LIBERALITY BRINGS BLESSINGS

WHAT IS LIBERAL?

Liberal is an act of mutual understanding and respect of others opinions, new ideas and advices; Making the concerned receive favor and honor concerning their request and blessing to the liberal soul as well. This was first seen in the life of Joseph: An Hebrew boy, a foreigner when his family joined him in the land of Egypt (Gen. 47:1) “Then Joseph went out and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan, and indeed they are in the land of Goshen.” Through a liberal spirit and heart that this Pharaoh had, he welcomed Joseph’s father to his land together with all his family, livestock and all that they had come with from the land of Canaan to his land in Egypt. (V. 2-7)“And he took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.” And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.” Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”  This cannot happen in the natural but only through the divine favor of God. They were given the best land in Egypt-foreigners from another land and those competent among them, were hired as the chief herdsmen over Pharaoh’s own livestock. What a God we serve? I pray unto You Abba Father- may You be my God this year 2022 and the years following! May I see Thee in the land of the living; Show me a token for good; and may I eat the good of the land in the name of Jesus. As You sent Your servants from their native lands to the lands that You had ordained for them;  Righteous Father, I have as well obeyed Your voice and positioned myself and align with Your word; Let Your own agenda and will and plan be manifested and established in the Mighty name of Your Son Jesus Christ Amen.

THE IDENTITY OF PHARAOH

There is some uncertainty concerning the identity of this Pharaoh. Many believe he was Amenhotep I of the eleventh dynasty. Prior to his reign Egypt had suffered an economic chaos for 200 years. Irrigation and building projects had fallen into ruin, and civil war raged. But Pharaoh Amenhotep as his name was, was able to reunite Egypt, rebuilding the country and developing world trade

REASONS BEHIND HIS SUCCESS

One of the reasons for his success no doubt stemmed from the fact that he was a generous and tenderhearted man as we see in the manner he welcomed and treated the family of Joseph (V.6) “The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”  Not only was he generous to his own people, but he was kind to Israel (V.7-10) Then Joseph brought in his father Joseph and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?” And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” So Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from before Pharaoh.”  The blessings indeed did spoke for him, as God had already promised to bless those who blessed the descendants of Abraham. See (Gen. 12:3) “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  The lesson here is clear and to the point. If a pagan king can experience God’s blessing for his liberality, how much more can born-again believers know the riches of heaven for their liberality! The son of David affirmed this unto us thus (Prov. 11:25) “The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.” The word is sure and to the point. No need to explain further!

ANOTHER LIBERAL AND PAGAN KING CYRUS

Cyrus was the king of Persia whom God commanded to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah; who did it diligently and liberally (Ezra 1:1-2) “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia : All the kingdom of earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah.” A pagan as he was! He did receive the commandment of the Lord and acted promptly and accordingly. If it would be a king or a president of a nation of our generation today; they would have responded, “O God, don’t You see I am a king!” “And how that does concern me anyway, seeing I am neither of the Jews nor of that sect. Please God I beg, just send another on my behalf!” (V. 3-4) “Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock besides the free offering of the house of God which is in Jerusalem.” The same spirit who had stirred the heart of King Cyrus, after his proclamation also moved men who volunteered both materially, physically, sacrificially and willingly gave in abundance for the work of the building of God’s house at Jerusalem.  (V. 5-6) “Then the head of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. And all those who were around them encouraged them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with precious things, besides all that were willingly offered.”   King Cyrus had also recognized the Sovereignty of the Lord God of Israel that; He is God.  And had to release these willing captives to go back to their native land and build a house for the Lord their God. He also brought out to them the articles of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the house of the Lord to carry back with them (V.7-8) “King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his gods; and Cyrus king of Persia brought them by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.” Who took them together with the captives from Babylon to Jerusalem.

THE WORK DID CEASE FOR AWHILE!

Because of their adversaries whom they failed to let them join in the rebuilding of Jerusalem, they stirred up the people of the land, troubled them in the building; they too allied with the new king, king Artaxerxes who commanded the discontinuation of the building as he never understood a thing but was fed with lies. (Ezra 4:1-2) “Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin had that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers’ houses, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do; and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.” The adversaries were denied the access in the building (V.3) “But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel said to them, “You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God; but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”  Then burned with anger and indignation, stirred and hired counselors for the children of Judah to discourage them from building (V. 4-5) “Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.” The work did cease (V.23-24) “Now when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem against the Jews, and by force of arms made them cease. Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased, and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.”

THE LIBERAL ACT OF KING CYRUS

The Scripture doesn’t state whether this king Cyrus had died or not but most probably yes. Because had he been there, they would have not searched for the scroll that were written by him from the records (6:1-4) “Then king Darias issued a decree, and a search was made in the archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon. And at Achmetha, in the palace that it is in the province of Media, a scroll was found, and in it a record was written thus: In the first year of king Cyrus, King Cyrus issued a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem: “Let the house be rebuilt, the place where they offered sacrifices; and let the foundation of it be firmly laid, its height sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, with three rows of heavy stones and one row of new timber. Let the expenses be paid from the king’s treasury.”  Therefore the issue was settled according to the records that were found written by King Cyrus and his generosity and liberal act established. Tomorrow I shall continue with part-two; the liberal act of King Darias and the blessings that were released upon King Cyrus. And until then, Shalom for now!

“Grace to you and favor from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with us all. Amen and Amen and Amen.”