Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #11 of Genesis 33, and let me read again Genesis 33:13-14:

And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.

I mentioned that Jacob’s family and flocks typify the great multitude, and we spent some time talking about that.  And here, I think we have a little spiritual reference to what we have thought and talked about in the past regarding the great multitude that God saved out of Great Tribulation in our day – many of them are young.  Many that God saved were, more than likely, either in their mother’s womb, or they were toddlers and little children from all over the world.  I am not saying they were all young, as God saved people of all ages, but when we are looking at that great multitude that numbers, perhaps, 175 million, or 180 million, or 185 million,  maybe only 15 million, or 20 million, or 40 million, are adults, but the vast majority of them are very young.  And that would serve to protect them over the course of this prolonged judgment for a number of years, as their parents would watch out for them, and it would also allow the Lord to do what He is planning to do to get His Word to them in order that these sheep be fed.

As we look at the language here, like the reference to the children being tender, and the flocks and herds being with young, and the need for Jacob  to “lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure,” it is very significant language that is indicating that most with Jacob are very young, although, historically, we know the youngest of his sons was nine years old, and the others were teenagers or older, so they were not infants.  But that is not the point because the language of the Bible is giving the impression that they were very young. 

In Genesis 33:13, we read, “…and the flocks and herds with young are with me,” and the Hebrew word translated as “with young” is #5763 in the concordance.  It has a related word that is found in Isaiah 49:15:

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

This word translated as “sucking child” is the same word translated as “with young.”  So God is indicating that He will not forget His people that are likened to a “sucking child.”  This Hebrew word is #5764, and it is related to our word, but not the exact same word. 

Also, we find our word #5763 in a couple of places.  Let us go to Psalm 78:70-72:

He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

He chose David, a type of Christ, and took him from the sheepfolds.  David, who was a shepherd, was taken from being a literal shepherd, and then he became a shepherd over God’s people, just as Christ is the Good Shepherd. It says that He took him “from following the ewes great with young and brought him to feed Jacob his people.”  The word translated as “with young” is the same word.

One more place we find our word is in Isaiah 40:10:

Behold, the Lord JEHOVAH will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

The language in that verse points to Judgment Day.  You can compare it to Revelation 22:12: “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

Again, it said, “the Lord JEHOVAH will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him.”  When Christ came to judge the earth on May 21, 2011, what does Revelation 19:15 tell us?  He will smite the nations and rule them with a rod of iron, and the word “rule” is translated as “feed” in John 21 where it says, “Feed my sheep.”  So the same “rod” or “Word” that smites the nations will simultaneously serve to feed the sheep, the great multitude the Lord saved.  Then it goes on to say in Isaiah 40:11:

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd…

So we can see here the dual purpose.  His arm will rule (verse 10), and He will be feeding His flock.  Again, it says in Isaiah 40:11:

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

The word translated as “with young” is the word we are following, Strong’s #5763. 

Also, the word “lead” (the word “gently” is not in the text) is Strong’s #5095, and it is the word we find back in Genesis 33:14:

Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.

So we can see a similar idea with Isaiah 40:10-11 in the context that God will come and feed His flock like a shepherd: “he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” 

Also, in that verse in Isaiah 40, Christ comes as Judge. It is Judgment Day.  He feeds and leads His flock, and they are said to be “with young,” so He has to go on gently.  That is, the journey over the course of this prolonged Judgment Day period until the last day will take us out of this world and into the new heaven and new earth, which the land of Canaan typified.  And God is leading His flock gently along – softly along.  He is going slowly, in other words.  He is not going quickly, but carefully directing and guiding His sheep all the way.  And in this way, they will endure.  Remember the verse in Matthew 24:13: “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”   This is the wonderful spiritual picture that is starting to emerge here.

The Law will not bring them across, but Christ Himself will lead them softly or gently, and they will come, enduring over the grievous period of this prolonged time of Judgment Day until the conclusion of all these things.

Again, the word “lead,” #5095 is the same word used in Genesis 33, as well as in Isaiah 40:11.  It is also found in Isaiah 49.  We read verse 15 earlier, but let us go back and read Isaiah 49:10:

They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.

In this verse, our word is actually the word “guide.”  You know, this verse is quoted in Revelation 7 in the context of the great multitude, in Revelation 7:9:

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

Then the question was asked, “Whence came they?”  And the answer was given in Revelation 7:14-16:

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

Again, Revelation 7:16 is speaking of the great multitude, and then it says in Revelation 7:17:

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them…

The word “feed” is the word “rule” that is used in Revelation 19:15 in the context of Judgment Day.  Christ, the Word of God, will smite the nations, and He will “rule” them with a rod of iron.  (The word “rule” is the same word translated as “feed” in other Scriptures, like John 21.)  And here in Revelation 7:17, the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them.

Again, it says in Revelation 7:17:

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

It is happening now, at this time, as far as Isaiah 40 and Revelation 7.  And Genesis 33 picks up on it with this exodus or departure from Haran and going to Canaan.  That is why I wanted to read Genesis 33:18:

And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan…

He went to Canaan.  He gently led his children and his flocks to the Promised Land.  Again, it is an encouraging historical parable that is bringing additional support to many things we are learning, and that is good.  When we see these things in the Bible as we are looking for spiritual meanings, and when it fits in a framework that the Bible has revealed, and we see it clearly, then we can know we are on the right track.  We are finding more truth and information that God is revealing to His people at the time of the end.