JOSEPH #47 | JOSEPH IN EGYPT #29 | LAST WORDS OF JACOB #18
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3643
JOSEPH #47
JOSEPH IN EGYPT #29
LAST WORDS OF JACOB #18
9. ASHER #3
ASHER IN EZEKIEL'S VISION.
In the biblical account, Joshua assigned Asher western and coastal Galilee, a region with comparatively low temperature, and much rainfall, making it some of the most fertile land in Canaan, with rich pasture, wooded hills, and orchards; as such Asher was particularly prosperous, and known for its olive oil. The Blessing of Moses appears to prophesy this allocation.
But let us study Asher's history to find out what happened to the tribe.
From after the conquest of the land by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel inc. 1050 BC, the Tribe of Asher was a part of a loose confederation of Israelite tribes. No central government existed, and in times of crisis, the people were led by ad hoc leaders known as Judges. With the growth of the threat from Philistine incursions, the Israelite tribes decided to form a strong centralized monarchy to meet the challenge, and the Tribe of Asher joined the new kingdom with Saul as the first king. After the death of Saul, all the tribes other than Judah remained loyal to the House of Saul and followed his son Ish-bosheth, but after Ish-bosheth's death, the Tribe of Asher joined the other northern Israelite tribes in making David, who was then the king of Judah, king of a re-united Kingdom of Israel.
On the accession of Rehoboam, David's grandson, in c. 930 BC the northern tribes split from the House of David to reform the Kingdom of Israel as the Northern Kingdom. Asher was a member of the kingdom until the kingdom was conquered by Assyria in c. 723 BC and the population deported. From that time, the Tribe of Asher has been counted as one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
Yet God kept a memorial of their names in Ezekiel's vision of the 12 tribes for what scholars say is the future Millennium.
This allocation of land in Ezekiel's vision does not follow the actual arrangement at any time in history. It is God’s ideal plan. It is good to consider why this is the ideal plan.
God told Ezekiel His perfect plan for Israel. And all the tribes were there. None was missing. Each tribe had an equal share of the land. No tribe could pretend that it was greater than another tribe. Each tribe’s land reached across the whole country, from east to west. That may be a word picture to show that each tribe received the benefits of the whole country. In other words, no tribe would have worse land than another tribe.
The tribes are all next to each other. That may be another word picture to show that they are all friends. (Even in English, we have a similar word picture today. We say that enemies are ‘against’ each other.) The tribes are no longer enemies – they are not against each other. Instead, they are next to each other. That is, they support each other.
How are we to read this wonderful vision when we cannot even comprehend how members of Asher's tribe can literally be traced into the Millennium when their DNA is not even available now? Or is it a general symbolic idea that says all Jews whatever their tribal backgrounds will be absorbed back into the nation of Israel?
In my personal opinion, Asher is remembered and honoured like a memorial as an act of God's grace, and this tribe like the others was placed by God in time history to fulfill His sovereign plans regardless that they may have disappeared from history as one of the ten lost tribes of Israel. The spiritual lessons from this tribe and all the others as well have a timeless and transcendent quality in teaching us home truths about the need for national unity.
