Obedience.

Sometimes it can be hard to pull applicable material from all of the information about geology, geography, and archaeology that I have been given in the past few weeks. But, thankfully, God is faithful and has been showing me how incredibly important these details are. This past weekend, we went on a field study to the land of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Before coming here, I honestly had no idea where each tribe’s land was located – and I didn’t really think it mattered a whole lot. Turns out, it is really significant!

You probably know all this, but in case you’ve forgotten, Ephraim and Manasseh were not the sons of Jacob, but they were the sons of Joseph. Basically because Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son, his descendents were the most numerous and were given more land than the others. Ephraim and Manasseh were given really quality land – open to trade routes, easy access to water sources, plentiful rain, and good agricultural abilities. Throughout our whole field study, Dr. Wright continually made comments about how Ephraim and Manasseh held advantages over the land of Judah, where Jerusalem is located. Needless to say, I was confused as to why God would choose Judah for His most holy city and dwelling place instead of Ephraim and Manasseh, who were naturally so blessed. Sitting in Shiloh (the site of the first tabernacle after the conquering of the Promised Land), Dr. Wright read Psalm 78, which made all the information come together and finally make sense in my mind. The psalm tells of how God faithfully delivered His people out of Egypt and gave them a land of their own. He drove out other nations and provided for them through the whole process. Verses 56-58 tell how the people responded: they ‘tested and rebelled against the Most High God’, they ‘turned away’ and ‘acted treacherously’, they ‘provoked Him to anger’ and ‘moved Him to jealousy with their idols’. It was at that point that God moved His Holy place from Shiloh, which is in the land of Ephraim. Verses 67-69 say,

“He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves. He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth which he has founded forever.”

Ephraim and Manasseh have all the natural advantages over Judah – so to us humans, it would make sense for God to center His nation around that land – but God’s ways are not our ways. The people were rebellious and forsook God’s commands. The natural advantages did not matter. God wanted obedience from His people, and they rejected Him. Judah appears to be the least likely of all the tribes to be favored by God, but yet He chose to put His holy dwelling there.

This so clearly shows me that no matter what natural abilities I have or don’t have, God desires obedience. He can do whatever He wants with whomever He wants – and what He chooses to do might not make sense to our human minds. I want to have the attitude of being obedient to God – no matter what. ‘No matter what’ is honestly really scary to me. But I believe it is that attitude I must have in order to be fully submissive to Him.

So pray that as I learn about the Cenomanian Limestone, the Eocene, the Senonian Chalk, the watershed, the many Wadi systems, the synclines and anticlines, the Rift Valley, and the natural springs, that God would continue to reveal these incredibly important lessons. It’s so great here. I just love it.