The Nagging Question, Part 2

In the first section, we examined Scriptures that bear on the nagging question of Israel. It is, I think, one of the most momentous questions of history with bearing on everything from prophetic understanding to finance and politics. Who is Israel? The question is basic to the Bible because the Bible is the record of Israel and the actions of God Almighty in and through Israel. “Who is Israel” is a question that always hangs in the background and is rarely acknowledged, far more rarely answered, almost never answered correctly.

Return to the Bible. If there is an answer, it must be found in the revelation. Four hundred plus years after the events recounted in the previous installment, the family of the man Israel has become the whole nation of Israel, consisting of the familiar twelve tribes. All should be familiar with the story. God had visited and redeemed his people. Exodus 12 records the departure from Egypt thus:

30: And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
31: And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said.
32: Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.
33: And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.
34: And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
35: And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:
36: And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required.  And they spoiled the Egyptians.
37: And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.
38: And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
39: And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.
40: Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.

Did you notice verse 38? A mixed multitude went up with them. Two groups left Egypt: them, or the Israelites, and a mixed multitude, distinct from the Israelites. Strongs tells us that the word here for mixed is ereb which is defined as a mixture, or mongrel race. It is number 6154 in Strongs if any do not believe me. From the beginning of the Exodus there was a mongrel race present within Israel, yet recognised as distinct. The Bible could not be plainer. This did not change after the conquest of the land, rather it grew more acute and problematic because the people did not do as the Lord commanded, but allowed the Canaanite peoples to remain within their borders.

Israel was brought to settle within their lands after the forty-year wandering due to sin. Moses records a beautiful song echoing Jacob’s earlier words to his sons in Deuteronomy 33, verses 13-17 -

13: And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,
14: And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,
15: And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills,
16: And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.
17: His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

Read carefully Moses’ words. If we use the literal historical-grammatical method of interpretation, Moses is telling us of an action by the tribes of Joseph (with the double portion from Genesis 48:22 remember) reaching to the ends of the earth. Why then do we see these and similar passages passed over by teachers and casually applied to “the Jews?” Where in this passage, or elsewhere in the entire Bible, is any descendent of Joseph called a Jew? Why is it dispensationalists, with the cry of “literal interpretation” do not apply this to those of whom it is written, Ephraim and Manasseh? If the word of God cannot be broken, where have Ephraim and Manasseh done this? When has this happened? Where, and who, is Israel? Much consideration ought to be given the rest of the song and the words addressed to the rest of the people, but it will become apparent why the focus is on Ephraim and Manasseh as we go farther.

Leap now over much history in this brief survey. Remember the last days of Samuel, the final and greatest judge. Israel has demanded a king. What they received was Saul, a Benjamite, and not of the line of Judah as promised by Jacob. I believe this was done for the specific purpose of showing the “stiff-necked and rebellious people” that they ought not have asked for a king “as all the nations round about.” But God in his mercy proceeds forward with the divine plan of the ages long before foretold through Jacob’s words to Judah. After tragedy on tragedy, David, of the house of Judah, receives his throne. This is a high point in the history of the Israel nation. II Samuel 7: 8-16 records -

8: Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:
9: And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.
10: Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime,
11: And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies.  Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.
12: And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
13: He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
14: I will be his father, and he shall be my son.  If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
15: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
16: And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.

This is God’s Covenant with his servant David. The passage is very obviously filled with important Christological tones; let it in no way be overlooked that the throne established forever belongs to him “whose right it is” as uttered by Jacob back in Genesis. Verse 10 is the interesting verse for our purposes. Israel is in the land of Canaan, just beginning the great rise to glory under David and Solomon, but notice what God promises here: to appoint a place for his people, to plant it, that they may move no more. Think, Christian; Israel was currently dwelling in a place of their own, namely Canaan. Why, if Canaan were the final place for “the Jews” as dispensationalists teach; if it be the most important place on the Earth even in eternity, then why does this verse (at the beginning of the history of the Davidic Kingdom) speak of God appointing a place? If the place of Canaan has already been appointed, and was being inhabited, then he must be speaking about another place, else grammar and word order is meaningless. Why is this not discussed and pondered more closely by a people who claim to believe in the verbal and plenary inspiration of an inerrant and infallible Bible? What is God, who knows and ordains the end from the beginning, going to say and do?

To be continued. . .

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