Genesis 30:19

What effect did this family feud have upon Zebulun? Rachel was Jacob’s favourite wife, and obviously he must have spent more time with her than with Leah. It was Rachel who gave to Leah the right to sleep with her husband as a trade-off, as we saw in the story of Issachar. Then Leah again conceived and bare Jacob the sixth son, and she now thought, Surely Jacob will dwell with me. Obviously, he mustn’t have been dwelling with her very much. They were in different tents, but he preferred to dwell with Rachel than for Leah. Now that she had given birth to this 6th son, she said, Surely, he will now dwell with me.

Here was an influence that was imbedded into the DNA of this child – the desire to dwell somewhere secure. People who are in a state of insecurity, moving around a lot, eventually come to a point where they think, I’d like to settle down somewhere, somewhere I feel secure and well supported. The desire for a safe dwelling place affected Zebulon at his birth. How did this show up in his later years?

Genesis 49:13

Here Jacob prophesies that the descendants of Zebulon will dwell in a place of safety, a haven by the sea. “Let’s settle down, let’s enjoy city security.”

Deuteronomy 33:18-19

Zebulon would indeed receive rich support from the abundance of the seas – city living by the seashore. Zebulon’s desire for security was a legacy passed to him by his mother - “At least now Jacob will dwell with me.”

IN CONTRAST TO ABRAHAM’S PLAN

What are people dwelling in seaside cities most vulnerable to? Is it a good thing to dwell in cities? The sons of Jacob were to follow the plan of Abraham which is God’s plan for His children?

Hebrews 13:14

God’s people have no secure dwelling on this earth. We have no continuing city here, no place where we can say, now at last we’re going to settle down. No; we seek a city to come.

Hebrews 11:8-10

The heavenly Jerusalem. It is through the pearly gates of this city that the 144,000 will pass. We have no secure dwelling place here that is a continuing city. The children of Abraham are looking for a city which has an unshakable foundation, whose builder and maker is God. This planet in its present state is not our home.

Hebrews 11:13-16  

A dwelling place for eternity. Zebulon’s blessing was a danger to him.  Don’t become too settled. But this is what Leah was looking for, to finally settle down and dwell with her husband instead of having this ongoing conflict with her sister.  Surely now, she said, Zebulon is given to me so that my husband will dwell with me. And this stuck with Zebulon. Why is it a negative thing to settle down and dwell in cities?

DANGERS OF CITY LIVING

Life in the cities is false and artificial. The intense passion for money getting, the whirl of excitement and pleasure seeking, the thirst for display, the luxury and extravagance–all are forces that, with the great masses of mankind, are turning the mind from life’s true purpose. They are opening the door to a thousand evils. Upon the youth they have almost irresistible power. One of the most subtle and dangerous temptations that assails the children and youth in the cities is the love of pleasure. Holidays are numerous; games and horse racing draw thousands, and the whirl of excitement and pleasure attracts them away from the sober duties of life. Money that should have been saved for better uses is frittered away for amusements. {AH 135.1}

Is it safe to be city-dwellers? When you live in the country and depend upon the provisions of the land, you experience firsthand the duties and the difficulties that come with country living. As a result, you develop a different character to that developed in the midst of ease and luxury. And near the ocean, with all the indulgences that come with trade from many parts of the world, you rely on financial and not on physical labour for income, and this has a terrible effect.

The intense passion for money getting, the whirl of excitement and pleasure seeking . . . {Ibid.}

Plenty of money, plenty of time.

. . . the thirst for display, the luxury and extravagance–all are forces that, with the great masses of mankind, are turning the mind from life’s true purpose . . . One of the most subtle and dangerous temptations that assails the children and youth in the cities is the love of pleasure. {Ibid.}

And it attracts them away from the sober duties of life. We don’t want to believe that. People argue, No, no, it’s not really true. But it is true; the word of God says so. And I know it to be true. After you trust God’s word, you realise how true this is, and you begin to discover that it actually robs you of your time with God. Everything is so fast; everything goes on and on from one thing to the next; and people become contented with this life, and no longer seek the eternal.

WALKING IN DARKNESS

Did Zebulon and Naphtali fall for that danger? I mention Naphtali because both of these tribes were affected by soft living.

Isaiah 9:1

So, what happened to the people of Zebulon, these city dwellers by the seashore? They ended up walking in darkness. There was a dimness that vexed the people of Zebulon and Naphtali which God worked hard to break them out of.  However, they ended up in spiritual darkness because they became so preoccupied with the luxuries of living where trade was plentiful.

The intelligent, the refined, are altogether too much passed by. The hook is not baited to catch this class . . . Most generally the fashionable, the wealthy, the proud, understand by experience that happiness is not to be secured by the amount of money that they possess, or by costly edifices, and ornamental furniture and pictures. They want something they have not. But this class are attracted toward each other, and it is hard to find access to them; and because of this many are perishing in their sins who long for something that will give them rest and peace and quietude of mind. They need Jesus, the light of righteousness. {Ev 556.3}

This is what happens: darkness covers them, and they are looking for something they have not, because they have everything else. They do not have joy and peace and true internal, spiritual strength. They need the light of righteousness which only Jesus can give. Yet they acknowledge that “happiness is not to be secured by the amount of money that they possess, or by costly edifices, and ornamental furniture and pictures.”

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Is it possible to be saved out of such darkness and spiritual decay?

Isaiah 9:2

God knows that these city dwellers are in darkness, so He is going to make sure that the light of life will shine upon them, as well as upon those who are of the Abrahamic kind and are happy to dwell in the country.

Matthew 4:13

We just read that Zebulon and Naphtali were vexed with their dimness of vision, and that God was trying to help them. Here is the occasion.

Matthew 4:14-15

Where did Jesus stay? In Capernaum. For what purpose? So that those people who were living in darkness could be illuminated. What a God we have. What a Saviour. He comes to us where we are, even in the darkness. And there in Capernaum Jesus dwelt and stayed to help the people to find the light.

Capernaum itself was well adapted to be the centre of the Saviour’s work. Being on the highway from Damascus to Jerusalem and Egypt, and to the Mediterranean Sea, it was a great thoroughfare of travel. People from many lands passed through the city or tarried for rest in their journeyings to and fro. Here Jesus could meet all nations and all ranks, the rich and great as well as the poor and lowly, and His lessons would be carried to other countries and into many households. Investigation of the prophecies would thus be excited, attention would be directed to the Saviour, and His mission would be brought before the world. {DA 252.3}

This was a hub of economy and exchange among nations, a city where Zebulon dwelt, where darkness existed. Jesus would give these people an opportunity by letting the darkness be illuminated with a great light.

Into the busy world, filled with the din of commerce and the altercation of trade, where men were trying selfishly to get all they could for self, Christ came; and above the confusion, His voice, like the trump of God, was heard: “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” {Ev 559.3}

Christ points men to the nobler world, which they have lost out of their reckoning, and declares that the only city that will endure is the city whose builder and maker is God. {Ev 559.4}

Don’t settle down in the security of city living, tribe of Zebulon. Among these darkened people the light will shine. Are there good qualities among these people? What good qualities can be found among darkened city dwellers?

NOBLE QUALITIES

Judges 5:14

‘The pen of the writer’ or ‘the staff of the scribe’ (margin). Scribes were used to write the Bible and pass it on to others. Out of Zebulon would come they that are scribes, honourable people.

Judges 5:18-19

These were noble people; they had good qualities. And never forget that. As you meet the heathen, as you meet those who claim to be godly but are settling down in this world, don’t diminish the fact that they have good qualities, and reach out for those good qualities. Here exist people who were noble and capable.

1 Chronicles 12:23, 33 

This tribe is not double-minded. They are true to what they believe, and when light shines in the darkness, many are prepared to accept it. This is a good quality. Twelve thousand from the tribe of Zebulun will be sealed among the 144,000.

JUDGEMENTS MINGLED WITH MERCY

The Lord will not suddenly cast off all transgressors or destroy entire nations; but He will punish cities and places where men have given themselves up to the possession of Satanic agencies. Strictly will the cities of the nations be dealt with, {Ev 27.4}

The wicked seashore cities will be dealt with:

. . . and yet they will not be visited in the extreme of God’s indignation, because some souls will yet break away from the delusions of the enemy, and will repent and be converted, while the mass will be treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.  {Ibid.}

You can see this, the cities are being decimated by war, floods, earthquakes, and fire, but there are still many that He protects. Why? “Because some souls will yet break away from the delusions of the enemy.”

DON’T BE DOUBLE MINDED     

1 Chronicles 12:33

Zebulon’s people were not of a double heart. They had the ability to be all for one thing, or all for the other: not half and half.

James 1:8 - A double minded man [is] unstable in all his ways.

People who dwell in cities become very stable. They’re not double-minded. They are giving themselves entirely to city living and its pleasures, even though they may be yearning for something else. You can see them: they are single-minded. And that single-mindedness is a good quality if it can be turned in the right direction by the light.

Those who begin their Christian life by being half and half, will at last be found enlisted on the enemy’s side, whatever may have been their first intentions. And to be an apostate, a traitor to the cause of God, is more serious than death; for it means the loss of eternal life. {5BC 1086.4} 

Double-minded men and women are Satan’s best allies. Whatever favourable opinion they may have of themselves, they are dissemblers. All who are loyal to God and the truth must stand firmly for the right because it is right. To yoke up with those who are un-consecrated, and yet be loyal to the truth, is simply impossible. {5BC 1086.5}

You can’t be half and half. It’s impossible to yoke up with those who are un-consecrated and yet be loyal to the truth.

We cannot unite with those who are serving themselves, who are working on worldly plans, and not lose our connection with the heavenly Counsellor. {Ibid.}

It’s impossible.

We may recover ourselves from the snare of the enemy, but we are bruised and wounded, and our experience is dwarfed. {Ibid.}

That is serious. So, with this ability to be single-minded, and not double-minded, there is much in the life of these city dwellers that can be tapped into if the mind is turned in the right direction, as Jesus was doing in Capernaum.

If our brethren will now consecrate themselves unreservedly to God, He will accept them. He will give them a transformation of mind, that they may be savours of life unto life. Wake up, brethren and sisters, that you may attain to your high calling through Christ Jesus our Lord. {1SM 166.5}

Those people who are double-minded are to wake up and consecrate themselves without reserve. This is the call to the Zebulunites. You are a people who are not double-minded, He says, so if you are minded to dwell in the cities of darkness, look where you’re going; you’re missing out on something. If you will consecrate yourselves to God, then you can be among the 144,000.

Should you become alarmed for your own souls, should you seek God diligently, He will be found of you; but He will accept no half-hearted repentance. If you will forsake your sins, He is ever ready to forgive. Will you just now surrender to Him? Will you look to Calvary and inquire: “Did Jesus make this sacrifice for me? Did He endure humiliation, shame, and reproach, and suffer the cruel death of the cross because He desired to save me from the sufferings of guilt and the horror of despair, and make me unspeakably happy in His kingdom?” Look upon Him whom your sins have pierced, and resolve: “The Lord shall have the service of my life. I will no longer unite with His enemies; I will no longer lend my influence to the rebels against His government. All I have and am is too little to devote to Him who so loved me that He gave His life for me–His whole divine self for one so sinful and erring.” Separate from the world, be wholly on the Lord’s side, press the battle to the gates, and you will win glorious victories. {5T 438.2}

We must be single-minded, not bound by the comforts and attractions of this world. We are called upon to come away from it and be single-minded, to sacrifice everything for Him.

Blessed is he who heeds the words of eternal life. Guided by “the Spirit of truth,” he will be led into all truth. {5T 439.1}

He will not be loved, honoured, and praised by the world; but he will be precious in the sight of heaven. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.” {Ibid.}

He came to Capernaum to save the people out of that city. He comes to us, to Zebulun, to the people who are living in cities, and He says, You have good qualities, you have a sharp mind for this and that; but have a sharp mind for Me, and ‘come out from among them and be ye separate’. Touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you’.  

So, twelve thousand out of Zebulun will be included among the 144,000.