AUGUST RADIO MESSAGES/THE TWELVE STONES IN THE j BREASTPLATE OF THE HIGH PRIEST D A N : the beryl stone by Dr. Lloyd T. Anderson
It will be of interest to see what Scripture says according to the words of Jacob, “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.” You will notice that it does not say that Dan shall judge the tribes, even though he may have ascended to that position at one time. What Jacob said was this, Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes — not as a superior, but as an equal. Dan was not judging others, he was judging himself, is the word we get here. This statement is an important point because it holds a lesson for you and me. Judgment has been given to us; we are to judge ourselves as believers. You and I are to listen to the exhortation of the Apostle Paul as he directs this truth to your heart and to mine. Paul applies this to the New Testament Church in its several com munities — “For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?” I Cor. 5:12. Then Jacob said, “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward” — Gen. 49:17. This verse of Scripture would natu rally arrest our attention, and upon in quiry we learn that this creature to which Dan was likened, was a serpent of the color of sand and marked with white and black spots. By merely stretching out its feelers, it afflicted a (Continued on Next Page) 17
T h is g a l le r y of portraits from the Old Testament is a composite of value and interest, to which is added the fact of much knowledge that we are gaining as to God’s dealings with His people. To be sure, we are finding choice instruction for our own lives — indeed, instruction which may be used from youth up. Now this chapter concerns the life of Dan, the child who had been secured, through unlawful means, by Rachel in giving to her husband Jacob her handmaiden to wife, “And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son. And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan” — Genesis 30:5, 6. We see in Rachel characteristics of impatience and jealousy because of her barrenness, for she said that she was as a dead woman, despised and un wanted by the rest of the people. In her determination she resorted to un lawful means — giving her handmaid en to her husband — hoping that she would become a mother by proxy. Now this revealed a lack of real trust in the Lord. Her plan succeeded for the moment, and we do not praise Jacob for this either, but it is in the story and God wrote it down just as it happened. God lays it all out. So Rachel took this child of Bilhah, by her husband Jacob, and she said “. . . God hath judged me . . .” and she called the name of the boy, Dan — which means judge.
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