READING • GENESIS 37
A story that begins with Abraham
The history of Israel begins with God's promises to Abraham. Abraham's son Isaac had a son named Jacob, whom God later called Israel. Jacob's twelve sons became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. In the earliest part of the story, 'Israelites' or 'children of Israel' is the more precise term; the name 'Jew' became common later, especially in connection with Judah.
Joseph and the move to Egypt
Joseph, one of Jacob's younger sons, was sold by his jealous brothers and taken to Egypt. After severe trials, God caused him to become a ruler there. When famine came, Jacob and his family moved to Egypt, where food had been stored under Joseph's direction. What began as a rescue eventually became a period of oppression: later generations of Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians.
God at work through difficult events
Joseph's story is more than an exciting narrative. It shows God's overruling care and prepares the way for the Exodus, when God brought Israel out of slavery and formed them into a covenant nation.
Freedom from slavery
God raised up Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. During the long wilderness journey, He provided food, water and protection. Nehemiah later looked back on God's care:
“Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.”
Nehemiah 9:20–21 • King James Version
A covenant people at Sinai
At Mount Sinai, God called Israel to be a people set apart for Him. Their special position brought responsibility: they were to listen to God's voice and keep His covenant.
“Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine.”
Exodus 19:5 • King James Version
The people answered, 'All that the LORD hath spoken we will do' (Exodus 19:8). God gave them His law through Moses, including the Sabbath as a weekly day set apart from ordinary work.
The problem was not the law
God's law was good, but the people repeatedly failed to keep it. Their history demonstrates a lesson that applies to all humanity: knowing what is right does not remove the human tendency to sin. Israel needed God's mercy, just as we do. The law taught them how God wanted them to live, but it could not make disobedient hearts faithful by itself.
Israel asks for a king
After entering the promised land, Israel was led for many years by judges. God was their true King. Eventually the people asked for a human king like the surrounding nations. God said to Samuel:
“They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”
1 Samuel 8:7 (excerpt) • King James Version
Saul became Israel's first king. He was followed by David, and then by David's son Solomon. David is described as a man after God's own heart, and God made important promises to him which will be considered in a later lesson.
The kingdom divides
After Solomon's death, his son Rehoboam refused the people's request to lighten their burdens. He rejected wise counsel and answered harshly:
“My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
1 Kings 12:14 (excerpt) • King James Version
Ten tribes followed Jeroboam and formed the northern kingdom, usually called Israel. Judah and Benjamin remained with Rehoboam in the southern kingdom, usually called Judah.
PERIOD
NORTHERN KINGDOM
SOUTHERN KINGDOM
After Solomon
Israel - ten tribes under Jeroboam
Judah - mainly Judah and Benjamin under Rehoboam
Capital / worship
Samaria later became the capital; rival centres of worship developed
Jerusalem remained the capital and the temple remained there
End of kingdom
Conquered by Assyria in the 8th century BC
Conquered by Babylon in the 6th century BC
After exile
No restored northern kingdom returned as before
Many exiles from Judah returned after the Babylonian captivity
Warnings repeatedly ignored
The books of Kings and Chronicles record a repeated pattern of disobedience, warning, temporary reform and renewed failure. God sent prophets because He had compassion on His people, but their warnings were often rejected.
“And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.”
2 Chronicles 36:15–16 • King James Version
Exile - and a return
The northern kingdom fell first to Assyria. Later Judah was conquered by Babylon and Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. Yet God had not abandoned His purpose. After the Babylonian captivity, many people from Judah returned to the land and rebuilt the temple and Jerusalem. Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi belong to this later Old Testament period.
A more precise way to describe the exiles
It is too simple to say that every member of the northern tribes disappeared or that every Jew returned after Babylon. The Bible itself shows movement between tribes and lands. What ended was the independent northern kingdom; later Jewish communities existed both in the land and throughout the wider world.
Between the Testaments
Several centuries separate the latest Old Testament prophetic books from the events with which the New Testament opens. The original course associated this interval with Amos's picture of a famine 'of hearing the words of the LORD':
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.”
Amos 8:11 • King James Version
When John the Baptist began preaching, he prepared the way for the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was born into the Jewish people; so were his apostles and the earliest believers. Christianity cannot be understood properly if its Jewish setting is forgotten.
Jesus, Jerusalem and responsibility
The New Testament records strong opposition to Jesus from some Jewish leaders and from a crowd in Jerusalem. It also records that the Roman governor Pontius Pilate authorized the crucifixion. Matthew records the crowd saying:
“His blood be on us, and on our children.”
Matthew 27:25 • King James Version
This verse must not be misused
These words describe a particular crowd at a particular moment. They do not justify blaming Jewish people of later generations for the death of Jesus. Jesus, the apostles and the first believers were themselves Jews. The Gospel calls every person - Jew and Gentile alike - to repentance, faith and obedience.
Jerusalem under Rome
About forty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Jewish revolt against Rome ended with the capture of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple in AD 70. Further conflict, especially the Bar Kokhba revolt in AD 132-135, brought additional devastation and displacement. The Jewish diaspora, however, had already existed for centuries, and Jewish communities continued both inside and outside the land.
Scattered - yet still a people
Deuteronomy had warned Israel that persistent covenant unfaithfulness would bring scattering among the nations. The language is severe:
“And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other.”
Deuteronomy 28:64 (excerpt) • King James Version
Across many centuries Jewish communities lived throughout the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and farther afield. They made major contributions to the societies in which they lived, but also endured repeated discrimination, expulsion and violence.
The Holocaust
The most terrible modern example was the Holocaust during the Second World War, when Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered about six million Jews. This was an atrocity committed by human beings and must never be excused, celebrated or used as a theological justification for hatred. Christian teaching gives no permission for antisemitism.
A lesson for every generation
Bible prophecy and Jewish history should lead us to reverence for God, careful reading of Scripture and humility - never contempt for another people. The Bible repeatedly condemns pride, cruelty and hatred.
A continuing story
The Jewish story did not end in exile or persecution. From the nineteenth century onward, increasing numbers of Jews returned to the land, and in 1948 the modern State of Israel was established. Later lessons consider the prophetic significance that Christadelphians see in these events. For now, the important point is that the people whose history begins in Genesis remain present in world history today.
History at a glance
PERIOD
KEY DEVELOPMENT
Patriarchs to Exodus
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; Joseph in Egypt; Israel grows into a people and is brought out of slavery.
Kingdoms and exile
The kingdom divides; Israel falls to Assyria and Judah to Babylon; many from Judah later return.
Roman period and diaspora
Jerusalem is destroyed in AD 70; further upheaval follows in AD 132-135; Jewish life continues in the land and abroad.
Modern period
Jewish communities survive centuries of persecution; the Holocaust murders about six million Jews; Israel is established as a state in 1948.
SUMMARY
1
Israel grew from the family of Abraham.
Isaac and Jacob followed Abraham; Jacob was called Israel, and his sons became the fathers of the twelve tribes.
2
God brought Israel out of Egypt.
At Sinai He made a covenant with them and gave His law, calling them to be a people set apart for Him.
3
The kingdom divided and both kingdoms fell.
Israel was conquered by Assyria and Judah by Babylon; many from Judah later returned to the land.
4
Jesus and the earliest Christians were Jewish.
The New Testament gives no basis for collective blame against Jewish people of later generations.
5
The Jewish story continued through diaspora and persecution.
Despite terrible suffering, including the Holocaust, Jewish communities survived and remain part of world history today.
Chapters to read
Deuteronomy 28; 2 Chronicles 36:11-23
LEARN BY HEART • ISAIAH 43:11–12
“I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.”
Isaiah 43:11–12 • King James Version
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