THE 12 SONS OF JACOB

The meaning of the names of the twelve sons of Jacob paint a wonderful picture of the believer, from conversion to his ultimate departure to meet the Lord.

The first son was born to Leah and was "Reuben" whose name means "See a Son". It was The Lord Jesus Christ who, by the shedding of his precious blood, and his death on the cross, atoned for the sins of the world and now offers salvation to whosoever will come unto him.

The second son born to Leah was "Simeon" whose name means "Hearing". Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. One has too "hear" the gospel message before he can call upon the Lord Jesus to save him from his sins.

The third son born to Leah was "Levi" and it means "joined". First was The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son, then we heard the message, then after responding to the gospel call "we are joined" unto Christ. Forever linked with him for all eternity.

The fourth son born to Leah was "Judah" and it means "praise". What else flows from the lips of the regenerated sinner, but "praise" unto our God for saving a wretch like me?

The fifth son, who was born to Bilhah, was "Dan" and it means "judging". Now we see the new believer continuing in the scriptures and daily learning of His great love and receiving the wisdom to "discern and judge" in spiritual matters. Oh what a different view of things we have now than when we were yet in our sin.

The sixth son, born unto Bilhah, was "Napthali" and his name means "wrestling". Oh, by far, Christians are far from perfect. It is a growing process. sometimes we shy away from the Lord's correction in our lives and we "do our own thing". We know what is "right" but we do not want to give up all to the Lord's guiding. So we "wrestle" with the Lord. "No, not now Lord". But ultimately we know who wins this "wrestling" match. Phil 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."

The seventh son, who was born to Zilpah, was named "Gad" . His name means "troop". The "troop" here is also rendered as an "assembled gathering". Yes, the Christian believer does not stand alone, he is encouraged in Scripture to "forsake not the assembling of yourselves together". Christians need each other.

The eighth son, born to Zilpah, was "Asher" and his name means "happy". A Christian can only be happy if he reads the Word of God daily and obeys all the Lord's admonitions contained "in the book". The comfort and encouragement of other believers adds to the "happiness" of the Christian believer.

The ninth son was born to Leah, and he was "Issachar". His name means "hire or reward". Here we see the Christian active in the Lord's service, seeing some fruit for his labour. Some dear soul may respond to the message of salvation. The Lord will "reward" whatsoever we do in his name, whether now or in future glory.

The tenth son, born to Leah, was "Zebulon" and his name means "dwelling". Although we live here on planet earth, our real home is in "heaven". This is our "dwelling place" and if we keep that in mind, the things of earth will "grow strangely dim".

The eleventh son, born to Rachel, was "Joseph" and his name means "adding". As we read in Acts 2:47 .......And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved". We can only plant the seed. It is the Lord who will make it grow. He is the "fisher of men" who reaches unto all and beckons all to come unto him. He "adds" such as should be saved.

The twelfth son son, born to Rachel, was "Benjamin" which means "Son of my right hand". Here is the end of the story, the end of this sojourn on earth. Forever and ever in the Lord's presence, seated as it were, at his right hand. Sons of God by adoption. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12)

Surely if these sons were born in a different order this picture may not have made sense, but we know who wrote the greatest book of all time, and He never makes a mistake and is under control of all things.

Well done brother! I enjoyed that.

Amen! I enjoyed that brother. Thank you for sharing it with us. It was enjoyable as well as informative. Keep up the good work on behalf of the Lord.

In Christ,
George

If I may, I would like to ask artbook how he got those defintions for the names. I am sure you know where I am going with this, but it seems that looking back to the Hebrew was beneficial. Interesting. Now if artbook only used an English dictionary (which I doubt since these are Hebrew names) then I am way off. Is this an example where the Hebrew helped clarify the English???

I used a book called "Dictionary of Bible Proper Names" by C.A. Potts and a Hebrew helps book. But I did this study so long ago, I forget alot of detail regarding the study.
The Bible is so perfect that one can get a blessing from even a geneology. The meaning of names I just stumbled across and it makes for a real goldmine of blessing.
A similiar study on the the first 10 men is also quite astounding, re:
Adam, Seth ,Enos, ........................

Then there is the "Ah" endings in the prophets. EG Micah, Jeremiah, Jonah etc.

Then there is the "el" endings in the old testament. EG Daniel, Ezekiel ,Samuel.

"The Bible is a heavy boook, mun."

All right, GT!
There is a difference in looking in a Hebrew dictionary or reference book to find the meaning of a Hebrew word (name) and looking in a Hebrew lexicon to find out how an English word could be "better" translated.
Shall we bring up the "apples and oranges" argument again?

P.S. I wondered why it took you so long to bring your point up. I'm glad I didn't bet anyone. I would have lost, and ruined my perfect record.

My point, Brother Tim, was to contradict what you said in post #110 of the inspiration/preservation discussion. You said that learning the Biblical languages is not needed. Yet the information provided above would not have been gained w/o a knowledge of Hebrew. Those definitions of the names are not gained from the English translation. They are only understood by examining the Hebrew text. Now I am not talking about a better translation. I am talking about the Hebrew helping the translation communicate what a translation is unable to do. Names are a great example (especially in the OT). There is a lot of insight in the name. You wouldn't know what their names meant if it were not for the Hebrew aids. Thus there is a need for Christians to study the language. It helps. It helps to clarify. It helps to give a better understanding. It helps to bring out what a translation is unable to do.

I used the english dictionary of Biblical names and when I consulted the Heb helps, they more or less said the same thing. So I used both but probably could have used only the dictionary. The Heb does add a few insights though.

But even the English dictionary of Biblical names tapped into the resource of consulting the Hebrew. You can't look at the name Melchizedek and know it means "my king of righteousness" w/o knowing Hebrew.

This post was last modified: Sun Apr 20, 2008 06:59 PM by Greektim.

Greektim, I mean no personal offense to you nor am I attempting to attack you in any way. If you go back and read the original answer to the original questions you will see there were no Hebrew aids used. The books used were written in English.

A person does not have to "know" Hebrew nor does a person have to have "knowledge" of Hebrew as you have stated in order to gain an understanding of what is written in God's Holy word. All they have to do is have an inquiring mind and seek out the study aids to help them. I have learned a lot about the Hebrew Old Testament and I have no knowledge whatsoever of Hebrew.

By the same I have an older gentleman in my Sunday School class who is fluent in Greek. He brings an English-Greek interlinear Bible to Church. When I want to make certain I am on the right track I ask him. Each time he says that I am correct and I have no knowledge of Greek nor do I ask of his knowledge.

It appears to me as if you are hung up on intellectualism. My word, there are quite a few of us here who have more than a basic understanding of the Bible and I would be willing to venture not all of us have any knowledge at all of either Hebrew or Greek. It is not necessary. My word brother, you are starting to sound like a broken record. And believe me I have not said anything to you that I would not say to one of my friends who was going the same way.

In Christ,
George

GreekTim, I am responding to your last post with a new entry in inspiration/preservation since you referenced that thread, and we are detracting from the topic of this thread by continuing here.