Genesis 49 Job 15 Luke 2 (Click on the Reference to go to the passage)
Our Bible translation team found Genesis 49 very difficult to translate into Dobel because of all the figurative language. For example, verse 10: “The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.” (NIV). We expressed it as something like: “Judah, your descendants will rule many people, until a person who is a very big leader appears. That one, people from the villages of the world will obey him.” (Kings, sceptres, and rulers’ staffs are unknown to the Dobel people!). That King/very big leader is, of course, Jesus. The Kingdom of God, is the kingdom ruled by God’s king, Jesus. In Luke 2 the reference to the “city of David” (2:11) draws attention to the fact that Jesus was born in line of King David. In Luke 2:32 Simeon prophesises about him saying “He is a light to reveal God to the nations” (NLT), this is a fulfilment of “the obedience of the nations is his” (Gen. 49:10). Notice too here Luke’s themes of Good News and Salvation, especially “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Saviour—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!” (2:10,11 NLT). I’m writing this just before Christmas, what joy to celebrate the good news of the coming of our Saviour-King! (We can of course have that joy all year.)
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Genesis 48 Job 14 Luke 1:39-80 (Click on the Reference to go to the passage)
Remember God’s promise to Jacob in Monday’s reading (Gen. 46:2-4 and the previous promises to Abraham and Isaac)? Jacob remembers that promise here in Gen 48, when he blesses Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh, putting the younger ahead of the elder, just as had happened with him and Esau (Gen. 27), and also in his blessing on Joseph (48:16). In our Luke passage, both Mary and Zechariah praise God for the fulfilment of that promise. Mary: “He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful. For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.” (Luke 1:54-55, NLT). Zechariah: “He has been merciful to our ancestors by remembering his sacred covenant— the covenant he swore with an oath to our ancestor Abraham. (Luke 1:72-73, NLT). Isn’t it great that despite Zechariah’s lack of faith when he heard God’s message that he’d have a son, the first words that he now speaks after being mute for 9 months, are prophetic about the promised King who has come? He has come, but he is still in Mary’s womb and by God’s grace, Zechariah, who first responded without faith, now prophesies about his coming. Job’s reference to “you will cover over my sin” (Job 14:17) is also prophetic, although it wasn’t clear at the time. His sin also was covered by the Saviour to come thousands of years later.
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