12/12/2023
The whole Bible is a book about relationships as it records JHWH dealing with mankind whom He created in His Image and according to His likeness so much in it is written about relationships our relationships with our own brothers, our relationship with our siblings, our relationship with our parents and our relationship with those in authority etc etc.
The central theme of the Bible or Scripture is relationships from Genesis to Revelation which is why in the beginning we find a relationship between a men and a women in a marriage covenant and at the end we also find the marriage between the Messiah and His bride called the Church.
The challenge in our world and society today can be trace back to broken relationships or relationship that are not functioning as Elohim had intended starting with children who were born in broken families in which either one of the parents is not there or where children who have been born suffer rejection at times even from both parents. David the king of Israel wrote. “ even if my father and mother forsake me Elohim will take me in.”
When we study the life of Israel 🇮🇱 greatest king to date we can’t help it but see how he himself suffered rejection from home 🏠 and his relationship with his brothers which sought to undermine him and later on his relationship with king Saul who also wanted to kill him, for no fault of his in regardless of the fact that David was loyal to him.
It is this same David to whom JHWH sworn an oath that according to the flesh the Messiah would come and even be called the Seed of David, but when this promise is made to David by JHWH through His prophet Nathan David had this to say to JHWH. “Although my house 🏠 is not so with Elohim, yet He has made with me and everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things and secure…” 2 Samuel 23:5
David the king also had some challenges in his house 🏠 we know about the story of his son Absalom who sought to overthrow his own father to the point that he turned even the heart of his trusted men against his own father and the men of the nation of Israel 🇮🇱. We also know the story of Amnon who r***d his own half sister Tamar in this story you can’t help it but also see another relationship and its impact of Amnon and it is that of a Friend of which I have a lot to say because in Proverbs 18:24 which tells us of a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
We are told that Jonadad Amnon’s friend was a very crafty man who gave him a crafty counsel on what to do in order to r**e his half sister of which the result ended his life brought shame to the house of king David. Psalm 1:1-6 Blessed is the man who walks in the counsel of the ungodly, not stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.” Evil company corrupts good morals. 1 Corinthians 15:33
Two years later after Amnon had done this terrible thing to his half sister Absalom his half brother killed him and David the King mourned the lose of his son Amnon while Absalom fled. But as we all know this was not the first murder to took place as recorded in scripture but the one which happened in Genesis 4 between Cain and Abel who were brothers while John the apostle in 1 John 3:10 shares more light 💡 on the subject when he writes. “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: whoever does not practise righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love ❤️ one another, nor as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous.”
Many times people are being murdered because someone is trying to cover their evil deeds so that they are not made know, but what people forget is that there is God who sees all things who is the One who said you shall not murder and the reason He said. “ Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” Genesis 9:6
Satan or the devil hates the image of God as much as he hates God which is why he is on a mission to destroy God’s image on the earth 🌍 and one of the ways he does so is to target relationships, because he knows we were born out of a concern for relationships and out of a Union of God which is called Elohim when Elohim said. “ Let Us make man in Our image and according to Our Likeness.” Genesis 1:26-28
The whole reason why you and I were created in the image of Elohim. And in the Elohim class was because Elohim wanted a family of beings who are like them who can relate with and who also can relate with Him and have fellowship with who was in their class who share in their Image which is Identity.
Relationships have the power to shape who we are and what we will become. We are highly or have been highly shaped by the relationships we come from or are in at the moment which is why we must be careful about our companionship and who we make friends with.
The scripture says the righteous must choose his friends carefully, because the way of the unrighteous leads them astray. Proverbs 12:26-27 And again says.”Make no friendship with a man that is given to anger; And with a wrathful man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, And get a snare to thy soul. Proverbs 22:22-23
Listen to Jacob talk about the anger 😠 of his sons about how deadly it is. “Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place let not my soul enter their council; let not my honor be united to their assembly; for in anger 😡 they slew a man, and in their self will they hamstrung ox, cursed be their anger 😡 for it is fierce. And their wrath, for it is cruel.
There is a covenant that is hardly spoken about today which JHWH loves and it is a covenant of brotherhood. Cain after killing is brother when JHWH asked him where is Abel he said. “ am I my brothers keeper..” and throughout history JHWH has answered this question through this covenant of brotherhood that we are our brothers keepers.
The word to keep here means to protect to take care of and to watch over your brother for his good. It also means to guard your brother from evil.
Simeon and Levi Dinah’s brother who were angry 😡 because of what Shechem had done to their sister by lay with her and for having violated her they killed all the men of the land in which they and their father dwelt.
The kind of friends you have will have a great impact on who you will be or in who you are becoming that is how powerful relationships are. And the same can be said with our relationship with Elohim. This is why when we read or study the scriptures we hear of man who walked of Elohim in actual fact the word walked with simply means who had a relationship with Elohim so the extend that they started to act and behave just like He did.
The Scripture tells us that the counsel of JHWH is with those who Fear Him and He will show them His covenant meaning His Word which is who He is. Counsel in the heart ❤️ of a man is deep so when JHWH shares His counsel with you, He is sharing what is very deep, but He doesn’t just do so with everyone that is why we read in Genesis18:17 And JHWH said shall I hide from Abraham what I AM doing..” Abraham who JHWH called His friend Isaiah 41:8 with whom He chilled and visited with we are told in Genesis18:33 that JHWH went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham also returned to his place.
This is the kind of friendship that Abraham had with JHWH I hope after reading this article you also want to be a friend with JHWH Yahshua and walk with Him just like a man walks with his friend and also talk with Him in the same way that a man talks with another man.
