Shechem

April 22, 2014 Aside

Bezer, the Fourth Wonderful Portrait of Christ, CITIES OF REFUGE, Part 5.

111The cities chosen as Cities of Refuge were Kedesh of Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali; Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim; and Kiriath-arba (also known as Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. The Lord also instructed that three cities be set aside for this purpose on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho. They were Bezer, in the wilderness of the land of the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth of Gilead, in the territory of the tribe of Gad; and Golan of Bashan, in the land of the tribe of Manasseh. These Cities of Refuge were for foreigners living in Israel as well as for the Israelis themselves, so that anyone who accidentally killed another man could run to that place for a trial and not be killed in revenge. –Joshua 20:7-9 Living Bible (TLB)

BEZER: The Fourth “City of Refuge”

Bezer -was situated beyond the Jordan, in the tribe of Reuben. Although its precise site has not been discovered, we may infer that it was perched on one of the many rocky heights among the mountains of Abarim, –perhaps a spur of the great mount Nebo, from whose summit Moses was permitted, before death, to get a view of the Land of Promise.

we-who-have-fled-for-refugeThe northern portion of the waters of the Dead Sea would be seen from it, and the pastoral mountains of Judah in the distance. From its name, as well as from its being a border town, and subject to attack from the warlike tribe of Moab. Bezer would probably be strongly fortified –similar, perhaps, in this respect to the towns in the neighbourhood, with which the Israelites were so struck on their first approach to Canaan, with “their walls great and high, reaching to heaven.”

What does the name Bezer tell of Christ?

It literally means, “Stronghold” or Rock. The sinner is in danger everywhere else, but in Jesus he is safe. He is invited to “turn to the stronghold” as a “prisoner of hope,” and once within its gates, “though a host encamp against him,” he need “fear no evil.”

What a mighty force does encamp against him! There is God’s Holy Law, with all its terrible threatenings and curses. But sheltered in the true Bezer he can triumphantly say, “It is God that justifieth: who is he that condemneth?”

There is Satan, with his artful wiles and countless temptations. He was once a bright angel himself. He knows what holiness and happiness is. But being now a wicked spirit, he would make others as wicked and unhappy as himself. He is spoken of in the Bible as “a strong man armed.”  But Jesus is “stronger” than this strong man.

Jesus is the believer’s Bezer.

If you have fled for refuge to this great gospel Bezer seated within its secure bulwarks you can joyfully exclaim, “I will say of the Lord, He is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength in whom I will put my trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”

There is your own Wicked Heart, -with its sinful thoughts, and vain imaginations, and deep corruptions” for a man’s “worst foes are often those of his own household. One of those heart-foes will tempt you to tell a lie; another to swear; another to be dishonest; another to be selfish; another to be passionate; another to be unkind. But He that is for you, is greater than they that are against you.

Safer than in any earthly castle, you can take up your warrior-song, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteousness runneth into it, and is safe.”

There are the Trials and Sorrows and Distresses of this world, “those things that cause sad hearts and tearful eyes. But that blessed Saviour is your Rock and Stronghold –“knows your sorrows,” for He felt them. He marks your tears, for He shed the same himself. Fleeing to this true Bezer in the time of affliction, you can dry your tears and sing, “God also will be a refuge for the distressed, a refuge in the time of trouble; and they that know thy name shall put their trust in thee.”

And there is Death, the last enemy of all. But even over this King of terrors and Terror of kings, you can shout in triumph from your Divine shelter, “0 death, where is thy sting, . . . Thanks be to God, who giveth me the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.” And Jesus is a Stronghold for all.  I have already spoken of the little children of old rushing to its gates,” infants smiling fearless in the Saviour’s arms.  He combines the majesty of Deity with the tenderness of man. If He had been the great God alone, you might have been awed at the thought of going to Him.

We-Who-Have-Fled-For-RefugeBut what says the prophet Isaiah of this true Bezer?  

…”A MAN shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.” He Himself says in another scripture, “I will turn mine hand upon [for] the little ones.” In one of the great strongholds that were besieged in our last Indian Rebellion, Christian mothers were wont to hush their infants asleep by singing, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” 

My friends, “as one whom his mother comforts” so is God willing to “comfort you;” and here is a word of comfort: “The Lord is good, a STRONGHOLD in the day of trouble ” and he knows them that trust in him.”

In the old Cities of Refuge no weapons of any kind were allowed to be made.

Those who possessed them had to surrender them. This is true in a nobler and better sense regarding the Gospel Stronghold. There can be no deadly weapons forged there. Their edge is blunted: “There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” Satan’s armoury has been plundered; the “Stronger than he” has “taken from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divided the spoil.”

“Trust in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength” (literally, “the Rock of Ages”).

——————————————-
Written by John Ross Macduff.
Published in 1865.
Edited for thought and sense.
———————————————–
Meet the author and part of your Christian heritage: John Ross Macduff (23 May 1818 – 30 April 1895) was a Scottish divine and a prolific author of religious essays. Born in Bonhard, Scone, Perthshire, Macduff was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and was ordained as minister of Kettins, a parish in Forfarshire in 1843. He returned to St Madoes, a parish in Perthshire in 1849, which he left to take charge of Sandyford, a new church in Glasgow. He preached there for fifteen years (until 1870), and then went to live in Chislehurst, Kent, in order to focus entirely on writing. His best known books were: “The Prophet of Fire”; “Memories of Bethany”: “Memories of Gennesaret”; “The Shepherd and His Flock “: “Sunset on the Hebrew Mountains “; “Comfort Ye”; “The Golden Gospel”; “Morning and Night Watches”; “The Bow in the Cloud”; “The Story of a Dewdrop”; and “The Story of a Shell.” Macduff died in Chislehurst.

April 21, 2014

Hebron, the Third Wonderful Portrait of Christ, CITIES OF REFUGE, Part 4.

williams_margaret_lindsay-a_city_of_refuge~OM9d8300~10157_20000309_8692_220The cities chosen as Cities of Refuge were Kedesh of Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali; Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim; and Kiriath-arba (also known as Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. The Lord also instructed that three cities be set aside for this purpose on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho. They were Bezer, in the wilderness of the land of the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth of Gilead, in the territory of the tribe of Gad; and Golan of Bashan, in the land of the tribe of Manasseh. These Cities of Refuge were for foreigners living in Israel as well as for the Israelis themselves, so that anyone who accidentally killed another man could run to that place for a trial and not be killed in revenge.
–Joshua 20:7-9 Living Bible (TLB)

HEBRON: The Third “City of Refuge”

Hebron is the most ancient of all the cities of Canaan. It was as old, if not older, than Damascus, and was built seven years before Zoar in Egypt.  After wandering about from place to place in the land of promise, pitching their tents and altars, it was here the patriarchs had, for the first time, a settled home.

we-who-have-fled-for-refugeWe need not wonder at their selection of the old Canaanite city, on the peaceful slope of the southern hills, nestling amid olive-groves and terebinths, and looking down on one of the most fertile valleys in Palestine, with its orchards and cornfields. On its eastern height is the spot which gives it to this day perhaps its most sacred interest –the “Cave of Machpelah, where the dust of the patriarchs has reposed for four thousand years.

It must have been outside its walls that the angels appeared to Abraham, when he was seated at his tent door. The adjoining height is pointed out as the place from which the patriarch saw the smote of burning Sodom rising from its own deep valley. It was in Hebron that David was anointed king over Israel. It was amid its vineyards and mountain-slopes that John the Baptist grew up as a little boy, before he appeared in the wilderness of Judea, to tell of One mightier than he, “whose shoe-latchet” he was “not worthy to unloose.”

What does the name Hebron tell of Christ?

In Hebrew it means “fellowship,” “society,” “friendship.” Jesus has brought guilty man into fellowship with God. On account of sin we had forfeited this fellowship. We had made God not our friend, but our enemy. We were cut off from communion with all that is holy and happy. Angels, in their errands of mercy through the universe, passed by our world; they could hold no intercourse with those who had rebelled against their Creator. Can none bridge this wide gulf which separates between earth and heaven? Can no ladder be let down by which happy angels can descend once more on their visits of love, and fallen man once more be raised up to hold “fellowship” with God and holy creatures?

Jesus is the true Hebron

…The true ladder of Jacob let down from heaven and reaching to earth, Jesus has “reconciled things on earth and things in heaven,” He hath “raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places.”  We who were once “afar off” have been “brought nigh by the blood of Christ.”

I trust many who read this will love often to visit in thought the old city of the patriarchs, and to dwell on its name and meaning, “fellowship.” Think of what you “would have been without Jesus, your “Hebron-City of Refuge,” a poor outcast in creation, an alien from all that is holy and happy. But by Jesus all is changed. God is your Father “Christ is your elder Brother. In Him, God loves you, “angels visit you,” the Holy Spirit teaches you, “heaven is open for you. You are enrolled as a citizen of the great Hebron above– “the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Christ has made you to be members of the great heavenly family; so that anyone, even the little child who loves Jesus, is brother or sister to the Son of God.

You may be deprived of human friendship and fellowship. The brother or sister, the father or mother, or friend you once dearly loved, may be laid in some earthly Machpelah –some silent grave. But think about this; nothing can separate you from a better friend and more lasting fellowship.

Though all earthly joys were to perish, you can always rush within the gates of that mighty “Hebron of refuge,” and say, “Truly our ‘fellowship’ is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
——————————————-
Written by John Ross Macduff.
Published in 1865.
Edited for thought and sense.
———————————————–
Meet the author and part of your Christian heritage: John Ross Macduff (23 May 1818 – 30 April 1895) was a Scottish divine and a prolific author of religious essays. Born in Bonhard, Scone, Perthshire, Macduff was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and was ordained as minister of Kettins, a parish in Forfarshire in 1843. He returned to St Madoes, a parish in Perthshire in 1849, which he left to take charge of Sandyford, a new church in Glasgow. He preached there for fifteen years (until 1870), and then went to live in Chislehurst, Kent, in order to focus entirely on writing. His best known books were: “The Prophet of Fire”; “Memories of Bethany”: “Memories of Gennesaret”; “The Shepherd and His Flock “: “Sunset on the Hebrew Mountains “; “Comfort Ye”; “The Golden Gospel”; “Morning and Night Watches”; “The Bow in the Cloud”; “The Story of a Dewdrop”; and “The Story of a Shell.” Macduff died in Chislehurst.

April 19, 2014

Sechem, the Second Wonderful Portrait of Christ, CITIES OF REFUGE, Part 3.

0212_josh_200109The cities chosen as Cities of Refuge were Kedesh of Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali; Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim; and Kiriath-arba (also known as Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. The Lord also instructed that three cities be set aside for this purpose on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho. They were Bezer, in the wilderness of the land of the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth of Gilead, in the territory of the tribe of Gad; and Golan of Bashan, in the land of the tribe of Manasseh. These Cities of Refuge were for foreigners living in Israel as well as for the Israelis themselves, so that anyone who accidentally killed another man could run to that place for a trial and not be killed in revenge.
–Joshua 20:7-9 Living Bible (TLB)

SHECHEM: The Second “City of Refuge”

we-who-have-fled-for-refugeSechem was situated at the extremity of a valley among the hills of Ephraim. The famous mountains of Ebal and Gerizim rose on either side, from the slopes of which the blessings and the curses of the law were proclaimed in the ears of assembled Israel.

If Jerusalem was the greatest and the grandest of the cities of Palestine, Shechem was perhaps the most beautiful. It is still spoken of by travelers as one of the loveliest spots all the Holy Land, with its orchards of olive, fig, and pomegranate, and its flocks of singing-birds, which have made the inhabitants give to the graceful slope on which it looks down, the name of the “Musical Valley.”

I don’t know if the streets in the olden time resembled what they are now. The following is the recent description of a traveler familiar with them: “The streets are narrow and vaulted over, and in the winter time it is difficult to pass along many of them on account of brooks, which rush over the pavement with deafening roar…. It has mulberry, orange, pomegranate, and other trees mingled in with the houses, whose odoriferous flowers load the air with delicious perfume during the months of April and May.”

You do not require to be told that Shechem is a very ancient city, and that many interesting events in sacred story took place in connection with it. The earliest mention made of it is when the patriarch Abraham slept under its oaks, (the Terebinths of Moreh,) when he came to Canaan from distant Chaldea, and erected his first altar under their shade; and one of the last Bible notices regarding it, is in connection with the woman of Samaria, when Jesus sat with her at “the well of Sychar,” and spoke to her of the better fountain, “springing up to everlasting Iife.”

What does the name Sechem tell of Christ?

It is a word which means “shoulder” Jesus, our Refuge,” bore a guilty world upon His shoulders. The ancients had a fabled Atlas, who was supposed to carry the earth on his shoulders. Jesus Christ is the true Atlas. “Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows!”

All the sins of all His people Jesus bore for ever away. Think of that heavy load which bowed Him down to the ground in the garden of Gethsemane, and caused drops of blood to fall from His brow! No other one hut Jesus could have carried such an awful load and burden as this. No angel or archangel could have done so. Jesus, being God, was alone “able to save unto the uttermost.” He is the only “sure fomidation” that could sustain all the building. With any other, it would have fallen into a mass of ruins.

But I love not only to visit the old city of Shechem, and to think of Jesus bearing the guilt of His people on His shoulders, but I like to think of Him as the true Shechem now. He is our Shechem at God’s right hand. “The government is upon His shoulders.”

The Church and the world are upheld by Him. Believers –the poorest, the weakest, the humblest –are on the shoulders of Jesus. He is bearing the weight of them all; loving them all, attending to them all, interceding for them all. All that befalls me, Jesus orders. Food and raiment, health and strength, friends and home, are gifts from Him. Every tear I shed, He knows it, He appoints it. If he sends me sorrow and trial, I will go and enter the gates of this city Shechem, and remember, “Jesus who died for me bears me on his shoulders!”

Moses speaks of God conducting the children of Israel through the wilderness of old, as a kind father who carries on his shoulder his weak and weary child. “Thou Hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee,as a man doth hear his son” And David says in an hour of trouble, “I am poor and needy, yet the Lord carries me on his heart.”

I like to look at that New Testament picture” Jesus, the good Shepherd, carrying a bleating sheep or lamb back on His shoulder to the fold. That poor wanderer had gone astray on the dark mountains; but the great and gracious Shepherd had gone after it “until He found it; and when He had found it; He laid it on His SHOULDERS, rejoicing.”

What perfect security and safety you have in Jesus, and in His Gospel City! Far, far more so than the manslayer had of old in his. I daresay, even although he was delivered from the Avenger, the Hebrew refugee could not help at times dreading lest the other might come upon him secretly. I daresay, late at night, on his lonely couch, he “would sometimes dream of the Goel stealing beside his pillow, and he would start from his unquiet sleep at the scary dream.

Not so in the case of those who have fled to the “Gospel Refuge.” They can say in sweet confidence, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; because thou, Lord, only makes! me to dwell in safety.” He who is their “Keeper” says of them, “They shall Never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.”

———————————————–
Written by John Ross Macduff.
Published in 1865.
Edited for thought and sense.
———————————————–
Meet the author and part of your Christian heritage: John Ross Macduff (23 May 1818 – 30 April 1895) was a Scottish divine and a prolific author of religious essays. Born in Bonhard, Scone, Perthshire, Macduff was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and was ordained as minister of Kettins, a parish in Forfarshire in 1843. He returned to St Madoes, a parish in Perthshire in 1849, which he left to take charge of Sandyford, a new church in Glasgow. He preached there for fifteen years (until 1870), and then went to live in Chislehurst, Kent, in order to focus entirely on writing. His best known books were: “The Prophet of Fire”; “Memories of Bethany”: “Memories of Gennesaret”; “The Shepherd and His Flock “: “Sunset on the Hebrew Mountains “; “Comfort Ye”; “The Golden Gospel”; “Morning and Night Watches”; “The Bow in the Cloud”; “The Story of a Dewdrop”; and “The Story of a Shell.” Macduff died in Chislehurst.