*WISDOM FOR TODAY.*
*IS IT YOURS?*
*Scripture Treasure.*
Gen 29:25-26.
*And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?*
*And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn*
*Insight and Highlight.*
What is righteously yours will come to you no matter how long it takes.
*Scripture Commentaries.*
The story of Laban, Rachel, and Leah warns and teaches us that God is truly a God of justice and equity.
Leah and Rachel were Laban's daughters. Leah was older but not as beautiful as Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel, Gen 29:18.
The sojourn of Jacob with Laban, his uncle, narrates the saga of a love story met with twist and turns, masterminded by Laban, who started with the swapping of Jacob's heartthrob, Rachel.
Laban's arranged marriage ceremony, Gen 29:22, and arranged romance, Gen 29:25, led to Laban swapping Rachel for Leah. Jacob and Leah consummated a relationship meant for Rachael, and this gave birth to Reuben as Jacob and Leah's first born.
Leah had five other sons out of whom came two superior sons, Levi and Judah. Other wives had sons before Rachel had her two sons, Joseph and Benjamin.
Leah was hated for this, and God seeing she was hated, *".....opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.*, Gen 29:31
Reuben became the beneficiary of the birthright because he was the firstborn, but he lost it because he slept with Bilhah, Jacob's wife/concubine, Gen 35:22, Gen 49:3-4.
He could have been both the rightful and righteous owner of the birthright, but he lost the rights because of this act.
In the twist of God's providence in posterity, the birthright went to Joseph, the first son of Rachel, Jacob's rightful first and loved wife.
It should seem as a righteous moral reason how God would work out by divine providence to make Joseph become heir to the birthright.
His mother, Rachel, would have been Jacob's first wife if not for Laban's deception and some family harsh practice, Gen 29:26.
God had shown what He would do concerning Joseph as the eventual rightful owner of the birthright.
Joseph's dreams (Gen 37) showed God's predetermined will to have him as the right to leadership. Through his dreams, God was declaring a divine will of the rights to his headship and leadership position.
Though he went through hardships, everything pointed to him as head, Gen 49
23-27; 50:20 and as one through whom Israel moved to Egypt with his Joseph and the eleven sons to become a nation, Gen 46; Exd 1:1-7.
Joseph vindicated God's plan for his life as the predetermined owner of the birthright by proven personality and purity, which Reuben lacked.
While God would not tempt anyone with evil, neither did He tempt Reuben with violating his father's wife but it may seem right to say the evil of Laban and Leah as joint conspirators to rob Rachel of her first wife position from whom a firstborn would have come was now given to Rachel's first son, Joseph, whom the right of the firstborn belonged.
1 Chron 5:1 says *Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.*
*For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's:)*
God follows His word to fulfill it, ref Jer 1:12.
The story teaches us that no matter how long we deprive rightful people their rightful and righteous possessions, God will restore to the rightful owner.
God watches all we do.
Before you deprived someone of what righteously belonged to them, remember that God will be after you to regain it back to them.
The recompense of God to regain what righteously belongs to the owner may often take disastrous consequences on a cheat or his descendants in order to bring about God's justice.
While God would not want Leah hated and thus gave her fruitful womb, He at the same time withheld Rachel from bearing but reserved her a place and a womb to bring forth the rightful beneficiary of the birthright.
Rachel's *"....breasts..... and....womb....."* were blessed above all the four wives' wombs with whom Joseph was blessed, Gen 49:25.
The position you occupy today, the things or some of the things you possess today, do they rightly and righteously belong to you?
If there are people destined for the progress you denied them of, they will eventually get them.
If you cheated or deceived them, God will fight for them.
Becareful.
Do not allow God's trailing, tracking, and hunting eyes go after you! 2 Chron 16:9.
Is what you have yours?
*Remorse corner.*
Is it yours?
If it is not, you give it to the rightful owner.
The Reuben you received deceitfully will give way to the rightful Joseph.
*Call to Word action.*
Do not deceive. Let your conscience be clear before God, 1 Pet 3:16.
Do not bite more than you can chew.
*The Christian clarion duty.*
God arms the unfaithful against himself.
Poor Reuben destroyed himself. His passionate choice proved to be a costly mistake that made him unfit for the birthright.
*Prayer.*
Lord, help me live worthy of Your divine will for my life. Let not my negative actions of today affect generations after me, in Jesus name.
Good morning all, and have a blessed day.
God bless you.
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