Lums Pond State Park, Bear, Delaware
Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon. ~ Genesis 49:13 ‘Zebulun the seaman’ (son #10) – I find this blessing interesting because it promises the seashore and a ship haven; but when you look at the map, they’re landlocked by Asher and Manasseh as well as being approximately ten miles from the Mediterranean Sea. I had no answer for how this would work, but I knew it did, because God’s Word is true. Here’s what I found by following my NIV footnotes. In Deuteronomy 33:18-19, Moses blesses them again (he actually blessed each of the tribes), and again the prophecy mentions them being blessed by “drawing from the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand”. While Zebulun didn’t honor God’s command to drive out the peoples living in their allotted Promised Land, but instead just enslaved them, they eventually humbled themselves before Him. God chose to bless them again (even though they were no longer a tribe), when Isaiah prophesied 750 years before Jesus, “In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun (Galilee) and the land of Naphtali (their border is at Nazareth), but in the future He will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan.” (Isaiah 9:1b) This prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus ministered in Capernaum – near the major highway from Egypt to Damascus, called the “way of the sea” (Matthew 4:13-14) Now, speaking of Zebulun’s attitude. They were willing to compromise God’s command in order to suit their perceived needs – that of acquiring slave labor, rather than driving out the Gentiles from God’s Promised Land. How often do we justify altering God’s direct command in order to suit our needs/wants? When we compromise like that, it never ends well. Oh, to be sure, there are times when we may not see the consequences, but they’re there – in the lives of others, or even in our descendants. How sad to be the cause of leading someone astray for the sake of our own pride.
By the way, the boundaries for each tribe were set up when, “Joshua then cast lots for them in Shiloh, in the presence of the LORD, and there he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their tribal divisions.” ~ Joshua 18:10
Today was nearly 195 miles of bad road in 3 1/2 hours. We agreed that these were the worst roads we’ve been on with the RV; especially since there were miles and miles of it! Everything – including us – was shaken up. If I’d had cream, we could’ve made butter.
But bad roads weren’t the end of Blaine’s woes today. There was also some traffic, construction, narrow lanes, unclear signage, and spits of rain to deal with. I always feel so badly for him when he has days like this.
Croton Point Campground, Croton-on-Hudson, New York
The Lord saw him through it all though, and here we are, parked just a few miles outside of New York City. We’ll be heading there the day after tomorrow, and we have nothing planned or figured out yet. . . .
All this sightseeing we’re doing is the reason I get so far behind – not enough time, and too many pictures to go through. 😊 But we are very much enjoying ourselves this trip! So much history, and places and things we’ve never encountered before!