Friday, June 4, 2021

A DYING REQUEST FROM A FATHER

PROCLAMATION

“And he charged them, and said unto them, ‘I am to be gathered unto my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the end of the field of Ephron the Hittite … in the land of Canaan … There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah …’ And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into bed, and yielded up the ghost …”  Genesis 49:29-33 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph, intentionally giving the younger son Ephraim the blessing which should have gone to the oldest son Manasseh, he blessed Joseph. (Genesis 48:8-20)  Then Jacob called his twelve sons together and blessed each one of them and spoke prophetically of their individual futures. (Genesis 49:1-28)  They would become the twelve tribes of Israel.  Then he gave instructions to his sons to bury him in the land of his fathers and not in Egypt.  When he finished giving his burial instructions, he breathed his last breath and died. (Genesis 49:29-33)

 

APPLICATION

People make promises to others all of the time and, unfortunately, we break most of them.  Many children are often “crushed” by the broken promises made to them.  However, there is something special about the promise one makes to a dying individual on their deathbed.  Those promises are usually held in very high regard and are often honored.  We should be very careful when we give our word to someone regarding something we plan to do in the future.  The old saying goes, “You are only as good as your word.”  We need to pray for faithfulness in the promises that we make to others.  We also need to be more faithful in the promises that we make to The Lord.  We make a lot of promises when times are bad that we somehow forget when things get better.  He doesn’t break His promises to us, and we need to keep ours to Him.

 

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