"Joseph is a fruitful bough . . . whose branches run over the wall: The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him" (Genesis 49:22-23).

Grievous persecutions can come from unexpected sources, yet in Joseph's case it was his own brothers that "grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him." In fact they hated him to such an extent that, except for God's intervention, they would have killed him. In spite of all this, whatever wall was placed before him he got over it, and whenever the archers shot at him he was able to escape. "His bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob" (Genesis 49:24). Victory was assured because "the mighty God" was on his side.

David had a similar experience. King Saul became obsessed with killing him. He hunted after him "every day" (I Samuel 23:14). Yet God would not allow Saul to succeed in taking David's life. Thus, toward the end of his life, David gives testimony to this in his great Song of Deliverance in II Samuel 22 (also Psalm 18). He said, "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer" (Psalm 18:2) "The God of my rock; in Him will I trust: He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence" (II Samuel 22:3). In this psalm David summed up his whole life in the following statements. "For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall" (v.29). "Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip" (v.36).

Believers have always had to contend with the enemies' walls and arrows. Yet, it is good to remember that, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31), and that by "taking the shield of faith," we will "be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked" (Ephesians 6:16). NPS