Jacob, Jacob!

Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe writes, “It’s encouraging to know that the Lord knows our names and our personal needs (John 10:3, 14, 27). Jehovah wanted to remind Jacob that He wasn't limited to the land of Canaan, for He's the Lord of all the earth, including Egypt (Josh. 3:11, 13; Ps. 83:18). God would go with Jacob to Egypt and be with him to bless him, just as He had been with Joseph and blessed him (Gen. 39:2, 21). Jacob had nothing to fear, because the Lord would keep the promises He had made to him at Bethel (28:15).”[ii]

Genesis 46:2 reads, “Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob! And he said, ‘Here I am.’” God had a plan for Jacob. God says in Malachi 1:2b, “Jacob I have loved.” Paul the apostle writes in Romans 9:13, “As it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” Jacob and Esau were twins. Normally, when you think of twins you think of similarities, but with fraternal twins like Jacob and Esau, you are struck by the differences.

Allow me to share three things about Jacob.

I. Jacob’s Miraculous Conversion after his Ladder Dream.

Genesis 28:1-22 reads, “Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: ‘I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.’ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’ Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.’”

Dr. E. Michael and Sharon O. Rusten write, “Isaac commanded his son Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman but to return to Haran in northern Mesopotamia (modern-day Turkey), where his grandfather Abraham had lived and where his uncle Laban was still living (Genesis 28:1-5). On the way, he had a vision of a stairway leading to heaven, known as Jacob's Ladder. Above it stood the Lord, who confirmed the Abrahamic Covenant to Jacob (Genesis 28:11-17). Jacob ratified the covenant by an oath of allegiance to the Lord (Genesis 28:20-22). This experience proved to be Jacob's spiritual conversion. He named the place Bethel, the ‘house of God’ (Genesis 28:19). He continued on to Haran, where he met his uncle Laban and fell in love with his cousin Rachel. He agreed to work for Laban for seven years to earn the right to marry Rachel (Genesis 29:1-19).”[iii]

Later, God confirmed His promise to Jacob. Genesis 35:1-15 reads, “‘Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.’ And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.’ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem. And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother. Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Allon Bachuth. Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.’ So He called his name Israel. Also God said to him: ‘I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.’ Then God went up from him in the place where He talked with him. So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.”

Jesus said in John 1:51, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” Rev. John G. Butler comments, “This refers to Genesis 28:12—‘ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.’ This ladder is often called ‘Jacob's ladder.’ This ladder was in a dream Jacob had in an overnight stay at Bethel after he had left home to go north to find a wife. The ladder is a comparison to Christ's mediation work. Christ is the One only mediator between God and man (I Timothy 2:5). He spans the gulf from earth to heaven. Nathanael would perceive this truth.”[iv]

II. Jacob’s Mysterious Conflict and his “Lagger” Development.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the term “lagger” means, “someone who moves slowly or more slowly than others.”[v] The term “plodder” is a synonym, which means, “to walk slowly usually heavy: to develop slowly.”[vi] “To proceed or develop with comparative slowness. One who lags.”[vii] In the words of Bessie F. Hatcher, “Keep on the Firing Line,” “You must fight, be brave against all evil, Never run, nor even lag behind; If you would win for God and the right, Just keep on the firin’ line.”[viii]

Genesis 32:22-32 reads, “And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ But he said, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me!’ So He said to him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Jacob.’ And He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked, saying, ‘Tell me Your name, I pray.’ And He said, ‘Why is it that you ask about My name?’ And He blessed him there. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.’ Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.”

Someone shares the following: “An editorial in the Sunday School Times points out the difficulty in the way of our correct judgment. ‘Two men are moving in the direction of their several choices. One has started from a low plane, and is slowing moving Godward. The other has left the high plane, and with his face set downward is moving with constantly increasing velocity. Just now the one slowly rising to a loftier height seems to the eye of man not so high up in the scale of being as the other who is simply going down the peaceful decline. But God judges each by his choice and ultimate endeavor. Not what we yet are, but what we would become, is our true measure in God’s sight.’”[ix]

Note Jacob’s deception of his father, Isaac, before his conversion (Genesis 27:1-46); and his deception of his father-in-law, Laban, after his conversion (Genesis 30:25-43). He could confess with Paul the apostle, “The good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Romans 7:19); thus expressing his deep frustration with the process of spiritual growth and development. Later, Paul writes in Philippians 3:12-16, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.”

Jacob and Esau are like characters in Aesop’s story of The Tortoise and the Hare. Esau had the most promise in many ways, but Jacob is the one who finished the race (Hebrews 11:20, 12:1-2) not Esau, (Hebrews 12:12-17). The writer to the Hebrews recounts, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff” (Hebrews 11:20-21).

Dr. Alexander Maclaren comments on Isaiah 44:1-2, “The occurrence of the three names, ‘Jacob, Israel, Jeshurun,’ together is very remarkable, and the order in which they stand is not accidental. The prophet begins with the name that belonged to the patriarch by birth; the name of nature, which contained some indications of character. He passes on to the name which commemorated the mysterious conflict where, as a prince, he had power with God and prevailed.”[x]

Dr. John Phillips (1927-2010) writes, “The change in Jacob's life did not occur all at once. There was a crisis (there often is) and then there was a process. The crisis took place at the Jabbok when Jacob confessed all that he was by natural birth and entered into a new concept of the believing life. The process took the rest of his life. It is extended in Genesis over many chapters, for there are no shortcuts to holiness.”

Dr. Phillips continues, “The refining process went on and on in Jacob’s life. First there was the defilement of his daughter Dinah. What a shock it must have been to the pilgrim patriarch when his daughter came home one day with the confession she was pregnant, her partner being one of the boys down in the village. Jacob certainly had not expected that.

Then there was the death of his beloved Rachel. That broke his heart. Shakespeare would have said, ‘This was the most unkindest cut of all.’ Jacob had not bargained for that.

There was also the disgrace of Reuben, who had a sordid affair with one of his father's wives under particularly aggravating circumstances.

Then there was the duplicity of Simeon and Levi. They acted worse than the unsaved. Their violence filled their father with fear and shame.

Then came the degradation of Judah and the whole sad business with Tamar. This was followed by the disappearance of Joseph. That broke Jacob's heart all over again. It seemed he would never recover. Finally there was the demand for Benjamin. The mysterious and mighty Egyptian Grand Vizier had sent word that no more corn would be sold to these men without proof that Jacob's sons had been telling him the truth. As for Simeon, he was in an Egyptian prison as hostage for their return. It was one thing after another. God was changing Jacob. We do not see much evidence of a change in Jacob, however, until we get to the last couple of chapters. Then we see a different Jacob indeed.”[xi]

III. Jacob’s Marvelous Conquest amidst his Latter Days.

Genesis 46:1-4 reads, “So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, ‘Jacob, Jacob!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ So He said, ‘I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.’”

Jacob is the man with three names, namely, Jacob, Israel, and Jeshurun. We find all three in Isaiah 44:1-2, “Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant, And Israel whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you: ‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant; And you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.” The name Jeshurun appears only here in Isaiah 44:1-2 and in Deuteronomy 32:15; 33:5, and 26.

Dr. Alexander Maclaren comments on Isaiah 44:1-2, “The occurrence of the three names, ‘Jacob, Israel, Jeshurun,’ together is very remarkable, and the order in which they stand is not accidental. The prophet begins with the name that belonged to the patriarch by birth; the name of nature, which contained some indications of character. He passes on to the name which commemorated the mysterious conflict where, as a prince, he had power with God and prevailed. He ends with the name of Jeshurun, of which the meaning is ‘the righteous one,’ and which was bestowed upon the people as a reminder of what they ought to be.

1. These three names in their order teach us, first, the path of transformation. Every Jacob may become a righteous one, if he will tread Jacob's road. There must be a Peniel between the two halves of the character if there is to be transformation. Jacob must become Israel before he is Jeshurun; he must hold communion with God in Christ before he is clothed with righteousness.

2. Here we may find expressed the law for the Christian life. The order of these names here points the lesson that the apex of the pyramid, the goal of the whole course, is righteousness. The object for which the whole majestic structure of revelation has been builded up is simply to make good men and women.

3. Notice the merciful judgment which God makes of the character of them that love Him, Jeshurun means ‘the righteous one.’ How far beneath the ideal of the name these Jewish people fell we all know, and yet the name is applied to them. Although the realisation of the ideal has been so imperfect, the ideal is not destroyed. Although they have done so many sins, yet He calls them by His name of righteous. And so we Christian people find that the New Testament calls us saints. He who sees not as men see beholds the inmost tendencies and desires of the nature, as well as the facts of the life, and discerning the inmost and true self of His children, and knowing that it will conquer, calls us ‘righteous ones,’ even while the outward life has not yet been brought into harmony with the new man, created in righteousness after God's image.” Alexander Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, Feb. 5th, 1885.[xii]

Rev. Jonathan Edwards (1708-1758) writes, “Let this truth also cause believers more to prize the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider that it is he, and he only, who defends you from wrath, and that he is a safe defence; your defence is a high tower; your city of refuge is impregnable. There is no rock like your rock. There is none like Christ, ‘the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven is thy help, and in his excellency on the sky; the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are everlasting arms.’ He in whom you trust is a buckler to all that trust in him. O prize that Saviour, who keeps your soul in safety, while thousands of others are carried away by the fury of God’s anger, and are tossed with raging and burning tempests in hell! O, how much better is your case than theirs! and to whom is it owing but to the Lord Jesus Christ? Remember what was once your case, and what it is now, and prize Jesus Christ.”[xiii]

Dr. John Phillips writes, “We do not see much evidence of a change in Jacob, however, until we get to the last couple of chapters. Then we see a different Jacob indeed.”[xiv]

There is a Jewish proverb that says, “For the ignorant, old age is as winter; but for the learned, it is as a harvest.” Peace, power, and purpose, no doubt marked Jacob’s final 17 years as a pilgrim in Egypt. Here are three demonstrations of the wonderful change in his life.

First, Jacob spoke as a Prince: His last wishes and thanks to his benefactor. Genesis 47:1-12 reads, “Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, and said, ‘My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they are in the land of Goshen.’ And he took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, ‘What is your occupation?’ And they said to Pharaoh, ‘Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.’ And they said to Pharaoh, ‘We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.’ Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, ‘Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.’ Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Jacob, ‘How old are you?’ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, ‘The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.’ So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families.”

This prince with God stood before the pharaoh without any feeling of inferiority or intimidation, unlike his grandfather, Abraham, years earlier (Genesis 12:10-20). Abraham’s prevarication caused a curse to come to pharaoh, while Jacob’s proclamation brought a blessing. According to Hebrews 7:7, "Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better.” The humble believer should not feel inferior to or intimidated by the most lettered or decorated man of the world. Proverbs 22:29 reads, “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.”

Second, Jacob spoke as a Prophet: His last wisdom and truth for his boys. Genesis 49:1-2 reads, “And Jacob called his sons and said, ‘Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days: ‘Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob, And listen to Israel your father.’” Jacob personally addressed each of his sons according to Genesis 49:3-27. Genesis 49:28 reads, “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.” Hebrews 11:21 reads, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.”

Jacob much like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, gave accurate prediction. Remember a simple difference between a true prophet and a false one is found in Deuteronomy 18:21-22, “And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”

Third, Jacob spoke as a Preacher: His last will and testament about his burial. Genesis 49:29-33 reads, “Then he charged them and said to them: ‘I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave that is there were purchased from the sons of Heth.’ And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.”

Genesis 47:27-31 reads, “So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. When the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, ‘Now if I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.’ And he said, ‘I will do as you have said.’ Then he said, ‘Swear to me.’ And he swore to him. So Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.” Jacob much like Noah was “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). Here, Jacob lives up to his third name, Jeshurun, thus, “the uptight one,” is now, “the upright one.” Dr. John Phillips concludes, “Thus God changed Jacob as He also changes us.”[xv]

Dr. Adam Clarke (1762-1832) writes, “Happy he whose last days are his best! We can scarcely conceive a scene more noble or dignified than that exhibited at the deathbed of Jacob. This great man was now one hundred and forty-seven years of age; though his body, by the waste of time, was greatly enfeebled, yet with a mind in perfect vigor, and a hope full of immortality, he calls his numerous family together, all of them in their utmost state of prosperity, and gives them his last counsels, and his dying blessing. His declarations show that the secret of the Lord was with him, and that his candle shone bright upon his tabernacle. Having finished his work, with perfect possession of all his faculties, and being determined that while he was able to help himself none should be called in to assist, (which was one of the grand characteristics of his life), he, with that dignity which became a great man and a man of God stretched himself upon his bed, and rather appears to have conquered death than to have suffered it. Who, seeing the end of this illustrious patriarch, can help exclaiming, There is none like the God of Jeshurun! Let Jacob's God be my God! Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! Reader, God is still the same: and though he may not make thee as great as was Jacob, yet he is ready to make thee as good; and, whatever thy past life may have been, to crown thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies, that thy end also may be peace.”[xvi]

Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) writes, “God never destroys the work of his own hands, he removes what would pervert it, that is all. Maturity is the stage where the whole life has been brought under the control of God.”[xvii] Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer, pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, Illinois, warns, “There are no shortcuts to spiritual maturity. It takes time to be holy.”[xviii] Someone cautioned, “If men grew physically at the rate they grow spiritually, many of them would spend their lives in a playpen.”[xix]

Conclusion

Rev. Kenneth W. Osbeck writes, “Consider how a person with a flawed character such as Jacob’s could be chosen as one of the three patriarchs of God’s covenantal blessing to Israel.”[xx]

George Herbert (1593-1633) writes, “God sees hearts as we see faces.”[xxi] The following comment comes from the Tarbell’s Teachers’ Guide, “We see that Esau was generous and impulsive while Jacob was tricky and untruthful—how can we disapprove Esau and approve Jacob? As we follow the story of their lives we get a glimpse of God’s judgment of them; the tendency of Esau with all his good qualities, was downward, while the tendency of Jacob, with all of his bad qualities, was upward.[xxii]

Paul the apostle writes in Romans 15:4, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” As we compare our spiritual growth and development to Jacob, may the Lord encourage each one of us to move from the vacillation between “Jacob” and “Israel” to the victory of “Jeshurun”; and may we listen up to hear Him say to us, “Jacob, Jacob!”

[i]Richard Nordquist, “Epizeuxis,” Accessed: 01/30/14 http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/epizeuxisterm.htm

 

[ii]Warren W. Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: Old Testament, (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2007), 133

 

[iii]E. Michael & Sharon Rusten, The Complete Book of When and Where In the Bible and Throughout History, “1930 B.C., Jacob Journeys to Haran,” 4, Database © 2006, WORDsearch Corp.

 

[iv]John G. Butler, Analytical Bible Expositor – John, 22, Database © 2013 WORDsearch Corp.

[v]Accessed: 01/31/14, http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lagger

 

[vi]Accessed: 01/31/14, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plodder?show=0&t=1390961954

 

[vii]Accessed: 01/31/14, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Lagger

 

[viii]Bessie F. Hatcher, “Keep on the Firing Line,” (1915)

 

[ix]Martha Tarbell, Tarbell’s Teachers’ Guide: To the International Sunday-School Lessons for 1907, First Quarter, “Jacob and Esau,” Lesson XI, March 17, (Indianapolis, IN: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1906), 144-145.

 

[x]The Sermon Bible, Volume 4: Isaiah to Malachi, Prepared Under the Editorial Supervision of W. Robertson Nicoll, Database © 2008 WORDsearch Corp.

[xi]John Phillips, The John Phillips Bible Character Series – Exploring People of the Old Testament, Volume One.

[xii]The Sermon Bible, Volume 4: Isaiah to Malachi, Prepared Under the Editorial Supervision of W. Robertson Nicoll,

Database © 2008 WORDsearch Corp.

 

[xiii]Jonathan Edwards, “Safety, Fulness, and Sweet Refreshment in Christ,” Sermon Notes, A Treasury of Great Preaching.

 

[xiv]John Phillips, The John Phillips Bible Character Series – Exploring People of the Old Testament, Volume One, Database WORDsearch Corp.

[xv]John Phillips, The John Phillips Bible Character Series – Exploring People of the Old Testament, Volume One, Database WORDsearch Corp.

 

[xvi]Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke's Commentary, Genesis 49. Database © 2013 Wordsearch Corp.

 

[xvii]Bruce Wilkinson, 30 Days to Experiencing Spiritual Breakthroughs, (New York: Random House, 2011), Spiritual Breakthrough 7, Evaluation Questions

 

[xviii]David Jeremiah, Turning Point with David Jeremiah, “The Physics of Maturity,” (Philippians 3:12), (09/02/13)

 

[xix]Croft M. Pentz, The Complete Book of Zingers, (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1990), 198.

 

[xx]Kenneth W. Osbeck, 52 Bible Characters Dramatized, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Resources, 1996), 30

 

[xxi]O Christian Quotes, George Herbert Quotes, Accessed: 01/31/14, http://christian-quotes.ochristian.com/George-Herbert-Quotes/page-4.shtml

 

[xxii]Tarbell, Guide, 144-145.

 

By Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, pastor First Baptist Church of Spanish Fort 30775 Jay Drive Spanish Fort, Alabama 36527

Author of Sound Biblical Preaching: Giving the Bible a Voice Available on Amazon.com and WORDsearchbible.com

http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Biblical-Preaching-Giving-Bible/dp/1594577684

http://www.wordsearchbible.com/products/Sound_Biblical_Preaching_1476.html

http://www.webspawner.com/users/franklinlkirksey / fkirksey@bellsouth.net / (251) 626-6210

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