Benjamin || Jacob’s Family Tree – Revisited #8 (FINALE)

Welcome to the finale of our Jacob’s Family Tree – Revisited” series. This series takes another look at the blessings Jacob gave to his children and how those blessings are showcased in the rest of the biblical story. In the last part, we looked at the strength-filled blessing of Joseph. In this one, we’re looking at the blessing given to Benjamin.

Genesis 49:27

27           “Benjamin is a ravenous world, devouring his enemies in the morning and dividing his plunder in the evening.”

Deuteronomy 33:12

12           Moses said this about the tribe of Benjamin, “The people of Benjamin are loved by the Lord and live in safety beside him. He surrounds them continuously and preserves them from every harm.”

There are three key people from the tribe of Benjamin that I’m sure you have heard of. These people embody what it means to have God continuously protect them from life’s harm. Let’s talk about King Saul, Esther, and Paul.

Saul presented the ideal visual image of a king, but his character flaws often contradicted God’s commands for a king. Saul was the king the people wanted, not the King that God wanted. We learn that God wanted a king like David, who came and took over the throne after Saul. The people had to learn that they might not always get what they want.

During Saul’s reign, his greatest successes were when he obeyed God, and his most significant failures were when he acted alone. His own choices cut him off from God and eventually alienated him from his own people. He had a Pharoah moment. Pharaoh did what was right according to his ideals and morals and eventually lived out his created reality. Saul did the same thing and quickly found himself on an island.

From Saul’s actions, we learn that while our strengths and abilities make us valuable, our weaknesses can also make us usable. Our skills and talents make us the tools that we are. Our failures and shortcomings remind us that we need a professional artisan to use the tools properly. Whatever we build or fix ourselves is only a sliver of what God can do through us.

Saul’s strengths included courage, generosity, height, and striking appearance. His weaknesses involved his leadership abilities and how they did not align with the expectations people had based on his appearance. Saul was an impulsive human being who tended to overstep his bounds. He allowed jealousy to take over his life. He intentionally disobeyed God on several occasions.

What can we learn from this king? How does he represent the tribe of Benjamin, and what blessing was given to this tribe by Joseph? God wants obedience that comes from the heart. He doesn’t want the acts of religious ritual. I’ve talked about it before, but it’s the idea of “having” to do something versus “getting” to do something. God wants us to feel like we get to obey him. Our obedience to him always involves sacrifice, but our sacrifice doesn’t always mean we obey God. In our acts of doing what God wants, we might have to sacrifice something to do it God’s. It doesn’t always mean this will be the case, so sometimes we sacrifice things to make ourselves look pleasing to God.

God wants to use our strengths and weaknesses. All parts of us are usable by God. We must be willing to submit all parts of ourselves to God to benefit and push the kingdom of God. Our weaknesses should help us remember our need for God’s guidance. Through our weaknesses, we find God’s strength.

Esther’s beauty and character won over the king’s heart. So much so that he made her his queen. With her status, there was sadly no guarantee that Xerxes would listen to her. She was not in a safe place. Esther would risk her life by attempting to see her husband when he had not requested her presence. Esther requested that Mordecai and the other Jews fast and pray with her before she went to the king. When she went to the king, he asked her to speak, but instead of issuing her request directly, she invited the king and Haman to a banquet.

God worked behind the scenes, though. God caused Xerxes to review the historical records of the kingdom late one night and discover that Mordecai had saved his life before. During the second banquet, Esther told the king about Haman’s plot against the Jews. This actually doomed Hamn’s plan. Grim justice came to Haman’s death on the impaling pole he had set up for Mordecai, and it seems fitting that on the day on which the Jews were to be killed, their enemies died.

Esther’s beauty and character won the heart of Persia’s king. She combined courage with careful planning in what God called her to do. She was open to advice and willing to act on it. Esther was also more concerned about others than about her own security. What were the key things to take away about Esther and how she represented the tribe of Benjamin?

Serving God can force us to risk our own security. Sometimes, serving God can put us in vulnerable places, working with vulnerable people in vulnerable environments. Specific ministries force us to remove the comfort of our day-to-day lives to properly serve those who need it and meet them where they are. God has a purpose for the situations where he places us. God puts us in the places we need to be with the people who need to be there to follow the path God set before us. Courage, while needed, doesn’t replace careful planning. It’s good to carefully plan what we must do in life. Even the best-laid plans require the courage and confidence to follow through.

Until Paul’s conversion, little had been done about carrying the gospel to non-Jews. Philip had preached to a Samarian and to an Ethiopian man. Cornelious had been converted under Peter. Some Greeks had joined the believers in Antioch of Syria. The issue of whether Gentile believers needed to obey the Jewish laws before they could become Christians caused a lot of problems. Paul worked very hard to convince the Jewish leaders that the Gentiles were acceptable to God but had to spend more convincing the Gentiles that they were acceptable to God. God used every part of Paul to accomplish this mission.

Paul was a busy preacher, teaching the word of God throughout the Roman Empire on three missionary journeys. While preaching, he wrote letters to various churches. We read certain letters as a part of our New Testament. Paul was always bold in facing an issue head-on. He was always sensitive to following God’s path and, despite his strong personality, always did what God wanted.

Paul witnessed and approved Stephen’s stoning, which he struggled with. Before he became a Christian, he set out to destroy Christianity by persecuting Christians. He initially failed to see the potential in John Mark that he would recognize later in his ministry. What are the key lessons to take away from Paul and his representation of the tribe of Benjamin?

The Good News is that forgiveness and eternal life are gifts of God’s grace through faith in Christ and are available to everyone. This was crucial to Paul’s mission and why he worked so hard with the Gentiles. The Gentiles didn’t believe that they could receive the gospel. Obedience results from the relationship with God. Paul’s obedience to God shows throughout his ministries and letters to the various churches. Without Paul’s obedience, we might not have half of our current New Testament. Yet obedience will never create or earn the relationship. It results from it, but it does not cause it.

Absolute freedom only comes once we no longer need to prove our freedom. If we’re consistently trying to prove ourselves, what do we get? Anxiety, people-pleasing, the need for reassurance, but not freedom. Freedom comes with not needing to prove ourselves. We can live our lives through God with confidence, regardless of the approval of others. God doesn’t waste our time. Everything we need to do allows God to use our past and present, so it prepares us for our future.

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this series. There was no clear point to each part of the series. I wanted to show how the children of Jacob can be traced through the biblical narrative. It’s a way to showcase how the Old and New Testaments are connected. Join me in our next series as we focus on how to ask, how to seek, and how to knock. Until next time, friends, stay blessed.