Abhir – The Mighty One

He has been attacked by archers, who shot at him and harassed him. But his bow remained strong, and his arms were strengthened by the Mighty One of Jacob (in Hebrew Abhir), the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel. May the God of your ancestors help you; may the Almighty bless you with the blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the earth beneath, and blessings of the breasts and womb. May the blessings of your ancestors be greater than the blessings of the eternal mountains, reaching to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. – Genesis 49:23-26

Talk about tough circumstances! Have you ever considered Joseph’s life? God gave him great prophetic dreams and, being young and not particularly savvy, he shared them with his family. His brothers were driven to a jealous rage and at first, wanted to kill him. They eventually decided to sell Joseph into slavery and exile. Then they faked his death so that the rest of the family gave him up for dead. No rescue was possible.

Then his master had a libidinous wife who tried to get handsome Joseph into bed. When he refused, she framed him and he ended up in jail. He did what he was told, got a position of responsibility, and helped and comforted a prisoner. In return, the man promptly forgot all about Joseph when he got out of jail, leaving Joseph in the dank dungeons for a couple more years. The former prisoner only remembered Joseph when he NEEDED him. Joseph helped out the Pharaoh and ended up being the second in command of the whole kingdom of Egypt. Sounds great, doesn’t it? But as he came into his position of power, Egypt headed for a seven year famine, and his job was to keep everything running smoothly! What a load!

He was diligent though, and got Egypt through the famine. In the process, his brothers came looking for food. After some initial testing, they had a family reunion and Joseph moved his whole family to Egypt to a fertile valley and a fairly high status. Years later, his dad pronounced on Joseph the deathbed blessing we just read.

Joseph was attacked by the archers of envy, hatred, temptation, persecution, neglect, ingratitude, doubt and fear. But it says “his bow remained strong and his arms were strengthened.” Joseph didn’t do it. Abhir did. Notice that Abhir (Hebrew for “Mighty One”) did not keep Joseph from the difficulties of life. Instead, Abhir strengthened Joseph through it all.

Because Joseph was willing to go through whatever God sent his way, he found strength and blessing above and beyond all the blessings his ancestors had known. Who were his ancestors? Well, Abraham for one. I don’t know about you, but I would consider Abraham blessed. The source of blessing; the source of strength and power; the source of hope in a cruel and indifferent world is Abhir – the Mighty One of Israel.