This article is from my on-line book So What Do You Think, which you can access on my website www.mayimhayim.org for free. I have revised it here but not in my book. I pray it will speak to my Jewish friends and they would check me out and pray about these to see if the Word pictures fit.

Who Locked Up Israel's Hearing?


We all love Joseph in the Bible; he is the beloved son of Israel (Jakob), and he is a picture of Yeshua, Joseph a type of the Messiah to come. His son suffered more than all the other children of Israel and was the one that was most blessed by God. Joseph received pure grace from God's Hand from the pit to the throne. The Hand of God was on him at all times. The Word never records one single sin in Joseph's life; whereas king David's sins are many. Yet God tells us "David was a man after His own heart." (1 Samuel 13:14). To me that is mindboggling to think about. And there are many parallels to Yeshua and Joseph lives, but I will not go into them here in this article. What I do want to point out is found in Genesis 42:24:

"And he (Joseph - He shall add) turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes."

Since we have now discovered in past studies that Biblical names are very important, and have significant meanings like in my Shemology Articles on www.mayimhayim.org, we find that they also have "prophetic implications" as well. Simeon, as you recall, means: "hearing."

The word "Shema," which shares the same two letter Hebrew root of Simeon's name, is the title given to Judaism Creed found in Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, The Lord is One:" Over and over again in God's Word (Scriptures), we are called to attention and to "hear." However, Israel as a "whole" has not "heard" the Word of the Lord today. Israel hearing has been locked up, bound so to speak. In the story of Joseph (Genesis 42:24 and following), we see he locked up Israel's son Simeon (hearing), and let his other 9 brothers go back home to get his little brother Benjamin, the question has always been, "Why Lord why???" Well I think the Bible (Word) tells us why!

The prophet Isaiah was told that Israel could not see (Isaiah 44:18) nor did they hear and obey (Psalm 81:11). And later, Yeshua in the Gospels says that this "scripture has been fulfilled" again I ask why?

"And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." --Isaiah 6:9, 10

"And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias (Isaiah), which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." --Matthew 13:14 17
(Also read: Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:40; Acts 28:24 28).

The Apostle Paul brings the Gentiles attention in this letter to the Romans to take note of Yahweh's part in this mystery (SOD in Hebrew, deeper meaning).

"What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day."
--Romans 11: 7-8

Now for unveiling that mystery!

The Greek word for God is "theo" and when it appears in the NT text to denote the "One true God," there is what is called a Greek article in front of the word. In II Corinthians 4:4, the Greek article sits right in front of the word, which has been translated "god" with a small g. However, it should therefore be "God" big G because It is God, the only God, the Father, the Almighty One of Israel who has blinded their eyes.

George M. Lamsa's translation from the Aramaic Text is correct. He used the capital "G" for God in his version.11 of the Bible

"To those in this world whose minds have been blinded by God, because they did not believe, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the likeness of God, should shine on them." -- II Corinthians 4:412

In the book, The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, Rev. W. J. Conybeare, M.A., and Rev. J. S. Howson, D.D. it translates this same verse as follows:

"Whose unbelieving minds the God of this World has blinded, and shut out glorious light of the glad tidings of Christ (Messiah), who is the image of God." --II Corinthians 4:413

In a critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament, E. W. Bullinger reveals the Greek usage: with the article "theo" to denote "the God, the revealed God, the God of the Bible, and according to the context, may denote: this God, our God.

So it was in fact "God" who blinded them but His blinding was only in-part. Yes, the people of Israel are mosly blind now, and God did it so the fullness of gentiles would come to the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jakob. Amen! Here is a poem by Rev. Dee Sadler about it.

Simeon

Simeon, can you hear, bound in his darken'd place?
By the hand of the Servant,
When you did not seek His face.
Or recognize Him as the One your brothers thought to sell.
For the price of a slave, when they put him in the well?

Now Simeon your hearing's dull; you can not hear the cry,
Of the heart of Messiah, as the centuries go by.
You see no light in darkness; you can not hear a sound.
All you can do is live your life your spirit's truly bound.

But found in Joseph's story, a Day is coming soon,
When you will see and you will hear
The Shofar's lovely tune.
And you will recognize your brother,
Who was dead but now alive!
When at last you can hear and see Him with your eyes.

- D. Sadler

NO blessing on the the tribe of Simeon in the Bible.
Moses blessed all the tribes of Israel but NEVER PLACED A BLESSED THE TRIBE OF SIMEON, reason no blessing on there HEARING. Let us read Deuteronomy Chapter 33 and you'll see you will not find one blessing fot Simeon here...!


Moses' Final Blessing on Israel - ESV

1 This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God
blessed the people of Israel before his death.

2 He said,
The Lord came from Sinai
and dawned from Seir upon us;[a]
he shone forth from Mount Paran;
he came from the ten thousands of holy ones,
with flaming fire[b] at his right hand.
3 Yes, he loved his people,[c]
all his holy ones were in his[d] hand;
so they followed[e] in your steps,
receiving direction from you,
4 when Moses commanded us a law,
as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
5 Thus the Lord[f] became king in Jeshurun,
when the heads of the people were gathered,
all the tribes of Israel together.

6 Let Reuben live, and not die,
but let his men be few.

7 And this he said of Judah:

Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah,
and bring him in to his people.
With your hands contend[g] for him,
and be a help against his adversaries.

8 And of Levi he said,

Give to Levi[h] your Thummim,
and your Urim to your godly one,
whom you tested at Massah,
with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah;
9 who said of his father and mother,
'I regard them not';
he disowned his brothers
and ignored his children.
For they observed your word
and kept your covenant.
10 They shall teach Jacob your rules
and Israel your law;
they shall put incense before you
and whole burnt offerings on your altar.
11 Bless, O Lord, his substance,
and accept the work of his hands;
crush the loins of his adversaries,
of those who hate him, that they rise not again.

12 Of Benjamin he said,

The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety.
The High God[i] surrounds him all day long,
and dwells between his shoulders.

13 And of Joseph he said,

Blessed by the Lord be his land,
with the choicest gifts of heaven above,[j]
and of the deep that crouches beneath,
14 with the choicest fruits of the sun
and the rich yield of the months,
15 with the finest produce of the ancient mountains
and the abundance of the everlasting hills,
16 with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness
and the favor of him who dwells in the bush.
May these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers.
17 A firstborn bull[k] - he has majesty,
and his horns are the horns of a wild ox;
with them he shall gore the peoples,
all of them, to the ends of the earth;
they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

18 And of Zebulun he said,

Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
and Issachar, in your tents.
19 They shall call peoples to their mountain;
there they offer right sacrifices;
for they draw from the abundance of the seas
and the hidden treasures of the sand.

20 And of Gad he said,

Blessed be he who enlarges Gad!
Gad crouches like a lion;
he tears off arm and scalp.
21 He chose the best of the land for himself,
for there a commander's portion was reserved;
and he came with the heads of the people,
with Israel he executed the justice of the Lord,
and his judgments for Israel.

22 And of Dan he said,

Dan is a lion's cub
that leaps from Bashan.

23 And of Naphtali he said,

O Naphtali, sated with favor,
and full of the blessing of the Lord,
possess the lake[l] and the south.

24 And of Asher he said,

Most blessed of sons be Asher;
let him be the favorite of his brothers,
and let him dip his foot in oil.
25 Your bars shall be iron and bronze,
and as your days, so shall your strength be.

26 There is none like God, O Jeshurun,
who rides through the heavens to your help,
through the skies in his majesty.
27 The eternal God is your dwelling place,[m]
and underneath are the everlasting arms.[n]
And he thrust out the enemy before you
and said, 'Destroy.'
28 So Israel lived in safety,
Jacob lived alone,[o]
in a land of grain and wine,
whose heavens drop down dew.
29 Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you,
a people saved by the Lord,
the shield of your help,
and the sword of your triumph!
Your enemies shall come fawning to you,
and you shall tread upon their backs.

Footnotes:

A_Deuteronomy 33:2 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew them
B_Deuteronomy 33:2 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
C_Deuteronomy 33:3 Septuagint; Hebrew peoples
D_Deuteronomy 33:3 Hebrew your
E_Deuteronomy 33:3 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
F_Deuteronomy 33:5 Hebrew Thus he
G_Deuteronomy 33:7 Probable reading; Hebrew With his hands he contended
H_Deuteronomy 33:8 Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint; Masoretic Text lacks Give to Levi
I_Deuteronomy 33:12 Septuagint; Hebrew dwells in safety by him. He
J_Deuteronomy 33:13 Two Hebrew manuscripts and Targum; Hebrew with the dew
K_Deuteronomy 33:17 Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Samaritan; Masoretic Text His firstborn bull
L_Deuteronomy 33:23 Or west
M_Deuteronomy 33:27 Or a dwelling place
N_Deuteronomy 33:27 Revocalization of verse 27 yields He subdues the ancient gods, and
shatters the forces of old
O_ Deuteronomy 33:28 Hebrew the abode of Jacob was alone

Lots to ponder here... I pray all the time for the people of Israel to hear Yeshua's voice and heed the call of Moses, "To Listen to Him." May it happen in my life time.

12 Tribes in Birth Order

1_Reuben
2_Simeon (missing)
3_Levi
4_Judah
5_Issachar
6_Zebulun
7_Dan
8_Naphtali
9_Gad
10_Asher
11_Joseph (later Ephraim and Manasseh)
12_Benjamin

Many say there is no blessing because Simeon was taken into Judah, true (see Joshua 19:1) for the details, but that is not a good reason be left out of Moses Blessings. I believe it was to paint for us the picture that Israel's Hearing (Simeon) is locked-up until God opens their ears and eyes. Let me know what you think.

barbara@mayimhayim.org

Shalom <><

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