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ARK OF THE COVENANT Transom |
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GOLDEN LAMPSTAND Transom Dedicated to the memory of Mary and Joseph Shimko by their daughter, Mary Kalsick |
HEN JACOB CALLED FOR HIS SONS AND SAID: "GATHER AROUND SO THAT I CAN TELL YOU WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU IN DAYS TO COME" (GENESIS 49:1).
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TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL Window Dedicated to the memory of Herbert and Dorothy Bolton and Albert Wuesthoff by their son and daughter-in-law, Mike and Karen Wuesthoff | |||
acob, in his dream of the stairway to heaven (see Noah and the Patriarchs window), was promised by God that his descendants would be numbered as the dust of the earth (Genesis 28:14). Jacob was renamed Israel by God; his sons would become fathers of the tribes of Israel. Just before he died at age 147, Jacob gathered his twelve sons for a final blessing, choosing words for each son which were both a commentary on his character and a prophecy of the future of the tribe which would descend from him. This blessing, the longest poem in Genesis, is given in Chapter 49.
The tribes lived in Egypt for 430 years, journeyed in the desert with Moses for forty years, and were given land allotments following the conquest of Canaan (Joshua 13-21). The tribe of Levi was the exception. Alloted no land, this tribe was set apart for priestly duty and given responsibility for the tabernacle and its furnishings including the Ark of the Covenant and the golden lampstand pictured in the transoms.
The New Testament indicates that the tribes will play a role in the new kingdom to be established after the second coming of Christ:
Matthew 19:28 At the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.