A New Nation is Born

The Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse him that curses you; And all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you."—Genesis 12:1-3 Tenakh

Leonard Griehs

The covenant with Abraham is the foundation for all of God’s redemptive work. The remainder of the Bible, from Genesis 12 through Revelation, unfolds the story of how God carries out the promise that he made to his friend Abraham. This article will discuss the seeds planted that day and the way in which they eventually produced the nation of Israel. The seeds were planted with Abraham (Abram), sprouted in his son Isaac, bore fruit in Isaac’s son Jacob, and grew into full bloom with the twelve sons of Jacob. Their progeny became the twelve tribes of Israel. These twelve tribes emerged from Egypt bound for Abraham’s land of promise, Canaan.

Abram was called of God to venture to a land he did not know. God promised it to him, although Abram himself would never possess it. That a great nation would establish itself there was indicated by God himself in the theme text. In this rousing command to a man surrounded by pagans and yet to be proven, God spoke of his purpose. That purpose was to bless all the families of the earth. He promised to bring forth a nation that would produce a redeemer who would "bruise the serpent’s head" (Gen. 3:15). This will rid mankind of the curse of death. Plainly, God works in mysterious ways!

God led Abram through many adventures, as recorded in chapters twelve to fourteen of Genesis. However, the culminating experience in his dealing with Abram is contained in seven words in the fifteenth chapter. There we are told that "The Lord made a covenant with Abram." (Gen. 15:18) In fact, this is the only time that exact phrase appears.

Recognizing this chapter as the inauguration of the covenant is essential to realizing how and why God gave so much care to the development of the nation and lends reliable credibility to God’s promises to his children in Israel. Our story must begin here.

Eliezer Not the Heir

At first, Abram thought that God would use Eliezer his servant to execute the promise and bestow the great blessings. God assured him, however, that his servant was not to be the one, and that despite his being childless at the time, Abram would have a son to receive the promise (Gen. 15:2-4). Although he and his wife Sarai were beyond the age of having children, Abram trusted in God’s promise. "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." (Gen. 15:6)

If onlyhwe could demonstrate such faith when God’s call becomes difficult and we cannot see our way out! Abram’s simple faith was used as an example to believers in Christ by both Paul and James (Rom 4:3; Gal 3:6; James 2:23).

The writer of Hebrews attests to the importance of faith and cites both Abraham and Sarah as premier examples (Heb. 11:8-12). Is it any wonder that God places the burden of our salvation on faith rather than service? Abraham demonstrated his faith in so many ways and did many wonderful works in God’s name; yet his simple belief in God’s power to overcome any earthly restrictions, and thus fulfill his promise, was the basis for his reward as an "ancient worthy."

God Illustrates His Covenant With Abram

Abram’s faith pleased God. However, as is so often the case in the Old Testament, God demonstrated to Abram in a remarkable way the power of his commitment—a mysterious ceremony involving smoking pots and burning torches. "Then he said to him, ‘I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to assign this land to you as a possession.’ And he said, ‘O LORD GOD, how shall I know that I am to possess it?’ He answered, ‘Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year old ram, a turtledove, and a young bird.’ He brought him all these and cut them in two, placing each half opposite the other; but he did not cut up the bird. Birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away." (Gen. 15:7-12, Tenakh)

God instructed Abram to cut in half three animals—the same type of animals later to be used in the Levitical sacrifices—a heifer, a goat and a ram (Gen. 15:9-10). As Abram prepared to cut these animals according to God’s instruction, a throng of unclean birds swept down upon the carcasses.

This strange interlude (which scares Abram) is used by God to reassure him—he told Abram that the birds represented the time that the children of the promise would spend in Egypt. "And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance" (Gen. 15:13-14).

The word "afflict" in this passage is the same word Moses uses later to describe Egypt’s oppression of Israel. "Therefore, they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens" (Ex. 1:11). Like the birds of prey attacking Abram’s sacrifice, Egypt would interrupt the salvation plan for some four hundred years as it oppressed the inheritors of the promised land. Eventually, however, Egypt became the means by which the children of Israel gained the necessary wealth to survive forty years of wandering on the journey to Canaan.

After sunset, Abram saw a smoking fire pot and a burning torch pass between the pieces of the sacrifice. This description of God’s glory was to be later reflected in the Levitical sacrifices as the "shekinah"—the consuming holiness of God. Then a crucial statement follows: "In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram . . ." (15.18) The word for "made" here is Strong’s 3772, karath. It literally means to "cut" and is used 26 times in the Old Testament. In fact it is this ceremony which forms the origin of the word—to "make an alliance or bargain by cutting flesh and passing between the pieces." God’s own presence assures Abraham that he will fulfill his promise by his own power.

The covenant with Abraham was unilateral —it required nothing from Abraham, except faith. True, God later required the practice of circumcision upon Abraham’s posterity but only as a sign of the covenant: "As for you and your offspring to come throughout the ages, you shall keep my covenant. Such shall be the covenant between me and you and your offspring to follow which you shall keep: every male among you shall be circumcised" (Gen. 17:10).

Tests Solidify Abraham’s Faith

Twenty-five years later Abraham was put to a severe test regarding the covenant and the promised seed. Following the birth of Isaac, and Isaac’s subsequent growth to manhood, God directed Abraham to go to Mount Moriah and there sacrifice Isaac. Surely this was one of the most severe tests any prophet ever endured!

Abraham did not hesitate. His faith in God had solidified after the ceremony of the covenant and the birth of Isaac. He had total confidence that God would fulfill that promise and could do so even if Isaac were slain. Abraham journeyed to Moriah (eventually the site of the Temple in Jerusalem) and built an altar upon which to offer Isaac. As he raised the knife to slay his son, God intervened. "And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, `In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.’ And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, ` By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: hat in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice’" (Gen. 22:11-18).

In the burning pots and sacrifices, God had shown Abraham the beginning of his salvation plan. Through the covenant with Abraham, the law and its sacrifices would produce temporary blessings to the nation of Israel and keep it under the special protection of God. Now, in this second illustration, God indicates another step in the salvation plan. God himself would provide a substitutionary sacrifice—his own son—and on the very spot where Abraham offered Isaac!

Abraham’s willingness to offer his long-awaited Isaac illustrated God’s own willingness to give his greatest joy—his only son, Jesus. God’s promise to Abraham continued to unfold and once more he attested to it by his own name.

The Promise Passes Through Isaac

Abraham reached the age of 175 and died. God had promised him the land and had testified to the promise at least twice with his own oath. Yet Abraham himself never possessed a foot of the land! (Acts 7:5). Does this mean that God went back on his word? Indeed not! The conclusion must be that God would give at some future time all the land promised to Abraham’s offspring. Every natural descendant of Abraham can be comforted by that promise yet to be fulfilled in its entirety. Even Abraham, the hero of faith, will plant his feet in that land someday. But for now, the promise passed through to the next generation.

Isaac, the child of the promise, married Rebekah; God’s choice for him, indicated to Abraham’s servant (Gen. 24). Like his father, Isaac had faith in God and knew the promised blessing would flow through him and his seed. Like his father’s wife Sarah, Isaac’s wife Rebekah failed to conceive. Only after Isaac pleaded with God did Rebekah conceive. Once again God intervened to grant a pregnancy and showed his diligent attention to fulfilling the promise. But the promise developed in a unique way when Rebekah gave birth to twin boys, Esau and Jacob.

Jacob Receives the Blessing

Esau, as the firstborn, would normally have been heir to his father’s promises; however he had given up his inheritance to satisfy his earthly appetite. There is a general misunderstanding about the transfer of the birthright and the promise from Esau to Jacob. Many biblical commentators portray Jacob’s plot in a negative light. However, had it been the deceitful thing that many make it to be, God would have reproved him, just as he reproved David for the deceitful way by which he stole Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11, 12).

In the case of Jacob there is no record of God’s disapproval. Scriptures point to Jacob as a faithful partriarch. Perhaps God looked favorably on this incident to illustrate the passing of the promises of God from natural Israel, the original inheritors of God’s blessings, to the followers of Jesus, who became the main heirs of the Abrahamic promise. "And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29). Thus Jacob pictures the sacrifice of every earthly interest to secure the higher spiritual promise of joint-heirship with Christ.

Jacob lamented his second-born status because it meant that he would not be the channel for the divine blessing. Isaac must have talked to his sons many times about their grandfather Abraham, and the experiences he and his father had together in recognizing God’s deliverance and the reiteration of the promise! The promised blessing, not the possession of his father’s goods, led Jacob to do all he could to secure it—indeed, to become an outcast, a pilgrim, and a stranger. Each of us should diligently pursue the heavenly promise as Jacob pursued the earthly one!

God showed his pleasure with Jacob in a dream. He confirmed to Jacob that the promise made to Abraham, passed to Isaac, was now passing to him.

"And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. . . . And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" (Gen. 28:13-15).

The Twelve Sons of Jacob

Thus through divine oversight, Jacob received the birthright blessing which God had made to Abraham and passed it to his twelve sons, the forerunners of the nation of Israel.

The story of Jacob’s sons is one of the most well-known of the Bible. Paramount is the story of Joseph—Jacob’s first son by his favorite wife Rachel—who was sold into Egypt by his brothers and emerged as a great ruler. When famine forced Jacob and his family to reside in Egypt, the next significant unfolding of the promise took place. Jacob had already received personal reassurance that the promise would not fail. He had wrestled with the angel of God and had received a new name—Israel (He will rule as God). He had gotten both a blessing and a change of name. Once again we can see in Jacob’s life an illustration of those who follow Christ and also receive a new name (Rev. 2:17).

Thus began the final chapter of the beginning of the nation of Israel. Under the direction of the Lord, Jacob called his sons to him and revealed their futures relating to the promise of blessing. The most significant part of the promise now narrowed to but one of Jacob’s twelve sons. Jacob revealed that the original blessing to Abraham would flow through the loins of the great grandson Judah. "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be" (Gen. 49:10).

The Jewish Talmud lists Shiloh as one of the names of Messiah (Sanhedrin 98b). The most ancient Jewish commentary on the book of Genesis also adopts this interpretation (Bereshit Rabba 99). In the scriptures, the name Shiloh most likely relates to the word Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace. This is confirmed in the prophecies of the Messiah’s coming in Isaiah 9:6 as the "Prince of Peace" and in Micah 5:5 as "this man shall be peace." These prophecies were the final stroke in the developing portrait of redemption given through the promise of Abraham and leading up to the development of the nation that would first be offered redemption. From this time on, the children of Israel looked for the promised deliverer to come from the tribe of Judah.

This narrowing of the promise is a key theme of the Old Testament. First, in Genesis 3:15, he says simply that the deliverer will be of mankind; in 9:26, it is intimated he will be a descendant of Shem; in 12:3, we are told that Abraham would be the progenitor of him in whom all families of the earth would be blessed; in 21:12, it was narrowed to the line of Isaac; in 25:23 it was narrowed to Jacob, one of the two sons of Isaac; now, it is limited to the lineage of Judah. Later king David would come through the line of Judah and, in 2 Samuel 7:12-16, the genealogy of the Messiah is described as coming through David. God truly kept his word!

Captivity in Egypt

Jacob’s descendants dwelt safely in Egypt while their patriarch Joseph was alive, but eventually they passed through the fiery trials God had made manifest in his covenant ceremony with Abraham.

A new Pharaoh dealt harshly with the multiplying descendants of Jacob (Exod. 1:8). He feared that the Israelites would outnumber the Egyptians and ordered that all newborn Hebrew males be slain. Moses, however, escaped the death sentence. God miraculously preserved him and caused him to be nourished and brought up in Pharaoh’s own house. Yet Moses treasured his Hebrew inheritance and chose to suffer affliction on behalf of his own people rather than enjoy the luxuries of Egypt. His sacrifice is a grand lesson to all those who are drawn to the world’s luxuries and pleasures!

Harsh treatment of the Israelites continued under the Pharaoh, and God responded to the cries of Abraham’s seed. He instructed Moses to return and prepare the people for deliverance. In the final plague cast upon hard-hearted Pharaoh, God gave another illustration of his great plan of redemption. The Passover —the sparing of the death of the firstborn of Israel—pictured the far greater deliverance from death of all those who would follow his Son. God used his earthly inheritors to provide a lesson for his spiritual family (I Cor. 10:11). The death of the first-born of Pharaoh’s own house brought down the final barrier to the journey to the promised land. The following day, over 600,000 men, and probably as many women and children, left Egypt to follow Moses into the wilderness. That was the beginning of a new era in the development of the promise.

The miraculous deliverance from their enemies should have been sufficient to establish Israel’s faith in God. However, much more was to be endured before they would finally become the nation in the new land that Abraham had stood and surveyed some five hundred years before.