The cheer that brightened the simple English cottage where he was born fled early for Leonard Sheldrake (1885-1952). He was six, his sister eight, and his brothers four and two when tuberculosis claimed their mother. Never a strong child, he once overheard a neighboring housewife remark, “Poor laddie, he’s not long for this world.” When […]
“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Phil. 3:10). Note these expressions: “Christ,” I want to know “Him.” And this is how he wanted to know Him–by “power”–I want to know the power of His resurrection, he declared. And […]
We took a few hours at the end of a busy Saturday to take our younger children for a little boat cruise on the Kalamazoo River at the quaint town of Saugatuck, MI. As the little paddle steamer edged from the pier, a tan spaniel deftly loped on board. We later learned he belonged to […]
The second son of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, was named “my wrestling” by Rachel to signify the rivalry between herself and Leah for the place of honor in Jacob’s house (Gen. 30:7-8). In Genesis 49, Jacob, who frequently associates his sons’ names with their blessing, employs for Naphtali a figure entirely at variance with the idea […]
W. Graham Scroggie, the widely known preacher and author, wrote of Joseph, “…Of all Hebrew characters, he is the most perfect type of Christ. We see him in three aspects: first, as the princely son; second, as the patient sufferer; and third, as the people’s saviour. Was not Christ all this?”1 More is told about […]
Jacob’s prediction concerning Zebulun takes us back to this expression at his birth, for though a different word is used in the original for dwelling, the meaning is the same: “Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the seas, and he shall give shelter to ships.” It is difficult to determine Zebulun’s exact boundaries, but […]
Judah was Leah’s fourth son and, at his birth, she declared, “Now will I praise the Lord, therefore she called his name Judah,” which means “praise” (Gen. 29:35). On this occasion the neglected woman apparently lost sight of her complaint and lifted her heart to God. The early conduct of Judah was not entirely praiseworthy. […]
Sketching the career of Reuben as a man and as a tribe, there is nothing that we can take hold of till we come to the act for which his dying father rebuked him so pointedly. Jacob knew his son well, and ascribed his sin to utter moral weakness. Such character expresses itself in acts […]
Judah typifies Christ as king; Levi foreshadows the Lord as priest. No one in Israel could function as both king and priest. The Pharaohs professed that they were sons of Ra, the chief god. Augustus Caesar became the chief priest of Rome. One king of Judah, Uzziah, aspiring to burn incense in the Holy Place, […]