For your consideration this Sabbath, I’d like to hearken back to the time of the prophet Daniel. We were asked to write down, as part of the Scripture Writing, Daniel 2:21, “And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” In writing down the verse for the day, I looked at the verses before and after.
Daniel 2:21 is recorded in the context of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The king had the dream and he sought for it to be interpreted. The Chaldeans, astrologers, and magicians were asked to supply the details of the dream and the interpretation. The king was not going to tell them the dream out of fear they would make up an answer of some kind. The penalty for not revealing the details of the dream and the interpretation was death.
The response of those tasked with interpreting dreams was to express the impossibility of such a task, “The Chaldeans answered the king, and said, "There is not a man on earth who can tell the king's matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh." (Daniel 2:10-11).
There was panic among the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans. They were all in fear of the death penalty being imposed for their failure to fulfill the king’s request. They knew that they had no way to discern the dream nor interpret it.
The king’s guard, Arioch was sent out to execute the wise men of Babylon. In the process of carrying out the king’s command, he came to Daniel. He was told of the king’s demand and he went before Nebuchadnezzar to request time to interpret the dream.
Where did Daniel go for a solution? He went to God, who, “… reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him.” Daniel knew that he had no special skill to answer King Nebuchadnezzar, but God knew the dream and its interpretation. In other words, Daniel knew God could shine His light on what was in the darkness for physical human beings.
My thought, as I looked at this scenario playing out, was to consider the possibility that Daniel was aware of a similar situation almost 1000 years in the past? Daniel was well aware of the scriptures, since they had been in the possession of the children of Israel since the time of Moses. Was Daniel encouraged in his dire situation by the example of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams recorded in the book of Genesis?
The Bible doesn’t tell us that Daniel drew encouragement from God revealing the Pharaoh’s dream and meaning to Joseph. But we can surmise, if Daniel remembered the biblical record, then Joseph’s experience could translate to his own time and situation.
The related experiences of Daniel and Joseph provide us just one example of why familiarity with the Bible record is so important to our everyday lives.
Have a pleasant Sabbath day,
Gary Smith
Showing posts with label Joseph. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joseph. Show all posts
Friday, February 2, 2018
Friday, January 27, 2017
What Was Jesus Doing During Those 18 Missing Years?
In my personal Bible studies, I have been going through the Gospels. I’m using a harmony of the Gospels approach to go through the four books. Needless to say, going through just the first portions of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John has been delightfully enlightening.
Sometimes we can learn a lot from one verse in the scriptures. One most enlightening verse is John 2:12. The verse says, “After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.”
What can we learn from this verse?
First of all, there is no mention of his step-father Joseph. The last mention of Joseph was at the Passover (Luke 2) when Jesus was twelve. When John 2:12 unfolds, eighteen years have passed and Jesus now has a mother, brothers, sisters (Matthew 13:56), and disciples. There is no mention of His father. In all likelihood, Joseph had died in the intervening years.
With the death of Joseph, a full weight of responsibility fell on Jesus. He was now the head of the family as a result of being the oldest son. He now had the responsibility of overseeing and providing for the household. Jesus was thrust into a new situation where He learned things He would not otherwise have learned.
We might think of Jesus’ situation in light of His service to humanity as our High Priest. Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
We know that we have an elder brother and High Priest who is able to help us in every circumstance because He’s been there. He knows what it’s like. He’s gone through it Himself. How did Jesus learn a lot of the basic things we go through in life every day?
With Joseph dying while Jesus is a young man, this is how, though not married, Jesus learned family responsibilities. He became the family breadwinner. He learned what it’s like to be responsible for keeping a family clothed and fed—for seeing that the younger brothers and sisters made it off to school on time—to see that they were all dressed and ready for Sabbath services—to see that there was food in the pantry—to set and stick to a family budget—to see that the bills were paid on time—to be sure that all of the many details of overseeing a family and household were carried out correctly and responsibly.
Jesus Christ needed to learn all the kinds of experiences and problems we go through in this life so we could have a High Priest who, as it says here, is able to sympathize with all that we go through in this life. Without a wife and children of His own, He became not just an older brother, but a kind of surrogate father to His younger half-brothers and half-sisters. And so, although He was never physically married, in this way He was able to experience all these kinds of things that we go through in this life.
In the same way, He also would’ve learned much about another major aspect of life other than family—that being the work world. He would’ve learned what our work and employment experiences are like by assuming management of the family business and being responsible for providing for a large family, dealing with customers, training other employees, making and living up to contracts, dealing with quality control, working with debtors and collecting on bills, focusing on management and planning and all the other many details that go with owning and operating a business.
He had to learn to deal with all these things and to experience firsthand these things that the rest of us have to learn and go through on our jobs. There’s a great deal to learn here about basic human relationships and interaction that He wouldn’t have learned any other way. This is how I think He spent those 18 missing years from age 12 to age 30—I think He most likely spent much of that time essentially raising up a family, bringing up His younger brothers and sisters and learning important lessons in life that He wouldn’t have learned otherwise. He had to go through this to be our high priest and intercessor. He wouldn’t have learned them any other way.
It is encouraging that we have in Jesus Christ a High Priest who understands the human condition we all deal with through His own personal experience.
Have a great Sabbath day,
Sometimes we can learn a lot from one verse in the scriptures. One most enlightening verse is John 2:12. The verse says, “After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.”
What can we learn from this verse?
First of all, there is no mention of his step-father Joseph. The last mention of Joseph was at the Passover (Luke 2) when Jesus was twelve. When John 2:12 unfolds, eighteen years have passed and Jesus now has a mother, brothers, sisters (Matthew 13:56), and disciples. There is no mention of His father. In all likelihood, Joseph had died in the intervening years.
With the death of Joseph, a full weight of responsibility fell on Jesus. He was now the head of the family as a result of being the oldest son. He now had the responsibility of overseeing and providing for the household. Jesus was thrust into a new situation where He learned things He would not otherwise have learned.
We might think of Jesus’ situation in light of His service to humanity as our High Priest. Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
We know that we have an elder brother and High Priest who is able to help us in every circumstance because He’s been there. He knows what it’s like. He’s gone through it Himself. How did Jesus learn a lot of the basic things we go through in life every day?
With Joseph dying while Jesus is a young man, this is how, though not married, Jesus learned family responsibilities. He became the family breadwinner. He learned what it’s like to be responsible for keeping a family clothed and fed—for seeing that the younger brothers and sisters made it off to school on time—to see that they were all dressed and ready for Sabbath services—to see that there was food in the pantry—to set and stick to a family budget—to see that the bills were paid on time—to be sure that all of the many details of overseeing a family and household were carried out correctly and responsibly.
Jesus Christ needed to learn all the kinds of experiences and problems we go through in this life so we could have a High Priest who, as it says here, is able to sympathize with all that we go through in this life. Without a wife and children of His own, He became not just an older brother, but a kind of surrogate father to His younger half-brothers and half-sisters. And so, although He was never physically married, in this way He was able to experience all these kinds of things that we go through in this life.
In the same way, He also would’ve learned much about another major aspect of life other than family—that being the work world. He would’ve learned what our work and employment experiences are like by assuming management of the family business and being responsible for providing for a large family, dealing with customers, training other employees, making and living up to contracts, dealing with quality control, working with debtors and collecting on bills, focusing on management and planning and all the other many details that go with owning and operating a business.
He had to learn to deal with all these things and to experience firsthand these things that the rest of us have to learn and go through on our jobs. There’s a great deal to learn here about basic human relationships and interaction that He wouldn’t have learned any other way. This is how I think He spent those 18 missing years from age 12 to age 30—I think He most likely spent much of that time essentially raising up a family, bringing up His younger brothers and sisters and learning important lessons in life that He wouldn’t have learned otherwise. He had to go through this to be our high priest and intercessor. He wouldn’t have learned them any other way.
It is encouraging that we have in Jesus Christ a High Priest who understands the human condition we all deal with through His own personal experience.
Have a great Sabbath day,
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