AN OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY:
From Abraham to Modern Israel
Lesson 3
In our Old Testament Survey, we have so far connected the dots from Abraham to his sons
Isaac and Ishmael, to Isaac's twin sons Esau and Jacob. Of these, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
are commonly referred to in the Bible and in Judeo-Christianity as The Patriarchs.
Note that of these 5 names I listed (Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Esau, and Jacob) that Ishmael
and Esau are left out and are not considered as Patriarchs. The reason for this is simple: the
term Patriarchs as used in the Holy Scriptures speak of two things only: Hebrews and the
specific God-chosen descendants of Abraham through whom the covenant that the Lord made
with Abraham would continue in perpetuity. This is a critical issue that has resurfaced
especially in modern times with the re-emergence of Islam as the enormous and dominant
religion that it is, even if it had gone under the radar to the Western world since the end of the
Ottoman Empire as one of the results of WWI.
Esau went on to become a founder of the tribes of Edom, and since they lived on the edge of
the Arabian Peninsula have largely become assimilated into the Arab tribes. Ishmael is the
founder of the Arab tribes, and there has been a permanent enmity between Hebrews and
Arabs since Abraham sent his concubine Hagar and her child Ishmael away. So the
descendants of Esau and Ishmael are (generally speaking) Arabs. Arabs are Semites
(descendants of Noah’s son Shem, just as are the Hebrews), however, they are gentiles.
We read how in Genesis 17 the Lord instructed Abraham that even though Ishmael was,
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biologically and by custom, Abraham’s firstborn son, that the son born later to Abraham’s
legal wife Sarah (Isaac) was to be considered as Avraham’s firstborn for both inheritance
purposes and (more importantly) as the next Hebrew to carry on the line of the covenant
promises. Though we didn’t cover it last time, Abraham bore other children through other
women as well. However, ONLY those children born from Sarah were considered as Hebrews;
all others were gentiles. And the only child born to Sarah was Yitz’ach (Isaac).
So, while Abraham fathered both Hebrews and gentiles, as did his son Isaac father both
Hebrews and gentiles, only Abraham’s grandson Jacob father exclusively Hebrews (that is
Jacob fathered NO gentiles). And as we discovered, late in Jacob’s life the Lord assigned him
a new name: Yisra’el (Israel). The 12 sons who came from Jacob were therefore Hebrews and
came to be called Israel-ites (descendants of Israel). All Israelites then were Hebrews.
Therefore the separation of Hebrews from gentiles was complete at this point.
As we ended our previous lesson, Jacob’s 11
th
son, Joseph, had been sold to Arab slave
traders by his 10 jealous older brothers (Joseph was clearly Jacob’s favored son), and the
Arabs, in turn, sold Joseph to the Chief Steward to the Pharaoh of Egypt. After serving the
Steward Potiphar for a time, Potiphar’s wife leveled false charges against Joseph resulting in
prison. However, the Pharaoh began having recurring nightmares that although the Pharaoh’s
seers couldn’t interpret, Joseph could. The nightmares turned out to be a vision of a time of
plenty that would be immediately followed by a widespread, long-term famine. Joseph was put
in charge as the Vizier of Egypt to ready Egypt for what was coming; he did so very
successfully.
As the famine took hold, back up in Canaan where Joseph’s father Jacob and all the Israelites
lived, they were running out of food. Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy grain, and there found
Joseph. Joseph was married to an Egyptian woman named Asenath, and they produced two
sons Ephraim and Manasseh. It must be clear that these two children were therefore
Egyptians, and were raised as Egyptians.
In Egypt, under Joseph, the 12 tribes prospered and grew. But Jacob was now a very old man
and he knew he was nearing his death. So he called for Joseph to come to him and to bring his
2 Egyptian-born sons with him. What happened next cannot be overstated, as it would have
significant impact on the progress of Israel and also has prophetic significance for our time and
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beyond. Jacob sought to bless these two sons of Joseph, but he did so in a radical way that
caught Joseph completely off guard. This strange blessing is known as Jacob’s Cross Handed
Blessing.
Open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 48; we’re going to read it all.
READ Gen 48 all
What actually happened here? Well, as I mentioned last time, the younger child of Joseph,
Ephraim, was in essence given the firstborn, or double portion blessing, that normally should
have gone to the older child, Manasseh. But, just as important, Jacob gave the birthright that
should have belonged to his OWN firstborn son, Rueben, to his grandson Ephraim. Rueben
was not excommunicated from the family but he was replaced for inheritance purposes with
Joseph’s son Ephraim. How do I know this was the result? Listen to 1st Chronicles
5:1…… “……. Rueben the firstborn of Israel (of Jacob) for he was the firstborn, but
because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the
son of Israel (Jacob); so that he (Rueben) is not enrolled in the genealogy according to
the birthright.”
So here is something we must put into our minds and hold onto for a while: the firstborn rights
of inheritance for Israel’s (Jacob’s) children, winds up NOT going to the rightful heir, Rueben,
but instead, those rights are given to Ephraim, who is actually a grandchild, a son of Joseph.
But one of the effects of this Cross Handed Blessing was that Jacob adopted away these 2
grandchildren from Joseph and made them his own sons. Joseph protested but Jacob said that
all of Joseph’s future sons remain as his sons; that is Jacob wouldn’t adopt any more of
Joseph’s sons away from him. Strange; very strange. What possible reason could there be for
such a thing? Well first and foremost, these two children were no longer Egyptian but rather, by
means of adoption, they became Hebrews
Let’s fast forward now, to several hundred years into the future; to the time after the Exodus
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from Egypt (we’ll cover the Exodus next week), and to the time of Solomon, King of Israel.
Solomon is a ruler over a united Israel but that is going to change almost immediately after his
death. His son inherits the throne and right away turmoil and a civil war occur; the nation of
Israel is divided into two kingdoms. The Bible refers a number of ways to these two kingdoms:
most typically as the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom…… or…. As the kingdoms of
Judah and of Israel (Judah in the south, Israel in the north).
Ah, but there’s a problem here. You see, the northern kingdom was not really called Israel
after a short time. Calling that kingdom Israel is a fairly recent redaction in our Bibles. The
oldest manuscripts clearly call the northern kingdom Ephraim. By now, of the 12 original tribes
of Israel, 2 (Judah and Ephraim) had become dominant and ruled over the other 10. In Biblical
times territories tended to be named after the dominant tribe who occupied an area. So the two
kingdoms that resulted from the civil war of Israel were called by the names of the two tribes
that controlled them: Judah in the south and Ephraim in the north.
Fast forward again; this time about 200 more years. Judah has struggled to stay separate from
its pagan neighbors, and close to God; on the other hand, Ephraim has worked hard to
associate itself with its neighbors’ false gods. Assyria is now a regional power and it attacks
Ephraim and empties it of its people. The people of Ephraim are scattered all over the Assyrian
Empire and absorbed into the myriad cultures of Asia to the point that most of them lost their
Hebrew identity. Ephraim/Israel is no longer a people; most of the people of Ephraim don’t
even know their heritage; much of the 10 tribes that formed Ephraim had mixed its Hebrew
genes with the gentile people of the world. From the Western perspective, Ephraim had
become lost into the world of gentiles.
Please pay attention to this: from Genesis forward Ephraim and Judah (at times called Israel
and Judah) are referred to as the two houses of Israel. Together they make up the whole
house of Israel. That is, these two halves of Israel together make up all of Israel. Now, with this
as a background, we fast forward again. The Prophet Ezekiel, writing about 130 years after
Assyria conquered Ephraim, writes about a prophetic future for the people of Ephraim in
Ezekiel. 37. It is fascinating, and for Believers of our time, it ought to be earth-shaking if we
understand what is being said. Let’s read it.
READ EZEKIEL 37 all
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Here we find what is sometimes called the two sticks prophecy or the dry bones prophecy. It
says that in the End Times, the latter days, Ephraim will be rejoined with Judah. The two
halves of Israel will once again be united; they will become a whole….the whole house of Israel.
Let that sink in for a second. How could Ephraim, who had mostly become a part of the gentile
world…… millions of people who don’t even know that they have ancestral roots to the tribe of
Ephraim (and some who do suspect the connection but struggle to prove it)…… how are they
going to be reunited with the tribe of Judah? But even more, who is Judah, today? It is Jews.
Jews are what members of the tribe of Judah have been called since the time of Babylon.
Somehow, in the modern nation of Israel, which ONLY allows citizenship to those who can
prove they are Jews, the lost and scattered people of Ephraim are going to be identified, and
allowed to migrate and join with their Jewish brothers. And, it all stems from this odd
happening from Genesis 48. And, by the way, this process has already begun and in a few
weeks, we’ll talk about it in more detail.
ISRAEL IN EGYPT
Let’s return to our discussion of the time of Joseph. It’s a little after 1800 B.C. and the 12
tribes of Israel, now in Egypt, will remain there for 4 centuries at first as guests, then citizens,
and finally as slaves.
Much has been written about the time that Israel, the Hebrews, spent in Egypt; most of it
expressing skepticism that they were even there. Interestingly, the problem is not that a large
center of ancient Hebrew culture hasn’t been found in Egypt…… for it has. The problem is with
the timing, the dating; according to archaeologists the Hebrew culture found in Egypt does not
match with the Biblical timeline of WHEN Israel was supposed to have been in Egypt; therefore
many scholars say the Bible story of Israel’s captivity and exodus must simply be a folk tale.
Let me help you understand this issue. Archaeologists and Egyptologists approach the matter
of understanding history in terms of time. WHEN something happened is at least as important
as DID something happen, and if so, exactly WHAT happened. And the further back into
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history we go the harder it is to ascertain the sequence of events, and what it led to. Today
virtually all world history that takes place prior to about 600 BC is determined by one ancient
institution: the line of Egyptian Pharaohs (or using the common scholarly term, the Egyptian
Dynasties). That is because the most complete records of ancient times (found thus far) prior
to 600 BC occurs with the Egyptians and this is because the Egyptians would carefully record
certain significant events associated with each Pharaoh’s reign. So we have the listing of a
Pharaoh, major events that happened in his lifetime, and then often who it was that followed
him as the new ruler. Because Egypt had interests far and wide in Africa, all over Asia, and as
far as Europe to the west and India to the east, events that happened even in these far-flung
areas were at times recorded and attributed to whichever Pharaoh was reigning at the time….IF
the event was deemed important and had a favorable outcome for Egypt. By comparing these
recorded events to the records of other civilizations dates can sometimes be reasonably
extracted.
Now, here’s the problem: this is hardly foolproof. There are major holes in the Egyptian
Dynastic timeline. Sometimes there are gaps where they have never found information about a
particular Pharaoh. Or there isn’t enough information to know which Pharaoh he might have
followed. So, scholars have to guess.
The next interesting ingredient is that in the modern scientific world, the Bible timeline is
usually discarded. Because the Bible is, of course, a religious document, Archaeologists and
Egyptologists generally refuse to even consider that it might be accurate. Even events that are
chronicled in the Bible that would fill in large periods of time, in which there is no other source
of information, are tossed aside as unworthy to either consider or investigate.
Now back to the issue of whether or not Israel was actually ever in Egypt: Egyptologists have
indeed found the remains of an enormous Hebrew community in Egypt in the land of Goshen
(a region of Lower Egypt), right where the Bible says they were. This community was
estimated to have been able to accommodate perhaps 2 million people. It is called in scientific
circles by its archaeological name, Tell ed-Daba. By its most recent historic name, it’s called
Avaris. And, it is located right next to Pi-Rameses, the great city of Pharaoh. It all matches up
perfectly with the Biblical account except for one thing: because of the currently accepted
dating system, using what scientists call “Regnal Dating”, which is dating based on the
incredibly incomplete and often baseless line of Egyptian royalty, archaeologists say this city of
Hebrews existed at the wrong TIME!!
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Since this is not a class on scientific anthropology let me summarize with this: an agnostic
Egyptologist, Dr. David Roehl, decided in the mid 1980’s to take the unprecedented action of
assuming, from ONLY a historical perspective, that perhaps the Bible was an accurate record.
Through 10 years of active research, and with the help of many of his non-Bible believing
colleagues, he integrated the Egyptian dating system with Bible chronology and suddenly it all
started lining up. He is now making great headway among the scientific community of
revamping the entire archeological dating system that hasn’t changed in nearly 150 years.
And guess what; by using his new and revised system (still not universally accepted by the
academic community) the time that this huge population of Hebrews lived in Avaris in the land
of Goshen in Egypt, perfectly matches with the Bible story of captivity, the exodus, the
conquest of the land of Canaan, and more.
So understand; you should listen with much skepticism to A&E, the History Channel,
Discovery, and others that most often attempt to refute the Biblical accounts. Archaeologists
have indeed found many Biblical cities; but because the scientists want to stick to the outdated
and largely discredited Regnal Dating system they refuse to acknowledge these Biblical
archeological finds…. not because they’re not there, but because they supposedly occur in the
wrong time.
Well, back to our account of Israel in Egypt.
The Bible is silent from the time of the death of Y’hosef (Joseph), who died at the age of 110,
until the birth of Mosheh (Moses), a period of about 300 years. Extra-biblical sources indicate
that for the first 150-200 years after their arrival in Egypt, the Israelites prospered and their
numbers grew. The succession of Semite (not Egyptian) Pharaohs is tolerant of the Israelites,
likely due to their realization of the family attachments to these distant relatives. They also
remember, and continue to honor, the promises made by Pharaoh to Joseph, Joseph’s
decrees granting Israel citizenship and land, and Joseph’s historical position as a sort of
savior of Egypt…..saving them from famine. But, Egypt is now in turmoil. Y’hosef died about
1700 BC. Memories and promises can be short-lived things.
Egypt at this time was two nations: Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. In addition, a few areas
within the boundaries of the formerly unified nation were governed by warlords; tribal
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chieftains. It is helpful for us to know that the names Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt are exactly
reversed according to our current traditions of indicating direction. Upper Egypt is to the south,
while Lower Egypt is to the north.
After years of failed attempts by dozens of factions seeking power, an army led by an
Egyptian general from Thebes (modern-day Luxor) finally overthrows the detested foreign
Pharaoh. It’s about 1600 BC and the new Pharaoh, an Egyptian, feels no obligation to
Y’hosef’s (Joseph’s) 200-year-old decree regarding the Israelites. The driving need is to re-
unite the fractured Egyptian society and to re-establish a strong central government. To
accomplish this. a common cause is needed. Changes are made. Overnight, the large Israelite
population residing in Egypt is made the scapegoat for the nation’s problems, and they are
suddenly regarded as a threat to the throne. This scenario, with the Israelites, later called
Jews, being blamed for a nation’s problems and persecuted for it, will repeat itself time and
again in the future.
Within a few years private ownership of property, which helped the Israelites achieve
prosperity in Egypt in years past, was outlawed. The new Pharaoh, an Egyptian, decreed that
the temples to the gods would now own 20% of the land, with the remainder belonging to
Pharaoh alone. Peasants had no choice but to work the land as little more than serfs. Most
Israelites had been reduced to peasants.
Egypt, propelled by a horrific memory of foreign control and shameful subjugation, protected
their borders at all costs. But, they also directed their hatred and insecurity inward to the
“foreigners”, the Israelites, whose population had exploded into menacing proportions. Egypt
re-built her armies, meant not to only defend but to conquer, with national Egyptians. The
Israelites formed the foundation of the servant class workforce for Egypt’s ambitious building
projects. Egypt’s loyal nationalist army, together with the forced labor of the Israelites, allowed
Egypt a return to glory and once again to become a player on the world stage.
The Israelites paid a high price for their master’s imperialistic designs. Their lives were
miserable and without hope. Anti-Semitism was at fever pitch in Egypt. Even with the
impossible conditions the Israelites suffered under, their numbers continued to increase which
alarmed the populace and the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh, in an ancient method of birth control,
ordered all male Israelite children killed immediately upon birth, to stem the tide.
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MOSHEH (MOSES)
It’s about 1400 BC some 600 years after Abraham lived in Ur. In Egypt, a baby boy is born to
the Levite family of Amram and Jochebed [Ex. 2] (Levites are one of the 12 tribes of Israel).
They hide the child and, knowing the Egyptian guard will soon discover their secret, embark on
a desperate plan putting the baby’s fate entirely into God’s hands. An Egyptian Princess,
finding this Levite baby floating in a waterproofed basket in the Nile, rescues the child from
sure death, likely at the mouth of a hungry Nile crocodile. The Princess makes him her own
and names him Mose. We call him Moses. Mose is an Egyptian, not a Hebrew, name, and it
means “born of”. Mosheh, his Hebrew name means “to draw out”…… that is, he was “drawn
out” of the waters of the Nile.
Moses was raised in the palace of the Pharaoh, receiving nothing but the best. He learned
math and writing and was taught fighting skills, accounting, and court etiquette. He would have
been given authority over others and put his skills to use, by his 13
th
birthday. Most people of
his time had an average life span of about 25 - 30 years, so maturing and assumption of useful
duties occurred early by our standards. Yet, all evidence is that Israelites, for some reason,
had considerably longer life spans. Despite some Hollywood versions to the contrary, Mosheh
(Moses) was always aware of who he was and likely visited his birth mother often. She even
suckled him for many months after he was plucked from the Nile, for his sister Miryam
suggested as much to the Egyptian Princess.
One day when Mosheh (Moses) was grown he saw an Egyptian soldier strike an Israelite
slave. Mosheh killed the guard and buried him in the desert sand. Why would he have done
such a thing? Notice that the soldier didn’t kill the slave, nor maim him…..he merely struck him.
Surely an Egyptian soldier striking a Hebrew slave was a common, everyday occurrence that
he witnessed often. Egyptian law called for capital punishment for the killing of an Egyptian, no
matter whom the perpetrator. Mosheh (Moses) well knew this. At the very least, Mosheh
willingly threw away the royal life he could have chosen. Could it have been that Mosheh
(Moses), guilt-ridden and angry at being considered a half-breed by Israelite and Egyptian
alike, and likely unwelcome in either camp, simply could no longer tolerate watching his
parent’s people whipped like animals while he lived a life of luxury? In any case,
Mosheh (Moses) found out, much to his surprise, that there were witnesses to his murderous
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act, so he fled the country.
He could not go to Canaan where the roads and cities were guarded by Egyptian troops who
might recognize him; there would have been a warrant out for his arrest. Instead, he fled to a
place of little interest to any conquering nation, and where only the hardiest souls attempted to
live: the Sinai [Ex. 3]. After trekking across the Sinai he crossed over to the other side of a
finger of the Red Sea (now called the Gulf of Aqaba) and into the land of Midian, home to
Bedouin desert wanderers. After an incident at the water well where Moses protected some
local girls from being bullied by herders, a Midianite priest takes him in and gives him his eldest
daughter as a wife. Mosheh (Moses) becomes a shepherd of flocks in a barren, primitive land.
He spends the next several years contemplating the impulsive act that brought him here,
fighting loneliness, trying to forget the privileged life he once lived in the Pharaoh’s palace and
learning to adapt to his new reality. He was seeking answers to why things are as they are; if
all the gods of Egypt are false, as his father-in-law Yitro (Jethro) says, then who is God? Such
are the things that can humble a man, and make him moldable.
About 40 years pass. Mosheh (Moses), now 80 years old, sees a flickering of light off in the
distance, an uncommon occurrence in the desert wilderness [Ex. 3, 4]. He goes to investigate.
On a tall hill the Bible alternately refers to as “the Mountain of God” and Mt. Horeb (and later
as Mt. Sinai), Moses finds a bush that shines as if engulfed in flame, yet it doesn’t burn up (in
other words, the “burning bush” wasn’t on fire”. As he approaches it for a closer examination,
a thundering voice from above forces him to his knees in terror. The God he has been seeking
reveals Himself to Mosheh and tells him, “I will send you to Pharaoh, and you will free My
people”. This is not at all what Mosheh (Moses) had in mind for his life and informs God of that.
God, in His mercy, makes him promises. Mosheh responds skeptically. God produces proofs.
Mosheh asks to please be excused from the task and offers some lame excuse about a
speech impediment. God gets angry. Mosheh (Moses) accepts the assignment.
It is of interest to note that modern Christians speculate that the speech problem Moses
offered as an excuse for not wanting the job as liberator of God’s people was a lisp or perhaps
stuttering. Jewish tradition is that the speech problem had nothing to do with dysfunction.
Rather, they believe that after all those years spent being raised by Egyptians, then 40 more
years in Midian where the language would not have been Hebrew, Moses simply had an
extraordinarily poor grasp of the Hebrew language.
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Moses informs his Midianite family of his supernatural experience and takes his wife and
children and strikes out for Egypt. I suspect somewhere along the line he decides that what lies
ahead is too risky for his family and sends them back, because sometime later while leading
the freed Israelite nation through the desert wilderness, the Book of Exodus tells us of a
reunion between Mosheh (Moses) and his family.
Mosheh’s older brother, Aharon (Aaron), who will soon become the first High Priest of Israel,
greets Moses upon his arrival back in Egypt [Ex. 5]. Aharon (Aaron) has also been visited by
God and informed of the plan. So Aharon (Aaron) convinced the tribal elders, in advance of
Moses’ arrival, that Mosheh has been sent from God to free them. Mosheh and Aharon take
God’s message to free His people to the Pharaoh, who promptly rewards their efforts by
increasing the Israelites’ already deadly workload. The tribal elders and the people are not
thrilled with this turn of events and blame Mosheh. Mosheh confronts God about it [Ex. 6].
God, at this point, says some things that might be easily overlooked in the oft-told story of
Mosheh (Moses) and Pharaoh. But, what God says is truly momentous. In paraphrase, God
says “I appeared to Avraham (Abraham), Yitz’chak (Isaac), and Ya’acov (Jacob), but I did NOT
make myself known by my name. That is, up to now God had not revealed His formal name to
humankind. So people called Him by a number of titles. His name, says God, is YHWH
(Yahweh or perhaps Yehoveh). Say to the Israelite people: I am Yahweh, I will free you from
the burdens of the Egyptians……and I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God.”
Here is a new beginning. A beginning with a promise from God to Mosheh and the Israelites, a
people God is calling out to be His own. A personal God who wants to be known by His name,
who detests Egypt, loves His people, and will fight for them. This is the start of Israel’s history
as a nation.
Mosheh (Moses) visits Pharaoh again and insists that the Israelites are freed. Pharaoh
declines [Ex. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. Mosheh warns Pharaoh. Pharaoh is not used to being
threatened. Pharaoh bristles with anger and refuses to let go of the Israelites. Pharaoh’s
refusal can be well understood when one considers that to allow the Israelites to leave would
be tantamount to destroying the entire working class of Egypt. The Israelites represented not
only the unskilled labor but the best craftsmen as well. Imagine what would happen to the
United States if all of our carpenters, plumbers, electricians, cement layers, steelworkers,
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roofers, painters, and laborers of every variety suddenly disappeared. This is exactly what was
being proposed to Pharaoh by Moses.
So, to attain the release of His people, something drastic was needed. Yehoveh attacks the
Egyptians through their supposed gods. The Nile turns to blood, frogs inundate the land, boils
inflict the people, locusts attack crops, and finally, God lets the Egyptian people and their
Pharaoh feel the devastation the Israelites felt at the time of Mosheh’s birth: all firstborn
die [Ex. 12]. Interestingly this deadly curse applies to all Egyptian-owned livestock as well.
We’ll continue next time as Israel readies itself to leave Egypt and chart a new, but unknown,
course.
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