TOUGH LOVE !

How you gonna be "an overcomer", if there's nothing or nobody to overcome?

How you gonna be a winner or successor if there aren't others in the race or competition?

Without friction, nothing gets done -- you'll just be 'spinning your wheels', so to speak.

The serpent in the Garden isn't identified until Revelation 12:9 -- he's been here, the 'god of this world', 1Cor4:4, all the time, and making us think it was the Heavenly Father's fault. Isn't that just like the devil?
Yes, it's for OUR BENEFIT that Satan was introduced, but for a relatively short time it seems, and then there'll be a Rewards Banquet !! Hope to see you there. (fat chance, methinks)

Ecc9:11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
Psalm19:5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
1Cor9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
Heb12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The Scarlet Thread

The scarlet thread identified the first-born twin, Zarah, whose descendants would eventually (4 generations later) be destroyed by fire after the thievery at Jericho. The second born, Pharez, was in the genealogy of Jesus.

Gen38:28 "And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first, v29: And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez. v30: And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.

The Firstborn were special: Exodus13:12 “That thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD's”.

Josh7:1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.

Josh7:24: And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.

Note how Achan is called 'son of Zerah', when he would really be the great-grandson. Does this imply a direct association of some kind between these two?

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Another Scarlet Thread is connected to the story of Rahab the harlot, who gives protection to the two spies sent out by Joshua, and whose house is identified by the thread.

Josh2:18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee.

Jos:6:25: "And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho".

Ps119:11 "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee".

TWINS !

TWINS IN THE BIBLE

1) The most familiar are Esau and Jacob, Gen25:23, and the peculiar focus on their order of birth, with the body-language expression of Jacob grabbing the heel of the firstborn Esau. Gen 25:23 KJV "And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger".

2) Then comes the twins born of Tamar in the parenthetical chapter 38 of Genesis. The scandalous story of Judah fathering Zarah and Pharez puts a special emphasis on the order of their birth when the midwife ties a scarlet thread to the firstborn (the one who first opens the womb).
Further reading reveals how Pharez is in the genealogy of David, but the line of Zarah is wiped out by Achan at Jericho. Josh7:1

3) Not a twin in the same sense, but Castor and Pollux, the Gemeni twins, are mentioned in Acts28:11. A book by E.W.Bullinger "The Witness of the Stars", narrates how the 12 constellations of the Zodiac told the story of the coming of Christ in those ages before writing came into being.

4) Was the Apostle Thomas a twin? He was also called Didymus (means "twin"), although I find no record of his brother anywhere. John11:16, 20:24, 21:2.

5) Manasseh and Ephraim, Gen41:51, are never thought of as twins, but having a father named Joseph and a grand-father named Jacob,calls to mind the same heritage of Mary in Matthew 1:16. Doesn't it? Or maybe not?

6) Triplets? The sons of Noah are a possibility. Ham is called the younger, and Japheth the elder, but that info may only indicate the order of their birth. Gen9:24, 10:21 You think?

Like Solomon sang, 7:3, Did I get all the juice from this orange ??