A Weekly Meditation of Pastor
Chang (November 15, 2009)
<The
Characteristics of Spiritual Leaders> (47)
The
children who grew up in the prime minister¡¯s mansion
As a child grew up in Taiwan I remember
clearly there was a song given by the KMT Government which was pretty political
and always sang by children. The lyric goes like
this:
How great my dad and big brother are,
They are honorable,
They are soldiers fighting for our nation,
Don¡¯t worry about our home,
Until I grow up, until I grow up.
Great fathers and big brothers need to be
honored that is definitely true! I believe that the Bible provides several good
models of great fathers and brothers. The first ones I will never forget are:
Joseph, the prime minister, and his older son, Manasseh.
One can image that when Joseph became prime
minister of Egypt, he was 30 years old. Soon, he got married by the arrangement
of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph¡¯s wife, Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest
of On, was from a high royal family. She bore to Joseph two sons, Manasseh and
Ephraim. Under mother¡¯s nourishing these two boys lived in the prime minister¡¯s
mansion; they, of course, were totally different from the rest of Joseph¡¯s
brothers¡¯ children, they were Hebrew shepherds.
Understanding the ancient society, Joseph¡¯s
two sons naturally were different from and higher than the normal Egyptian
civil families. More over, one should know the social status of ¡°the ancient
Hebrews¡± were lower than the normal Egyptian families. But somehow, Joseph and
his family which included his wife Asenath and two sons all totally identified
themselves with the Hebrews. It was beyond our understanding: Why did they not
identify themselves with higher social status? Instead, they identified with
the lower social class ¨C the Hebrews.
Why? It is not a culture issue. It is an
issue of faith. Because of faith in God Yahweh that Joseph educated and trained
his sons and wife to put their identity with his own kinsmen. That was one of
the most important example that Joseph set up for the ancient Israelites, and
because of this that the Israelites could survive well until today.
I believe that Joseph himself, he wanted to
identify with his brothers because of his faith, which was easier than his wife
Asenath and his two sons, for they had another better choice. Yet Asenath and
her sons chose to be with their father, Joseph. It was really amazing. One can
tell that Joseph was not only successful in his political career publicly, he
was also a good husband and a good father privately at home that the entire
family respected and followed him. Joseph set up a wonderful model for us to
follow.
No wonder before the death of Jacob, he
blessed Joseph¡¯s two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim were adopted and be treated as
the last sons of Jacob. The tribes of Israelites, therefore, became 13 instead
of 12.
Furthermore, I say that Manasseh as an older
brother he was great too. Why? When his grandfather Jacob blessed his younger
brother Ephraim to be greater than him in the future, he remained silence. At
least in the biblical narration, he did not feel hurt or jealousy. It seems
that he just accepted the fact and blessed his younger brother. Both sons
really had the style of their father ¨C kind and generous. Like father like
sons. There is a Chinese saying, ¡°Tiger-like father would never produce
dog-like sons.¡±
Many people believe that Chinese people have
good traditions and talents. Yet if comparing with the ancient Israelites ¨C the
issue of identity, the Chinese are far behind the Israelites. Take a look, the
second and third generations of the Chinese immigrants who live in the USA, how
many of them still can fluently speak Chinese languages and identify themselves
in their ancestral cultures?
How about Christian faith? Do you think it is
so important that we need to pass down the Christian faith to our next
generations? Yes, of course. Please let us be reminded: How do we pass down?
Parents, please set up the best examples for our children to follow.