God Had Israel Foreshadow Future Prophecy
Angels Through Time
In the last post, it was shown how the Israeli encampment and land inheritance of the Israeli tribes led to the fulfillment of much of the prophecy that Jacob stated to his sons on his deathbed. But, the arrangement of the tribes around the tabernacle also explains something even more grand. The tribal placement around the tabernacle tells a prophecy about Israel’s history and future.
The banners of Reuben (man), Simeon (Shechem), and Gad (tents), represented the prophecy about their coming Messiah. The Messiah was noted as the Promised One, one who would be anointed with the Holy Spirit and be human. Yet, he would be fully divine as well. How? Because he would be born of the Holy Spirit into the womb of a virgin. The banner of Reuben, that of a man, represents this. The banner of Simeon was the city of Shechem, which represented strife. After Jacob came back from Haran after gaining much wealth being employed by his Uncle Laban, he settled near the Hivite city of Shechem. There, the prince of that city, also named Shechem, son of its ruler Hamor, became enamored with Jacob’s daughter Dinah, the sister of Simeon and Levi. The story is told in Genesis chapter 34. This prince took her and took away her virginity. Although the prince stated he was now wishing to marry Dinah, Simeon and Levi were livid because the prince took their sister’s virginity from her before her wedding day. They stated that the prince, his family, and all the males of the city would need to be circumcised before their sister could marry him. The king and prince agreed. When all the men were sore from their circumcision, Simeon and Levi slew all the men of the city. This angered their father greatly, but he took no action against his sons except to state his displeasure. This is why Jacob stated that Simeon and Levi would not have direct land inheritance. When Gad was born, Leah stated he represented a troop or great prosperity, and his sign became that of many tents. The three banners together represent that the coming Messiah would come as a human and dwell with man during times of strife. This occurred with the coming of Jesus Christ in the early first century. He came as a man, was filled with the Holy Spirit, retained much of his heavenly power, and lived among the Israelites for 30 to 35 years and during a time of strife: both physically due to Roman occupation and spiritually as he fought many battles with the Jewish leaders of the day to try and help them see the error of their ways in understanding the deeper meaning behind keeping the Law of Moses.
The banners of Ephraim (ox), Manasseh (olive fruit), and Benjamin (fox) represent a future reuniting of Israel. The ox is a farming animal which has great strength but also represents humility and serves the will of the farmer. The coming Messiah was one who would be a suffering servant to fulfill God’s plan for mankind (Is 53:2-3). In many cultures olives represent peace, prosperity, and fertility. The fox represents cunning. The three banners together represent God bringing both the Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom of Israel back together through cunning and promise of sufficiency (Jr 30:7). Isaiah (Is 11:12-13), Jeremiah (Jr 30:3), and Ezekiel (Ek 37:15-22) prophesy that God will bring Israel and Judah back to their homeland from the four corners of the Earth. The troublous times of the Tribulation will drive Jews and Israelis back to their homeland of Israel. It is noted that 144,000 of these will be protected by God directly (Rv 7:4) and at least a third of all those within Israel will survive (Zc 13:8).
The banners of Dan (eagle), Asher (olive tree), and Naphtali (hind) represent God bringing swift heavenly judgment followed by prosperity and blessing. The eagle represents the heavens in which it soars but can also bring swift annihilation to its prey. The olive tree is a symbol of the nation of Israel as well as peace, prosperity, and divine blessing. The hind represents swiftness as that is one of the notable characteristics of a hind. When the Messiah, Jesus Christ, returns, he will bring swift judgment against the Antichrist and all forces who have gathered against Jerusalem, will bring salvation to Israel, and bring a time of prosperity never equaled before (Zc 13:2; 14:8-11).
The banners of Judah (lion), Issachar (laden burro), and Zebulun (ships of commerce) represent the Messiah, Jesus Christ, reigning over the entire earth with commerce and abundance for everyone worldwide. The lion, the king of beasts, has always represented Judah as this was the tribe of kings with David being its first (2Sa 5:3) and the Messiah, Jesus Christ, being its last (Zc 14:9) fulfilling the promise God made to David (2Sa 7:16).
None of the fulfillment of these promises God made through Jacob were predictable or imagined that they would be fulfilled as God choreographed them. However, this did not take away their free will. Because of the faithfulness of Levi’s descendants, Levi’s curse was fulfilled as promised but as a blessing. Not so with Simeon. It took many, many years for Judah’s prophecy to come true, but it came to pass through David. David even united Benjamin, a tribe that was almost wiped out and had lost its relationship with the tribe of inheritance to once again be joined to the tribe of inheritance by David conquering Jebus (2Sa 5:7) and turning it into the capital city Jerusalem where God’s temple was erected and where God placed his Name (2Ch 6:6).
God’s plan cannot be thwarted, but how we fit into his plan can be changed by our willingness and yielding to his plan. We cannot fathom how he will perform his plan, but we can be sure it will be accomplished, just not the way we expect. How God’s plan will be accomplished will most likely look extremely different from how we envisioned it to come to pass. After all, Ephraim and all of Israel never expected God would allow his Ark of the Covenant to be captured by godless people. But doing so brought about not only punishment for the sins of his people but brought a fear and appreciation of Israel’s God to these same godless people that Israel could never have made happen. And it led to the fulfillment of Judah becoming the birthright inheritance clan (Ps 78:67-68) leading to King David as its first king, as he was born in Bethlehem, a city within Judah.
And what about us? God has given us the opportunity to be a part of this same plan and in an even more majestic way. Stay tuned, and we’ll discuss this next time.
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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens