Genesis 33:18-20 KJV And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. (19) And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money. (20) And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel.
This event occurred when Jacob returned to meet his bitter brother Esau, from whom he stole the birthright.
Jacob had set his house in order in fear of the worst.
And after he saw Esau met him kindly and Jacob went to SHECHEM TO ERECT AN ALTAR calling it GOD THE GOD OF ISRAEL! He was no more just the God of JACOB, but now the GOD OF ISRAEL! We read of this instruction for the same location: Deuteronomy 27:11-13 KJV (11) And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, (12) These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin: (13) And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. Joshua 8:33 KJV And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. AT THE START OF THEIR TIME IN THE LAND, after the TWO battles of JERICHO and AI, a blessed battle and then a cursed battle where Achan traded places with Rahab... Joshua explained the blessings and cursings that would occur to Israel depending upon how they would live in obedience to the Law. Mount Gerizim and Ebal were located at SHECHEM (PART or PORTION - back early in the morning). Joshua 24:1 KJV And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. Joshua rehearsed all the great events that took place from Abraham to that day.
Last chapter in Joshua. Exodus is officially over. Joshua 24:13 KJV And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat. This is such a perfect shadow of returning to THE GARDEN.
KINGDOM LIFE is LIFE BACK IN THE GARDEN. BUT only the serious people for the Lord will enjoy it. It's not for the wishy-washy. Isaac told Jacob these words: Genesis 28:4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. WE INHERIT THE KINGDOM! Just like Moses putting the ark between the blessings and the cursings, Jesus is said to stand between the sheep and the goats, the blessed and the cursed, and says these words of INHERITANCE. Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: It was prepared from the beginning -- THE GARDEN! In the earth not in heaven! (REMARK ABOUT HOW VISITING HIS BRETHREN IN JAIL AND WHEN SICK AND WHEN NAKED cannot refer to a standard of judgment for everyone who ever lived, because the brethren he mentioned were his disciples.) Michael Smith preached of the CHURCH AND THE KINGDOM.
It is so significant that Jacob was changed to Israel at SHECHEM.
You ENTER the KINGDOM LAND so to speak, just as Jacob entered the phase in his life when he became ISRAEL, and Israel left the wilderness conquered two cities and experienced the land THAT BECAME ISRAEL'S LAND! Israel actually BECAME the people of God when they entered Canaan. Deuteronomy 27:2 KJV And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister: Deuteronomy 27:9 KJV And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the LORD thy God. It was a solemn declaration! Just like Joshua demanded a declaration at Shechem that they were the people of GOD! Just like Jacob set up an altar there and said GOD IS THE GOD OF ISRAEL! John 4:5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. SYCHAR IS THE NEW NAME FOR SHECHEM.
The woman at the well was here and mentioned MOUNT GERIZIM where blessings were pronounced. John 4:20 KJV Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. It's where JOSEPH'S BONES were buried and land there given to Joseph. Joshua 24:32 KJV And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. Joseph wanted to be in the land. Genesis 50:25 KJV And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. They felt Shechem was the best place to signify IN THE LAND NOW. Jesus speaks to the woman at the well and tells her KINGDOM TRUTHS. TRUE WATER IS HOLY GHOST. John 4:14 KJV But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. He told the disciples, TRUE MEAT IS DOING GOD'S WILL. John 4:32-34 KJV But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. (33) Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? (34) Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. John 4:36 KJV And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. TRUE TEMPLE IS SPIRIT AND TRUTH. John 4:23 KJV But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. The first river of life was in the GARDEN. The FIRST FOOD OF LIFE was fruit of life in the garden. The first temple was THE GARDEN SANCTUARY where the cherubims blocked the entrance like cherubim on the veil of the holiest of holies, after man sinned. GARDEN GARDEN GARDEN. And he said something else to the disciples that sounds just like the words of Joshua in the same city! John 4:35-38 KJV Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. (36) And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. (37) And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. (38) I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. Joshua 24:12-13 KJV And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. (13) And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat. LIKE THE GARDEN WHERE GOD PLANTED AND MAN NEVER WORKED UNTIL AFTER HE SINNED AND HAD TO EAT BREAD BY SWEAT OF HIS BROW. Genesis 3:19 KJV In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. When Moses read the blessings and cursings that were to be declared at Shechem on the two mountains, he said... Deuteronomy 30:15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; Deueronomy 30:19-20 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. GARDEN TALK, where cursings were first mentioned and replaced the blessings Adam had. JOHN 1 shows BEGINNING LIKE GENESIS. DAY AFTER DAY like Genesis. Genesis 1:1 KJV In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. John 1:1 KJV In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. SPIRIT ON THE WATER LIKE GENESIS. Genesis 1:2 KJV And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. John 1:31-32 KJV And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. (32) And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. DAY AFTER DAY. Then JOHN 2 has a wedding. What did God tell Adam to do: MULTIPLY AND REPLENISH THE EARTH.
John 2:1 KJV And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: Then JOHN NEW BIRTH! John 3:3 KJV Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. KINGDOM TALK! John 3:5 KJV Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:29-30 KJV He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. (30) He must increase, but I must decrease. INCREASE or MULTIPLY by new birth children. So no wonder we read A WOMAN AT THE WELL. John 4:7 KJV There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. Five husbands one she was with was not hers.
PERFECT No. And there Jesus spoke all the SERIOUS SHECHEM talk. His wife need not have any fancy background, but SHE MUST BE SERIOUS TO BE HIS QUEEN IN THE KINGDOM. Song of Solomon 6:8 KJV (8) There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. Kingdom means HE IS KING. Live like it. INHERIT so much, but must honour Him as KING IN HIS KINGDOM. Israel was removed into Babylon when they forsook God.
"This is the land, boys."
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