Dennis Tuuri

# Sermon Transcript – Reformation Covenant Church
Pastor Dennis Tuuri

Joshua 19:1-23

Please stand for the reading of God’s word. Joshua chapter 19 will be the first half this week, the second half next week. This week, verses 1-23. And the second lot came forth to Simeon, even for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families. And their inheritance is just in the inheritance of the children of Judah. The head of their inheritance, Bath Sheba, and Sheba and Moadah, and Hesar Shu, and Ba and Azim, and Elsarad and Bethl and Horma, and Ziklag, and Beth Marabath, and Hazer Susa, and Beth Laboth, and Charuham, 13 cities in their villages.

Aim, Raman, and Ether, and Ashen, four cities in their villages and all the villages that were round about these cities to Baalathir Ramoth of the south. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families. Out of the portion of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon. For the part of the children of Judah was too much for them. Therefore, the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of them.

And the third lot came up for the children of Zebulun according to their families. And the border of their inheritance was unto Sarid. And their border went up toward the sea, and Marilah, and reached to Dabasheth, and reached to the river that is before Jokneam, and turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrising under the border of Chislath Tabor, and then goeth out to Daberath, and goeth out to Japhia, and from then passed on along to the east to Gath Hepher, to Ittah Kazin, and goeth out to Rimmon Methoar to Neah and the border compass that on the north side to Hannathon and the outgoings thereof were in the valley of Jiphthah El, and Kat and Nahalal and Shimron and Idalia and Bethlehem 12 cities with their villages.

This is the inheritance of the children of Zebulun according to their families. These cities with their villages. And the fourth lot came out to Issachar for the children of Issachar according to their families. And their border was toward Jezreel and Chesulloth and Shunem and Haphraim and Shion and Anaharath and Rabbith and Kishon and Abez and Remeth and En Gannim and En Hadah and Beth Pazzez. And the coast reacheth Tabor and Shahazumah and Beth Shemesh.

And the outgoings of their border were at Jordan, 16 cities at their villages. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Issachar according to their families, the cities and their villages. We thank God for his word and pray that he would illuminate to our understanding. I pronounce those names. We’re wrapping up the portion of the book of Joshua where the inheritance for the various tribes is allotted out.

Next week we’ll look at the second half of chapter 19 where we see the final division to the final three tribes and then Joshua he receives his inheritance last. And so the tribes are really bookended rather by Caleb at the beginning receives his inheritance first and then Joshua at the end and we’ll talk about the significance of that next week a little bit. But we’re in the middle now of the final division of the seven tribes which were somewhat slack to possess their land.

You remember at the beginning of chapter 18 and 19 form a unit. Those seven tribes are listed in chapters 18 and 19. And they then this lot occurs. There’s a new before the lot is drawn, there are new division, descriptions of the land given, etc. And so that’s where we’re at in Joshua 19. Now hopefully this is a real good time and these sermons are a good way for you to review with your children as they’re growing up the 12 tribes of Israel, the significance of those 12 tribes, and a little bit about biblical history as well as biblical geography.

This is a real good opportunity for you to take some notes that would be useful to you as you teach who these 12 tribes were and their significance in biblical history. We just recited responsibly Psalm 78. That of course is a wonderful psalm of instruction to parents to instruct their children in the faith. And of course the two main things that are pointed out there to instruct the children in are the law of God and the works of God.

And both are summed up in his covenantal relationship with men. And so as we look at the works of God as we have in the tribes we’ve listed so far, as we look this week and next week at the remaining six tribes, we can see things we’re supposed to be passing on to our children. So hopefully you can use these sermon outlines and simplify them and make them easily understood to your children. After all, mostly what we’re dealing with as we deal with these tribes are Old Testament stories, the stories that God gave us to indicate great truths as well as true biblical history as well as a model for us in our own contemporary history as well.

And along that line, this of course is the week that many families at RCC or at least some of them will begin a series of Advent celebrations. And I hope that as we—I know for me as we were just singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”—that every year I think I grow in my understanding of the significance of that song to our day and age as we look for the advent of Jesus Christ in various ways not simply at the final advent. We look back to his advent in history, his appearance to the nation of Israel as we’re doing now and victory in Canaan but then also in judgment as Psalm 78 pointed out and in them going into captivity and then the restoration to the land.

We look of course to the great coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh as incarnation 2,000 years ago. But at Christmas time also we should think of advent to us contemporaneously in our history. We have challenges. We have a Canaan. We are in many senses coming out of captivity of the church in America and across the world and coming back hopefully chastened, scourged by God to the end that we would more effectively and more wholeheartedly serve him and take his gospel into all the nations and certainly into everything that our hands find to do.

That is where the word of God should guide and direct us. And the words of his law should be on our lips in every place we go and with everybody we speak to. So hopefully these are good teaching devices to you along that line. And I’m going to try today to have us look at these three tribes. And I pointed out some things in the outline, I think, by way of example to us. I was at a funeral this last week.

Janet S.’s mom. It wasn’t actually a funeral, it was a memorial service at the church where they attended for many, many, many years and Frank S. read a piece that Amy had written about her grandma and Amy basically said that you know her grandma could have given her a lot of things but the best thing her grandma gave her was an example of a godly life and that’s very important and it is true that Janet’s mother was a very godly woman as my wife’s mother was as well a very remarkable people and it’s with a degree of sadness we see them leave but they do leave behind the example of being godly women to us.

And the examples are important in scripture. Pastor Wallen spoke on the verse that I mentioned from First Thessalonians before where Paul says that we’re supposed to see Christians supposed to see Paul as an example and they were supposed to live their lives also as examples to other people. And so God gives us these examples of godly people in our lives and we’re supposed to mark and note those good ones.

Now, it’s also true that we have negative examples in the scripture and as well as in our own personal dealings that people were to mark in a negative sense, not in a positive sense. And it’s like we can see road signs that say don’t walk down the path that this person trod in their life because that path leads to destruction, leads to judgment. And so we have good examples, bad examples. I suppose in the history of the church, of course, excommunications are in you can think of it as one way of essentially putting up a warning sign.

You know, in some of these science fiction movies, you have these planets that are just terrible. You don’t ever want to go there. So, put up a warning beacon. And I don’t mean to say that these people are that in that way, but the paths that people take the route to official church sanctions is a path that people want to be warned to avoid. And so you have good examples, negative examples. And with these three tribes, we have the same thing in the lives of each of us.

There are things that we do that are bad examples. There are things that we do in the grace of God that are good examples. And so I want to have us look at the lives of Simeon, of Zebulun, and then Issachar and the tribe the tribes of the families that came from these three of the 12 sons of Jacob and note examples along the way and by way of kind of synopsizing these three families from Simeon I want us essentially to go away with a warning to ourselves and from Zebulun I want us to look there I think it’s profitable according to the scriptural pattern of Zebulun’s life to look at Zebulun and the people of the tribe of Zebulun as a positive goal for us a real good set of positive examples for us to follow after.

And then with Issachar, I think we can probably identify with Issachar in his in his walk. It becomes the means and in essence with Issachar, we see blessing, but we see the means that God normally uses and that is his difficult things he brings us in his providence, difficult tasks to accomplish and also made more difficult by our own sin. But through it all, God works and he brings about positive things in our lives, things that are beneficial to his kingdom. So with Simeon a warning, with Zebulun a goal, and with Issachar more the means to the goal and probably the person we could probably more rapidly identify with out of these three men or at least the tribes delineated by them. So let’s first look then at Simeon. his inheritance is pointed out first in this passage of scripture that we just read. So let’s move ahead now into that.

Now the first thing we notice as we come to Simeon’s inheritance and his portion of the land is that as a lot came up his territory was within the boundaries of Judah. And in fact if on the back of your outline you see the map there the map that I used this week is one that shows Simeon as a distinct territory within Judah. That really isn’t true. Simeon had several cities dispersed in the context of Judah’s geographical boundaries. It’s not as if they had a separate piece of land. Simeon is subsumed as it were under Judah’s inheritance. And that’s very important.

Now, among other things, before we get to the reason for that biblically, which probably a lot of you already are aware of and we’ve talked about before to some extent, it’s important to recognize here that Judah apparently as the province of God working in the descriptions of these lots etc. Judah was aware, became advised and the scriptures reveal to us in the first verses of chapter 19 that their portion was too large for them. Now remember that Joseph’s son said our portion is too small. They griped as a negative example to his discontent with God’s provision. Judah on the other hand acquiesces to the delineation of God’s lot that their portion was too big and they apparently with whole hearts and with good hearts and intentions apply themselves to a some degree of equality as the portions of the land are allotted out to the people of God.

Now, I’ve listed on your outline before we get into the actual verses in terms of Simeon’s life 2 Corinthians 8:14 and 15 where Paul talks about the need to supply other people’s want by your riches. And it is true that in the providence of God we believe in an equality in terms of everybody gets the same amount of money, same amount of talent, same amount of gifts. And we all know that truth. We know that one of the great heresies of our age is egalitarianism.

The desire to level everybody. And there Anabaptist cultures at Bloomster for instance where they actually were in the process of making plans to level all the buildings in terms of equality. Well, we don’t believe that. But we on the other hand, we don’t want to fly off the handle on the other direction and think that somehow there shouldn’t be some degree of compassion and a willingness to share the good goods and services or the land in the case of Judah with those who need that and who don’t have it in the providence of God.

Paul particularly makes a strong point in Second Corinthians that if you are blessed with riches, it’s to the end that you would distribute those riches to at least some of them to people without that kind of wealth. And we see that going on here in the allocation of the land. Judah freely gives up a portion of its territory to the tribe portion number of its cities rather to the tribe of Simeon. Now Simeon.

Actually, all three of these tribes we’ll be talking about today are children of Leah. Now, you know, Jacob had 12 sons. He had two sons by Rachel. He had six sons by Leah. And then he had two each by the two handmaidens of Leah and Rachel respectively. Now remember, Jacob loved Rachel. That’s who he wanted to be for his wife. And he was tricked into marrying Leah. So, he ended up with two wives. And then in an attempt, some rivalry going on there, handmaids are used as well to produce the other four children.

Now in the providence of God, we have now a delineation here of three of Leah’s six children is going is the delineation here. And then the last three tribes are all children of the handmaidens. Now remember that the listing of these tribes by name and these are people. These are real people’s names of course and tribes that came from particular individual people. And the listing of these tribes names, the providence of God and the pulling out of the lot as the lot came up out of the barrel whatever the mechanism was.

It is interesting how those tribes shook out in terms of being born to various people. And we end with the last people to get their inheritance are the children of the handmaidens save for one which had already received it inheritance on the other side of the Jordan. So it’s interesting that these are three children of Leah here specifically given to us. Now Simeon is the second of Leah’s sons and the first of Leah’s sons was Reuben.

And Reuben was Jacob’s first overall. Reuben’s already got his inheritance. And so the order of these things becomes pretty important for us. Simeon gets his inheritance next, the providence of God, but according to his birth order as being a son of Leah. In Genesis 35:23, we have the six sons of Leah listed. They are Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. And we will talk a little bit about that more, but you’ll notice that the three tribes we’re dealing with today, Simeon, Zebulun, and Issachar are all listed in verse 23 of Genesis 35 as children of Leah.

Well, anyway, Simeon receives not the normal inheritance here. He is dispersed in the context of Judah. Why is that? Well, many of you already know why that is. And under your outline, I’ve listed this under the curse element of Simeon. We see in Simeon a warning to us, but we also, I think, see in the providence of God, as we do with Benjamin last week, a curse upon Simeon for his acts of sinfulness. But then restoration or a salvation as well.

In Judges 1, the curse comes forth from Genesis 34. You remember in that famous passage we’ve talked about a lot that Simeon and Levi are the two brothers who together do the trick upon the men that men of Shechem and they use the sign of circumcision not to bring people into the faith but rather use it as a ruse to exact warfare upon them. And I’ve talked about this before in some detail in my sermon on the seven deadly sins, particularly the sin of anger.

But these men act in anger and they act in cruelty. And as a result, Jacob their father says, “You made me a reproach. I stink in the sight of the nations of the earth.” And then in the blessings or the delineation of what happens to the tribes of the future. In Genesis 49, we read the following. Simeon and Levi are brethren, instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. Oh my soul, come thou not thou into their secret, not into their assembly mine honor.

Be not thou united. For in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they dig down a wall. Cursed be their anger for it was fierce, and the wrath for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. So he says, “Be not united with these two guys because they have no self-control. They’re self-willed instead of being under the control of God’s spirit and the control of their own lives.

And they’re angry men, sinfully so.” And so Jacob says, “The curse upon them is don’t be united with them. They’re going to be scattered in Israel. And that’s just what’s happening here in the providence of God. The lot comes up in tremendous parallelism to the blessings or the cursings in this case that have been pronounced by Jacob upon his 12 sons. And so Simeon is dispersed in the land. Remember Levi is too.

But Levi’s submission to God and forsaking family in the case of Phinehas. For the sake of God and his glory and his honor in the covenant community, Levi has restored a position, his cursed position of being scattered in the context to the tribes becomes a blessed position where he’s God’s special ministers now given over to the service of the temple he turns that service into a willing service not simply eye service but in his heart he serves God and his position is then exalted in the context of his being scattered not so with Simeon it’s interesting that in the delineation of the tribes in there’s two censuses taken one at the beginning when they come out of Egypt and one at the end of the 40 years wandering and Simeon’s numbers go from 59,000 third in rank in terms of population down to 22,000, the last of all the tribes at the end of the wilderness wanderings.

One reason for that is that at the incident of Baal Peor, it was a Simeonite who was fornicating with a Midianite woman and that Phinehas ran through with his spear and javelin. So, Simeon was apparently also failed to be self-willed, not just in terms of cruelty to other men and striking out in anger, but in terms of his own control of the sexual relationships as well and he was idolatrous. So in any event, Simeon is a picture for us of the curse of God upon an angry and self-willed man here and upon the tribe that comes forth from that man.

You know, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. And the tribe as it develops in history, each of these tribes is very much linked to the personality and type of the individual himself. That’s a real warning to us fathers, isn’t it? As we start households, as we continue the train of the household we’ve been born into, it’s very important we see that our children look to us and will mirror us whether or not we like it.

Well, at any of that, that’s the that’s that’s how Simeon’s curse comes about. It comes about relationship to his lack of self-control. And he then, as Jacob said, let Simon be separated from me. Don’t be united to him. Simeon is then separated in a period in a series of separations from his brothers. He is separated from Levi, his brother. Levi’s dispersed. He’s dispersed down here. He’s separated from those that he had marched with in the wilderness wanderings.

and his brothers from the same mother of Leah, they get put up to the north. His cities are scattered down to the south. And so he’s divided first from his immediate relations, but then also from all of Israel. Essentially, he’s scattered in the context of them. And so, and so, Simeon’s line is cursed. Simeon is not mentioned in the blessings pronounced the Moses blessings pronounced in Deuteronomy 33.

Completely omitted and omitted also in the list of the tri in Judges 5 very significantly. And so Simeon’s failure to be self-controlled in a couple of areas in terms of violence and striking out at men and then in terms of his sexual urges as well results in God’s curse upon him and upon the tribe itself. So it’s a picture for us of God’s curse, but there’s also a picture for us as there always almost always is in scripture.

The other side of that is particularly in the Old Testament redemption and brought back to salvation. In Judges 1, not only did Judah willingly give their land up or cities up to Simeon when their lot comes up to go first in judges one to go out against the Canaanites to go up and make war against the Canaanites. Judah goes out of its way to invite the men of these cities of Simeon in the context of Judah now up with them.

In Judges 1:3, Judah says to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into my lot that we may fight against the Canaanites, and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot.” So Simeon went with him. And Judah went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into to their hand. And so we have here Simeon with his new associations in the context of the tribe of Judah, those that would praise God, being brought back to salvation and victory.

They don’t gain victory in the scriptures apart from salvation and brought back into God’s good graces. And so Simeon is a picture for us also of our own sin, but also of our redemption in Jesus Christ. So that’s portrayed for us. Sin is a picture of all those things to us. And it’s interesting that Simeon’s redemption here, it’s being brought back into a position of blessing in this is related to it now waging warfare against Hormah in the correct relationship to God and his law word.

He who had waged warfare on his own devices with Simeon before against the men of Shechem now is brought back to having his own understanding of war corrected and he’s made meek and under God’s harness now and he does things correctly. So we see in Simeon a picture of salvation also. I mentioned substitutionary atonement mentioned last week about how Benjamin became essentially the sin bearer so to speak but we have imagery when Joseph is in Egypt remember the incident the 10 brothers of Joseph without Benjamin come to him in Egypt they’re looking for food and Joseph sends them he says I want Benjamin your brother to come back too to make sure we I really know what you’re telling me is the truth they don’t know it’s Joseph at this time he then they go back they take they bring Benjamin back puts his cup in Benjamin’s pack and essentially gives Benjamin an imputation of sin and that leads them to the reconciliation of the whole family.

Well, in any event, Simeon is involved in this very directly because when Joseph before he sends the brothers back, he says, “I want to make sure that you’re going to come back to me and I’m going to keep one of you guys.” And he picks Simeon deliberately as the one who is held hostage, so to speak, to assure that the nine brothers will indeed bring back their brother Benjamin. And in that whole story, Reuben is indicated, it indicates to us that Reuben says when all this is going on, he says to his brothers, you remember I said this was a bad idea selling our brother into slavery in Egypt.

He relates what’s going on to them to judgement upon sin of the brothers in his own complicity. But he we find out in the text that Reuben, who was the eldest and would have probably naturally been chosen by Joseph, is sorry for what has brought to pass. He’s been brought to repentance already for his complicity, at least his sin of omission. If not commission in the in the slavery of Joseph. Well, in any event, Simeon is picked then because he apparently was not repentant over it.

And Simeon then becomes a picture for us of being held hostage and then released upon the arrival of Benjamin. So we have in the picture of the whole incident with Benjamin, the brothers and Joseph, the various layers of salvation being portrayed to us and certainly the concept of substitutionary atonement and Simeon is involved in all that being himself held hostage till the return of Benjamin. So in the context of Simeon then we see these things.

We see Simeon’s curse, his blessing and a picture of Simeon is given to us in scriptures in the book of Genesis in chapter 42 reminding us of that whole picture of substitutionary atonement. but I said before that Simeon should be a warning to us even though he is brought back to a position of salvation. As I said in Deuteronomy 33, he’s not listed and as and as the historic the history of the Old Testament continues on, Simeon dwindles off.

and he sent you to no longer name. They’re subsumed within Judah. Now, there’s a positive sense of that. I mean, in a sense, it’s if we’re in the Lord Jesus Christ that we’re blessed. But Simeon loses its identity and it appears that the curse of God that Jacob pronounced is never really fully lifted. Even though there’s that picture of salvation in Judges 1, yet essentially the tribe is listed as one that continues in disobedience and as a result essentially dwindles out to nothingness over the period of Old Testament history.

I was talking to Roy yesterday and we were talking about the faith and keeping the faith and moving on and the sight of various temptations, trials or tribulations that one meets in the context of our Christian walk and particularly if you’re linked up with the church as reformation covenant is where the word is preached. The word is a sharp two-edged sword and it cuts people apart and to the extent that the word is preached, it has its effects upon people that hear it and those effects can be good or those effects can be cutting them apart in the sense of judgment.

And usually it’s a little of both, isn’t it? Well, we he mentioned something I thought that was very profound. He said that, you know, it should humble us seeing what’s happened to various individuals that have come through our church, some leaving not in such a good state. It should humble us to remember that it’s by God’s grace that we stand and that it’s only our faith is only assured till the next temptation, the next trial comes into our life.

And then we pray that God would give us the mercy and strength and endurance that we will also be found. in the Lord Jesus Christ in his person and in his work. Every indication is that Simeon and the successive tests and evaluations that God placed upon them apparently didn’t fare well. And so Simeon is a warning to us. It’s a warning. There will be times of temptations, tribulations. I mean, Simeon’s sister was right, right?

And that’s why he took the law into his hands the way he did. it was a great temptation that he stumbled and fell at. And we’re going to have temptations and trials. Simeon is a warning to us. It’s not a positive example primarily. It’s a negative example. It’s a warning to us to be very circumspect and to try diligently to remember now when times are good that when times turn bad, we must cleave to the word of God and his laws, our only standard in spite of what our emotions or our minds may tell us to the contrary to hold on to the word of God.

Well, we have Zebulun as well. Zebulun, I think, is a picture for us that is essentially a good picture. Zebulun is also, as I said, a son of Leah. His inheritance is listed in verses 10 through 16 in of the text. And the portion of his inheritance, you’ll notice on your maps, is north. it’s up there with Issachar and Zebulun are both north of Manasseh. Zebulun essentially is the northern part of Galilee and Issachar is the is the lower Galilee region and that’s where they are at and Zebulun has access close access to the Mediterranean Sea on one side and to the Sea of Galilee on the other.

Now he’s he doesn’t really border those areas. There are people between them but apparently he had he is in the context of what became a great trade route or what was one of the great trade routes of ancient times that would go right through there in terms of the Mediterranean Sea. So Zebulun is placed physically in that context by the providence of God. And I think that on gives us a good picture of an example, a positive example for us in many, many ways.

And we would want to say first, of course, that Zebulun has their faults. They’re specifically listed for us in the passage on your outline as being men that failed to drive out the Canaanites in their possession. We’ve seen this time and time again in these tribes, but as a result, they put the Canaanites under, they became tributaries to them instead of driving them out completely, and it became a problem for them.

It became a thorn in their side. But overall, their pattern is essentially one that is marked with in the words of Pink in his commentary Girdling from Joshua he said that the tribal references to Zebulun are quote highly credible references and that is certainly true many excellent things are said about Zebulun although it is in the context of just a few verses and we’ll look at a few of those now first I said Zebulun was a man of character read from 1 Chronicles 12:33 We read a Zebulun such as went forth to battle expert in war with all instruments of war 50,000 which could keep rank they were not of double heart.

Now what this is talking about the historical context is this is when David is made king at Hebron over all Israel. So all Israel goes up to David at Hebron after the death of Saul and that’s what’s being spoken of here in 1 Chronicles rather chapter 12. And Zebulun is portrayed in this one verse as having several characteristics. First they were expert in war. Their hands were trained to war. And we’ve seen that’s really the development in one portion of godly character in his men.

He trains men to war. You know, if you’ve become a Christian, there’s one way to look at that is you’ve been drafted into God’s army. You’ve been taken out of the opposition army to God and his kingdom and been drafted into God’s army. And one of your callings in life is to be able to wage war effectively through preaching the gospel, through taking the gospel and its message into every area of your life.

And if necessary, to go out and Zebulun was in this particular period of time to go out to actual physical warfare against those who would rise up against God’s people. Zebulun had the character quality of being trained and expert at war. They had been developed, this had been developed in them over time. Secondly, they could keep rank. That’s very important in terms of not simply warfare, but in terms of anything that you do in life.

If the family, for instance, doesn’t have children who can keep rank, then you’re going to have a real disordered household. And of course, that’s what we’re all trying to do with our does is help them to maintain order and rank in the context of their family. Then they might submit correctly to the leadership of mother and father in the household. Same thing is true of the church. Same thing is true of the state of course and the same thing is certainly true in the business arena as well.

There’s various distinct lines of command that the scriptures give us that are good and proper that we should apply in each of these other areas of our lives. And as part of that, we’re all men who have to keep rank under some sort of authority. And so the ability to keep control as opposed to Simeon who lost control with self-will. The ability to keep rank is an important mark of character that Zebulun distri gives us an example of.

And then third, Zebulun is of single-heartedness and their devotion to God and to his word. They’re not of double heart. And how many of us, so many of us, of course, would have to say that time and time again, we are of double heart. We want to do what God’s word says, but maybe not all of it. We have divided allegiances between God’s word and his covenant and the implications of it and other things we want to do in our lives. Well, over time, of course, a mark of character in a man or a woman or a child growing up is they become less and less double-minded, double-hearted. They’re consecrated. They’re really focused on the work of God. It’s a mark of character that’s developed. So, Zebulun, the tribe of Zebulun were men of character. And as a result, they were also men of dominion.

In the blessing in Deuteronomy 33, we read, “And of Zebulun, he said, rejoice in Zebulun and going out and Issachar and thy tents. They shall call all the people under the mountain. They shall there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness, but they shall suck the abundance of the seas and of treasures hid in the sand.” And then in Genesis 49 and the Jacob’s blessing, it says anyone shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he shall be for an haven of ships, and his borders shall be unto Zidon. Zebulun’s blessing indicates to us that there were men who are dominion men in worship.

It is said of Zebulun that he shall call the people unto the mountains, and there they shall offer for sacrifices of righteousness as opposed to the sacrifices of unrighteousness of the pagans and the Canaanites. Zebulun would be marked by a character characteristic observance of worship according to God’s regulated principle, his commandments, their sacrifices of righteousness. Righteousness is conformity to God’s law.

Zebulun would know the law of God as it related to sacrifices as it related to the worship of God. And not only would he do this, but he would also call people under the mountains in the context of the immed at history of the Old Testament. This is calling the people of Israel to the mountain to offer worship to God. And so it Zebulun would be those who would call people to worship. And of course in the context of the New Testament church, the union and worship is characterized by an adherence to God’s word and worship, but then a calling of the nations to worship at the mountain of God as well as Isaiah tells us over and over shall be accomplished in the times of Messiah.

So Zebulun were men of dominion in worship. They were also men of dominion in trade. Zebulun shall dwell the havens of the sea. And then we read and as I said in verse 19 of Deuteronomy 33, they shall suck of the abundance of the seas and of treasures hid in the sand. I thought of Kevin De Graff as I read that last half. See why Kevin? Treasures hid in the sand. At the time, people think this is a reference to glass.

You take sand and make glass out of it. The Puritans, I believe, in the colonies use this as a reference to digging clams out of the sand by the seashore, which you know indicates that they weren’t too concerned about the dietary law. But in any event, sand of course is the stuff that computers are made out of. Silicon wafers come from sand. And Zebulun were men of dominion. They didn’t just see sand. They saw things in the sand that they could take and add value to as God calls us to beautify this earth.

They take that sand and improve it. They take the sea and they’d suck the abundance out of the seas. And the word means suck instead of just take out. Fishing or whatever it is. Remember I mentioned they’re on this trade route. They were had close access to these two seas. And so there are men who are Dominion men in commerce. Kevin De Graff is a man who sucks or who takes rather the treasures hid in the sand who programs things that can be used in relationship to integrated circuits produced by sand for the well-being of the world and the development of cultures to glorify God in the context of our lives.

And so the men of Zebulun were men of dominion and trade. They weren’t environmentalist. who just said it’s a caretaker mentality we have. The sand is beautiful out of sand. We don’t want to turn any of it into glass or computers or anything else. Zebulun were men of dominion in trade.

Additionally, the scriptures tell us that they were men of dominion in war. In Judges 4 and 5, Zebulun is singled out for double mention by Deborah in her song when she calls him up. to go up to to do battle against Sisera and his troops. The tribe of Zebulun contributes and contributes mightily to the victories of God. And Deborah’s song we read in verse 14, from maker commanders came down and from Zebulun those who wield the pen of the scribe. And then later in verse 18, Zebulun was a people who despised their lives even unto death. And that tally also in the high places of the field.

Zebulun gets double mentioned in the list of the tribes that Deborah praises for their dominion or work in terms of warfare. And it’s interesting because Zebulun were men who wielded the pen. In terms of warfare, there are men who need to keep logs and records and lists of the troops. And they also Jim B. Jordan thinks one of the implications of this is that they would take care of the recording of the money of atonement that was necessary.

The money of atonement was necessary as men went into warfare. And there was a little tax there that would have had to be paid and Zebulun will record those things is what Jordan thinks is going on here. But in any event, warfare was waged in a lot of different ways and Zebulun understood the need to be involved in that and they were dominion men when it came to warfare as well. Again, in Judges 6 when Gideon calls up tribes to help him do battle against God’s enemies, Zebulun is one of those that are singled out by Gideon.

And so, the tribe of Zebulun is a good picture of men who give us goals here, character goals of being expert at war, trained, but men who are underranked, who weren’t, you know, Rambo types or individuals out there by themselves. There were men who could keep rank and there were men who were wholehearted in their devotion. As a result of that, they were men who could exercise dominion in church and in the economic workplace and in terms of military conquest as well.

And so they’re men who provide us a good example of what we should be like as we look at the inheritance that God has placed in the context of us individually, us as a church.

Zebulun is a good goal for us. But Issachar probably is a little more where we normally find ourselves. Issachar’s land is a difficult land as well as a very good land. In Issachar’s land, they had the plane of Jezreel. They had Naboth’s vineyard was in that portion of land that’s given to Issachar.

It was a very fertile place, but it was also a place that had mountainous regions. And it was a place that along the south of that plane of Jezreel, there were four fortified cities nearly impregnable. And these were Canaanite cities. And the Canaanites would use those cities and those planes to engage in warfare against Issachar. Issachar the word of God tells us in Deuteronomy 33:18 is like Zebulun. The references I wrote or I read rather in terms of Zebulun being people that call people to the mountains is primarily given to Zebulun.

It’s the primary reference at the top of this list of verses in Deuteronomy 33 rather. But Issachar is mentioned along with Zebulun. They’re similar. They kind of go together. They go together on the map and they also go together in terms of their exercise dominion in marketplace worship etc. So there’s similarities there but there differences as well. Zebulun was the one who lived by the sea as is clearly pointed out to us and Issachar is told we are told in verse 18 there though that they dwell in tents.

Okay. And the particular topography of the land they received was such that would accommodate camp life and dwelling in tents. So while there were some similarities, there’s also some differences. The kind of commerce they would engage themselves in be more pastoral terms of raising flocks etc than the sea and commerce trade of Zebulun. There are similarities but there’s difficult things as I said as well.

this land was difficult to take because of the armed the four armed cities that lay to the south of it and it would be difficult then to hold as well. And Issachar didn’t do particularly well. It’s interesting in Genesis 49 in Jacob’s blessing upon Issachar he says Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens. And he saw that rest was good in the land that it was pleasant. And he bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant under tribute.

Well, that really is a good synopsis of what happens to Issachar in the context of their place of labor. They have a land that is pleasant and good. And as a result of that, seeking after what God gives them, after their failure to drive out the Canaanites, they and have to essentially become servants to tribute. They got to put their necks down. They have to put their shoulder to the grindstone, so to speak, to bear what God has given them to earn it now to work hard for it.

God gave them a difficult area to conquer and through their own sin, of course, it became more difficult. And the history of that region is checkered as a result. Ahab, for instance, of course, Naboth’s vineyard, Ahab was there and he made Jezreel his place where Baal worship. It became a high place of Baal worship. And so in the context of Issachar, we see a checkered history, but we see men, I think, that become meek as a result of this.

Meek means broken to God’s harness. And Issachar through the difficult task that God gave it to accomplish and through the inevitable results of their own sin and judgment by God had a difficult task, but eventually they became broke to harness. And so they’re linked with Zebulun and the blessings that are talked about in Deuteronomy 33. Issachar as well is pictured in various places in scripture as being men who would who would uh rejoice before God who would come up to the various battles that were listed.

I mentioned Deborah’s the list of tribes there and Issachar is listed there as well. in 1 Chronicles 12:32 and remember this is the context where they all went up to make David king in Hebron. We read this the children of Issachar They were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. The heads of them were 200 and all their brethren were at their commandment. Earlier in the chapter in 1 Chronicles 7:5, we read that the families of Issachar were valiant men of might.

So this also was eventually portrayed in the historical accounts as being valiant men of might. And they were portrayed as men who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. And then their leaders would be followed by the rest of their brethren. The 200 leaders who understood these things and discerned them, the rest of their brethren would be at their commandment. I think these references specifically in the context of David and Hebron means that Issachar came to be very good at political evaluation and discernment.

And that term understanding the times, understanding means to evaluate, to discern left from right, to understand and think through a situation and then discern what the right thing to do was, what the right thing to do is. And of course, Psalm 119 is filled with references with this specific word because it’s the law of God and the wisdom that God adds to that law that gives us understanding and discernment.

Essentially failing in their attempt to drive up the Canaanites, nonetheless became meek men, broke into God’s harness, and God gifted them then with political understanding of the times in which they lived and could then know what Israel ought to do and as a result exercise leadership in the context of their own tribe and other tribes would recognize that strength as well. I that Issachar is what we are like more often than not because more often than not the tasks we are given to do we don’t perform that quite as well or maybe as diligently or wholeheartedly as Zebulun does but the end result of that and the result of living with the results of our own sin if we continue to remain faithful and repent of the errors that we’ve made and continue to trust after that the land that God lays before us is good Issachar’s land was good and then we put our shoulder to the grindstone the grindstone created all too often by our own sin.

God blesses that and he makes us meek and he gives us understanding and discernment through those trials and tribulations that often times we bring upon ourselves but also in the providence of God he is meaning for our well-being and maturation. So we see in these three tribes pictures to us examples to us of various aspects. We see in Simeon a warning to us a picture of the curse of God essentially salvation yes realization that we should rejoice in that salvation but a real warning to us to be very careful lest we enter into that same condemnation of Simeon.

We see in Zebulun a mighty goal to achieve character qualities to try to build into our lives and then employment of those character qualities and our vocational callings and our callings in terms of the church and then are callings in terms of waging war against the enemies of God in various spheres including of course politically and then we see an Issachar the tribe that we can identify with I think quite a bit who maybe doesn’t start out so good but because of the great blessing that God lays before them ultimately the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in our context.

We continue to labor through the difficulties often times created by ourselves and God layers into us then discernment and understanding of the times. Yeah. I think that there’s a lot to be joyful about in all this for us at Reformation Covenant Church. The word of God is ministered here and it is ministered as a two-edged sword and it does produce warning examples to us. It has in the 10 years we’ve been going produces negative warnings but it also produces a lot of good warnings as well.

I was listening to Rush Limbaugh this week and he talked about an article in USA Today written by two men that wrote a book called Generations in which they discussed the history of America as a series of various generational types. And they talked in this editorial in USA Today about boomers and about how that’s our generation, you know, if you’re about my age. boomers are men that in terms of politically they like either preachers or men that bring bad news.

Preachers like on the left Jesse Jackson or on the right Pat Robertson or men that bring a bad message like Clinton, President Clinton. the idea is that you know it’s kind of a self-deprecation, a lot of self flagellation. We’re not doing too good and we need to kind of press forward at [end of transcript]