I Know, but Cannot

Copyright © 2011 by Emmanuel Oghenebrorhie.

ISBN: Softcover    978-1-4568-3825-6

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Appreciation

Introduction

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

Author’s Other Published Titles

Dedication

To Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Appreciation

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

God bless Cletus Okuguni my editorial assistant and Mrs Yvonne Olatunbosun who served as editorial consultant. Rev Philip Olukunle’s friendship is highly appreciated. May God swell your heavenly accounts richly, in Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

Introduction

Yes and No answers at the same time on the same issue questioned would be considered abnormal. However, we experience it daily. Saul allowed anyone to remove the reproach which Goliath constituted with some promises to whoever does, but when it was time to fulfil the promise, he backed because of the benefiting individual. Abraham loved the excellent services which Eliezer, native of Damascus who was born in his household rendered, but would not accept that it was enough reason for him to become his heir successor. This is part of the integral troubles of this life we live. A man loved his deputy, but when it was time to handover he stage-managed his tribesman who was third in command to succeed him. Unfortunately, the kinsman cared less about his kindness and made his retirement a nightmare. He stopped all his entitlements as a retired MD and he wallowed in regrets. He had offended Peter to please Paul, only for Paul to cause him pains. Under such circumstances, honestly speaking, what do you do? Accept your frustrating fate as punishment for shortchanging your faithful deputy for years? Blame the ungrateful kinsman, and ask God why He allowed you to make such mistake? Blame your tribal sentiment? What exactly do you do?

When Genesis 15:12-17 and 50:22-26, Psalms 105:16-24 and Acts 7:14 say—

12  When the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and fear and terror came over him. 13 The LORD said to him, Your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land; they will be slaves there and will be treated cruelly for four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and when they leave that foreign land, they will take great wealth with them. 15 You yourself will live to a ripe old age, die in peace, and be buried. 16 It will be four generations before your descendants come back here, because I will not drive out the Amorites until they become so wicked that they must be punished. 17 When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch suddenly appeared and passed between the pieces of the animals.

22  Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father’s family; he was a hundred and ten years old when he died. 23 He lived to see Ephraim’s children and grandchildren. He also lived to receive the children of Machir son of Manasseh into the family. 24 He said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will certainly take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land he solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 Then Joseph asked his people to make a vow. Promise me, he said, that when God leads you to that land, you will take my body with you. 26 So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of a hundred and ten. They embalmed his body and put it in a coffin.

16  The LORD sent famine to their country and took away all their food. 17 But he sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who had been sold as a slave. 18 His feet were kept in chains, and an iron collar was around his neck, 19 until what he had predicted came true. The word of the LORD proved him right. 20 Then the king of Egypt had him released; the ruler of nations set him free. 21 He put him in charge of his government and made him ruler over all the land, 22 with power over the king’s officials and authority to instruct his advisers. 23 Then Jacob went to Egypt and settled in that country. 24 The LORD gave many children to his people and made them stronger than their enemies.

14  So Joseph sent a message to his father Jacob, telling him and the whole family, seventy-five people in all, to come to Egypt. (TEV)

It means that some day, the Israelites would leave Egypt but it was not Joseph’s schedule of duty by God to do it. We can deduce three reasons from the above passages why Joseph could not use his position of Prime Minister to free the Israelites, even when he knew that it was not God’s will for them to live there forever. Firstly, God had told their ancestor Abraham that it would be 400 years sojourn, and it was not yet time. Secondly, the land of Canaan that they would return to possess was still allowed to belong to the Canaanites, the descendants of Noah’s cursed eldest son Ham. God had set a time of grace before they could be punished and it was not yet expired. Their cup of evil and disobedience was not full and overflowing. It is like the tenants (occupants) of the house you are to possess have not moved out because the deadline given the occupant is not expired, but it has been reallocated to you. The earth and its fullness belongs to God, so He could reassign any part of it to anyone who pleased Him, to the detriment of whoever displeases Him. God gives such time frame for the implementation of such decisions. Those who enjoy the privilege of permanence or permanent possession are those who obey God.

Another reason is that while God ordained Joseph to take credit for leading the arrival of Abraham’s covenant descendants, the Israelites into Egypt, He had preplanned that the household of Amram, led by Moses, Aaron and their eldest sister Miriam, would take the credit for leading them out at the time He had ordained. Only He decides His purpose, proper period, as well as proper person(s) and of course, pattern to achieve the planned purpose. He did not intend that Joseph would live until it would be time for them to be taken out of Egypt. He did not have Noah’s privilege that started his purpose at 601 years old and lived another 350 years after. Joseph lived for only 110 years, compared to Noah’s 950 years. Moses lived for 120 years. Another reason we are told in Acts 7:14 is that God waited for the population of the Israelites to be sizeable enough so that they would have enough population to start a formidable nation in Canaan. Exodus 12:37, Numbers 11:21 and Deuteronomy 1:46, 2:1 and 13-18 say—

37  The Israelites set out on foot from Rameses for Sukkoth. There were about 600,000 men, not counting women and children.

21  Moses said to the LORD, "Here I am leading 600,000 people, and you say that you will give them enough meat for a month?

46  "So then, after we had stayed at Kadesh for a long time,

1  we finally turned and went into the desert, on the road to the Gulf of Aqaba, as the LORD had commanded, and we spent a long time wandering about in the hill country of Edom.

13  Then we crossed the Zered River as the LORD told us to do. 14 This was thirty-eight years after we had left Kadesh Barnea. All the fighting men of that generation had died, as the LORD had said they would. 15 The LORD kept on opposing them until he had destroyed them all. 16 After they had all died, 17 the LORD said to us, 18 ‘Today you are to pass through the territory of Moab by way of Ar. (TEV)

These were battle ready men, excluding women and children which would have been obviously more. Expert demographers would be able to give a good estimate of their possible total population size. Some Bible Scholars have said they could not have been less than two million people. It sounds like a sensible estimate. The meaning of this figure in relation to its summary in Acts 7:14 is that God had a population size in mind when He spoke to Abraham in Genesis 15:12-17. This is more so when Deuteronomy 7:1-2 and 16-22 says—

1  "The LORD your God will bring you into the land that you are going to occupy, and he will drive many nations out of it. As you advance, he will drive out seven nations larger and more powerful than you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 2 When the LORD your God places these people in your power and you defeat them, you must put them all to death. Do not make an alliance with them or show them any mercy.

16  Destroy every nation that the LORD your God places in your power, and do not show them any mercy. Do not worship their gods, for that would be fatal. 17 "Do not tell yourselves that these peoples outnumber you and that you cannot drive them out. 18 Do not be afraid of them; remember what the LORD your God did to the king of Egypt and to all his people. 19 Remember the terrible plagues that you saw with your own eyes, the miracles and wonders, and the great power and strength by which the LORD your God set you free. In the same way that he destroyed the Egyptians, he will destroy all these people that you now fear. 20 He will even cause panic among them and will destroy those who escape and go into hiding. 21 So do not be afraid of these people. The LORD your God is with you; he is a great God and one to be feared. 22 Little by little he will drive out these nations as you advance. You will not be able to destroy them all at once, for, if you did, the number of wild animals would increase and be a threat to you. (TEV)

No doubt, verse 22 is crucial as it suggests that their population determined what size of the land of Canaan God gave to them at a time or generation. It meant that of any generation adopted the policy of small family size like Joseph, Isaac and Moses did by having only a small family size of husband, wife and two children, their territorial expansion would be limited because God would help them to claim more land according to their population growth. Therefore, could it be that it was because David had many wives, concubines and numerous children that partly contributed to the reason God helped him to conquer more lands or the remaining lands according to the territorial description He indicated to Moses and Joshua? If reversed, could it be that because God helped him to win the battles to reclaim the land described by God originally that he married many wives and concubines to have many children and God said in II Samuel 12:7-9 that if he wanted more, He would have given him double the household size he had? Only God can answer this question. Only David can tell why he opted for a very huge family when his three predecessors—Eli, Samuel and Saul had small and average family sizes. Eli and Samuel were known to have had a wife and two sons. Saul had a wife who bore him four sons and two daughters and a concubine who bore him two sons. David never took after them in this respect.

1

Genesis 47:-31, 49:29-33 and 50:1-14 tell the story of the last moments of Jacob and his eventual death and burial in Canaan. It was facilitated by his children, spearheaded by Joseph who was Prime Minister of Egypt at the time. He had demanded that he be buried alongside his father, grandfather, mother and paternal grandmother and his unloved wife, Leah, in Canaan. This wish was carried out to the letter or even more than he had desired and to the amazement of the Canaanites. Bearing in mind that Genesis 48:21-22 and 50:24-26, Joshua 24:32, Acts 7:15-16 and Hebrews 11:22 say—

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.

24  He said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will certainly take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land he solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 Then Joseph asked his people to make a vow. Promise me, he said, that when God leads you to that land, you will take my body with you. 26 So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of a hundred and ten. They embalmed his body and put it in a coffin.

32  The body of Joseph, which the people of Israel had brought from Egypt, was buried at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver. This land was inherited by Joseph’s descendants.

15  Then Jacob went to Egypt, where he and his sons died. 16 Their bodies were taken to Shechem, where they were buried in the grave which Abraham had bought from the clan of Hamor for a sum of money.

22  It was faith that made Joseph, when he was about to die, speak of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, and leave instructions about what should be done with his body. (TEV)

It can be inferred that though Joseph knew that his siblings, like their father and ancestors were buried in Canaan and he would love to be buried in Canaan also, the persons he was leaving behind were not capable of doing what he had ensured was done to the delight of their father and older brothers. It suggests that even his younger brother Benjamin died and was taken to Canaan for burial before he died. Being buried in Canaan was important to him, but he knew he was leaving a group of people who lacked the ability (or lacked God given ability) to carry out his wish in his absence. If only you can just indulge me for a moment—should God have given them the capability to fulfil their obligation to their kinsman hero Joseph whom God used to give them regard and relevance in Egypt? There is no record that Joseph asked before God made him capable by making him great enough to give the kind of burial his father and brothers desired.

Why did God not empower those who survived Joseph so they could take his body to Canaan immediately he died? Why was any of Joseph’s children who were grandfathers by this time not able to do it for their father, like he did for their grandfather and uncles? Why did they not ask God to make them capable like their father? Why did Joseph not foresee the fact that there seemed to be no one capable to take him back to Canaan to bury and plan ahead? After all, the issue of preferred burial place being Canaan had been on since the time of his father, and Genesis 41:45-46 and 53-57, 45:4-11, 47:7-9 and 27-28 and 50:22-26 confirm that he was 56 years old when his father died. His father mentioned it and he lived for the next 54 years, during which Acts 7:15-16 confirms that like their father, his eleven brothers were taken to Canaan to bury. So he should have thought about it for himself in advance. We shall not digress into the thought that I consider as The Strong Man’s Misfortune. One of the greatest misfortunes of the strong is that they hardly have anyone to do for them what they used their God given strength to do for others’ benefit. A strong man might help others rise up in any form but when he falls, he might not have a strong man to help him because those around him are not strong enough to lift him up at his level. When Job got his sickening season, he did not find even a man to help him even when he had helped others when he was strong. Some deserted him, some mocked him, his three friends who came around to see him castigated him and his dead sons for being responsible for their predicament

This is an area where he acted like a typical motor park tout who arranges a commercial motor park travel vehicle for others but never get to travel for once. He got credit for arranging a befitting burial for all his siblings but never made any advanced arrangement for himself and never had any to do it for him upon his own death. The tortuous truth is that compared to what Genesis 50:1-14 reports that he did for his father’s funeral or was done by the Egyptians for his sake, and considering his status of Prime Minister in the 80 years of his life, Joseph never got the kind of befitting burial commensurate with his social status. Meanwhile, Ecclesiastes 6:3-6 says—

3 A man may have a hundred children and live a long time, but no matter how long he lives, if he does not get his share of happiness and does not receive a decent burial, then I say that a baby born dead is better off. 4 It does that baby no good to be born; it disappears into darkness, where it is forgotten. 5 It never sees the light of day or knows what life is like, but at least it has found rest—6 more so than the man who never enjoys life, though he may live two thousand years. After all, both of them are going to the same place. (TEV)

Since Joshua and his generation knew that the land of Shechem was his estate from Jacob, then the generation Jacob left behind could not claim that they did not know where to bury him in Canaan. So why did they not take him there? Were they expecting the Egyptians to do it again for them since he served them faithfully? Why did they not approach the Egyptians to propose it to them? Was it because they lacked the confidence to approach the Egyptians? But his children, Manasseh and Ephraim were Egyptians maternally. In most cases, strong men and women hardly leave a strong child behind. Their greatness has the problem of their children over-depending on them, to the extent that when they die, there is hardly a capable child to give them a commendable farewell from this world. Joseph looked out for all others except himself. Why did he not take a vacation and travel to Shechem or where his father and brothers were buried so that once he died, he could be buried there? There would be no hassles of the cost of taking his body back to Canaan. May the all-knowing God Almighty help us all in Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

He was so addicted to working for the benefit of others that he never learnt to work for his own benefit. Take food to your brothers, he jumped at it though they hated him to the point of death. He served Potiphar faithfully and only Potiphar thought he should be rewarded with promotion. He repeated the same thing in prison. He got only what Pharaoh gave him in the palace. He enslaved the Egyptians to Pharaoh. He never used the position to enrich himself in the least way. After giving his father and brothers a befitting burial, if his sons and nephews did not do it for him, he cared less. Maybe that was how God foreordained him and his likes to live through life, with no iota of personal interest in whatever they do. The Shechem he got was given by his father at the expense of his elder brothers Simeon and Levi, who used their swords backed by their anger to claim it. He seemed never to regard the land of Shechem so much that he ever went to take a look at it.

Jeremiah 34-43 is not one of the most pleasant Bible passages at all. These chapters recount the nauseating events that culminated in the captivity of the Jews in Babylon for seventy years. This meant that though God meant Jeremiah to warn the people to repent so He could spare them the agony of this captivity, Jeremiah failed to achieve it. And it sounds like he failed in his God-assigned, lifelong duty. Also important is that he was the lone voice of reason in his generation. He had the most pathetic assignment. He cried until he was hoarse and those who should have listened did not. In fact, they made repeated attempts on his life. None understood what he meant.

I do not know how it would sound to sanctimonious religious souls, but it seemed that he ended as a extinguished lone voice in his generation. What do you do or could you do when your very best seemed to have failed to achieve the preferred result—the kind of result that you could boast about? Jeremiah’s solution was to express his disgust in the Bible book of Lamentations. May the Good Lord spare you and me the agony of last minute lamentations in this laughable life we live, in Jesus’ mighty name, Amen. He took after Solomon in this regard. After all the greatness and pleasure-seeking lifestyle, Ecclesiastes 1 and 2 say that Solomon was sad that he had no hope of a capable son to inherit him. He was not sure of what would become of his legacies, like his father was quite happy with having him as a capable successor, committing him into God’s hand and commending him to the leaders of Israel to give him all the necessary support.

There is what I call the lone voice and Jeremiah was an unfortunate one. Our only consolation is that God ordained it, so He could not say that he failed in his responsibility. He was not as fortunate as Jonah, and John the Baptist. The people felt that Jeremiah could not come to tell them what to do under the guise that God sent him. I Kings 22 says that Prophet Micaiah was the lone voice in Israel just before King Ahab went to die in war. People went to hear John the Baptist in the wilderness but Jeremiah took his God-given message to the people, yet they abhorred him.

Therefore, it would be necessary to consider why any one would disregard Jeremiah’s warnings. Jeremiah 1 says—

1 This book is the account of what was said by Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests of the town of Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. 2 The LORD spoke to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah, 3 and he spoke to him again when Josiah’s son Jehoiakim was king. After that, the LORD spoke to him many times, until the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah. In the fifth month of that year the people of Jerusalem were taken into exile. 4 The LORD said to me, 5 I chose you before I gave you life, and before you were born I selected you to be a prophet to the nations. 6 I answered, Sovereign LORD, I don’t know how to speak; I am too young. 7 But the LORD said to me, Do not say that you are too young, but go to the people I send you to, and tell them everything I command you to say. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I will be with you to protect you. I, the LORD, have spoken! 9 Then the LORD reached out, touched my lips, and said to me, Listen, I am giving you the words you must speak. 10 Today I give you authority over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. 11 The LORD asked me, Jeremiah, what do you see? I answered, A branch of an almond tree. 12 You are right, the LORD said, and I am watching to see that my words come true. 13 Then the LORD spoke to me again. What else do you see? he asked. I answered, I see a pot boiling in the north, and it is about to tip over this way. 14 He said to me, Destruction will boil over from the north on all who live in this land, 15 because I am calling all the nations in the north to come. Their kings will set up their thrones at the gates of Jerusalem and around its walls and also around the other cities of Judah. 16 I will punish my people because they have sinned; they have abandoned me, have offered sacrifices to other gods, and have made idols and worshiped them. 17 Get ready, Jeremiah; go and tell them everything I command you to say. Do not be afraid of them now, or I will make you even more afraid when you are with them. 18-19 Listen, Jeremiah! Everyone in this land—the kings of Judah, the officials, the priests, and the people—will be against you. But today I am giving you the strength to resist them; you will be like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. They will not defeat you, for I will be with you to protect you. I, the LORD, have spoken. (TEV)

This meant that God had foreordained that they would not listen to Jeremiah so He would have a reason to punish them. There is no doubt that we cannot query God’s action. That is not to say that He does not or might not have a legitimate reason for His action in this respect. II Kings 20:1-19, 23:24-27 and 24:1-4, II Chronicles 33 and Jeremiah 15 give an idea of why God was unforgivably angry with this generation. It was rooted in the times of King Hezekiah and his son Manasseh of Judah. A minister calls him Monstrous Manasseh.

It is like when Exodus 3 and 4 says that while God was commissioning Moses to return to lead the freeing of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, He told Moses that Pharaoh would not let the people go back to Canaan. It is easier for people to heed warnings if God has decided to help them. Until the time He had set to punish Nebuchadnezzar, which was seven years of living among and like animals in the wild, Nebuchadnezzar never came to his senses to become humble and acknowledge the Lord God as the Alpha and Omega. This is not to say that everyone who is recalcitrant is made to do so by God.

Zedekiah was king of Judah at the time and he could call Jeremiah to find out God’s will but he never did it to benefit himself and his subjects. He could not say that Jeremiah fabricated the stories or the Lord’s warnings but his inability to sum up courage to implement God’s instructions was his greatest undoing. It amounts to knowing but not doing something that would benefit you. There are many who want to be great but cannot make the necessary sacrifices. Daniel and his famous three Hebrew friends named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego denied themselves the king’s supposed sumptuous food for three years and God used it as a basis to give them wisdom and understanding, which caused the great King Nebuchadnezzar to consider them superior to their peers in his palace.

Jeremiah 15:10-21 and 16:1-9 say—

10 What an unhappy man I am! Why did my mother bring me into the world? I have to quarrel and argue with everyone in the land. I have not lent any money or borrowed any; yet everyone curses me. 11 LORD, may all their curses come true if I have not served you well, if I have not pleaded with you on behalf of my enemies when they were in trouble and distress. 12 (No one can break iron, especially the iron from the north that is mixed with bronze.) 13 The LORD said to me, I will send enemies to carry away the wealth and treasures of my people, in order to punish them for the sins they have committed throughout the land. 14 I will make them serve their enemies in a land they know nothing about, because my anger is like fire, and it will burn forever. 15 Then I said, "LORD, you understand. Remember me and help me. Let me have revenge on those who persecute me. Do not be so patient with them that they succeed in killing me. Remember that it is for your sake that I am insulted. 16 You spoke to me, and I listened to every word. I belong to you, LORD God Almighty, and so your words filled my heart with