A Study in God’s Plan for Mankind: Study 5

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The Jewish Age part 1: “The Children of Israel”

Previously in our study on how the Bible reveals God’s plan for mankind, we discussed how certain critical events can be identified through study of the scriptures. Until now, we have concentrated on the book of Genesis. We saw, how in the beginnings of the book of Genesis, God created mankind, by creating two perfect people; Adam and Eve. Although created perfect, we also saw that God created them, and thus us, with free will. We saw how in one of the expressions of that free will, both Adam and Eve disobeyed a direct instruction from God; this disobedience being the first, but certainly not the last, act of sin. We saw that because of this act, Adam and Eve, and indeed, all of their descendants, had finite lives which ended in death. We studied how Genesis also records, many years later, a great flood, and noted that this flood marked the end of this first dispensation of God’s plan.

In subsequent studies, we also saw that after the flood, God begins to again deal more directly with mankind. Genesis describes God’s main interactions through three men: Abraham, his son Isaac, and Abraham’s grandson Jacob, who was later renamed by God to the name Israel. We considered how these men were labeled patriarchs, or male heads of their families, and subsequently named this new age of interaction with God to be the Patriarchal Age. We left off, at the end of our last post in this study, considering how the Bible describes God identifying Himself as the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”, but not continuing with this naming convention to include any of Jacob’s children. We also saw how God repeated a great promise, to bless all the families of the earth, to these patriarchs. At the end of our previous post, we indicated that a change seemed to be happening in how God was to interact with mankind, and with such a change, it seemed appropriate to consider the Patriarchal Age ending, and a new age beginning. What would the new form of interaction between God and mankind be?

Genesis 35:23-26 tell us that Jacob had twelve sons in total. Among these sons were Reuben, who was Jacob’s oldest son, Joseph, Benjamin and Judah. Genesis chapter 37:2 reveals that Jacob, or Israel as he was by now known, loved Joseph the most of all his sons. This chapter also outlines the fact that Joseph had dreams that he, and his family, evidently considered important and quite possibly prophetic. Verses 9 and 10 reveal that this dream indicated that one day, Joseph’s mother and father and eleven brothers would bow to him. Although the Bible does not explicitly declare it in the verses here, the implication is clearly that these dreams were inspired by God. The later verses of chapter 37 reveal that these things did not sit well with some of Joseph’s brothers, and some of the created a plan to kill Joseph. This plan was later altered, and resulted in Joseph being sold into slavery to men from Egypt.

Genesis chapters 39-41 describe Joseph’s gift to interpret the meaning of dreams continued with him during his captivity in Egypt. Through this gift, as well as his honesty and leadership abilities, he managed to gain the attention of Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt. After having proven himself a competent manger of goods and resources, as well as having interpreted several troubling dreams had by Pharaoh, Genesis 42:41-44 show Pharaoh giving Joseph very great power and responsibility in Egypt:

Genesis 41:41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 41:42 And Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;

Genesis 41:43 and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he set him over all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 41:44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.

Verses 51 and 52 further reveal that Joseph had two sons during his time in Egypt, and that there names were Mannasseh and Ephraim.

Genesis chapter 42 returns to Jacob/Israel, and his remaining family, who were, at the time, living outside of Egypt. Genesis 41:56-57, reveal that there was a widespread famine at the time, but because of planning, and due to Joseph’s ability to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, Egypt had a large stockpile of corn, and that people were able to come to Egypt to purchase corn. Jacob decided to send his sons into Egypt to purchase corn for his household. At the time, Jacob/Israel believed Joseph to be dead, and had no idea that his brothers had sold him into slavery many years ago. Jacob’s other sons also had no idea that Joseph still lived, or that he had attained such a prominent position in Egypt.

Chapters 42 through 45 describe the reunion, and reconciliation, between Joseph and his brothers. In Genesis 46:3 show God directing Jacob/Israel to move his family into Egypt:

Genesis 46:3 And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation:

Genesis 46:4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.

Jacob/Israel was probably hesitant to move away from the land where his family had lived for generations; however, God assures him that this move is His will, for the time being, and that God will not abandon him or his descendants there. Chapters 46 through 50 describe the move of Jacob’s household into Egypt. Chapter 48-49 describe what were some of Jacob’s last days, and here the Bible makes an important declaration. Ten of Jacob’s sons, combined with Jacob’s two sons, would become known as the twelve tribes of Israel, as first referred to in Genesis 49:28:

Genesis 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

The book of Genesis then ends, in line with the end of the Patriarchal Age, with the death of Jacob. The second book of the Bible, Exodus, opens by telling us that Jacob/Israel’s children became very successful during their time in Egypt:

Exodus 1:7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.

Also at the beginning of Exodus, we see Joseph dying as well. As time went by, a new pharaoh took over, who didn’t know about Joseph. This pharaoh, began to see the success of Israel’s descendants in his land as a threat. In an effort to try to limit their success, the pharaoh, and other rulers, made the descendants of Israel slaves:

Exodus 1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And hey built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raamses.

Exodus 1:13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor:

Exodus 1:14 and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigor.

Exodus chapters 2-6 chronicle the early life of a descendant of one of Israel’s sons, Levi, named Moses. At some point in his life, God calls Moses for a specific task; namely the gathering of all of Israel’s descendants together and leading them out of Egypt into a new land. Of particular interest is that, even though God is raising Moses up for a specific and important task, He still identifies Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:

Exodus 6:3 and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them.

Exodus chapters 6 through 12 outline the rather lengthy process of Moses, and his brother Aaron, fulfilling God’s direction. Pharaoh would not agree to let the descendants of Israel, also known as the children of Israel (see, for example, Exodus 2:25), leave Egypt. No doubt, much of the land’s economy and infrastructure relied on the work performed by the descendants of Israel, and losing such a resource would be a hardship, perhaps even crippling, to Egypt. Over the course of these chapters, God permits several plagues to sweep through Egypt, each one designed to demonstrate God’s power to Pharaoh. Through Moses and Aaron, God communicated to Pharaoh that God desired the children of Israel to leave Egypt, but each time Pharaoh refused, until the last of the plagues.

The last of these plagues is outlined in Exodus chapter 11:

Exodus 11:4 And Moses said, Thus saith Jehovah, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:

Exodus 11:5 and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of cattle.

Exodus 11:6 And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there hath not been, nor shall be any more.

Exodus 11:7 But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that Jehovah doth make a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel.

After proclaiming that the final plague upon the Egyptians would be the death of all firstborn children, and that God would not permit this plague to happen to the children of Israel, God delivers a special set of directions to Moses and Aaron, to convey to the children of Israel, that, if followed, would protect them and their children against this plague. These directions are outlined in Exodus chapter 12:

Exodus 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth [day] of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household:

Exodus 12:6 and ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at even.

Exodus 12:7 And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses wherein they shall eat it.

Exodus 12:12 For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Jehovah.

Exodus 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt

Note the use of the phrase “pass over you” in verse 13. The meaning here is that the final plague would be the death of all firstborn children throughout Egypt. The blood of the lamb, sprinkled on the doorposts of a house, however, would cause this plague to not happen to those within the house; the plague would “passover” those within the house. In the next verse, God commands the children of Israel to repeat this process each year, as a memorial of this “passing over”:

Exodus 12:14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah: throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

Clearly, God was placing a great deal of significance upon these specific passover instructions. After all, this was not the first time that God had provided deliverance to mankind. For example, he saved Noah and his family from the great flood years ago, but did not command them to celebrate this fact by constructing an ark every year. In this instance, though, God commanded the children of Israel to repeat this process on a yearly basis “throughout your generations.” This implies that God had some special meaning behind this picture of a lamb’s blood, sprinkled on a doorway, being able to cause death to pass over those who were inside the house; in other words, to deliver them from death. Having to repeat this memorial, as verse 14 calls it, would ensure that this picture was firmly implanted in the minds of future generations. We will return to this exact thought as we progress through our study of God’s plan.

Exodus 14 through 19 describe the children of Israel’s departure from Egypt. God, through Moses and Aaron, was leading them to a new land, where he would begin to unfold the next phase of His plan. The children of Israel understood this phase to include God’s establishment of them as their own nation. Any group of people, let alone a nation, needs rules or laws if it is to function. Thus we see, in Exodus chapters 19 and 20, God delivers the first part of these laws to the children of Israel.

Most people with even a passing familiarity with God and the Bible have heard of the Ten Commandments. The first verses of Exodus chapter 20 lists these commandments out, and these commandments serve as this first passing of law from God to the children of Israel. Following the communication of these commandments, the second half of chapters 20 through chapter 23 outline a further transference of more detailed laws. It should be noted that the spirit of the first ten commandments can be traced through each of these more detailed laws.

Beginning in chapter 24, and continuing through chapter 31, God delivers his instructions for a special construction, called a tabernacle, in which the children of Israel were to conduct sacrifices and services. These chapters also provide very specific details as to the exact nature of these sacrifices. The chapters also describe God’s appointment of a special class from among the children of Israel, who would be responsible for the sacrifices and the maintenance of the tabernacle. Moving into the later chapters in Exodus, chapters 34 through 39 outline the contents of the tabernacle (for example, the furniture, fixtures and other objects that were to be placed in the tabernacle), as well as more details on the clothing and equipment used by the caretakers of the tabernacle, referred to as priests, or the priest class. The nature of these sacrifices, and the significance of the tabernacle’s layout as it relates to God’s plan, will be covered in future posts in this study.

The third book of the Bible is called Leviticus, and outlines a much more lengthy interaction between God and Moses, in which God delivers to the children of Israel a yet more detailed set of laws for the children of Israel to follow. As outlined in the beginning of this study, there were twelve descendants of Israel (Jacob) that had each formed into separate groups, according to which of Israel’s children they originated from. These groups were sometimes referred to as “tribes”, hence, these groups are often referred to as “the twelve tribes of Israel”. The caretakers of the tabernacle, the priest class mentioned above, were specified by God as to come form the tribe of Levi. The name of this book of the Bible, “Leviticus” means “relating to the priests”. The details of this law are largely repeated in the fifth book of the Bible as well, which is called “Deuteronomy”, which roughly means “a repetition of the law”.

Although a detailed examination of these laws that God gave to the children of Israel are beyond the scope of this study, it is very relevant to this study that God chose the children of Israel to gather out of Egypt and begin to form into a nation by delivering a set of laws and rules to follow.

So far, we have seen the Bible describing the beginning of a new age of interaction between God and mankind. God is clearly focusing His attentions at this point in his plan on the descendant, or “children” of Israel. This attention, as we shall see, will last for a long period of time; centuries, in fact.

In this post, we have covered the transitional period between God’s dealing with mankind through a small set of patriarchs to dealing with a larger number of people; a new, fledgling nation, in fact. Being an introductory study on this new age, we shall end here, without yet adding any new features or objects to our plan outline. As we continue through a series of studies of this new age, we will not only put a name to this new age, but also cover some of the following study topics:

  • A more detailed examination of the law given by God to the children of Israel, including its true intention, its fulfillment many years after it was given, and its impact on both the children of Israel and all people, even through to people today
  • Discuss the roles of judges and kings in this new age
  • Discuss the layout and furnishings of the tabernacle and their symbolic impacts to our understanding of God’s plan
  • Time prophecies made during this new age that have profound impacts to the understanding of God’s plan
  • As you are reading this post, you may find all of this history somewhat dry. What does God deciding to specially deal with a group of descendants of Israel mean to me, or my family or my friends, especially if we aren’t among this group of people? We will make the connection that all of this history that the Bible lays out here leads up to something wonderful: an event at the end of this new age, that has profound meaning to each and every person who has ever lived, and will ever live.
  • We will see how the history laid out in this series of posts relates to a special period of time that serves as the end of this age, and a transition into the following age.

Posts in the “God’s Plan for Mankind” Study

Further Readings and References

  • Israel – A Nation of Miracles is an informative booklet that provides not only a historical perspective on some of the topics presented in this subset of studies, but also provides a frame of reference for current events and modern history
  • Much of the material covered in this collective set of studies on God’s plan is laid out in the booklet God’s Grand Plan of the Ages
  • For a much more definitive, in-depth study of God’s plan for mankind, The Divine Plan of the Ages will prove to be an invaluable resource
  • (Please note that although some of these links will take you to the Chicago Bible Students online bookstore, where physical copies of these books/booklets may be purchased, each of the books/booklets maybe be also downloaded from the bookstore, free of charge, with no obligation to provide any personal information. Simply click under the description of each item to find the download link.)

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