JULY RADIO MESSAGES
The Twelve Stones in the Breastplate of the High Priest SIM EON : the sapphire stone by Dr. Lloyd T. Anderson
W e arrive , now, at the magnificent truths of another stone which is presented to us on the pages of the Word of God and made so very clear by the Holy Spirit. In the Book of Genesis, chapter 29 and verse 33, we read these words, “And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, he hath there fore given me this son also: and she called his name, Simeon.” Simeon, a son of Jacob and Leah is represented by the beautiful stone, the sapphire, as it was set in the breast plate among the gems representing the twelve tribes. But let us turn to Genesis 49:5-7. Here we find “ Simeon and Levi are brethren” — you see he links these two sons together — “instruments of cruel ty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Is rael.” Since God has dedicated another magnificent stone to one of the sons of Jacob, we realize that we should come to know something about that son, Simeon by name. When Reuben, the first-born son ar rived, Leah rejoiced in the hope that her boy would be the' means of draw ing her husband’s love to her — evi dently this did not happen. Now, with the birth of this second son, Simeon, her hopes began to arise once more.
Leah said, “ . . . Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, he hath there fore given me this son also . . .” Now this little word hated that we find here in Genesis 29:33, is not a word in the negative with the meaning of hatred, in the sense as we use hatred. The word simply means that she un derstood, that as a wife, she was less loved than was the other wife of Jacob. So Leah named her second son Simeon, which means “hearing.” She felt that the Lord had heard her i*i her great distress and that the gift of this son was His answer to her prayers. So Leah brought two senses into op eration in the naming of the two sons: Verse 31 — • “And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated . . .” this had to do with the naming of Reuben. And verse 33 — “ . . . Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated . . .” This verse refers to the naming of Simeon. The two senses are, of course, those of see ing and hearing. Surely the human race, full of distress created by a vast vacuum of the absence of love, is called upon to look away to Jesus and see in Him the Son of God, and then to hear Him as the Word of God. “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him.” In attending to the Lord, there are many passages in the Scriptures which reveal that His eyes and ears are ever open toward you and me. Psalm 34:15 assures us that “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.” Let us follow this thought a bit further to establish this blessed truth in our hearts by read ing Exodus 3:7 — “And the Lord said, I have surely seen (now there you have
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