Word of Encouragement (03/29/2023)
And of Levi he said, "Give to Levi your Thummim, and your Urim to your godly one, whom you tested at Massah, with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah; 9 who said of his father and mother, 'I regard them not'; he disowned his brothers and ignored his children. For they observed your word and kept your covenant. 10 They shall teach Jacob your rules and Israel your law; they shall put incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar. 11 Bless, O LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands; crush the loins of his adversaries, of those who hate him, that they rise not again." (Deut. 33:8-11)
The second part of Moses’ last prayer for Levi is “crush the loins of his adversaries, of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”
We can see how this petition is related to the first: for Levi’s work to continue and be acceptable to God, his safety and work should not be hindered by his adversaries. For this, Moses asks the LORD to destroy Levi’s enemies. Israel had no hope of defeating his enemies without the LORD fighting for him. This was true especially for Levi. Called to the priestly ministry at the temple, Levi was not a warring tribe; he was exempt from participating in wars. How could he hope to defeat his enemies unless the LORD fought for him?
This prayer for God’s protection should be our prayer. We are like the Levitical priests. As Christians, we have received the Word of God and the keys of the kingdom, not the sword of a theocratic state. We can appeal to the law of the land for justice and protection. But we know that there is no perfect justice in this life. Besides, not all nations guarantee the freedom of religion and assembly. Even those that do cannot be relied on to continue to do so. When persecution arises, there is nothing wrong to escape persecution by moving to a different place, but that is not always possible. So many Christians throughout history, including the present, have suffered persecution at the hands of their unbelieving neighbors and their anti-Christian states. Unless God protects them by fighting for them, what hope can they have?
Of course, this doesn’t mean that no physical harm will ever come to us. After all, we follow Jesus Christ, who was crucified for our salvation. Christ warned us that, as His disciples, we will be hated and persecuted by the world and He was. Even when we suffer for the sake of Christ, we should know that, for every suffering that befalls us, there are hundreds of other dangers and harms, from which the Lord has protected us and diverted from us. But God’s ultimate promise is for our spiritual protection so that the devil, who is prowling about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8), cannot devour us.
We also have the assurance that no evil deed of our adversaries ever goes unnoticed by God. With each act of wickedness, they are piling up on their heads God’s wrath. We have a description of God’s wrath in this petition: “crush the loins of his adversaries, of those who hate him, that they rise not again.” Why the loins? The loins were viewed as the center of one’s strength—so, the saying, “Gird up your loins!” as a call to muster one’s courage and not back away from doing a dangerous task. The loins were also associated with reproduction: “To ‘smite the loins’ most likely refers to rendering one impotent, unable to produce progeny...” (Eugene H. Merrill, Deuteronomy). This is a metaphor for God’s eschatological (final) judgment, isn’t it?
Though we may seem helpless and defenseless in the eyes of the world, we are not because God is our Protector and Champion. We will not see this to be true if we have an earthly perspective. But if we can see through the perspective of eternity, we will be able to find a deep sense of security and confidence in God. Let us pray for that eternal perspective to be the lens through which we see what happens in our lives!