And of Asher he said: “Asher is most blessed of sons; let him be favored by his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil…” Deuteronomy 33: 24, NKJV
Gracious God, we come to You wanting to know what hidden truth is in Your Word for us today; so speak Lord, for Your servants are listening. Amen
Yesterday we looked at the second half of the blessing pronounced upon Asher. Today we will look at the first half. Before we do this, let us go back to Asher’s origin. This idea of having children by proxy, seemed to have become a way of life for the Israelites. Leah, had become Jacob’s wife, by the deceitful connivings of her father, Laban (on Jacob’s wedding night, he allowed Leah to go in to him, instead of Rachel, whom he had asked for in marriage) (Genesis 29: 18-22). So from the very beginning, there was a raging rivalry between Leah and her younger sister Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel; both Rachel and Leah loved Jacob. Leah had given birth to four sons, “[t]hen she stopped having children” (35, NIV).
Rachel, who had no children, took her maidservant Bilhah, and gave her to Jacob, in order to “build a family” (30: 3, NIV) through her. Bilhah conceived by Jacob, and gave birth to two sons. When Leah saw that she had left off conceiving, she too, gave Jacob her maidservant, Zilpah, who conceived, and bore him two sons, one of them was Asher. She was “happy” at his birth (the meaning of his name), and thought that others would consider her “blessed” because of the birth of this child (12, 13). One of the lessons that we can gleam from Asher’s experience, is that our beginnings do not have to determine our future.
We could conclude that his birth came as a result of a “barren” situation (30: 9); in the midst of enmity between sisters; and a lack of harmony in the household. Yet this first half of his blessing consisted of an abundance of sons (Psalm 127: 3), favor with his sibblings (Psalm 133: 1), and that his feet be dipped in oil (2, representing an anointing?); a most unusual blessing.
And God honored the blessing, and brought it to pass. According to the International Standard Encyclopedia, the tribe of Asher prospered in Egypt. At the time of the Exodus, 41,500 adult males left Egypt (Numbers 1: 41) in the first census. Their land was fruitful in grain, wine, oil, and minerals.
The tribe of Asher increased 29% in 38 years of wandering. By the time of the second census, they numbered 53,400 (Numbers 26: 47). They occupied some of the richest soil in Palestine, situated between the tribes of Dan and Naphthali (Numbers 2: 27). The names of the towns are recorded in Joshua 19: 24-31. The prophetess Anna (Luke 2: 36) was of the tribe of Asher (Easton’s Bible Dictionary).
We who live in the twenty-first century can take hope. Some may have been born under the most barren, discouraging, unfriendly, situations; but if God blesses us, we will be blessed indeed (Numbers 23: 20)!