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Questions for Today |
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Act III: Israel
The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father´s household and go to the land I will show you."
"I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
– Genesis 12
Abraham (called Abram here) is the beginning of the divine answer to the problem of Adam. In calling Abraham and promising to make him into a great nation, God is narrowing his focus and concentrating on one group of people for a period of time. But the ultimate goal remains the same: bless all the peoples on earth, remove the curse and restore the original relationship.
When Abraham´s descendants are later enslaved in Egypt, a central pattern in the upcoming story is set: God returns to his people, frees them and restores them to the land promised to them. Having appointed Moses to be their leader during their liberation from Egypt (the Exodus), God makes a covenant (or promise/agreement) with his people, this new nation of Israel. In this covenant, God makes it clear that if Israel remains true to him and faithfully follows his ways, he will bless them in their new land. This land is compared to the Garden of Eden in beauty and abundance, making it clear that Israel is being used by God to restore the human race.
However, if Israel is not faithful to the covenant, God warns them that he will have to send them out of the land into exile, just as he did with Adam and Eve. Sadly, and in spite of God´s repeated warnings, pleadings and even cajoling, Israel is determined to go its own way. Israel breaks the covenant, follows the false gods and brings the judgment of God down upon itself.
So God now faces a two-fold difficulty. Adam has fallen and taken the world down with him. Israel, whom God has chosen to help set this problem right, has now become a problem itself. By the end of the Old Testament, God seems to be no closer to reconciling with all of humanity because the nation of Israel failed to carry out what God intended for them.
Along the way, however, God has planted the seeds of a different, better outcome. When Israel asks for a human king to rule them, God is opposed to the idea, but gives into their request and appoints a king. On the whole, the monarchy brings Israel no closer to keeping the covenant with God. In fact, it is the kings who often lead the way into sin. But one king, David, is noted for being "a man after God´s own heart." So God promises to send a new king to Israel, a son of David, who will lead Israel wisely and bring the nation back to God.
So while Act III ends with Israel in shambles and with God seemingly absent, the hope of a promise remains. Since God has done it before, perhaps he will return and rescue Israel once more. Perhaps there will be a new Moses, or a new David, who will lead Israel out of its self-inflicted misery. The fate not just of Israel, but of the whole world, rests on this possibility.
This is where the New Testament begins. Almost. Four hundred years pass between the end of Act III and the beginning of the New Testament. Israel, having been restored to their land, has gone through a series of foreign rulers. At this point, Rome is the occupying force in Israel, as well as the most of the known world. Small uprisings occur, but each is squashed as Rome enforces a brutal peace throughout its empire. Also at this time, everyone in the empire is speaking a common language: Greek. It is into this world that God chooses to advance his plan of calling all people back to himself.
This is where Jesus comes in.
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