JUNE RAD IO MESSAGES: THE TWELVE H H U M i HIGH
A g a in w e t u r n to the pages of the Old Testament and, at this turn ing, we come to a study of the stone which is called a carbuncle. This stone stands representative of another son of Jacob, and of another one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The name of this son was Zebulun—we read, “And Leah con ceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun” (Gen. 30:19, 20). In looking to the time of his death, Jacob gave his estimate concerning this son, “Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon” (Gen. 49:13). Another in teresting text relative to Zebulun is found in Deuteronomy 33:18, 19 — “And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issa- char, in thy tents. They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they • shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand.” Well, not much can be said concern ing the birth of this boy Zebulun ex cept that while he was the fifth to re ceive the blessing of Jacob, he was actually the sixth son of Leah, Jacob’s wife. For this reason, Jacob chose to reverse the order of Issachar and Zebulun — he had reversed the order of Manasseh and Ephraim. Perhaps, in part, it was because Zebulun was
more progressive than the easy-going Issachar, that this occurred. At the time of the birth of Zebulun, Leah was still fighting for equality in the eyes of her husband Jacob. Now that this sixth son had been born, she felt that her chances were greatly en hanced such was the setting, then. Now what does the name Zebulun mean? It means dwelling, and both Jacob and Joseph played on the mean ing of the name in the bestowing of their blessing upon him. We should especially note the blessing that Jacob pronounced upon his son in Genesis 49:13 — “Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea . . .” Now it was Delitzsch who said that we are not quite certain of the boundaries of the land of Zebulun. It is known that the western shore of the Sea of Galilee marked one side, but just how far the territory extended toward the Medi terranean Sea is in question. From the blessings referred to in the Book of Genesis, it would appear that Zebulun occupied some of the main coastline, although our maps do not show it to be that way. But the ships mentioned would doubtless be too large for inland waters. Josephus, the historian, suggests that the portion of land of the tribe of Zebulun lay as far as the Sea of Gali lee to the Mediterranean Sea. When Jacob considered the apportioning he said that Zebulun’s borders shall be unto Zidon. The Land of Galilee, in the New Testament, embraced the territories 30
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