Israel was formed and established by God as a special people for a special purpose. To them were given the promises and the covenants that would seal that purpose for eternity, and grant Israel the privilege and the responsibility to bring forth the Word and the Messiah, and ultimately the redemption of the whole world.

The first promises

The first promise to Israel was given to Abram when God called him out of Haran to set out for the Promised Land, the land of Canaan. God promised Abram that:

  • He would show Abram the land that would be his,
  • He would make of Abram a great nation,
  • He would bless Abram and make his name great,
  • He would bless those who blessed Abram and curse those who cursed him, and
  • in Abram, all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3).

What amazing promises! Abram and his progeny would be given a land, they would become a great nation and through them the entire world would be blessed. This is the first hint of God’s plan to bring forth the Messiah-King from the people of Israel.

Later, the LORD again spoke to Abram and said,

Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are – northward, southward, eastward and westward; for all the land which you see I will give to you and your descendants forever.

And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.

Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width for I give it to you

(Genesis 13:14-17).

Note here that the emphasis is on the land that God would give Abram and his descendants forever. God’s promises to Abram and his descendants are not airy-fairy things but down-to-earth practical and real. The land and the people and their calling as the chosen nation are all inextricably tied together.

Yet again the LORD came a third time to Abram and said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Genesis 15:4). Abram had reason to be afraid. He had just rescued his nephew, Lot, and the other captives from a confederation of very powerful kings who had attacked the land (Genesis 14). He probably feared retribution. But God promises him protection and that He himself would be Abram’s reward. Abram had refused to accept the reward offered him by the King of Sodom (Genesis 14:14:21-24) but he gained another, far greater reward – the LORD Himself. God is here talking about relationship. He would be Abram’s God. With God on his side, what could Abram possibly fear?

THE FIRST COVENANT WITH ISRAEL

But Abram wondered how God’s promises regarding his descendants could be fulfilled since he still was childless at that point, and his heir was one of his servants. So God took Abram outside and declared, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them…So shall your descendants be”. And we are told that Abram believed Him and Abram’s faith was counted as righteousness by God (Genesis 15:5-6). We can see here why God chose Abram. He was a man of faith. He believed God. Again we see that the promise of a multitude of descendants was inextricably linked with the promise of the land, and God went on to say to Abram, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it” (Genesis 15:7). And Abram seeking clear confirmation asked, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (Genesis 15:8).

Responding to Abram’s concerns and his need for confirmation, God then set about making a solemn covenant with Abram and his descendants. God had Abram bring a heifer, a female goat and a ram, all three years old, and a turtledove and a pigeon. The birds he did not cut in two but the other animals were all cut in two and each half laid out opposite the other. When the sun was going down Abram fell into a deep sleep accompanied by a sense of horror and great darkness, which no doubt resulted from the terrible presence of the LORD. And when it was dark a smoking oven and a burning torch appeared and passed between the pieces laid out and God said,

To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates – the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittities , the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites” (Genesis 15:9-12, 17-21).

This strange ceremony is derived from what is thought to have been the custom of the times according to contemporary inscriptions. In those times the parties to an agreement would ratify it by walking between the divided pieces of animals while they invoked upon themselves a fate similar to that of the slaughtered beast if they should fail to keep their word.4 It is interesting to note here that there is no record of Abram walking between the pieces of the animals. Only God, in the smoke and the fire, passed through. It was therefore a one-sided agreement, made by God, and which could thus be broken only by God.

THE SIGN OF THE COVENANT

This too is the first time the precise boundaries of the Promised Land are defined and they stretch from the River of Egypt in the south and west to the River Euphrates in the north and east. The River of Egypt was traditionally understood to be the easternmost branch of the Nile River delta, the Pelusian arm of the Nile5. Pelusium was a border town of Egypt. This means that the whole of the Sinai Peninsula would have been included in the Promised Land. More recent commentators suggest that the River of Egypt is what is now known as Wadi Arish6, which lies some 60km from the southern border of the Gaza Strip today. This confusion may have come about because the Pelusian arm of the Nile no longer exists. It became choked with sand as early as the first century BC.7 The Wadi Arish interpretation would exclude the Sinai Peninsula from the Promised Land of Israel. However Wadi Arish is a ‘wadi’ (in Arabic) or ‘nahal’ (in Hebrew), a term denoting a watercourse that dries up in the summer months – one that flows only intermittently. The word used in the Bible is ‘nahar’, meaning a river that flows all the time. This would seem to count against the Wadi Arish interpretation. During the reign of King David, Israel controlled the area from the River of Egypt and the Gulf of Aquaba (on the Red Sea) in the south to the Euphrates River in the north. 8

When Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared again to him. This time he ratified the covenant promising Abram that,

  • He will make his covenant with him and will multiply Abram’s descendants exceedingly,
  • He changes Abram’s name to Abraham because he will make him exceedingly fruitful and he will be the father of many nations and the father of kings,
  • He will establish his covenant as an everlasting covenant with Abram’s descendants in all their generations,
  • He will be their God for ever, and
  • He will give to Abraham and all his descendants after him all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession (Genesis 17: 1-8).

This time God emphasizes the everlasting nature of the covenant. It is forever! Although as we said before the covenant was made by God alone, as a sovereign act, he does require of Abraham and his descendants one thing – that all the male children be circumcised on the eighth day (Genesis 17:10-14). This was the mark of the covenant that would distinguish the chosen people as God’s own and which would separate them from other peoples.

WHAT GOD REQUIRED OF ISRAEL

At this point in history it appears that all that was required was circumcision (Genesis 17: 10-11),however circumcision was merely a sign: an outward sign of what was expected to be an inner truth: their devotion to God. The nature of this inner devotion was not spelled out until the times of Moses, when God spoke saying,

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways and to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and his statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it. The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and he chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer (Deuteronomy 10:12-16).

God, therefore chose Israel out of love in order to bless them. He gave them certain commandments, not to burden them, but for their own good. But God knew the heart of man: He knew that man is naturally rebellious and therefore He built into His covenant certain safeguards: a blessing for obedience and curses for disobedience.

THE BLESSINGS AND THE CURSES

God’s first covenant with Israel includes two sets of blessing/curse provisions. The first set relates to the other nations, the Gentiles and the second, to Israel itself.

The first set of blessings and curses was established at the time when God first called Abram to go out of Haran and into Canaan, that is, at the very beginning of the establishment of the people of Israel. At that time, God said to Abram:

“I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you”

(Genesis 12:3). This is an extremely important principle, which explains much of human history, and it will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 6.

The second set of blessings and curses relate to the people of Israel and they are spelled out to Moses and the people after the exodus from Egypt and prior to their taking possession of the Promised Land (Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 11). These will also be discussed in more detail in Chapter 6 as they are key to an understanding of the history of Israel and the Old Testament.

THE COVENANT IS PASSED ON TO ABRAHAM’S HEIRS

The covenant that God had made with Abraham was repeated to both Isaac and to Jacob making the line of descent by which the covenant was to be transmitted very clear. To Isaac, Abraham’s son and heir, God spoke saying,

Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you.

Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.

And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws (Genesis 26:2-5).

Later God appeared to him again saying,

I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake (Genesis 26:24).

To Jacob, Isaac’s son and heir, God appeared in a dream and spoke saying,

I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land of which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.

Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Behold. I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you (Genesis 28:13-15).

Again we see reiterated the main points of God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their descendants, the people of Israel, namely:

  • the LORD is to be their God and He will never forsake them,
  • they would multiply and become a people too numerous to count,
  • they would always come back to the land of Israel, the Promised Land,
  • through them God would bless all the peoples of the Earth, and
  • through them would come the Messiah and redemption.

THE FOUR MOTHERS OF ISRAEL

It is significant to note here that God’s promises and covenantal oaths come in threes. Three times God made promises to Abraham regarding the future of his descendants, the land, the future coming of the Messiah and His ongoing relationship with Abraham’s descendants. After that, God made the covenant with Abraham, which was sealed by His passing through the divided corpses of three animals, each three years old. Three times he declared and affirmed the covenantal promises, first to Abram, then to Isaac and thirdly to Jacob. Three is the number of completeness and the number of the Godhead. It is as if God is emphasizing that this is a covenant that is both complete and Divine. It cannot be changed by man, nor by any act or failure of man, because it is derived only and completely from God himself.

Until now I have concentrated on the descent of the royal line according to the male line. Equally important is the purity of the female line. The four mothers of the covenant people, Israel, namely Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel were all descended directly from Terah, Abraham’s father.

Sarah was Abraham’s wife but also his half sister (Genesis 20:12). Terah was her father. To us this seems very strange and later on in history, after the Law of Moses had been established, it would have been considered incestuous and such a union would have been banned (Leviticus 18:9).  Why then did God allow it and even bless this union? There are many who try to explain away these words, saying that she was an adopted sister or his niece, or that Abraham was lying. Yet Abram very clearly states that Sarah “is the daughter of my father” (Genesis 20:12). I see no reason not to take this as literal truth. Terah was a godly man, who worshipped the LORD and Sarah as his daughter would have been brought up to know and follow the LORD also. God did not want the chosen line corrupted by paganism. It makes sense to me then that in order to preserve the Faith in the One God, God would lead Abram to take a wife from amongst those who also believed in the One God. There would not have been many to choose from at that time.

Sarah and Abraham’s son, Isaac also took a bride from amongst his kinsmen. In fact Abraham instructed his most senior servant to go and find a wife for Isaac specifically from his family, saying

Please, put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac (Genesis 24:2-4).

The servant brought back Rebekah who was the granddaughter of Nahor, one of Abraham’s brothers. Isaac therefore married his second cousin, who was also descended directly from Terah, Abraham’s father.

Rebekah’s father was Bethuel and he had a son called Laban and Laban was the father of Rachel and Leah, the two wives of Jacob. They were thus also second cousins, but also direct descendants of Terah. In this way therefore the purity of the royal line was ensured.