An Arrow Not A Sword

By John Stallings

The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him and hated him……. Genesis 49:23-24


It must have been a remarkable sight to see the white haired Jacob sitting up in his bed while he bestowed his parting benediction on his twelve sons, Rueben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Asher, Napthali, Gad, Joseph & Benjamin.

For sheer poetry this has to be one of the greatest chapters ever penned. Any New York actor would give his right arm to be Jacob in this emotionally charged scene.

Jacob recollected Rueben’s sin & passed over Simeon & Levi giving them a passing rebuke. He gave others of them praise as he looked into the future of the tribes.

The old man’s voice was weak but he passed briefly over the names of his sons & then came that moment when his eyes fell on his youngest & favorite son, Joseph.

There stood Joseph, with all of his mother Rachael in his eyes--that dearly beloved wife of his, that boy for which his mother prayed so earnestly for twenty barren years. Rachael had been dead now for many years but here stands that golden boy who was so loved by his parents.

Mixed in with the special love Jacob had for this boy Joseph was a special tenderness for the troubles Joseph had gone through in his life. Jacob was remembering the way Joseph was snatched away from him & sold into slavery by his envious brothers but he also remembered the chapter of Joseph’s life when he was prince of Egypt.

Listen to the words he said over Joseph in Genesis 49:22-24, in those last moments;

Joseph is a fruitful bough,
Even a fruitful bough by a well,
When branches ran over a wall,

The archers have sorely grieved him,
And shot at him, and hated him,

But his bow abode in strength,
And the arms of his hands were made strong,
By the mighty God of Jacob……..

Jacob had one more blessing to give but surely this was the richest of blessings that he conferred on his son Joseph.

In actuality, Jacob is using analogy & poetic language here because when we read the life of Joseph we don’t see the physical equivalent of this. Joseph certainly endured many satanic attacks but as far as we know he was never actually shot by archers. So why did Jacob use this figurative language of archers & their arrows?


FIRST OF ALL, ARCHERS SHOOT ARROWS WHICH ARE SECRETIVE & SILENT.

The two greatest weapons of war in Joseph’s day were probably the sword & the bow & arrow. With a sword, the swordsman plants himself near you, foot to foot, face to face & let’s you defend yourself. He’s almost constantly right there in front of you & whatever comes, you’ll see it coming.

But the archer shoots from a distance. There’s something more cowardly in the attack of the archer. He stands at a distance & does his best to camouflage himself as he hides in the brush. The arrow comes whizzing through the air & penetrates your chest before you know what hit you.

Likewise many of the enemies you & I have will not show their faces before us because they are too small, weak, petty & ashamed. If they faced us, then we could reply, but they would have to stop up their ears. But shooting their arrows from a distance is perfect for them; they don’t have to be bothered with giving us a chance to answer their complaints because their tolerance for truth is non-existent. Their minds are made up, don’t frustrate & confuse them with the facts.

It has been said that the world is comprised of people who have something to say & can’t say it, & people who have nothing to say & have no problem saying it. Some people would rather jump to conclusions than dig for facts. Character assassination has become so common in our day we hardly notice it.

To murder a person’s good name is as much a crime as to murder his body. It’s easier than physical assault & involves much less risk for the assassin. It also leaves him free to commit the same crime over & over again.

I don’t know who wrote the following, if I did I'd gladly give them credit;

MY NAME IS GOSSIP

I have no respect for justice,
I cripple without killing,
I am cunning & malicious & gain strength with age,
I flourish at every level of society,
My victims are helpless,
They can’t protect themselves from me because I have no name & face,
To track me down is impossible,
The harder you try the more elusive I become,
I’m nobody’s friend,
Once I tarnish a reputation it’s never the same,
I topple governments & wreck marriages,
I spawn suspicion & generate grief,
I make innocent people cry on their pillows,
Even my name hisses,
I use telephones, parties & even do my work in churches,
I make headlines & headaches.

Before we say something, we should ask if it’s true, is it necessary & if not--- “SHUT UP-- saith the Lord!”

Look at some words that the Bible calls gossip, first in the Old Testament; Backbiter, slanderer, busybody, Talebearer, murmurer, & whisperer. In the New Testament there’s, Whisperer, backbiter, meddler, prating, & tattler. These are words describing the same thing; people injecting themselves into things which are none of their business.

Jacob when summarizing the life of his beloved son Joseph told us “the archers sorely grieved him.” Here are some arrows shot at Joseph;

1. THE ARROW OF ENVY WAS SHOT AT JOSEPH.

Joseph’s brothers envied him because of the love his father had for him. The special coat of many colors Jacob gave his son was a sticking point for the brothers & was “the straw that broke the camels back.”

The first homicide was caused by envy when Cain envied Abel because his offering was accepted by God. Oh the things in this world that parade behind the mask of some high sounding platitude but strip away that mask & you look into the ghastly face of envy.

Of all the sins we are forbidden to commit, envy is the cruelest. With lust, though vile it is, at least the flesh is gratified for the moment. Even with murder though the murderer exchanges his life for the one he took if he’s caught, at least there would be the satisfaction of doing away with the object of hate. With lying, despicable as it is, at least it can sometimes be handy though the liar will certainly be exposed & the Bible says, --All liars will have their place in the lake of fire.

But pray tell, where’s the pay-off for envy? All envy leaves us is ashes. It does nothing but destroy homes & friendships leaving us with nothing in return. The person we are envious of isn’t hurt but we are left feeling bad because our envy didn’t take one thing away from them.

Here’s the sad part, when people envy they must deal with that deep down feeling of worthlessness & the question haunts them, “Why can’t I be a better person? Why am I not a large enough individual to glory with this person for what they have?” Of course they’d never admit it to anyone even to themselves but deep down they’re wondering “what kind of person must I be to want all I can earn or achieve but want to take from others what they’ve achieved?” That leaves their self-image & self-worth face down in the gutter.

Even though we may seek to hide envy & cover it up by putting a mask on it to give our motivations a “righteous cover” others will see it but probably be too polite to tell us that we suffer from one of the lowest of the low motivations, “the green eyed monster of jealousy & envy.”

It’s said in Hollywood that a friend is someone who stabs you in the chest. This isn’t confined to Hollywood it just gets more publicity there. All of us at one time or another will be struck by “envy arrows.” Making the situation even harder to bear, the majority of the time these arrows of envy won’t come from the devil, if they did we could understand. We could even understand if they came from outside our sphere of influence. Far too many of these envy arrows will be shot by people close to us, even our closest kin who should be upholding us & those who should “have our back.”

You may remember the recent story about television star “Dog, the bounty hunter.” As I understood the story, the son was envious of his dad’s visibility & financial success & surreptitiously recorded their private phone conversations. Admittedly “Dog,” feeling he could speak freely to a blood kin, made some terrible racial remarks that would turn any decent person’s stomach. The son sold his father out by selling the private conversations to a scandal rag for a few thousand dollars. The bottom line of the whole thing was envy.

We watched a program where “Dog” participated & the upshot of the story was that he was using the incident to help those he’d made derogatory remarks about in a private telephone conversation & was humble & forgiving toward the son who sold dad out for “thirty pieces of silver.” Knowing human nature as I do, the forgiveness the son received from his dad was probably the most distasteful part of all.

Instead of it being a caring hand placed on our shoulder, it’s the sting of an arrow shot from a distance by a stealthy archer, maybe a phone-call to “leak” suspicions about you to hurt you. There’s some good news however, if you’re shot in the back it must be that you’re out front. As fighter pilots say, “If you’re not catching flak, you must not be over the target.”

Years ago I talked to one of the finest gentlemen in Country music, Duane Allen of The Oak Ridge Boys. He shared the thought that when he & his organization are having problems they ask where the problems were coming from, failure or success? If the problems were coming from something they were doing wrong or something being overlooked, they’d make sure it was fixed.

However, if the problems were being caused by success; maybe not enough free time because they were in too much demand, or someone shooting at them out of envy, then all they could do was expect more of the same because their intention was to work as hard as possible for success.


Before we leave the subject of envy, let me share something I learned. As a rule when people get grumpy or irritable towards me, it isn’t my weaknesses [and believe me I have my share of those,] they are upset about, it’s my strengths. Have you noticed that in your own life? If not, maybe you can derive some comfort from the fact that some people will like you more for your failures & weaknesses. - Than for your successes.

A true friend will be with us through our problems & they won’t resent our successes, but let’s keep in mind, the arrows shot at Joseph were arrows that came from his own brothers.

2. JOSEPH WAS ALSO SHOT AT BY THE ARROWS OF TEMPTATION.

Joseph was a Hebrew Brad Pitt. Mrs. Potiphar laid eyes on him & wanted him in her bed. Joseph endured her attempts at seduction day after day & finally she physically took hold of him & he had to wriggle out of his coat & leave it with her.

Joseph stood strong in the face of one of the most enticing pleasures that can be offered to a healthy young man. Of course-hell hath no fury like a woman scorned so by refusing Mrs. Potiphar’s advances, Joseph just bought a ticket to the slammer.

I wonder if any generation of people ever has been so focused on or saturated with sex as ours. Sex is a gift from God but a gift with “handle with care” written on it. Let’s face it; we’re all born with a strong attraction to the opposite sex & the way we deal with it will determine the quality of life we’ll have.

Sex outside of marriage is fraught with risks & dangers. If you’re a person who’s around people of the opposite sex & spend inordinate amounts of time with them you are in danger unless you’re 98. Being in situations like this is like driving your car on a high mountain road in the middle of the night in the fog & driving as close to the edge as you can get. When it comes to being placed in situations that could compromise you, you’d better not flirt with danger.

In those situations, we should be like Joseph & flee temptation & don’t leave a forwarding address.

I don’t want to get too graphic here because all of us aren’t made the same. But we all should eliminate from our lives those things that could become sources of temptation to us. For all of us there are some books we shouldn’t read, some web sites we shouldn’t visit & some movies we shouldn’t watch. Whatever the temptation is for you if you’re not fighting it you’ll be defeated by it.

A Christian lady who had always been faithful to her husband, confided in some Christian lady’s who were close friends that she was being tempted by a man who she was around at work. She shared how they both loved poetry & music & other things they had in common. She told the lady’s, “I need your help. I’m strongly attracted to this man, he really understands me, he calls me often & I know I’m on dangerous ground. It’s just a deep friendship now but I know it’s a problem. I’m afraid of where its heading & I know I’ve got to end this before it develops into anything more. I need you to help me, to hold me accountable to do the right thing.” This lady really didn’t want to end it but she knew she had to.

As the ladies prayed together, the phone rang. The woman who’d shared picked up the phone & it was obvious to the other women that it was the man of whom she spoke. She was quiet for a moment & then she said, “This isn’t a healthy relationship & we need to end it now. Please don’t ever call me again.” She turned to the others & they were stunned as they marveled at the timing of that phone call & the goodness of God in allowing him to call right in the midst of the moment when they were talking to God together about the problem.

Before you get too sanctimonious, listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians 10;

<Let this be a warnng for you. For you too may fall into sin. But remember this--the wrong desires that come into your life aren't anything new & different. many others have faced exactly the same problems before you. And no temptation is irresistable. You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it, for God had promised this & he will do what he says. he will show you how to escape temptations power so that you can bear up patiently against it. 1 Cor. 10:12,13---[LB]

WE ALL NEED TO DEVELOP HEDGES AGAINST SEXUAL TEMPTATION.

Let us never forget we need others to pray with us & watch for us in this area. Here are a few suggestions to help in the area of sexual temptation;

a.If you’re married, keep pictures of your spouse & kids around you in obvious places & speak good things about them every chance you get.
b.Pray with your mate every day & talk on the phone when apart.
c.If you travel alone commit yourself to God each day.
d.Ask God daily to keep you & your loved ones sexually pure.
e.Don’t get too busy to spend time with your spouse & family often.
f.Be on guard & don’t allow self-pity to climb into the saddle, causing you to blame your mate for your lack of happiness.
g.Avoid potentially compromising situations. Married Christian men & women who’d never accept a date to go out & eat with someone other than their spouses will throw caution to the wind & stop at restaurants & eat with a colleague enroute to business appointments. This can be a trap & often is a subtle road to eventual adultery & divorce.
h.Avoid seductive dress.
i.Never assume you’re immune to temptation.

Just like Joseph, we all must be on guard for the flying arrows of sexual temptation but God will surely keep us safe if we are ever vigilant, watch, pray & daily walk in His word.

Think what it must have been like for poor Joseph. In some ways, I’m sure Joseph felt he’d have been better off if one of Potiphar’s soldiers had just come & cut him in pieces on the spot. His character had been ruined in the eyes of men & he was probably looked on with disgust even in the prison with low-life criminals feeling as if they were angels compared to him.

“The archers sorely grieved Joseph.”

But look at the rest of this story. Jacob said of Joseph, “His bow abode in strength.” That meant Joseph also had a bow & could have retaliated if he’d have wanted to, but he didn’t. He might have drawn his bow & sent his arrows to their hearts with far greater force & precision than they’d ever done to him. But Joseph didn’t retaliate.

I believe there are people who’ll read this blog who’ve been hit by so many arrows they sometimes feel like a pin cushion. Like Joseph of old you feel a million miles from the destiny & dreams God once gave to you. But you may be much closer than you suspect. The things you’ve gone through & are going through have positioned you be in the place God wants you.

Had Joseph not been at Potiphar’s house he wouldn’t have learned the management skills needed to run a country. If he had not dealt with all those difficult situations he never would have been ready.

Let me give you a few more words of encouragement. No matter what you’re going through God will never forsake you. When arrows come toward you & even pierce your heart, be aware of God’s presence.

Forgive like Joseph forgave. Thwart those arrows of temptation when they come.

If you are breathing, God’s not through with you.

In closing, Listen to Ephesians give us the final answer to all those flying arrows.

For we wrestle not against flesh & blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand in the evil day & having done all to stand.

Stand therefore having your loins gird about with truth & having on the breastplate of righteousness, & your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,

Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

And take the helmet of salvation & the sword of the spirit which is the word of God…..Ephesians 6:12-16

Blessings,

John