• Photograph of Masada by Kelly Repreza from unsplash

The History of Israel - Part 2

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.

Having looked at the forefathers of the nation of Israel – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and the heads of the twelve tribes, we now turn to the start of the period when the descendants of Abraham were becoming a large number of people.

At the insistence of Pharaoh and Joseph, Jacob's family moved to Egypt during that great seven-year famine. From that point onwards, over a period of about 200 years, the descendants of Jacob, called Hebrews, multiplied in number and were seen as a threat by the Pharaoh. The Hebrews became slaves to the Egyptians. We now move to the book of Exodus.

• Read Exodus chapter one.

Moses

The Hebrew tribal families kept their separate identities. This is how the twelve tribes of Israel came into being. Moses was born into the tribe of Levi. However, at this time, Pharaoh was concerned that the Hebrew population was becoming too large to control. He saw the rising Hebrew population as a threat to Egypt and ordered all the Hebrew baby boys to be killed at birth. Moses was preserved from the extermination of infants by his parents and ended up being brought up in the house of Pharaoh's daughter.

• Read Exodus chapter 2 and Hebrews 11:24-26.

It is important to bear in mind that all these events were overseen by God so that His will was done in moving towards the fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

As referred to in the previous issue of Light, many of the Old Testament (OT) Israelite leaders were 'types' of Jesus Christ. Moses is no exception. In the New Testament, during his defence before the Jewish Council, Stephen makes the point that, just as the Jews rejected Joseph, Moses, and all their prophets sent by God, so they rejected Jesus too. He was the greatest prophet of all.

• Read Acts chapter seven.

God appeared to Moses in the wilderness of Midian (on the west side of the Red Sea) at the 'burning bush'. God promised to save Israel from the slavery of Egypt and move them to the land of Canaan, which He had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

• Read Exodus chapter three.

Take special note of what God says to Moses about His Memorial Name. In Hebrew the Name is phonetically spelt "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh" or "I will be who I will be". It is a declaration of God's eternal purpose. This was outlined in the article dealing with the nature of God

God sent Moses and his brother Aaron to Pharaoh to seek the release of the Israelites. Pharaoh would not release them, and God unleashed ten terrible plagues that devastated the nation and land of Egypt.

The ten plagues

Read Exodus chapter seven through to the end of chapter ten and look at Psalm 105:23-38.

Why did God plague the Egyptians in this way? The plagues were a sign:

• to all nations that Israel were (and still are) God's chosen people.
• to Israel that God was with them and would save them from the ravages of the idolatrous nations around them, beginning with Egypt.
• of God's anger with idolatrous nations.

The last of the plagues was the slaying of the firstborn of every household in Egypt. Israel was saved from the plague by keeping the Passover. This is an important point in the Bible narrative and is loaded with meaning for anyone seeking to serve the God of the Bible. Every Israelite household had to kill (or share with another household) a male lamb, and daub the blood on the door frame of their house. This would be a sign to the destroying angel who moved through Egypt slaying the firstborn. On seeing the blood on the door frames, the angel "passed over" those households.

The Passover lamb had to be prepared as a meal without breaking any of its bones. It was eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. The Israelites were also commanded to keep this ceremony every year in memory of their salvation from the last plague − the killing of the firstborn in Egypt. Even today Jews celebrate the Passover and share a special family meal.

• Read Exodus 12:1-30.

The meaning of the Passover

In 1 Corinthians 5:7 we read:

"Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us".

All the rituals associated with the feast of Passover are representative of Jesus Christ. Just as the blood of the lamb painted on the door frame saved the Israelites, so the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, saves those who identify with that sacrifice. John the Baptist on seeing Jesus said:

"Behold! the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!" (John 1:29).

We also find that Jesus was crucified at the time of the feast of Passover and his shed blood is deeply symbolic, even today, for his followers. His death and resurrection atoned for their sins, confirming the divinely established principle that "without shedding of blood, there can be no remission" [of sins] (Hebrews 9:22).

The Exodus

After the devastating tenth plague the Egyptian Pharaoh let the Hebrews go. The Israelites journeyed eastwards into the desert, but the Egyptian Pharaoh changed his mind and ordered his army to follow them and bring them back.

Israel journeyed through the wilderness of Sinai towards Canaan, the land of promise. They were led by God, manifested by a pillar of cloud in daytime and a pillar of fire by night.

• Read Exodus 13: 1–22.

The Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea when God miraculously parted the water. When the Egyptians attempted to follow, they were drowned by the returning waters.

• Read Exodus 14 where this event is described.

The Israelites were miraculously kept alive in the wilderness by God who had released them from Egypt. God provided:

• Quails: birds (Exodus 16:11–13).
• Manna: appeared on the ground overnight like dew (Exodus 16:13–36).
• Water: from the rock that God commanded Moses to strike (Exodus 17:1–7).

These things might seem inconsequential to us so long after they happened, but the Apostle Paul draws attention to the fact that all these events have deep spiritual and prophetic meaning for believers today.

• Read 1 Corinthians 10:1-11.
• Manna = the bread of life = Jesus – read John 6:30-35.
• Water = the water of life = Jesus – read John 4:14.

The narrative of Numbers 20:7-13 gives us great insight into the obedience and the level of belief that God requires of His servants. Moses, their leader, became angry with his people the Israelites, and struck the rock twice instead of speaking to it as God had commanded. God punished Moses by forfeiting his entry to the promised land, because he "spoke rashly" (Psalm 106.33) and did not believe that God's Word was enough to bring water out of the rock. This was a temporary loss of faith which God pardoned, for Moses is included with the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11 who will inherit the promised land.

• Read Hebrews 11:24-28; 39-40.

We can see in this incident a type or metaphor. The rock symbolised Christ and the water of life came out of the rock, yet Christ was struck once in the sense that he sacrificed his life once to give everyone the water of life freely. In striking the rock twice we might consider that Moses broke the symbology of the rock and the water in the context of Christ's mission as the saviour.

• Read Psalm 106:32-33; Numbers 27:12-14.

The Law of Moses

Three months after fleeing Egypt, God appeared to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. He made a covenant with them, extending the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God confirmed that they were His special people if they obeyed Him. He gave Israel a code of laws, referred to as "the Law of Moses", because Moses was the person through whom God communicated it to Israel. They needed and were given:

• consistent laws to govern their affairs, including spiritual and moral laws to demonstrate their holiness and separation from the nations around them. They were God's people.
• a means to obtain forgiveness for sin achieved through animal sacrifice.
• a system of law that foreshadowed the way salvation would be made possible for all through the work, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Looking forward to Christ

However, the Law of Moses could never save the Israelites from death because it was impossible to keep the law perfectly.

• Read Galatians 2:16 and 3:10

Also, animal sacrifices could never achieve what the single sacrifice of Christ's life was achieved.

• Read Hebrews 10:1-10.

The sacrifices of the Law of Moses pointed forward to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. In this way:

• The law was fulfilled (Matthew 5:17).
• Christ did away with the requirement for animal sacrifices under the Law by nailing it to his cross (Colossians 2:13-14).

These two points demonstrate how the means of salvation from sin and death became possible for any who choose to accept it. We can see that the Law of Moses is not binding on anyone who believes that Christ died to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). The Apostle Paul describes the Law of Moses as a 'schoolmaster' that prepared the way for Jesus Christ. Paul condemned those who, in the first century AD, regarded themselves righteous by keeping the Law of Moses, regardless of the work of Christ. Because Christ took away the requirements of the Law of Moses it is described as the 'old covenant'. It is 'old' in contrast with 'the new covenant' described in the letter to the Hebrews.

• Read: Hebrews 7:19; 9:6-15; Galatians 3:19-25 and 4:9-10.

A true Christian is subject to the much higher moral and spiritual law of Christ (Galatians 5:1-6). We will look at Christ's law that was brought into being by His work later in this series. In the meantime, it can be noted that the NT letter to the Hebrews should be considered as the divine commentary on the Law of Moses in the context of the work of Christ.

The Wilderness Journey

In spite of their miraculous deliverance from Egypt and their daily provisions in the wilderness, Israel forgot their God. They complained, rebelled and on occasions turned to other so-called gods. When, after two years, God said it was time to spy out the land of Canaan with a view to taking it by force, the Israelites decided it was a bad idea. God punished them for this, forcing them to wander in the wilderness for another 38 years. Not until that adult generation had died in the wilderness did God encourage them again to take the land of promise.

• Read: Psalm 106:6-33; Numbers 13 and 14; Hebrews 3:17-19.

The Exodus in summary

The Exodus from Egypt under God's guiding hand is a very important event in Israel's history. It demonstrates that they were and still are a separate people chosen by God. This fact is referred to many times in both the Old and New Testaments. Additionally, we can see that the Exodus is a parable of man's salvation by God as shown by the following summary:

• Slavery and bondage in Egypt – human bondage to sin and death
  • Read: Romans 6:20.
• Passover and escape from Egypt – the way of escape from sin and death made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus.
  • Read 1 Corinthians 5:7.
• Passing through the Red Sea – baptism into Jesus' saving name
  • Read: 1 Corinthians 10:2.

The wilderness journey – a time of testing for God's servants in their everyday lives.

Entrance into the promised land – the reward of the faithful in the Kingdom of God on earth when Jesus returns. Next time in this series, God willing, we will look at how the Israelites conquered Canaan under the leadership of Joshua. We'll consider how God ruled the Israelites after they were established in Canaan and how Israel rejected God in favour of a human king.