Their Mindsets

Copyright © 2010 by Emmanuel Oghenebrorhie.

ISBN: Softcover    978-1-4568-2805-9

ISBN: Ebook        978-1-4568-2806-6

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Unless otherwise indicated, scriptures are from the Good News Bible (GNB) also known as Today’s English Version (TEV), King James Version (KJV), New King James Version (NKJV) and Revised Standard Version (RSV).

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Appreciation

Introduction

1  Masculine mentality

2  Women’s wisdom and Ways

3  Eldest sons’ sensibilities

4  Rulers’ reasoning

5  Natives’ common mentality

6  Achievers’ Mindset

7  Monstrous messianic mentality

8  Human motive mentality

9  Competitiveness

10  Religious rulers’ mindsets

11  Militants’ mindset

12  Regimentalists’

13  Professionals’ presumptions

14  Finally

Author’s Other Published Titles

Dedication

Cletus O. Okuguni

Appreciation

All glory to God that this is available for others to read. Lord, everything in this call and commission is your doing and it is marvellous in my eyes.

God bless Cletus Okuguni for serving as editorial assistant. Mrs Yvonne Olatunbosun who served as editorial consultant. Ranti Olumoroti’s friendship is highly appreciated. May God swell your heavenly account richly, in Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

Introduction

When I served as pastor, one of my lieutenants told me something that made an impression. The lieutenant who told me this vital point had been born and raised near an army barracks. We had a church member who was militant in her approach to life and things. Whenever there was any conflict she was quick to boast that she would call in her police officer aunt to deal with the offender. On this occasion, someone duped her and she boasted that she would contact her aunt to arrest the individual immediately. I did my best to pacify her before she left us.

Afterwards, this lieutenant told me not to think about her attitude because she is the daughter of a retired police officer who was born and bred in the barracks. From his personal interaction with barrack children as he called them, they think that they have the community at their mercy because their parents or relatives are law enforcement agents and could use their position to punish whoever offends them. This opened my understanding to the reason she was militant and quick to boast about what she could do to afflict whoever offended her.

Secondly, II Samuel 6:1-12 and I Chronicles 15:11-15 and 16:1-3 say—

1  Once more David called together the best soldiers in Israel, a total of thirty thousand men, 2 and led them to Baalah in Judah, in order to bring from there God’s Covenant Box, bearing the name of the LORD Almighty, whose throne is above the winged creatures. 3 They took it from Abinadab’s home on the hill and placed it on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart, 4 with Ahio walking in front. 5 David and all the Israelites were dancing and singing with all their might to honor the LORD. They were playing harps, lyres, drums, rattles, and cymbals. 6 As they came to the threshing place of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Covenant Box. 7 At once the LORD God became angry with Uzzah and killed him because of his irreverence. Uzzah died there beside the Covenant Box, 8 and so that place has been called Perez Uzzah ever since. David was furious because the LORD had punished Uzzah in anger. 9 Then David was afraid of the LORD and said, How can I take the Covenant Box with me now? 10 So he decided not to take it with him to Jerusalem; instead, he turned off the road and took it to the house of Obed Edom, a native of the city of Gath. 11 It stayed there three months, and the LORD blessed Obed Edom and his family. 12 King David heard that because of the Covenant Box the LORD had blessed Obed Edom’s family and all that he had; so he got the Covenant Box from Obed’s house to take it to Jerusalem with a great celebration.

11  David called in the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the six Levites, Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. 12 He said to the Levites, You are the leaders of the Levite clans. Purify yourselves and your fellow Levites, so that you can bring the Covenant Box of the LORD God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. 13 Because you were not there to carry it the first time, the LORD our God punished us for not worshiping him as we should have done. 14 Then the priests and the Levites purified themselves in order to move the Covenant Box of the LORD God of Israel. 15 The Levites carried it on poles on their shoulders, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.

1  They took the Covenant Box to the tent which David had prepared for it and put it inside. Then they offered sacrifices and fellowship offerings to God. 2 After David had finished offering the sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD 3 and distributed food to them all. He gave each man and woman in Israel a loaf of bread, a piece of roasted meat, and some raisins. (TEV)

We see what can be called a muzzling military mindset. Because of David’s military background, he decided to carry out a purely religious responsibility with his military constituency members. The Covenant Box was the symbol of their religious life. But he chose to consult with his army commanders to move it to his palace. God did not take kindly to this. II Samuel 5:1-16 says—

1 Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and said to him, We are your own flesh and blood. 2 In the past, even when Saul was still our king, you led the people of Israel in battle, and the LORD promised you that you would lead his people and be their ruler. 3 So all the leaders of Israel came to King David at Hebron. He made a sacred alliance with them, they anointed him, and he became king of Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he ruled for forty years. 5 He ruled in Hebron over Judah for seven and a half years, and in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years. 6 The time came when King David and his men set out to attack Jerusalem. The Jebusites, who lived there, thought that David would not be able to conquer the city, and so they said to him, You will never get in here; even the blind and the crippled could keep you out. 7 (But David did capture their fortress of Zion, and it became known as David’s City.) 8 That day David said to his men, Does anybody here hate the Jebusites as much as I do? Enough to kill them? Then go up through the water tunnel and attack those poor blind cripples. (That is why it is said, The blind and the crippled cannot enter the LORD’s house.) 9 After capturing the fortress, David lived in it and named it David’s City. He built the city around it, starting at the place where land was filled in on the east side of the hill. 10 He grew stronger all the time, because the LORD God Almighty was with him. 11 King Hiram of Tyre sent a trade mission to David; he provided him with cedar logs and with carpenters and stone masons to build a palace. 12 And so David realized that the LORD had established him as king of Israel and was making his kingdom prosperous for the sake of his people. 13 After moving from Hebron to Jerusalem, David took more concubines and wives, and had more sons and daughters. 14 The following children were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet. (TEV)

Some said that an army officer told him that soldiers’ greatest professional challenges are www which means war, women and wine. David had been described as God’s beloved or a man in whom God greatly delighted just as it is said that when Jesus came out of the water upon being baptized, a voice spoke from heaven, ‘this is my beloved son, in whom I delight, everyone should listen to Him. However, much as God delighted in David, we see him behave like a typical soldier. Despite that God did not tell him that after becoming king, he should marry more wives, we see that upon defeating the Jebusites to take over their famous city of Jerusalem, and building a befitting palace, he set out to celebrate his achievement by marrying more wives and having more children. I Samuel 30 says that the Amalekites who looted David’s first camp named Ziklag were celebrating riotously when David and his four hundred warriors swooped on them and destroyed them. That leads to the subject of success and victory and vain celebration. But we shall not delve into details in this respect. Also, we shall not consider what I call Warriors’ Wearisome Ways" right away.

1

Masculine mentality

Since they say that charity begins at home, I would like to start with what I call Men’s Mindsets. Genesis 16:1-6 and 15-16 and I Samuel 1:1-8 say—

1 Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne him any children. But she had an Egyptian slave girl named Hagar, 2 and so she said to Abram, The Lord has kept me from having children. Why don’t you sleep with my slave girl? Perhaps she can have a child for me. Abram agreed with what Sarai said. 3 So she gave Hagar to him to be his concubine. (This happened after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years.) 4 Abram had intercourse with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she found out that she was pregnant, she became proud and despised Sarai. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, It’s your fault that Hagar despises me. I myself gave her to you, and ever since she found out that she was pregnant, she has despised me. May the Lord judge which of us is right, you or me! 6 Abram answered, Very well, she is your slave and under your control; do whatever you want with her. Then Sarai treated Hagar so cruelly that she ran away. 15 Hagar bore Abram a son, and he named him Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old at the time.

1 There was a man named Elkanah, from the tribe of Ephraim, who lived in the town of Ramah in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham and grandson of Elihu, and belonged to the family of Tohu, a part of the clan of Zuph. 2 Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not. 3 Every year Elkanah went from Ramah to worship and offer sacrifices to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. 4 Each time Elkanah offered his sacrifice, he would give one share of the meat to Peninnah and one share to each of her children. 5 And even though he loved Hannah very much he would give her only one share, because the Lord had kept her from having children. 6 Peninnah, her rival, would torment and humiliate her, because the Lord had kept her childless. 7 This went on year after year; whenever they went to the house of the Lord, Peninnah would upset Hannah so much that she would cry and refuse to eat anything. 8 Her husband Elkanah would ask her, Hannah, why are you crying? Why won’t you eat? Why are you always so sad? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons? (TEV)

These were two men in different generations, yet, they handled the same issue the very same way. They could not sum up courage to caution the women that gave them the joy of fatherhood in order to please one woman or their wives, because they loved them. They may not have loved these other wives or concubines, but the mere fact that they were able to make them a father made up for every other flaw or offence they might commit. Their wives had to live with that reality inevitably.

There was a reason Genesis 30 started with the fact that one day, Rachel went to Jacob and said that if he does not give her children, she would commit suicide. She must have seen that though Jacob did not love Leah, he gave her attention because of the children she bore him. The wisest thing that such women could do is to plead with God to give them children, otherwise they would be seriously disappointed because their husbands would not change. In this respect, Genesis 29:31-35 and 30:1-8 say—

31  When the LORD saw that Leah was loved less than Rachel, he made it possible for her to have children, but Rachel remained childless. 32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, The LORD has seen my trouble, and now my husband will love me; so she named him Reuben. 33 She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, The LORD has given me this son also, because he heard that I was not loved; so she named him Simeon. 34 Once again she became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She said, Now my husband will be bound more tightly to me, because I have borne him three sons; so she named him Levi. 35 Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, This time I will praise the LORD; so she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

1  But Rachel had not borne Jacob any children, and so she became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, Give me children, or I will die. 2 Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, I can’t take the place of God. He is the one who keeps you from having children. 3 She said, Here is my slave girl Bilhah; sleep with her, so that she can have a child for me. In this way I can become a mother through her. 4 So she gave Bilhah to her husband, and he had intercourse with her. 5 Bilhah became pregnant and bore Jacob a son. 6 Rachel said, God has judged in my favor. He has heard my prayer and has given me a son; so she named him Dan. 7 Bilhah became pregnant again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 Rachel said, I have fought a hard fight with my sister, but I have won; so she named him Naphtali. (TEV)

Even Jacob whom claimed to love Rachel did not care enough to pray for her though he knew that he was responsible for her barrenness. Perhaps, it was because he knew that it was because he did not love Leah that God made Leah fruitful and Rachel whom he loved, fruitless. He was not ready to own up to his fault and ask God for forgiveness and mercy. When Rachel gave her maid to be his concubine, Jacob should have objected and told Rachel to resort to the better solution of prayer, which she did later on, when Genesis 30:22 says—

22 Then God remembered Rachel; he answered her prayer and made it possible for her to have children. (TEV)

If Jacob had led Rachel to this optimum option earlier, she would have had her six sons, just like Leah. One other issue that arises here is the subject of when the solution to your problem is known to someone else other than you. It is a pity to say that you would have to be at the mercy of such a person. Honestly, only Jacob knows why he waited until Rachel sought his help in frustration before pointing her to God. Since he knew, he should have either prayed for her or if he was so busy working for Laban, he should have hinted her and let her do the praying, like the famous case of Hannah. Since Proverbs 30:15-16 says—

15 A leech has two daughters, and both are named Give me! There are four things that are never satisfied: 16 the world of the dead, a woman without children, dry ground that needs rain, and a fire burning out of control. (TEV)

We can safely say that Rachel would have pressured Jacob for intimate relationship quite frequently. He should have told her that if they would not be wasting their efforts, she should resolve the real cause of the delayed conception and child birth with God first. Since she was eager to have a child, she would have done whatever Jacob told her. When your solution is with another individual, you are forced to be at the mercy of such an individual and his personal mindset and attitude would naturally affect you. It is unfortunate to say that Jacob never grew up helping anyone to resolve his problem or add value and happiness to anyone’s life. He was used to getting from people anyhow and by all means. He had this belief and style of the end justifies the means. Since he was never used to helping others he never knew how to help even his beloved wife. The best he could do for his wife was to have intercourse with her, but to go the extra mile to pray because she was still unable to conceive is part of his duty.

The food he used to get Esau’s birthright and generational blessing was not provided by him. Particularly, the food stuffs were never provided by him because he never went out to do any tedious job. He was always at home. The pottage he used to swindle Esau was specially made with the aim of swindling Esau because he did not like it personally. Esau was famous for loving it, so why did he cook it to coincide with the time that Esau usually returned from the fields very hungry. The food he used to deceive his father was cooked by his mother. The goat he slaughtered belonged to his father. Whoever is not used to doing things for others would not even know how to do it for those he or she has a responsibility for.

Also, if you have to depend on persons who abhor being a blessing to others to resolve your problems, it may take you longer than necessary. Leah had six sons and a daughter before Rachel ever had her first child. It is important to note that Genesis 30:14-21 says that at a point, Leah too had to pray before she bore her fifth and sixth sons. Yet, she had them before Rachel. It suggests that it was the same Leah whom they abhorred who taught Rachel to pray to God for a child. It was when she realised that it was possible for a woman to pray for a child without the support of her husband and get pregnant that she followed suit. You are better off without those who do not believe in helping others but getting from them always.

The land of Shechem which he gave to Joseph later on, it was Simeon and Levi who used their swords to collect it from the Shechemites, yet, he exercised authority over it and gave it to Joseph while he cursed those who obtained it. Genesis 48 exposes the peak of the ridiculous attitude of Jacob. Verses 5-7 and 21-22 says—

5 Jacob continued, Joseph, your two sons, who were born to you in Egypt before I came here, belong to me; Ephraim and Manasseh are just as much my sons as Reuben and Simeon. 6 If you have any more sons, they will not be considered mine; the inheritance they get will come through Ephraim and Manasseh. 7 I am doing this because of your mother Rachel. To my great sorrow she died in the land of Canaan, not far from Ephrath, as I was returning from Mesopotamia. I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath. (Ephrath is now known as Bethlehem.) 21 Then Jacob said to Joseph, As you see, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will take you back to the land of your ancestors. 22 It is to you and not to your brothers that I am giving Shechem, that fertile region which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow. (TEV)

This is outrageous and in fact, most outrageous. How does one reconcile this information in verses 5, 6 and 7 with Genesis 30:1-8 and 22-24 considering the same Rachel he refused to pray for and she had to pray to God to give her a child personally without Jacob’s help, he now claims to give two sons when she had died? Meanwhile, they were sons born to Joseph.

Now, it is ridiculous that he despised and downgraded Reuben and Simeon in the process of doing this. But that is even another issue entirely. If he wanted Rachel to have more children, why wait to give children born and nurtured by Joseph to her. He should have done it earlier by praying for her. In fact, if he stopped meeting Leah and started praying for Rachel, it would be understandable that it was because he truly loved Rachel though God frowned at it.

If someone must help others, he should not form the habit of using what belongs to others to help, it is perhaps worse than what is believed commonly as Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Rachel was dead, so he could say that she knew that he was proving his love for her. Rachel could never appreciate it because she was no longer alive. But like we said earlier, Jacob was used to using other people’s valuables to show kindness to others and thereby give the false impression that he was very kind and compassionate.

The other verses, 21 and 22 says that he gave the entire land of Shechem to Joseph and claimed that he used his sword to get it from the Shechemites. For goodness sake, it was Simeon and Levi who did. Genesis 33:18-20 says that he bought only a portion from them when he returned from Laban’s home in Haran also known as Pandan-Aram of Mesopotamia. It was after Simeon and Levi destroyed the entire inhabitants of the city of Shechem that their entire land became his own. It should have belonged to the duo that destroyed the original inhabitants but in his usual way of laying claim to what belonged to others, he claimed it from his sons.

Worse still, Genesis 49:1-28 includes the fact that he cursed them for this action, yet, he would not leave the land they claimed for them. May the good Lord deliver you from persons who specialize in claiming what is yours and afflicting you over it, in Jesus mighty name, Amen. I pray for you that He would put a barrier between you and those who would take the product of your labour to bless others and give them the impression that they are kind and compassionate while others think that you are the unkind and evil individual. You know that there are several of such persons in every generation.

When Genesis 25:1-9 and Matthew 1:18-25 say—

1 Abraham married another woman, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan, and the descendants of