There is something I found very curious about certain people in the Bible, and they existed or served God and their generation as pairs. Some were Levites actually, but for the purpose of this message, I choose to rank them all as Levites. I put the Baker and Butler who were in the prison with Joseph in Egypt in this category! So is Esau and Jacob, Cain and Abel, Obed-Edom and Uzzah, Moses and Aaron, etc.
Now how do we even begin to assess the matter of Jacob and Esau? They were born by the same parent who was a descendant and bearer of a divine promise. Even before their birth, the Lord proclaimed that He had loved one and hated the other! Why was that so?And what possible offence can we ascribe to one who is yet to be born?
Now Esau started acting true to type, which proves that God was entirely right about him. He knows all His creations from the beginning of time, even if, in our own reckoning, they were not given a level playing ground.
Cain and Abel present another type wrapped in curiosity and mystery. Cain acted in error repeatedly while every single act of Abel his brother was exactly apt! Today, we know that it is God who works inside of us to do what pleases him. Who then was at work in Cain, and why was that? Does it imply that his case was, like Esau, cast in concrete, the day he was born?
Some preachers have attempted to solve this puzzle. Cain brought crops while Abel gave God what pleased Him, the flesh and blood of animals! And Perhaps!! It would seem to me that even if the duo had swapped places, Cain would still have probably landed in the same place! His frustration drove him to commit the ultimate sin, which was to murder his brother.
Moses and Aaron were both sons of a woman of Levi named Jochebed. Aaron was the elder. We recall this incidence at the foothill of Sinai where, in Moses’s absence, the people went full throttle into idolatry and much worse. On that day, a man consecrated to wear the holy garments, to offer sacrifices in the most Holy place, made himself the Chief Priest of Baal, overseeing one of the most unsightly transgressions committed by Israel in all their history! And yet, God barely mentioned his terrible error. Aaron, as far as we know, got away with what would seem a mere pat on the back. There is no record of his paying any direct price even while God brought the whole congregation to book. Now compare to what Moses did at the waters of Meriba when God brought water out of a rock! He was asked to go, he went. Speak to the rock, but came under pressure from the people, most of whom could have borne a DNA similar to that of Nigerians! Their horrendous complaints pushed the meek and gentle man into striking the Rock instead. It was the very first brush Moses would have with God’s law. Moreover, he had acted this same scene before, where he was instructed to smite the Rock, and everything was alright! God’s sentence was swift and direct: he would not set foot in the Promised Land!!
Now let’s examine the pair of Uzzah who died attempting to save the ark from falling and Obed-Edom whom God blessed greatly for caring for the very same ark! We come to the Baker and the Butler. The two men offended Pharaoh, probably over the same issue, were placed in the same prison, dreamed a similar dream the same night, but wound up in situations as disparate as the North and South Poles!
Judas Iscariot and Peter are our next example. Talk about denying Jesus? Both were culpable! One received a reprieve, the other was utterly condemned. I will put Manasseh and Ephraim in this same procession of duos with seeming undeserved opposite endings.
All one can say is, don’t follow anyone to sin! Your own cup may fill up quick while the other person’s cup is in fact a mug! Don’t say, someone I know did it. There is unresolved mystery to some of these issues. My candid advice, follow God with your whole heart and mind and do what you know to be right.
King Saul must have had a long rope indeed. Please explain it to me: he sought to take David’s life for over thirteen years and was a few times rather close to achieving it. He destroyed the whole city of the Levites with no known immediate repercussion. Yet, Nabal of Carmel insulted David just once and was done. He was dead in only a matter of days!
