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2. The 144,000 Sealed From the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:4-8)
REVELATION 7:4-8
4 I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel: 5 of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand, of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, 6 of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, 7 of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, 8 of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
The Sealing of the Children of Jacob: Whoever pays careful attention to the message of the angel of salvation, may meet with surprise. Namely, the chosen ones, to whom the angel had given the seal of God's protection and ownership, were all members of a single extended family! Is God so one-sided so as to limit Himself to the questionable characters of this one clan?
Ishmael, Abraham's beloved first son, born to him by Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian maidservant, was not chosen by God to be the progenitor from whom Christ should come. His descendants also included twelve tribes, none of which, however, belong to the chosen people. Isaac alone was to be the carrier of blessing, because through a special word of God he was born of the barren Sarah (Genesis 17:1-22; 21:1-21).
Furthermore, at the bidding of God, Abraham was ready to offer up the only son remaining to him. The Lord swore by Himself a fourfold oath:
- All of Abraham's descendants by Isaac should be blessed.
- He would make them as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore
- They would control the central traffic crossroads of their enemies.
- In their seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed.
Why all this preferential treatment? Because Abraham had obeyed the voice of his Covenant God reaching to the utmost consequence (Genesis 22:15-18)!
When Jacob was born to Isaac, he came out holding onto the heel of his twin brother, Esau, for which reason he was given the name Jacob, the cunning, or the cunning one to follow (Genesis 25:19-28).
Jacob tricked Esau, his own brother, and bought from him the right of firstborn for a bowl of cooked stew (Genesis 25:29-34). His mother led him to lie to his father, Isaac, and to deceive him “in the name of the Lord, his God”, in order to underhandedly gain the blessing of the firstborn! (Genesis 27:1-28)
Jacob fled before his brother, Esau, who had married a daughter of Ishmael, into the 800 km distant Mesopotamia to take a wife from the clan of his mother. Underway he slept in the wilderness and laid his head upon a stone. In a dream at night he saw a ladder reaching to heaven and the glory of God over him, confirmed later by Jesus in His testimony to Nathaniel (Genesis 28:10-22; John 1:51).
Jacob served his maternal uncle, Laban, 20 years, whereby each tried to outwit the other as much as he could (Genesis 29:1-30; 30:25-43).
The Twelve Sons of Jacob: To Jacob were born his first four sons by his not particularly loved first wife, Lea, the oldest daughter of Laban: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah.
The second wife of Jacob, Rachel, was Lea's sister. Jacob loved Rachel greatly, but she bore him no children. Therefore, Rachel talked Jacob into sleeping with her maid, Bilhah, that she might have a child by her. Rachel named this son, Daniel The second son of Jacob by Bilhah she named, Naphtali.
When Lea saw that children were born to Jacob by Rachel's maid, she talked Jacob into sleeping with her maid, Zilpah. She bore him Gad and Asher. Later, with the help of special herbs, Lea bore to Jacob two further sons, Issachar and Zebulun.
Finally, after ten sons had been born to Jacob by Lea and the two maids, Rachel bore him Joseph, her first son. Benjamin followed later, the son of fortune. As a result of his birth Rachel died (Genesis 29:24, 30-31; 35:16-20).
The First Four Sons of Jacob by Lea: If one compares the Old Testament records of the twelve sons of Jacob with the list of their names given by the angel of salvation in Revelation 7:4-8, significant differences become apparent. The first to be named in Revelation is Judah, not Reuben. Reuben, the first born, had slept with Bilhah, the maid of his aunt Rachel, even though his father had already begotten Dan and Naphtali by her. Because of this sin he lost his blessing as firstborn (Genesis 35:22; 49:4).
Simeon and Levi did not automatically move up to take first place, because they had revenged Dinah, their mutual sister, in Shechem (Nablus) with the sword after she had been raped by the son of the ruler there. As a result, the entire clan of Jacob fled in fear of blood revenge to Bethel, in the south of the land. (Genesis 34:18-31; 35:1-5).
Jacob was angry with Simeon and Levi, and prophesied that they would receive no domicile in the Promised Land (Genesis 49:5). In Moses´ genealogy of blessings for the tribes of Israel, the name of Simeon is altogether missing, since he was reckoned to the tribe of Judah and had been totally assimilated by him (Genesis 33:1-29; Joshua 19:1-9; 21:1-42).
Three generations later the office of priesthood was conferred upon the quarrelsome progeny of Levi. One of the grandsons of Levi, Amram, was the father of Aaron, Moses and Miriam, who decidedly shaped the future of the sons of Jacob (Exodus 6:16-20).
The descendants of Levi received no portion of an inheritance in the Holy Land (Genesis 49:5-9). They did, however, receive the tithe (tenth) as possession, since they had been zealous with the sword for the honor of God (Exodus 32:25-29; Numbers 18:21-32; 35:1-8; Deuteronomy 33:8-11).
In the Koran one Sura is dedicated to Amram with the name, “Al Imran”. Imran is considered in Islam to be the racial father of Jews and Christians. This error traces itself back to the fact that Mohammed confused Miriam, the sister of Moses, with Mary, the mother of Jesus. He thought the son of Mary was a nephew of Moses and Aaron (Suras Al 'Imran 3:33-35; Maryam 19:28; al-Tahrim 66:12). Accordingly, Moses would have been an uncle of Jesus!
Judah is the one whose name leads the list of the tribes of Jacob in Revelation, because from his descendants the Messiah was born. Judah, too, in accordance with his character, was no saint. He did talk his jealous and angry brothers into not allowing their brother, Joseph, to die of thirst and hunger in the empty pit. At the same time, he suggested they sell him to Midianite slave traders for 20 pieces of silver (Genesis 37:26-28). Also, Judah slept with Tamar, his widowed daughter-in-law, and through her begot Perez, who is found in the genealogy of Jesus (Genesis 38:1-30; 1 Chronicles 2:4; Luke 3:33). The betrayer, Judas Ischariot, bore the legacy of his great-great grandfather in him.
Jesus, too, was a Jew. The Holy Spirit in Him, however, overcame every sly, lust and deceit of the flesh, so that He lived holy, as God is holy (Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2). The Koran confirms the sinlessness of Jesus (Sura Maryam 19:19). Jesus died as “King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37; Mark 15:26; Luke 23:38; John 19:19). In heaven He is also called the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5). This designation signifies the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jacob given at the bestowal of blessings on his sons (Revelation 49:8-10).
The Four Sons of Jacob by the Two Maids: The four sons of Jacob born to him by the two maids of his wives, Dan and Naphtali by Bilhah, and Gad and Asher by Zilhah, never had the same status in his family as the sons of Leah and Rachel. With the division of land the sons of the maids were mostly settled in more dangerous border areas, where they were never able to overcome the idolatry of the Caananites.
The descendants of Dan, the first son of Jacob by Rachel's maid, Bilhah, received no portion of an inheritance, even decades after the land had been conquered! Thereafter 600 men from this tribe arose to take the city of Laish, at the foot of Mount Hermon (Judges 18:1-31). Underway they stole the golden idols out of a private house in Ephraim and forced the resident priest and soothsayer to go with them. After they had conquered the city of Laish and renamed it “Dan”, they set up an ordered system of idolatry. Jonathan, a grandson of Moses by his son, Gershom, was appointed priest. As a result, the curse of Deuteronomy 29:19-20 came upon these polytheists. Their name was blotted out from the list of the tribes of Israel, and is not to be found in the list of Revelation 7:4-8! The descendants of this tribe were not sealed. Jacob had previously prophesied that Dan would be a snake and a danger to all his brethren. Some Jewish commentators believe that the antichrist will arise from this tribe. Immediately after Jacob had spoken this curse over the son of his slave woman he sighed: “I have waited for your salvation, O Lord!” (Genesis 49:18). In the list in Revelation, Manasseh, the first son of Joseph, is given in place of Daniel. He inherited, equally with the sons of Jacob, central regions north of Shechem, reaching to Carmel and east of Jordan on the Jabbok.
The Last Four Sons of Jacob: The last four sons of Jacob were, by Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin, and by Leah, Zebulon and Issachar. Joseph, after suffering much wrongdoing, was elevated to become the brilliant pinnacle of Jacob's clan. He was the prince among his brothers, whom he assisted greatly. Joseph died in Egypt. Moses took his bones with him into the wilderness wandering, and later Joshua buried them in Shechem (Genesis 50:25; Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32).
Ephraim, the direct heir of Joseph, dwelt with his tribe in the area south of Shechem, reaching to Bethel. After the time of Solomon, when Israel had been divided into the kingdoms of Judah and Samaria, the rich and proud descendants of the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, separated themselves from the Jewish dominated south, and became the core of the northern kingdom.
The tribe of Benjamin, from which came King Saul and the Apostle Paul, lived in the premier core area of Israel, between Bethel and Jerusalem. The ugly history given in Judges 19-21 shows, however, that the “son of prosperity” was also very much a “son of misfortune” (Genesis 35:18). With the division of tribes into northern and southern kingdoms the tribe of Benjamin became torn. Half of the tribe joined themselves to the kingdom of Samaria, while the other half joined the kingdom of Judah. Paul confirmed what David had already established: There is none righteous, no not one (Psalm 14:3; Romans 3:10-12).
The last two sons of Leah, Zebulon and Issachar, dwelled with their clans north of Carmel in upper Galilee. In the course of their trade contacts with Tyre and Sidon they opened themselves again and again to the idolatry of these two cities, so that Elijah provokingly cried out on Mount Carmel : “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). It was over exactly this region that Isaiah spoke forth the wonderful promise, which was fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Isaiah 9:1-2; Matthew 4:13-17).
The Mystery of Israel: Whoever reads the histories of the Old Testament in regard to the twelve tribes of Israel might well be inclined to ask: How could it be that God chose the clan of Jacob and the descendants of his twelve sons, called them “His” people, and gave them preference in history through to the book of Revelation? In reading the accounts it becomes apparent that none of the “chosen” were better than the surrounding people. The answer can only lie in the grace of the holy God's choosing, who elected to glorify Himself through an unholy tribe, in order to bring forth from this tribe the best of all men, Jesus, His Son.
It was to the honor of the writers of the Old Testament that they did not gloss over anything which individuals, groups or clans, did or caused. It is evident, therefore, that no one on the basis of their works would be justified. Their calling came only by way of grace.
The realization of this “justification by faith” resulted through the faith of Jacob. The example of Jacob is exemplary. He had deceived his brother, Esau, and departed to a distant place. Twenty years later he chose to return home. But his conscience awoke and began to trouble him. At night a messenger of God came and wrestled with him until the breaking of day. He then struck him in the hip, so that from that time on he limped. Jacob, however, did not let this messenger go, and cried out: “I will not let you go unless You bless me!” Since then Jacob has been called “Israel”, for he had struggled with God and with men and prevailed through his incessant faith (Genesis 32:23-33). It is faith that draws the mercy of God into the heart.
PRAYER: O Holy One, we neither understand Your ways easily, nor recognize them; but we magnify You because You chose the disobedient Jews to be Your people. It does not seem that they are better than other peoples because they remained rebellious and deceitful, but the fathers of faith among them foretold that the best man would come from them, the righteous Jesus, Your Son in the Holy Spirit.
QUESTION:
- What is the mystery of the Jews?