints.
If Roman Catholicism is truth, they do. If Roman Catholicism isn’t truth, they don’t. Roman Catholicism is one of man Replacement Theologies, teachings that declare replacements for literal, physical Israel. It declares its priests as replacements for the Aaronic priests of Israel, and its members as replacements of the Israelis. It claims the promises of Israel for itself. Its altar upon which the Eucharist is performed is supposedly a replacement of the altar of Israel. Its Pope (meaning Papa, or Father) takes the place of the Israeli High Priest, and even stands as a temporary replacement for the Messiah of Israel (called the Vicar of Christ). If Yehovah’s vow in His Covenant to Avraham has been rescinded, and Yehovah has replaced Israel with the Roman Catholic Church, in which case, Yehovah did not keep His word, then Roman Catholicism is truth. If Yehovah has kept His vow that He made with Avraham, knowing fully well the nature and character of the future people of Israel, Roman Catholicism isn’t truth. Decide for yourself whether Yehovah’s character is such that He keeps Covenants and vows, or whether He makes them, then takes them back, instead giving them to others.
This question is based on the following text:
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Peter responded in a very different way:
Acts 8:22 “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee!”
The only types of thoughts that are sins are plots.
Simon plotted evil. He had confessed his sins, and he had believed. He now desired to buy the ability to grant the Holy Spirit to whomever he wished. His greed for power and prestige became obvious. His pride and lack of humility showed. Peter cursed him, declaring him outside of the faith at the same time.
Yehovah is not under obligation to forgive anyone’s sins just because he confesses. All the conditions must be met, including the condition of turning from the sin.
Some forms of confession are bragging. Some common ‘testimony services’ are brag sessions, telling of the great former evil as a form of entertainment. A true confession must be accompanied by true repentance. Yehovah will be both faithful and righteous to forgive when the one who is asking for mercy will be one who lives according to that mercy. Yehovah’s foreknowledge will always participate in His decisions.
Many will ask for forgiveness of sins. Few will be granted forgiveness. The rest will prove themselves unbelieving and faithless, enslaved sinners who had no true desire to be freed to walk righteously.
Yehovah’s condition for Israel’s forgiveness is given in the following text:
2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people that my name is called upon them shall humble themselves and pray and seek my faces and turn from their bad ways, and I, will I hearken from the heavens, and I will pardon to their sin, and I will heal their land.”
Four things are required:
A small part of Israel does one out of four at the present time: praying. Even fewer do some seeking. The Israelis (as a group) do not humble themselves, most having absolutely no interest in the Hebrew Scriptures. There has been no turning that Yehovah has acknowledged as legitimate. The gentiles (as a group) have not done better.
1 John 2:12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His Name’s sake.
Sins that are forgiven by God are forgiven for the sake of the Name of Yeshua (i.e., for the sake of Salvation) Who gave His life to pay the penalty for the sins of the world.
Paul wrote regarding this:
2 Corinthians 2:6 “Sufficient to such a man is this punishment that [was inflicted] under many so that contrariwise ye [owe] rather to forgive and console [him], lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with too much sorrow. I therefore beseech you that ye will confirm love toward him. For I also wrote to this end so that I will know the proof of you—whether ye are obedient in all things. To whom ye forgive anything, I also [forgive]. For if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave [it], for your sakes [forgave I it] in the person of the Messiah lest Satan should get an advantage of us. For we are not ignorant of his devices.”
This man did an immoral act (probably not realizing it), and Paul found out about it. He wrote to deal strongly with the man, including setting up his death by turning him over to Satan. The man turned, but the Saints at Corinth did not know whether they should forgive him or not. Paul told them to do so, and to confirm love toward the man. The Saints could have refused forgiveness, but this could have caused great damage to the man and to others if Satan used this event.
Forgiveness of sins against God requires the shedding of blood:
Colossians 1:14 …in Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Ephesians 1:7 …in Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace…
Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.
Sins require blood. If God forgave sins by merely speaking words, there would be no need for Yeshua to be the sacrifice. Every sin that a man does demands the shedding of blood. This is why anyone who thinks that he can sin, and then confess to God (Who, in their theology, basically must forgive him) does not fear God and has never obtained forgiveness! Sin and forgiveness both demand a high price!
A human may forgive the sin of another human if the sin was against him, but the sin itself is still against God. If anyone sins against another person, two evils have been done: the sin against the other person and the sin against God. The Torah teaches this by commanding an Israeli who sinned against another to make restitution, and also to bring a sacrifice!
Another reason why God forgives sin is given in the following text:
Psalm 130:4 forgiveness is with Thee in order that Thou shalt be feared!
A very good reason to fear Yehovah is because forgiveness is with Him! Anyone who thinks that he can obtain Yehovah’s forgiveness for any other reason than because of Yehovah’s Grace will never obtain forgiveness.
Pharaoh thought so:
Exodus 10:17 “Now, therefore, forgive, na, my sin only this once, and entreat Yehovah your God. And He will turn-away this death from me.”
There is no indication that Moses forgave (carried) Pharaoh’s sin. Moses knew that Pharaoh would not follow through on his repentance.
Saints must be accurate regarding what they claim they can do. Pharaoh’s sin was against Yehovah, not Moses, and Moses knew this. He did not promise Pharaoh anything, and he certainly did not tell Pharaoh what God would do. I have heard some promise others, “God will forgive you.” How do they know? Did God give this blanket promise?
Yes. Israel is accused of sin, though not everyone in Israel took part in the sin. Moses interceded for the Israelis as a group:
Exodus 32:32 “And now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin— And if not, blot me, na, from thy book that Thou hast written.”
Exodus 34:7 …keeping Grace for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and Who will by no means clear, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children upon thirds and upon fourths.
Biblical definitions of sin are covered in another document. Iniquity is the remaining guilt that anyone has who has sinned and whose sin has never been removed. It is true and genuine guilt before God for past, unforgiven sins, not the feelings of guilt with which many suffer.
Transgression is the violation of any command by doing less than or more than what has been commanded. If Yehovah says to bring a lamb as a sacrifice, and someone wants to bring a bullock, this is a transgression through pride. Obedience demands that the person or group obeying does not go “to the left or to the right” of the command.
King Saul transgressed by sacrificing when Yehovah had commanded that only priests do this. King Saul was not from the priestly line.
Isaiah 2:8 Their land also is full of idols! They worship the work of their own hands—that which their own fingers have made. 9And adam bows down, and a man humbles himself. Therefore don’t forgive them!
Isaiah was not praying this to Yehovah. He was prophesying this to the Israelis! The Spirit of Yehovah was telling the Israelis that they had violated to a point where forgiveness was no longer possible.
Jeremiah 18:23 Yet, Yehovah, Thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay. Don’t forgive their iniquity, and don’t blot out their sin from Thy sight! And they shall be overthrown before Thee. Deal with them in the time of Thine anger.
Jeremiah appears to be the one praying this prayer. Yehovah did not respond at that time. He later responded, and many Israelis died because of Yehovah’s wrath. Jeremiah cursed them. Yehovah hearkened. Jeremiah was not unrighteous.
Joshua 24:19 And Joshua said unto the people, “Ye cannot serve Yehovah! For He is a holy God! He is a jealous God! He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins!”
The Israelis had to obey the Torah just to stay alive on the Land of Israel! They had a guarantee that Yehovah would not forgive transgressions or sins! They found that Yehovah was serious. The Israelis made peace with Yehovah for a time in the days of Joshua, and closely followed the Torah.
Mark 3:28 “Faith I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme. But he who shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness; he is in danger of everlasting damnation!”
Matthew 12:31 “Therefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. But the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaks a word against the Son of man—it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the [world] to come.”
Jeremiah 31:34 “And they shall no more teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yehovah!’ For they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them,” says Yehovah. “For I will forgive their iniquity and I will no more remember their sin.”
Yehovah has guaranteed that the Israelis living toward the end of the Tribulation who have not become hardened against the truth will be forgiven. No other entire group of which I am aware has such a guarantee.
Though no one has ever asked me this question, the following text answers this:
Mark 2:3 And they come unto Him bringing one sick of the palsy who was carried by four. And when they could not come near unto Him for the press, they uncovered the roof where He was. And when they had broken up, they let down the bed in which the sick of the palsy lay. When Yeshua saw their faith, He said unto the sick of the palsy, “Son, thy sins are forgiven thee.” But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this thus speak blasphemies? Who forgives sins but God only?” And immediately when Yeshua perceived in His spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, He said unto them, “Why do ye reason these things in your hearts whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, ‘Sins are forgiven thee,’ or to say, ‘Arise! And take up thy bed and walk’? But that ye may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins,” He says to the sick of the palsy, “I say unto thee, Arise! And take up thy bed! And go thy way into thine house!” And he immediately arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all insomuch that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw it on this fashion!”
Forgiving sins requires very specific prerequisites. Yehovah does not guarantee that He will forgive sins of all, and most will not have their sins forgiven. Humans cannot forgive sins of others (with rare exceptions). Yehovah is ready to forgive if the person or group meets the requirements for forgiveness.
Psalm 86:5 For Thou, Yehovah, art good and ready to forgive, and of great grace unto all them that call upon Thee.