God Keeps His Promises

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions this morning. We are at 1 Chronicles chapter 7. We're going to talk about the family of Benjamin. There's more Benjamin to come in chapter 8, but let's go ahead and have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the blessing it is to get to read your Word. We pray that as we read your Word, your Spirit would be working in our hearts, that we might know you, that we might hear from you, that we might indeed love you and live. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

All right, here we go. 1 Chronicles chapter 7, verses 6 through 12.

The sons of Benjamin were Bela, Becher, and Jediel, three in all. The sons of Bela were Ezbon, Uziel, Jeremoth, and Eri, five sons in all.

They were heads of their fathers' houses, and they were listed by their genealogies, 22,034 mighty men of valor.

The sons of Becher were Zemriah, Joash, Eliezer, Eliohani, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Elimeleth.

All these are the sons of Becher, and they were recorded by genealogy according to their generations.

Heads of their fathers' houses, 20,200 mighty men of valor.

The sons of Jediel were Bilhan, and the sons of Bilhan were Jehosh, Benjamin, Ehud, Chinanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar.

All these sons of Jediel were heads of their fathers' houses.

There were 17,200 mighty men of valor, fit to go out for war and battle.

Shepim and Hupim were the sons of Ur, and Hushim was the son of Ahir.

Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about?

B, what's the best for us to summarize this?

And C, what are we called to do in response to these words?

So, what is this about?

Well, this is the tribe of Benjamin.

That's what this is getting at.

This is his family, and it's their line.

So, that's what this is, right?

We're going to get each of the tribes.

Remember, Abraham has Isaac, Isaac has Jacob, Jacob has his sons, and then there are 12 tribes.

So, remember, you have this little odd thing where Joseph ends up having two sons,

and so, with Ephraim and Manasseh, they end up becoming two tribes because Jacob, towards the end of his life, adopts them as his own sons.

And so, they become tribes from Joseph.

So, but this is Joseph's little brother now.

This is Benjamin.

And so, Benjamin is this line here.

So, we get in verse 6, the sons of Benjamin were, and then you get the BBJ, so Bela, Becher, and Jediel.

And so, Jediel, and so, I would underline that as the best for us to summarize this because I think that that's what this is really getting at.

But, you can underline verse 11 also, maybe something else.

Feel free to let me know what you would underline in your Bible.

These are a fighting tribe.

It is a strong tribe.

Benjamin is known elsewhere in the scriptures for being left-handed, and that was an asset in war because you were kind of less predictable.

They were also able to sling stones, and so, we think of slings, you know, slingshots, like little boy's kid toy.

That's not what this is, right?

This is rock in a pouch with leather straps, and like from across a football field, being able to launch that thing.

It's the closest thing to a projectile weapon that you had in the ancient world with hand-to-hand combat.

And so, that's what this is, Benjamin is known for this, but they're also the strongest tribe.

And we've heard some pretty horrific stories at the end of the book of Judges with Benjamin as well.

So, it's not always great with them.

It's a mixed bag, but we're going to find out in chapter 8 with Saul more.

But, for now, this is where we'll stop with Benjamin.

So, we have A, what's this about?

This is the family of Benjamin, the tribe of Benjamin, being census, going back to the ancient records after exile,

and finding out who we're part of the family.

B, the best verse, I think verse 6 or 11, or maybe you might underline something else.

You can let me know that if you want to on social media down in the comments.

Or, at last, C, calling.

What are we called to do?

So, this might be the harder one, but I'd submit to you that there's actually three different things that we have with C.

This is my weird alliteration.

I have three different ways to fulfill my C.

So, C could be C, calling.

What are we called to do?

Our call to action.

It could be C, Christ.

What's the Christ connection?

Or, it could be C, what is the covenant of grace?

And, that's where I think this is.

God is faithful to Benjamin.

God is faithful to his promise to Abraham.

He promised him he was going to make him into a great nation.

As multitude as the stars of the sky or the sand and the seashore or the dust on earth.

And, here we're finding it.

Abraham dies and he's got one boy.

One boy of his own blood.

He's just got Isaac.

Isaac has Jacob and Esau.

He's like, I got two sons of his own blood.

And, then you have Jacob.

And, now Jacob has all these sons.

And, now all these sons are multiplying, multiplying, multiplying, multiplying.

And, God is blessing this family and making them a great nation, even with mighty men of valor.

So, God is always good to his faithful promises.

But, you see, it's even in all of this, that God is being faithful to his promise.

That he started all the way at Genesis chapter 3.

That he would bring a Messiah.

That there would be one who would crush the head of the serpent.

Though, the serpent would bruise his heel.

So, we find in this covenant of grace that God is faithful and caring for his people.

But, even through the tribe of Judah, where David came from, comes the Messiah.

But, then we even find somebody like Saul.

A letter named Paul of the tribe of Benjamin.

Who, ends up becoming a follower of Jesus.

And, spreading the news about Jesus.

And, in that, spreading out the gospel branches of this covenant of grace.

Where, all sorts of people become part of this family.

Because, God pours out his spirit in their hearts to cry out, Abba, Father.

Wild olive branches engrafted into the vine.

Or, into the tree.

So, that's who we are.

As part of the covenant of grace.

God's expanding his family.

God's caring for his covenant.

Making a people to be his own.

Let's go ahead and pray.

Father, we thank you so much that you have been mindful of us.

We thank you for giving us your covenant.

For remembering your chesed, your covenant love and commitment.

Thank you for giving us grace.

Lord, you are a God who has intervened in history.

And, so we thank you for your mighty deeds and acts.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

May God bless you.

May you walk in the joy and the peace of Jesus Christ.

And, I'll see you next time.

Bye.