Israel's Family Feud

This family feud is a war, which has been going on between families all belonging to God’s chosen people, Israel. Who is Israel? What is Israel? This is what we are told in Deuteronomy 14: 2. NKJV. For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Be very clear on this fact. God has called and chosen all Israel, not just one part or a certain section of Israel. All Israelites are God’s specially and specifically chosen people.

What are God’s expectations of His people Israel? What does He require of them? We hear this in Deuteronomy 10: 12 – 13. And now Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your own good. NKJV. Israel is to be God’s show-piece, His witnesses to whom He is, that others may see them and come to know that there is One, True God, who is Sovereign Lord.

But the children of Israel have been plagued by in-house fighting due to jealousy, dissatisfaction, finger-pointing, rebellion and more and this has brought on horrible family feuds.

Are you and your family not of God? Do you not go under the banner of Christian? Are you not all children of God? Then in this respect, you and your family are as Israel. Of you and your family it can and must also be asked. And now family, what does the Lord our God require of us, but to fear the Lord our God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him? Has He not saved us so that we can consciously serve Him, our God with all our heart and with all our soul? Has not our Lord commanded us to keep His commandments and His statutes, which He has commanded us today, for our own good?

However, the sad truth continues. We, the children of Father God, have been plagued by in-house family feuds, due to jealousy, self-aggrandizement, haughtiness, finger-pointing, self-righteousness, deceit, greed, rebellion and more. This has not made our Father in heaven pleased with our family in the least. We are living family feuds, some overtly and some hidden.

I’m sure some of you have thought about Jesus, as I did, Jesus, the Son of Man, who had a human family and wondered if there was any kind of feuds among them. Did He experience any kind of family feud in His family? When I was told yes, I had to take a sort of double take. Even Jesus had a touch of this human malady, as is noted by John.

We are told that Jesus went around in Galilee, but He did not want to go about in Judea, because the Jewish leaders were trying to find a way to take His life. However, it was when the Festival of Tabernacles was near, that some hidden things were unearthed. It was at this time, when Jesus’ brothers said to Him in most ungracious tones. Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world. John 7: 3b - 4. Without even reading what comes next, one can hear the sarcasm, jealousy and disagreement of what Jesus, their oldest brother, is doing. Come on, they all grew up in the same house, under the same parents, eating the same food and sharing the same discipline. Now, their brother is making Himself public, doing some different things and speaking some pretty way-out stuff. Just in what they tell him, the words they speak, there is strong family tension. This is confirmed in John 7: 5, which clearly states, For even his own brothers did not believe in him. Jesus was not at all reticent in responding to them, not to make the tension worse, but to bring understanding to them. Jesus did so by explaining that His time had not yet come. He said that for them, any time will do, but not for Him. Then Jesus went on to speak God’s truth to them. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. John 7: 7. This truth spoken by Jesus did not fix this feud right away. It took much more exposing, before they finally accepted Him.