Wisdom Wednesday :The Wisdom of the Early Believers
Part 5 The Wisdom of The Twelve Patriarchs
Submitted by Debbie’s Dad
“And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household.” (Acts 7:8–10) NASB 95
In this series, we proceeded from Job, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel), examining the wisdom theme throughout their lives.
Now we look at the 12 sons of Israel, who are called the “twelve patriarchs” in the passage above by Stephen, who summarized the history of God’s people. In general, the term “patriarch” refers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because they are the heads of the families that led to the Israelites – the families of Jacob, whose name was changed by God to Israel. Israel’s 12 sons formed the tribes of Israel, which eventually settled in the promised land and were called the Children of Israel.
It is difficult to detail the aspects of wisdom and foolishness of all of the 12 sons (enumerated in Table 1) based on the limited descriptions of their lives. Still, we may assume the following reasonable things about the context of their lives:
- The boys learned of their father’s past, his deceptive ways, and the consequences of his deception, and the serious tension with their uncle Esau.
- They also probably learned of how their dad and his brother reconciled – with their father fearing his brother, and Esau responding in grace and reconciliation.
- They were aware of the complexities of Jacob’s family life with multiple wives and concubines and a dozen children- 12 boys and a single girl, Dinah.
- The older boys observed the tensions in the family between their different mothers and the sensitivity of Jacob favoring Rachel.
- They learned the destructive depth of jealousy when their father favored the young man, Joseph, and the burning effects as jealousy led to hatred and the plot to kill him – but then sent him off as a slave to a foreign land.
- And all but Joseph experienced the pact of secrecy and deception when they lied to their father for years about the loss of his beloved son, Joseph. They all knew they broke their father’s and mother’s hearts. Their foolishness, born of jealousy and hatred, was a daily reminder that they were not following the wisdom they observed in their father in his later years.
Table 1 – The Sons of Jacob
We can, however, see the wisdom demonstrated in Joseph, who, though he was hated and rejected by his brothers, wisely trusted the Lord, enduring imprisonment in Egypt and ultimately being raised to power by God.
It is also worth noticing that Judah appealed to spare my click Joseph’s life when his brothers sought to kill him. (Gen. 37:26-27). He later led the family’s affairs and “prevailed above his brethren”, perhaps a reference to his fear of God and the wisdom he gained later in life. (Gen. 43:3–10; 44:14, 16–34; 46:28; 1 Chr. 5:2)
And Reuben is another interesting son who demonstrated foolishness in his sexual sin by committing adultery with Jacob’s concubine, Bilhah (Gen 35:22). But we must give credit to him as he, like Judah, tried to dissuade his brothers from killing Joseph. (Gen 37:21-22) But the consequence of his sexual sin was the loss of his firstborn privilege of being blessed with Jacob’s assignment of leadership and covenant blessing. Judah became the family leader, and through the tribe of Judah came a ruler (David), and through him came the Lion of the tribe of Judah – Jesus Christ (Gen 49:9-10) And Reuben’s right of succession belonging to the firstborn child, was then passed by Jacob to Joseph’s two sons listed in Table 2. (Gen. 48:15–22)
Table 2- The Sons of Joseph
The writer of the Chronicles describes the changes in tribal birthright and the rearrangement of the birthright to defer to Joseph’s two sons because of Reuben’s sin: Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; so that he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright. Though Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came the leader, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph, (1 Chron5:1–2).
What can we say about the wisdom of the 12 patriarchs? Other than Joseph and Judah, it is difficult to identify passages that demonstrate lives characterized by the fear of the Lord, and wise living. Yet their experience in Egypt, realizing their submission before Joseph, and his grace toward them may have brought a true trust in God. But we can say it was the wisdom of God that brought these men and their tribes to become the children of Israel who would fulfill the promised covenant to Jacob at Bethel to bless all of the families of the earth.
“Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen 28:14)