geocreationism.com

Genesis 38:1-30 tells the story of one of Isral’s (Jacob’s) sons, Judah.  Israel’s daughter-in-law, Tamar, was widowed when God took the life of her husband, Israel’s first son Er.  Er was evil.  Israel sent his second son Onan to her to produce offspring for Er, but Onan was evil as well and God killed him, too.  Judah’s last son, Shelah, was too young to produce children, but he promised him to Tamar when he got older.  In the meantime, Tamar whent back home to her father to wait.  When Shilah got older, Judah failed to keep his promise, so Tamar tricked Judah by posing as a prostitute and conceiving twins by him.  When it came time for the twins to be born…

28 And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” 29 But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Perez.  30 Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.

They aren’t spoken of again, but it occurred to me that God was giving a subtle message, because this has a common pattern: The last shall be first.  Consider the following:

Abraham’s last son Isaac was chosen by God.
His first son Ishmael was not.

Isaac’s last son Jacob was chosen by God.
His first son Esau was not.

All of Jacob’s (now called Israel’s) sons were chosen, but…
Joseph, the youngest at the time, received Israel’sblessing.
When Joseph was thought dead, Benjamin was born to replace Joseph.
The older brothers all bowed to Joseph.

Judah, Joseph’s brother, would father the tribe of Judah.
Judah fathered Zereh and Perez.  The younger Perez was born first.

The kingdom of Judah would eventually outlive the first state of Israel.
Today, Israel is considered Jewish more than it is Israeli.

The second king of Israel (David) produced the messianic line.
The first king, Saul, did not.

Moses was younger than Aaron, but Aaron helped Moses.

And I am sure there are other examples.  I always knew the biblical principal that God does the opposite, and heard the verses saying how “the last shall be first and the first shall be last.” But I never realized the extent to which God went to tell us this.  I mean, he appears to do it every opportunity He gets!

I mean consider Israel and the Church (capital C).  Israel, the Jews, represents God’s chosen people, the ones given the hard work of living by the Law of God, the ones who produced the Messiah Jesus.  But, it is their younger brother, the Church, who has received God’s blessing in the Gospel, and while I am indeed blessed to have been born a Jew, my walk with God sees fulfillment in the context of being  Jew in Church, not a Jew in Temple.  It is in an interesting paralle, because I know God is not done with the older brother Israel.  The younger didn’t replace the older, but at least for now the younger is at the center of God’s salvific message… eventually Israel will come back to God… “the first shall be last”.

In an everyday sense, the older brother stands to inherit more property and more responsibility from his earthly father, while the younger is given more by God.  Being an older brother myself, it’s quite humbing.  I was the one who succeeded, went to college, had a family, etc. My brother died last year, never succeeding at anything, never doing anything right.  He could never “get” the world.  Yet, through his cloudy glasses, he managed to “get” God.  God really went out of his way to have him.  Now, I have two sons, and I have to father them both with equal diligence; my older will have higher standing in some ways, just by being older, but if God is true to form, He will go out of His way somehow for my younger.  I have no idea what that will mean, and they are only 6 and 2 years old, but perhaps I should keep my eye out for it.  It makes me think of the prodigal son… the older was more responsible; the younger carefree and careless.  But, it was for the younger who the father killed the fatted calf, not the older, yet the older stood to inherit everything.

Oooh. It’s getting late. I’d better my older son dressed for school!!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 8:45 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.