Ruling - A blessing given by God
Gen_12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Family – the word appears here for the first time in the Bible which refers to human family.
The blessings given to man in the Bible is to rule over his enemies.
Gen 49:8 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you.
Judah is given the blessing of ruling over his own brothers’ generations.
Even King David praises the Lord for making him triumph over the enemies and giving them authority over the enemies. .
Psa 18:40 -43 You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and those who hated me I destroyed. They cried for help, but there was none to save; they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them. I beat them fine as dust before the wind; I cast them out like the mire of the streets. You delivered me from strife with the people; you made me the head of the nations; people whom I had not known served me.
Willingness to be slaves – Sign of curse
The Lord always wanted His children to enjoy full freedom and to be independent. He never wanted them to be under Kings or Rulers who suppressed them and treated them as slaves. He wanted them to be only under Him, so that they can be His children and He will be an affectionate, loving Father to them. He can nourish them, establish them, and lead them to the fullness of life.
In all generations, God’s problem in dealing with man was this. They wanted to be under a human leader who will exploit them, manipulate them and treat them like slaves.
They enjoyed serving human Kings and leaders even at the detriment of their health, wealth and everything. It was not a problem for them. But it was a problem for God. He could not see His children to be exploited by somebody. All the incidents of intervention by God in human history either in Old Testament or the New Testament can be related to this fact. The reason is He is a righteous God and He wants to see justice and righteousness be meted out to everyone.
In our Nation all of us know how we got freedom from the British. In the beginning only one man got the inspiration to fight for Freedom. If we go through history, we will come to know how tough it was to make people freedom conscious! They loved slavery and the minimum basic things the dictators provided were considered as privileges.
Jesus beautifully narrated this attitude of Adam’s cursed descendants in the following verse.
Luke 22:25 And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.
Sr. Angelica AOJ