The more I study the book of Genesis, the more I realize the need for a sense of spiritual direction for Israel. The addictions, bad habits, and unwholesome cravings displayed throughout the first book in the Bible illustrate the disease of sin deep inside the hearts and souls of mankind. When Simeon and Levi sought revenge over peace, Jacob was worried that surrounding nations would unite to completely wipe out Israel.
And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have ruined me, making me infamous and embroiling me with the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites! And we are few in number, and they will gather together against me and attack me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my household, Genesis 34:30.
The term treaty describes a variety of instruments, including conventions, agreements, arrangements, protocols, covenants, charters, and acts all done in the name of upholding peace. However, when Israel makes treaties in the Old Testament, they are putting their trust in another nation rather than the God of Abraham. In the passage below, Moses suggests who needs a treaty when the terror of the Lord consumes surrounding nations.
And they journeyed and a terror from God fell on the towns round about them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 So Jacob came to Luz, that is, Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people with him. 7 There he built an altar, and called the place El-bethel [God of Bethel], for there God revealed Himself to him when he fled from the presence of his brother, Genesis 35:5-6.
If you tend to be into mathematics, numbers, and statistics, the odds of Israel surviving as a nation in the 21st century isn’t good on paper. Yet, somehow and some way, the God of Abraham continues to watch over Israel today. When you search the internet for miraculous wars survived by Israel, a list of 17 different modern accounts exist. These Cinderella stories should not have happened, but the God of Abraham continues to do the impossible, using terror over treaties.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 