Prayer for the Colossians

Paul offers a prayer for the "holy brothers and believers in Jesus" who are at Colosse. The items in the prayer map to the 13 tribes.

Notes on mappping

This list has the overarching theme of growing in the knowledge of God. This is Judah's item in the list, but it's reiterated again about halfway down. Manasseh and Joseph are often microcosms of the whole. In this list the reiteration of the whole purpose of the list, to grow in knowledge of God, lands on Manasseh. This pattern happens often. In the Elder lists the purpose of the whole list is to find someone blameless who can serve and the need to be blameless is reiterated on Manasseh just as knowledge of God is reiterated on Manasseh here.

Observations

Judah comes first in the list and therefor seems to always get the overarching thing the list is about. In this prayer the theme is growing in knowledge of God. I'm not sure how this applies specifically to Judah at this point.

Reuben is to grow in wisdom and understanding. In another study I found that Jacob addresses Reuben as the man who lacks wisdom. In the paragraph to Reuben he says this man is like the waves of the sea and double minded. The point being Reuben needs to grow in wisdom so that he is not tossed to and fro.

Gad is to grow so he can live righteously. A righteous person is someone who goes when God sends. Noah was righteous when he built the ark God told him to build. Abraham was righteous when he left Ur to go to the place God told him to go. Gad is the tribe that is most prolific for going, for leaving the old world for the new. Israel left Egypt on Gad's holiday, the opening of Unleavened Bread, and Gad was the first tribe across the Jordan. So the prayer for Gad is that he is able to go as he was designed by God.

Asher is to please God with good works. Normally "work" or "labor" or "burdens" land on Issachar, so the focus here is probably not works as much as works that are "pleasing" to God. This is still a new one for me at this point though.

Naphtali is to bring forth good fruits. This is a direct play to his holiday, which is First Fruits.

Manasseh is to grow in the knowledge of God. As mentioned in the notes on mapping, this is the general theme for the whole list, and that this item is reiterated on Manasseh is evidence we're mapping things correctly thus far. Exactly why Manasseh would have a theme of growing in knowledge of God is not clear to me yet.

Simeon is to be strengthened with all might according to the greatness of the glory of God. This feels jargonish to me. Not sure exactly what to make of "might" or why this is specific to Simeon. Needs a word study or more of this same theme from other lists/stories to understand this better.

Levi is to grow his patience and long-suffering. I'm not exactly sure why this goes with Levi, but if it's correct to think of Levi as the one who ministers to others, it may be dealing with the patience one needs in ministry to people.

Issachar is to joyfully give thanks to God. Issachar's aspect of love is that "love always rejoices." So perhaps being able to rejoice with others is the same or predicated on joyfully thanking God. This theme of joy or rejoicing is probably the growth Issachar needs to endure his hard labor that shows up in other parts of the grid.

Zebulun has been enlightened. This plays to Zebulun's plague which is darkness. While Egypt is dark there was light for those who lived in Goshen. God has enlightened "us" as contrasted to those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 9 adds to the idea that Zebulun has a dark/light theme.

Joseph is made a worthy partaker in the inheritance of the saints. This fits well given that Joseph ends up with the firstborn portion that Reuben lost. The term "saints" also plays to the whole, all the saints. Joseph and Manasseh typically have the whole within them, so this nod to all the saints also suggests we're on track here.

Benjamin is rescued from darkness and brought into the kingdom of God's son. Besides "son" being a direct play on "Ben," the idea here, I think, is the focus on God's son, Jesus. Benjamin is the tribe that has historically not understood Jesus as the son of God. In that sense this prayer is pending. It's like a prayer for now and will lead to a time when modern Israel as a whole can say he's been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into Jesus' kingdom.

Dan lands on the point that Jesus has given us salvation and forgiveness of sins. When I think of Dan as the judge, I think of one whose job is to do the accounting for sins/crimes. To be forgiven for sins means the judge has erassed crimes from the record. Of course, to not have Jesus means the crimes are not erassed from the record. Either way the accounting, or judging, of such things, goes with Dan.

By Ryan Eaton
Posted Tuesday, Dan 3, 13000