The nation of Israel was established by God who blessed and multiplied them as he promised Abraham. God’s founding of Israel brought the plan for redeeming mankind closer since it would be through the Hebrews that the Messiah would be brought into the world. The story of Israel is one of the most remarkable in the Bible and no other country shares this amazing attribute.
Israel was created to perform several functions. Through the Hebrews God rendered judgment against the evil of the nations of Canaan. Israel would be a testimony of God’s power throughout the earth and guarantee that the Messiah would come. The establishment of the Hebrew nation demonstrates God’s power, goodness, integrity and provisions for the benefit of all mankind. As the history of Israel unfolds we find contrasts emerge illustrating differences between the character of God and man.
God demonstrates His integrity by fulfilling His promises. God told Abraham He would make him a great nation (Genesis 12.2), kings would be descended from him (Genesis 17.6) and his descendants would inherit the land God showed him (Genesis 12.1). God reminds the Israelites of these promises as they are fulfilled before their eyes. Once delivered from bondage in Egypt the Hebrews are a force to be reckoned with under God’s divine direction and assistance. Through Moses and Joshua the Israelites executed the Lord’s judgment against the pagan kingdoms of Canaan thus securing the land promised to Abraham four generations earlier.
Moses reminded the Hebrews of God’s faithfulness, stating, “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and the statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people as it is this day.” (Deuteronomy 10.12-15). God never forgot the patriarchs, their offspring or His promises establishing the Israelite nation as promised.
The magnitude of God’s ability is demonstrated in the manner in which He freed the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. The Hebrews, enslaved by a world power that defied God, were subjected to extremely harsh conditions which Pharaoh tried to worsen as he fought the Lord. Describing the power God exercised bringing the Hebrews out of Egypt, Moses states, “But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.” (Deuteronomy 4.20). The plagues God sent on Egypt (Exodus 7-14) were a dreadful display of authority and power.
Moses also states that the reason for this was to let the Children of Israel know that God was the Lord of all things. Moses asks, “Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard and live? Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.” (Deuteronomy 4.33-35). Aside from breaking the power of Egypt, God provided proof of His authority over the elements, life, death and the Egyptian deities.
God’s power can also be understood if we compare the Hebrew nation to other kingdoms of the time. Moses states, “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people....” (Deuteronomy 7.7). The task set before the Hebrews, of conquering the peoples of Canaan, placed the Israelites in opposition to nations that were larger, more advanced and who were defending their homes. God provided for this contingency as can be seen in the example of the Exodus. Faced with the Egyptian army which pursued the Hebrews, Moses states, “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14.14).
In regard to the conquest of the land of Canaan, Moses states, “The Lord which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes....” (Deuteronomy 1.30). God also states, “This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon all nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.” (Deuteronomy 2.25). Examples of this fear can be seen in the fall of Jericho (Joshua 2.9-11) and during the battle against the Amorite kings (Joshua 10). God displayed his power through His chosen people just as He told Abraham (Genesis 15.16). Examples such as this demonstrates how God is true to His word and does not waver.
The integrity and power of God can be contrasted not only with the pagan nations of Canaan but also with the Israelites. Although God used the Israelites as the instrument by which the Canaanites were judged, the Hebrews were not without fault. Moses comments on the character of the people, stating, “Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.” (Deuteronomy 9.5-6). God exercised His right as creator of all things, to render judgment through the Hebrews against nations whose evil brought such consequences upon them.
We also learn of the goodness of God in these events as well. Moses states, “For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” (Deuteronomy 4.7-8). God blessed the Hebrews through the Law by providing them with everything that they needed. Speaking of the good things that God had in store for them, Moses states, “And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee in to the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and houses full of all things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” (Deuteronomy 6.10-12)
God intended for the children of Israel to prosper and desired to continue blessing them admonishing the Hebrews to remember Him. Moses told the Israelites, “Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.” (Deuteronomy 7.12-15).
God’s goodness stands out in the description of the land the Israelites were going to. “For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.” (Deuteronomy 8.7-9).
In spite of Israel’s sin and doubt that caused God to make them wander in the wilderness for forty years (Numbers 13–14), the Lord took care of His people. Moses reminded the Hebrews, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.” (Deuteronomy 8.2-6).
In addition to the physical blessings God provided for Israel, he also gave them an identity that was unique in the world. The purpose for which the Israelites had been made a nation was primarily spiritual. Moses explains this. “Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be his special people, just as he promised you, that you should keep all his commandments, and that he will set you high above all nations which he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as he has spoken.” (Deuteronomy 26.18-19 NKJV).
Throughout the writings of Moses, God states that the continuation of His blessings upon the nation are conditional. They were to be holy and keep God’s commandments. Moses states, “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all his commandments which I command you today, that the Lord will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all the blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God....” (Deuteronomy 28.1-2 NKJV). Moses outlines the benefits of obedience and consequences for transgression coupled with warnings not to forget God (Deuteronomy 28.15-68).
The nation of Israel would be the people through whom all nations would be blessed, as promised to Abraham. The statements made to the Hebrews by Moses contain provisions not only for that time but pointed to future events as well. Moses foretold of a prophet like him that would be raised up from among them, speaking of Christ (Deuteronomy 18.15, Acts 3.22-26). Moses indicates in this prophetic reference, that more would be revealed by God at a later time. Moses encourages the Israelites to be patient when he states, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29.29).
The establishment of the nation of Israel is a profound statement in the scriptures of God’s goodness and mercy toward mankind. Through the Hebrews the blessing of the forgiveness of sins was eventually realized through Christ and the final revelation of God’s will to man in the first century. While some choose to focus on the scriptures as harsh, such stories as the one reviewed here, show that God is kind as well. To overlook the goodness of God is to miss one of the strongest points made in the Bible concerning the Lord. The righteousness of God is continually contrasted with the nature of mankind, revealing that God is indeed faithful and good.