Genesis 49:9 NKJV
Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
A puppy or as in Star Wars, “a youngling” is a whelp, and though this is said in a good way of Judah, a compliment it is not in the modern day parlance. Impressed by the younlings, an elder is certainly not, when such a word is used.
Like this word, though archaic in some cultures, many words, symbols and even covenants are completely contradictoriely used today when compared to what God intended. These are so corrupted that Christians who mean well don’t use them because they might be misunderstood. So where do I draw the line?
I find that there is no formula and that I have to depend on God’s wisdom for each case. I am not hesitant to speak God’s truth in love, even when it is considered hate by those who misrepresent God.
Genesis 49:11-12 NKJV
Binding his donkey to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washed his garments in wine, And his clothes in the blood of grapes. [12] His eyes are darker than wine, And his teeth whiter than milk.
Wine, grapes, donkey’s colt, washed garments, colors like red and white all reminds me of Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 1:18, the Lord Himself instructs us to “reason together” with Him. He goes on to say, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
Genesis 49:14-15 NKJV
“Issachar is a strong donkey, Lying down between two burdens; [15] He saw that rest was good, And that the land was pleasant; He bowed his shoulder to bear a burden, And became a band of slaves.
This reminds me of how, when I understood that Jesus was the Pearl of Great Price, I saw that His rest was good, that the land was pleasant. Then I took on what I considered then to be a burden of my calling in Christ, which now has become my privilege, forsaking the riches of this world and became a slave of righteousness as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 6:18 “And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
Genesis 49:24 NKJV
But his bow remained in strength, And the arms of his hands were made strong By the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob (From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
A bow, what does it symbolise? The rider on the white horse had a bow when the first off the seals were broken in Revelation of Jesus Christ chapter 6. I’m not in anyway comparing Joseph to that rider but considering that a bow as a weapon is used to shoot arrows.
The Bible talks about God hiding His anointed in the quiver (Isaiah 49:2 And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, And made Me a polished shaft; In His quiver He has hidden Me.) and it talks about the fiery darts of the wicked (Ephesians 6:16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.), so an arrow can be good or bad.
If the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10), and the bow remained in strength according to this verse, does the bow represent joy, even faith?
There are false faiths running amuck deceiving even those who love God this day. I need to spend more time contemplating the implementation of this.
Genesis 50:17 NKJV
‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.”‘ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
I think that Joseph wept because he knew that his brothers were lying, that Jacob said no such thing, mainly because his brothers were still keeping their eyes on the things below.
We do well to learn from this. For Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?”
Do not be afraid.