“When Sh’mu’el grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Isra’el. His firstborn was named Yo’el, while his second son was named Aviyah; they were judges in Be’er-Sheva.”-1 Samuel 8:1
Many years had passed since Israel’s great victory over the Philistines when they were attacked while confessing and repenting of their sins at Mitzpah.
Samuel was now old and had decided to appoint his two sons to judge Israel on his behalf.
Now the names of his two boys were quite interesting.
They were called YO-EL and AVIYAH.
YO-EL means YAH is EL(Yah is the highest God).
And AVIYAH means “My father is God”.
Quite impressive names don’t you think?
One would think with names like that, these boys would be of the utmost exemplary character.
Turns out no such thing.
We’re gonna find out real soon they were corrupt and self-serving.
Now the family was operating out of Be’er-Sheva which was located at the southern tip of the territory Israel was currently controlling.
This was a significant distance from Samuel’s home in Raman…
And it was long way from the circuit of Bethel, Gilgal and Mitzpah that Samuel used to travel in central Canaan when he performed sacrificial rituals and judged over a variety of civil cases.
So there’s an interesting takeaway I’m getting here.
Samuel was a godly man who followed after the Lord’s heart.
Yet in terms of his two sons, the apples fell faaaaaaaaaar from the tree.
Why?
Well, this just goes to show that one’s biological family can mean NOTHING when it comes to passing down godly traits from one generation to another…
The Lord will judge you according to your good or bad behavior regardless of how blameless your parents are or were.
Ezekiel said:
“The one who sins is the one who will die.
The child will not share the guilt of the parent,
nor will the parent share the guilt of the child.
The righteousness of the righteous will be
credited to them, and the wickedness of the
wicked will be charged against them.”
-Ezekiel 18:20
And the prophet Jeremiah said:
“I the LORD search the
heart and examine
the mind, to reward
each person according
to their conduct,
according to what their
deeds deserve.”
-Jeremiah 17:10
But not only that.
This also fleshes out the principle of “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”.
My point is according to the Scriptures, there’s a fleshly DNA that comes from man’s fallen nature and there’s a spiritual DNA that comes from God.
Just because Samuel was a godly man didn’t automatically mean his children would be godly.
We have all inherited Adam’s sin, every human on the planet is infected with his corrupted and fallen DNA.
That’s why Yeshua said we have to be born again if we want to see the Kingdom of the Heaven…
Because that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
Ya feel me?
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him,
“I tell you that unless a person is born
again from above, he cannot see the
Kingdom of God.” Nakdimon said to
him, “How can a grown man be ‘born’?
Can he go back into his mother’s womb
and be born a second time?”
Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed, I tell
you that unless a person is born from
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter
the Kingdom of God. What is born
from the flesh is flesh, and what is
born from the Spirit is spirit. Stop
being amazed at my telling you that
you must be born again from above!
The wind blows where it wants to,
and you hear its sound, but you don’t
know where it comes from or where
it’s going. That’s how it is with
everyone who has been born
from the Spirit.”
-John 3:3-8
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