THE ONE THE LORD LOVES(1)

Grace Emmanuel Church

Pastor Sam Chess

The blessing of Benjamin…

You know how sometimes in movies you see, right at the beginning, an intense scene that is really the climax of the story… After catching your interest, the director then takes you back several days/months and unfolds the story that brings you back up to the climax you've already seen: That's what I'm going to do with these opening verses…. This is the climax that other powerful events led up to. Moses is getting ready to die and he is pronouncing a blessing on the twelve tribes of Israel. When he gets to the tribe of the last son of Jacob here is what he says:

Deuteronomy 33:12 About Benjamin he said: "Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders." (NIV)

Deuteronomy 33:12 Of Benjamin he said: “The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him, Who shelters him all the day long; And he shall dwell between His shoulders.” (NKJV)

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I got this picture in my mind of a father picking up his child, playfully tossing him/her into the air, finally settling the child on his shoulder for a ride…

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What struck me was the complete lack of fear when a child allows themselves to fly through the air, and the complete contentment with which they settle onto the shoulders of their father. There's no fear!

I did a little simple math and discovered that, in terms of ratio, a child sitting on my shoulder would be like me sitting on a pair of shoulder three feet higher than this 18' ceiling. If someone were to pick me up and playfully and toss me into the air, my head would extend as high as this building is tall. I've been up on top of this building many times and I can assure you, when I climb over the edge to come down there is no level of comfort there.

So why is a two foot child so comfortable being thrown nine feet into the air. How can a two foot child feel comfortable bobbing along on the back of a six foot man?

Between the child and the father there is a high level of trust….

"The one the father loves rests between his shoulders"

I want to be able, in the next two weeks to apply this picture to you. I want you to see yourself planted firmly between the shoulders of your Heavenly Father. There may be all kinds of trash strewn all over the ground below….there may be sinkholes… there may be less friendly people all around you, but the beloved child who is resting between his fathers shoulders rides in ultimate safety.

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So…who in the world is Benjamin and why is a blessing to him so important to us?

The idea of people receiving a blessing from their father or Heavenly Father didn't start with Benjamin. The idea is all through the Bible…

Well, that's not fair…why did all those Bible characters receive God's blessing and now here you are in 2006 living your life all blessing-less? You're not living blessing-less. You have more personal blessings from God… individual to your lives than many of the Old Testament people had…all put together.

The first people to receive a special blessing from God were Adam and Eve. Let me show you a promise from God to Eve, by way of satan, that might interest you:

Genesis 3:15 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (NIV)

God is announcing to Eve and satan and her offspring (to all of us at the same time)… that satan would continuously strike at our heals… but out of Eve's offspring would come one who would crush satan's head (Jesus). Does that promise apply to you today? Of course…along with many, many others!

You can follow God's promises through Noah and his rainbow and Abraham and his covenant promises all of which either directly, or indirectly, become your promises as well…

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But let's move forward, in history, back up to Benjamin… the story of Benjamin means nothing unless you understand what happened with his Dad and Mom.

I. Daddy's Blessing

Benjamin's dads name was ______________

Jacob

You've have, perhaps, heard the story many times of Benjamin's daddy. Born a twin with his brother Esau, As the two children came out, Esau came first…Jacob came second. The Bible says Jacob was hanging on to Esau heel. So his parents, by some stroke of genius, name him:

יַעֲקֹב

Heel-grasper; sup-planter; deceiver; manipulator

I don't think any of us here would believe that the fact that he instinctively grabbed hold of his brother's heel had anything to do with his coming character. But we do know that as his early life unfolded… he was a deceiver….. he cheated his older brother out of his first born status… out of his inheritance… out of his eventual fatherly blessing.

Was this deceitfulness built into Jacob as he came out of his mother's womb? No! Then where did it come from?

How would you like from the very first time you heard your mother call your name…to hear the sweet word "deceiver". How would you like it if your parents named you, "thief". Or liar, "liar __________".

Now call me naive, if you want, but I don't tend to believe that naming your kid something of low character leads to a lifestyle of high character.

Kid goes to school…what's your name kid? My name is deceiver…can I be your best friend? I'm manipulator…Heel-grasper…they call me!

This whole thing plagued Benjamin's daddy for decades… his eventual life of deception…. just living up to his name…eventually drove him away from his home and family. You remember how his deception came home to roost when he worked 7 years for his beloved Rachel and found himself on his marriage night with her sister. Finally, many years and much trouble later Jacob heads home to face his brother that he deceived.

On Jacob's way back home we find this odd event happening that is very significant….

Genesis 32:22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them. 23 After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions. 24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break.

Who is this strange, un-named "man". We know because verse 30 tells us: Let's pop it in here so we know for sure:

30 Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.”

Back to the story:

25 When the man (God) saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.”

I don't know if, in my whole life, I caught on to what Jacob was asking God for until the last two days. What is the blessing that Jacob is looking for? Is he looking for great wealth…does he want to be famous? What is he so desperately wanting?

He wants to be freed from the curse of being a Jacob. His whole life has been defined by what he unconsciously did in the first 60 seconds. He's tired of people asking him his name and telling them…"My name is deceiver". He's so tired of the ball and chain that defines him as a person of low character and he wants God to redefine him.

This brings up an obvious application of this message.

"What is your name?"

Not talking about the moniker that Mom and/or Dad gave you unless they actually gave you a name like "Killer". When you are all alone thinking about who you are….when you are privately evaluating your inner character….

"What is your name?"

Would you like a name change? That's what happened to Jacob and many other's in Scripture. They were living up to their old name and God said, "It's time for a new beginning… a new name… watch this:

Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.”

It's an statement of confession. He's not just defining his name…He telling God what is deep in his heart. He's crying out for a new nature…

28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,”( deceiver; manipulator) the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, (Prince of God) because you have fought with God and with men and have won.” (NLT)

Israel, of course, is the father of twelve sons who will become the twelve tribes of Israel. Their sinful character would come out and God would come back with this theme over and over again. Always there is this sense of a doting Heavenly Father, while acknowledging the sins of his sons, still loves them intensely and wants the very best for them.

Isaiah 62:2-3 The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow. 3 You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. (NIV)

God really enjoys this new name, new character thing…

Isaiah 62:4-5 Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City”or “The Desolate Land.”Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight”and “The Bride of God,” for the Lord delights in you and will claim you as his bride. 5 Your children will commit themselves to you, O Jerusalem, just as a young man commits himself to his bride. Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride. (NLT)

But we need to get back to Benjamin

II. The Blessing of Benjamin

A few minutes ago, I read you the story of Jacobs blessing by God in Genesis 32. By the time we get to chapter 35, Jacob/Israel is now making a covenant with God that he and all who follow him will serve God with all their hearts.

Genesis 35:3 We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.” 9 Now that Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again at Bethel. God blessed him, 10 saying, “Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer. From now on your name will be Israel.” So God renamed him Israel. 15 And Jacob named the place Bethel (which means “house of God”), because God had spoken to him there.

All of that prepares for the next unexpected twist: Jacob's favorite wife (don't try this at home) is pregnant with Jacob's last, greatly anticipated son.

16 Leaving Bethel, Jacob and his clan moved on toward Ephrath. But Rachel went into labor while they were still some distance away. Her labor pains were intense. 17 After a very hard delivery, the midwife finally exclaimed, “Don’t be afraid—you have another son!” 18 Rachel was about to die, but with her last breath she named the baby Ben-oni (which means “son of my sorrow”).

You can literally feel the reaction inside of Jacob. He wife is breathing her last breath…he torn up about that. The Bible says that literally with her last breath.. she named the boy, "Son of my sorrow". There's a name a boy wants to wear his whole life. "Mother killer"… The kid hasn't even taken his first breath of air and he's being branded as the sack of sorrow that caused his mother her life.

"De-ja-vue all over again"

The Bible, as is so often true, reports the action minus the emotions:

18 Rachel was about to die, but with her last breath she named the baby Ben-oni (which means “son of my sorrow”).

The baby’s father, however, called him Benjamin (which means “son of my right hand”).

What a difference in these two perspectives. Mother looks at the son and all she see's is the pain and sorrow. Dad looks at the son through the prism of his own life struggles and says,…. "No way Hosea"

I'm going to call him: "My valuable treasure"; a sign of my strength; a source of great pride both now and in the future.

Oddly, if you follow Benjy's life he turned out to be exactly what his father predicted him to be. Even more interesting, to me, is that the Israelite tribe that descended from Benjamin seemed to have the same strength of character that God had spoken into Benjy's life.

Clear through, till the time of Moses death when he sets out to pass God's blessing on the twelve tribes…. I love the potency of Benjamin's blessing. I love the shortness of it. You don't need a lot of words when you can say it all with one sentence.

Deuteronomy 33:12 About Benjamin he said: "Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders." (NIV)