We received an interesting email concerning the statements that were made by Jacob’s wives, Leah and Rachel, Rachel’s handmaiden, and Joseph, on the births of their sons. In Hebrew, they often named the child a word that had a phrase to it. For example: When Leah gave birth to Reuben she said "He has looked at my affliction". When Judah was born she said "I will praise the Lord", and so on. Normally the first born is listed first, but in Revelation, chapter 7, Judah is listed first not Reuben.
In Revelation, chapter 7, we find the list of the 12 tribes, from which 12,000 each will be marked with God's seal - the 144,000 Israelites that will walk the earth during the tribulation period. The tribes are listed in the following order, though it is not the order of birth - Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasses, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph, and Benjamin. For some reason Dan and Ephraim are left out. Now we will take this list of tribes in the same order and highlight the phrases the names were taken from.
Judah - Gen. 29:35. And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said "Now I will praise the Lord": therefore she called his name Judah...
Reuben - Gen 29:32. And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said "Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction" now therefore my husband will love me.
Gad - Gen 30:11. Then Leah said "How fortunate". So she named him Gad.
Asher - Gen 30:13. And Leah said, "Happy am I" for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.
Naphtali - Gen 30:8. And Rachel said, "With great wrestlings have I wrestled" with my sister, "And I have prevailed" and she called his name Naphtali.
Manasseh - Gen 41:51. And Joseph called the name of the first born Manasseh: "For God" (said he), "hath made me forget all my toil", and all my father’s house.
Simeon - Gen 29:33. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said "Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated", He hath therefore given me this son also: and she called him Simeon.
Levi - Gen 29:34. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, "Now this time will my husband be joined unto me", because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.
Issachar - Gen 30:18. Then Leah said, "God has given me my wages" because I gave my maid to my husband. So she named him Issachar.
Zebulon - Gen 30:20. Then Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good gift, now my husband will dwell with me", because I have born him six sons. So she named him Zebulum.
Joseph - Gen 30:24. And she called his name Joseph; and said, "The Lord shall add to me" another son.
Benjamin - Gen 35:17-18. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, fear not, "Thou shalt have this son" also. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.
So when we take all the highlighted phrases and put them in the order that the tribes appear, we get the following:
"Now will I praise the Lord, Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction, How fortunate, Happy am I, With great wrestlings have I wrestled and I have prevailed, For God hath made me forget all my toil, Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, God has given me my wages, God has endowed me with a good gift, now my husband will dwell with me, The Lord shall add to me, Thou shalt have this son."
Look at the way they are listed. It describes the Bride of Christ (us) and the battle of good and evil. We are His Bride who has been given a gift. This is the complete story of our Lord Jesus Christ marrying His Bride after delivering her from affliction. We praise the Lord because the Lord saw the rough times we went through on earth, and through Him we prevailed, and He made us forget all the problems. He knew, we as Christians were hated by the world. But now the time has come when we will be joined together as Husband and Bride. We will receive the great gift of everlasting life with the Lord.
This message that comes from the 144,000 in Rev. 7 is just another example of the validity of the Bible. Its somewhat the same as the messages found in the books "The Bible Code" by Michael Drosnin, and "The Signature of God" by Grant Jeffrey. It helps brings proof Of how the only book in the world, the Bible, can be written with messages within messages, as no human could possibly do, but could only be done by God Himself.
By George Konig
July 4, 2004
www.georgekonig.org
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