• Photograph of Masada by Kelly Repreza from unsplash

The History of Israel - Part 1

Note: These four articles are formatted as Study Notes. After reading each section, there are Bible references (some are a number of verses, some are whole chapters) that you are expected to read to learn the full details of the article.

The nation of Israel, sometimes referred to as the Hebrews or the Jews, are significant people in the Bible narrative. The next few articles under this theme of Basic Bible Teaching are about the history of Israel. This began with the call of Abraham, which we looked at last time [Light Vol 31.4]. Abraham was the ancestor of the nation of Israel. However, his descendants were not fully established as a nation until God made a covenant with them at Mount Sinai, after they had fled from being slaves in Egypt. In this first article about Israel's history, we look at events leading up to the making of that covenant.

These events are important in the establishment of God's plan for the world contained in the Bible. Indeed, it is necessary to understand the importance of God's people, Israel in this context. We read in the book of Deuteronomy:

"When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel (Abraham's grandson Jacob). For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the place of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; he encircled him, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye."

• Deuteronomy 32:8-10

Abraham's family by Nigel Griffiths

How this relationship with God affected their history, and the principles and lessons we can learn from it, will become clear as our studies progress. In this article we are going to look at the period from Abraham's son Isaac, up to the point where Jacob's son Joseph found himself in Egypt, due to the hatred of his brothers. We will notice, as we go through the history of Israel, that there are a number of key people in the development of God's plan.

Isaac

Abraham told his chief servant to find a wife for his son Isaac from Abraham's wider family. Expressly, Isaac was not to marry one of the idol worshipping Canaanites in the land where Abraham had settled his family at God's instruction.

• Read Genesis chapter 24.

Notice that Isaac's marriage was an arranged marriage; it was within the bloodline of Abraham's wider family, and was designed to keep them separate from the evil influences of the world at that time. See Paul's teaching in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 in this context, which contains important lessons for us today. Isaac married Rebekah, and two sons were born to them called Esau and Jacob. God promised that the elder (Esau) would serve the younger.

• Read Genesis 25:19-28 which relates these significant events.

God repeated to Isaac the promises He had already made to Abraham, that through his descendants all the families of the earth would be blessed.

• Read how God appeared to him and confirmed the promises

in Genesis 26: 2-5.

Jacob

Jacob was chosen by God, even before his birth, as the one through whom the promises to Abraham would be developed. In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul used this in his teaching to explain how God selects and calls men and women to be part of His plan and carry out His purpose.

• Read Romans 9:6-13.

Jacob and Esau grew up and Esau sold to Jacob his 'birthright', or inheritance, his entitlement as the elder son of Isaac. He did this because he was weary and hungry, and wanted some of the food that Jacob had prepared. A key point to note is that Esau showed a lack of faith in God. He also showed a lack of faith by selecting wives for himself from the Canaanite women. Esau became the ancestor of a large nation − the Edomites (see Genesis 36:1). The Edomite territory is now part of modern Jordan. There are a series of Bible passages that demonstrate some of the key lessons from this period.

• Read Genesis 25:29-34; Genesis 26: 34-35; Jeremiah 49:7-22.

In the New Testament there are important lessons for all of those who wish to be related to God's promises. Read Hebrews 12:14-17. In addition to obtaining the oldest son's birthright, Jacob received his father's blessing on the firstborn by disguising himself as Esau. He did this because Esau had sold his birthright to him for food. As a result of this, Esau was furious and threatened to kill his brother (Genesis 27:41). This caused Jacob to flee to his uncle Laban, who lived in Haran (in eastern Turkey today).

• Read about these further significant events in Genesis chapter 27 and 28:1-5.

God's Promise to Jacob

The promises to Abraham and Isaac were confirmed by God to Jacob (read Genesis 28:10-22). Amidst some family intrigue, Jacob stayed with and worked for Laban, and married his two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Twelve sons were born to these women and their maids, Bilhah and Zilpah. These sons became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel.

• Read the whole of Genesis chapters 29 and 30 to get the full picture of what took place, and how it was overruled by God.

Eventually Jacob returned home to his father Isaac. On the way an angel met him and gave him an alternative name, Israel. Jacob means 'supplanter', or one who takes the place of another, whereas Israel means a 'striver with God' or a 'prince with God'. As is often the case in the Bible, we should note that although events seem unfair from a human point of view, in fact, God blesses a course of action and rewards those who are faithful to Him and try to do the right thing. This significant event, where Jacob wrestled with an angel of God, is found in Genesis chapter 32.

• Read verses 22- 32.

After this, Jacob met his brother Esau and they were reconciled.

Joseph

Of his twelve sons, Joseph was Jacob's favourite. He had dreams which were from God. He told his brothers about them and, because the interpretation of the dreams showed that one day Joseph's brothers would bow down to him and be ruled over by him, they hated him.

• Read the whole of Genesis chapter 37 to see the sequence of events that followed.

Joseph was sold into Egypt by his brothers and, although he was wrongfully imprisoned, eventually he was released and became second only to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. But again, this was God's doing. Joseph had been given great wisdom by God which he used to the benefit of the Egyptians. Pharaoh had a dream, which Joseph, with God's help, interpreted as predicting seven years of great agricultural bounty, followed by seven years of terrible drought and famine.

• The detailed narrative of Genesis chapters 39 – 41 should be read carefully to understand how God's plan progressed through adverse times.

Meanwhile, in the land of Canaan, Joseph's father, his brothers and their entire households, were suffering because of the same famine. Food was very scarce. Jacob sent the brothers to Egypt to buy grain from the store houses that Joseph had built there. However, they didn't know that Joseph was still alive, and that he was ruler in Egypt, responsible for the storage of the grain from the seven bountiful years.

• Continue by reading Genesis chapters 42 to 47.

Jacob's sons did indeed find themselves bowing down to Joseph their brother, as predicted in his dreams all those years earlier. The narrative is enthralling, but particularly notice how again God's hand directed events to further His purpose with Jacob's family, the children of Israel.

Joseph as a type of Christ

In this issue of Light (page 33), there is an article that explains what a Biblical 'type' is. It's worth reading carefully to understand how the Bible demonstrates that the events in the life of God's servants in the past, foreshadowed even greater things to come.

In this case, we can clearly see that many aspects of Joseph's life and work were similar to, and typical of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. For example, Joseph was rejected by his brothers, sold for twenty pieces of silver and taken to Egypt. Jacob thought that his favourite son had been killed by a wild beast. But Joseph was later instrumental in saving the family from certain death by starvation.

Jesus was similarly rejected by his brothers and sold for 30 pieces of silver. But through his death and resurrection, he became the saviour of mankind. His brothers, the natural descendants of Jacob (Israel), will eventually recognise him when he returns to rule over the whole world (see the prophecy of Zechariah 12:10). He will then bring salvation from death to all those "who eagerly wait for him" (Hebrews 9:28).

Next time, God willing: how God freed the nation of Israel from slavery and took them towards the Promised Land.