King James Daily Bible Study: Crooked Paths

King James Daily Bible Study: Crooked Paths
Date: 01.12.11
Chapters: Genesis 34-36
Click Here to Read Them or Go to: http://www.imfollowingjesus.com/bible-january-12
Details of Today's Reading: Jacob and Leah's daughter Dinah is defiled by Shechem, the Shechemites murdered by Simeon and Levi, God sends Jacob to Bethel where He blesses him, the death of Rachael, Rueben's crime, the death of Isaac, the generations of Jacob, and the generations of Esau.

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The Bible says, “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: ” - Hebrews 12:11-14. A path is a direction, a route, course, or track along which something moves. Did you ever think you were going in the right direction only to find out that you made a wrong turn somewhere? Did you ever notice that most paths are not straight at all, they are kind of windy and crooked? Well, life is full of wrong turns and crooked paths and we can really get us lost on them, but when we allow God to direct our paths He will find us and make our straight paths for us.

God gave Jacob a command before he left Padanaram, go to Bethel, but when he got to Shechem he decided to stay there instead. The family began to mix in with the people there, who were into the worldly things, it did not take long before Jacob's daughter Dinah got herself into some trouble. “And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter: which thing ought not to be done.” - Genesis 34:1-7.

The first mistake was that God had directed Jacob to Bethel, but he settled in Shechem, the second mistake was Dinah becoming friends with these worldly girls. There is an old saying, “You are who you get around.” No matter how godly you are if you get around corruption it will take hold of you and cause you to walk into it. We can not avoid the world completely, but we can be separated from it. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?..Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” - II Corinthians 6:14,17.

When we follow God's path we get where we need to be a lot quicker, but if we stop or get directed in another direction it always leads to problems, not only for ourselves, but others as well. It took Dinah's sin to cause her brothers to sin. “And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males...And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot? ” - Genesis 34:25,30,31.

When Dinah's brothers heard that Shechem defiled their sister they wanted revenge, but they did not stop to think about the consequences of it. First, while it was sinful for Shechem to defile their sister, she had a part in it also. Second, they took it upon themselves to cause judgment upon not only Shechem, but everyone in that town, creating even more problems. We are no judge to the sinner, for we all are sinners. Christ is the judge of all will deal with us accordingly. “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” - Romans 14:10,11.

Now, Jacob was pretty fearful of God after all that had happened, I imagine he was wondering what God would do to them. After all, He had not heard from Him is quite some time, but now God speaks. “And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem...And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him. And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;” - Genesis 35:1-4,9-11.

God will allow us to take that wrong path, He will even allow us to stay in it a while, He waits until we have gone so far before He says, “Okay, listen to me now!” There is no perfect communion with God until all the idols are put away, we come into His presence, and allow Him to direct our paths. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” - Proverbs 3:5-7.

Chapter 36 is an account to the descendants of Esau, “Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom...And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle.” - Genesis 36:1,6,7.

While Esau was not the blessed son who would become the father of God's nations it was important that God address them as later on we will see what part they played in the Israelites lives centuries later. The word Edom means, red pottage, it was in remembrance of the foolish bargain that Esau made with Jacob and sold his birth right over a bowl of red pottage. We can thank God that even if we took some crooked paths, He will never forget is promise to those who put their trust in His Son, even if we have made some foolish bargains that made those paths crooked. “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:” - Hebrews 12:28. Praise God!

Jesus Christ Revealed: Jesus is revealed as God Almighty. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” -Revelation 1:8.

Thanks and God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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