Tracing Israel's Journey: From Abraham to Christ, a Story of Faith, Promise, and Redemption
It can be said that Israel’s origins begin with Abraham, the father faith, as Paul, “It is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16, NKJV).[i] God desired that Abram become a source of blessing to the whole world, setting before him a moral imperative to obey His commandment to leave everything of this world behind.
Nearly two thousand years before the Advent of Christ, the Lord God made a covenant with Abraham, promising to make of him a great nation and a company of nations: “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).[ii]
This great nation, yet to be named, was then promised a sizeable piece of land as an eternal inheritance. The Lord said to Abraham, “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 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” (Genesis 13:14-16).
These first two promises laid the foundation for God’s Kingdom, a great nation that would lead a company of nations to inherit God’s creation. But who was to govern these earthly kings? Presumably, Abraham understood that God alone would be crowned the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It says, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:8-10). However, the progressive fulfillment of Israel becoming that nation that would serve as the foundation for God’s Kingdom would not happen for another four hundred years.
God reaffirmed His covenant with Isaac and later Jacob, whom He renamed Israel. The Lord spoke to Jacob, saying, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:28). Here in Genesis, for the first time, we hear the name “Israel” given by God Himself to Jacob, the patriarch of twelve sons who would become the twelve tribes of Israel.
The meaning of the name “Israel” is complex and multifaceted. It is derived from two verbs, sara (שרה), meaning “to become rigid from the retention of liquidity,” and yashar (ישר), meaning “to be upright,” straight,” or “level.” These two verbs are combined with the noun ‘el (אל), as in 'elohim (אלהים), also known as 'eloah (אלה), and the name for God. If we understand the deeper meaning, the Lord declared that He would make through Israel a straight path for all the nations to walk in.
As promised to Abraham, God remembered His covenant with the children of Israel, and four hundred years, delivered them from their bondage and slavery in Egypt.[iii] We read, “Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ‘This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you’” (Exodus 12:1-2). “So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance” (Exodus 12:14).
On that glorious day, Israel became a mighty nation, and God initiated the fulfillment of His promises given to Abraham. As we read, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2); “And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions” (Genesis 15:14). I say “initiated” because Israel would not realize the fullness of her inheritance until the very end of the age. Even during the reign of King Solomon (the man of peace), Israel would not see the entirety of her land and more. Israel was not yet a kingdom of priests as the Lord had promised, saying, “’And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel” (Exodus 19:6). Not until Christ would come (the prince of peace) and take His rightful throne over Israel would she see the fullness of every promise and inheritance of God.
As foretold, God delivered Israel’s descendants from the bondage of slavery in Egypt into the land He promised to Abraham. The promise of land for a select group of people to receive this land as an eternal inheritance tells us that God’s Kingdom is as much material as spiritual. But Paul said that the spiritual is not first, but the natural, so there is an order to God’s redemptive plans for Israel and the establishment of His Kingdom.[iv]
Israel left Egypt, journeyed from Elim, and came to the Wilderness of Sin between Elim and Sinai. Here, God made a covenant with Israel, giving them His Law, His calendar to keep His holy convocations and assemblies, and service of the priesthood for provisional atonement. While conditional and having blessings and curses attached, this covenant provided crucial foundational stones for God’s eternal Kingdom. The Law provided God’s moral standard, revealing His perfect and Holy nature as Judge and King, and the Law gave Israel its civil standards by which they could judge and govern God’s people according to His justice and righteousness.
God’s blessings in the covenant would set Israel high above all the nations of the earth, they would be blessed beyond measure, and God would make them a blessing to every nation. Israel would prevail and ultimately destroy every enemy, and she would be set apart as a Holy people unto the Lord. Their provision would be in abundance, even the wealth of the nations would be theirs to inherit, and Israel would be the head of God’s Kingdom authority, meaning they would have governing power over every nation.[v]
In other words, the Kingdom of God was promised to Israel and even belonged to them, provided they would love God and obey His commandments, a test of their faith and devotion towards Him. Paul acknowledges six Kingdom blessings in the Book of Romans that God promised Israel, saying, “My countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises.” And he affirmed the foundation of Israel, the Patriarchs, from whom Christ came and is now over all creation, saying, “Of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen” (Romans 9:3-5).
The Lord declared to Israel, “You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6), another Kingdom promise. But the children of Israel complained and rebelled against God in the wilderness. When Israel committed idolatry against the Lord, including the sin of the Golden Calf, it was the sons of Levi that stood with Moses. [vi] And specifically, it was Phinehas, Aaron's grandson, who rose with a javelin in his hand and speared to death an Israelite man and Midianite woman who had committed harlotry and idolatry in the camp of the Israelites. The Lord established the priesthood, covenanting with Levi and later one of his sons, Aaron, to make provisional atonement for Israel. We read:
“Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, That My covenant with Levi may continue, Says the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, And I gave them to him that he might fear Me; So he feared Me And was reverent before My name” (Malachi 2:4-5).
“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel’” (Numbers 25:10-13).
Israel was established as a theocracy. The Levites were called to teach and administer God’s Law to the Jewish people, including the Laws of atonement for sin. The name Levi (לוי), derived from Hebrew, means “attached to me.” Levi can be used as a first name. Similarly, the Hebrew word for prayer, tefillah, also means “to connect.”[vii] Therefore, we see a correlation between praying to God and serving Him as His priest. Prayer is critical for renewing our connection with God and petitioning Him for our needs and provision.
However, the priest’s primary responsibility in serving God was to bring the Jewish people close to Him. The priests were to attach themselves to the Lord through intimate prayer and service and attach Israel to the Lord by interceding and administering their sin offerings, making atonement and peace with God. This service unto the Lord was so that all Israel would become a kingdom of priests unto the Lord. Just as the Levites were attached to the Lord, thus, all Israel will be the Lord’s Heritage through their Messiah and High Priest.
Moses was instructed to construct a Tabernacle, called the “Tabernacle of meetings,” to officiate the priestly offerings, commanding the Israelites to build a copy of the heavenly image.[viii] The Tabernacle sat at the center of Israel’s encampment in the desert—three tribes on each side, including the half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and the Levites and sons of Aaron camped in the middle. The head of each encampment carried a unique flag. Our early Sages taught that the banner of Reuben featured the figure of a man, and the flag of Judah had the picture of a lion. The flag of Ephraim showed an ox, and Dan’s was decorated with the image of an eagle.[ix] These four symbols appeared in the faces of Cherubim, seen by the prophet Ezekiel,[x] and also appeared in the four living creatures found in the Book of Revelation.[xi]
In Ezekiel’s vision, we see the Cherubim in the midst and around the throne of God while the Seraphim stand and fly above it.[xii] It is not that God has set angels to be higher than Himself, but this vision shows that He is at the center of all things that are heavenly and earthly. The Seraphim, therefore, minister to the angelic realm, while the Cherubim minister to the earthly realm. On this basis, we can understand the profound significance of the camp of Israel. The Cherubim and the Tabernacle that Israel built is the chariot that carries the manifest presence of God, and the nation of Israel—the army of the Lord—is God’s escort; each person within their tribe encamped around the Tabernacle holding their unique banner of the Lord.[xiii]
Seeing God’s throne on high, His feet touching the earth and resting upon a chariot of angels surrounded by an immeasurable host of God’s people, it is easy to visualize the poetry of God’s love for Israel. We read: “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, And the shout of a King is among them” (Numbers 23:21); “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel! Like valleys that stretch out, Like gardens by the riverside, Like aloes planted by the Lord, Like cedars beside the waters” (Numbers 24:5-6).
The symbolism of the Red Heifer in contrast to the golden calf only becomes apparent when we compare it to the sacrifice of Christ. Jesus symbolically is the Red Heifer, the ox and the suffering servant who carries our burden and our transgressions upon His back. We see this in the image of one of the four Cherubim angels displayed on the banner standing before the tribes of Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. Red is the color of sin, and Jesus became our sin. He was without defect or blemish, without sin, had never sinned, nor previously carried the burden of any sin upon His back. This is the law of the Red Heifer. He was cut off and crucified outside the camp of His people and the Tabernacle of the Lord.[xiv]
The very existence of the Tabernacle and the details of its planning and construction in the Book of Exodus seem to negate the fundamental principles of divine worship introduced at Sinai.[xv] For the Lord said: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:4). And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it” (Exodus 20:25). This is a great contradiction. The Lord commanded the Israelites not to make any carved image or likeness of anything in heaven, the earth, or the water. Then He instructed them to build a Tabernacle according to the image of the one He showed them in heaven.
The Lord was angry with the people but, more likely, was heartbroken that the children of Israel, whom He called priests, had fallen into idolatry and refused to come near Him. In God’s mercy, the Lord established the Tabernacle of Moses and the Aaronic priesthood to demonstrate His grace through a temporary covering of sin. Still, more importantly, it showed the Israelites the model of permanent redemption that would ultimately come through their Messiah. We read: “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second” (Hebrews 8:6-7).
The sons of Aaron would temporarily hold the seat of the great High Priest, who would someday sanctify the people through His sacrifice, petitioning the Father through intercession to place their sins upon Himself and forever purifying Israel from her iniquity. It says, “For He said, Surely they are My people, Children who will not lie. So He became their Savior” (Isaiah 63:8). God never intended to have an earthly Tabernacle outside the physical indwelling of man. And it was never His intention to have only one family of priests from the tribe of Levi because the whole nation of Israel was to be a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation to Him.[xvi]
For their idolatry, the Israelites spent forty years in the wilderness until the last remaining of those who rebelled against the Lord had fallen. Having interceded for Israel that God’s presence would go with them into the land promised to Abraham, Moses raised a new leader—Joshua (in Hebrew Yehoshua, meaning “the Lord is my salvation”), who would take the Israelites into the promised land. This period in Israel would be known as “the time of the judges” and would continue until the time of Israel’s first king. The twelve tribes gradually took possession of the land of Canaan, settling in areas known today as the Northern Negev, the coastal regions of Israel, Judea and Samaria, and northward into parts of Southern Lebanon and Syria, the Golan, and eastward into areas of modern-day Jordan.
The Israelites had occupied the land for around three hundred years, and they should have admonished the freedom they had, without a totalitarian ruler or king, to worship God freely and live on the land of their inheritance with God’s provision and abundant blessings. A cyclical pattern is recounted in the Book of Judges of apostasy, hardship brought on as punishment from God, and crying out to the Lord for rescue. Israel’s theocratic leaders were intended to be the Levitical priests, instructing them to follow God’s Law and atoning for Israel’s sins.
But Israel’s twelve tribes formed a loose confederation with no central leadership, with the tribes being independently led by twelve unelected non-hereditary judges (B.C. 1150–1025).[xvii] Man apart from God does not end well, and Israel grew apart from the Lord, abandoning the Tabernacle of Moses and God’s appointed leaders. We read, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).
Although forewarned by Moses and Samuel about how a king should conduct himself and how they would mistreat Israel, they demanded Samuel appoint for them a king, saying, “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles” (1 Samuel 8:19-20).[xviii] Samuel appealed to the Lord, but God relented to the people’s desire, saying, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).
Israel’s first king, Saul, was a spiritual disaster for Israel. But in God’s mercy, He chose David, a humble shepherd who would follow after His heart to lead His people. King David united the Kingdom of Israel from B.C. 1010-970, restoring the Tabernacle of Moses and the Levitical priesthood and establishing Jerusalem, specifically Mount Moriah, as the spiritual center that would be the foundation for Christ’s eternal Kingdom.[xix] On this mountain, King David purchased the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. He erected an altar to the Lord to end the plague against Israel for all her wickedness and idolatry. This piece of land is where it is believed that Abraham willingly offered his only son as a sacrifice to the Lord. Both Temples were constructed here. And nearly two thousand years later, on this mountain, God would offer His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for Israel’s sins and the sins of all mankind.
Interestingly, the Lord never asked or prompted David to construct the Temple; in fact, He questioned him, saying, “Wherever I have moved about with all the children of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?” (2 Samuel 7:7). But God’s heart was moved by David’s love for Him. He promised to make David a great name, like the great men on the earth, and vowed to appoint a place for His people, Israel, to live in peace and safety. But the most profound word to David is that God would make David a house, specifically, an eternal house, and not one constructed with stones by the hands of men.[xx] The Lord declared:
“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son… And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-16).
Notice how God forever established David's “house, kingdom, and throne” through his seed. The Lord did not say that David was the Messiah. He merely affirmed that David’s sons would be the natural heirs to the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom would be established in Christ, the King, with His chosen people, Israel, and the nations that have been joined to her—the church. We are Christ’s royal subjects, His house, and His Kingdom. Therefore, David was more than just a shadow of Christ. Through Abraham, he was the patriarch through whom God would establish a natural lineage connecting Christ to Adam—the first man.
Notice how the Levitical priesthood and the Davidic dynasty were not part of God’s covenant promises to Abraham or Moses. Both were provisionally established to reconcile with Israel's sin and rebellion, yet they came with an eternal promise that could only be fulfilled in Christ. Neither King David, Levi, nor Aaron are the redeemers of Israel. That title belongs to Jesus alone. While the sons of David and Aaron are natural heirs to the Kingdom of God and heirs to the kingship and priesthood of Christ, Christ alone as God incarnate will be King over Israel and all the nations. And Christ’s priesthood reveals an authority that was not created with Aaron but has eternally existed with God—called the “order of Melchizedek.”
After King David died, His son, Solomon, built the First Temple in Jerusalem at the place David had purchased from Araunah the Jebusite. But King Solomon and Israel continued to decline spiritually, and when Solomon died in B.C. 931, Israel was divided into two kingdoms—Judah and Benjamin in the south and the remaining ten tribes of Israel in the north. The priestly tribe of Levi largely stayed in Jerusalem, but a certain number also lived throughout the land.
The Assyrians devastated the northern kingdom of Israel in B.C. 722, and the ten northern tribes were taken into captivity. Their whereabouts remain a mystery as scripture does not mention their return. From B.C. 597-582, Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in a series of invasions by King Nebuchadnezzar. The remaining Israelites were taken into captivity in Babylon, most of whom were from the southern kingdom and belonged to the tribes of Judah, Levi, and a small number from the Tribe of Benjamin.
During this time of judgment against Israel, the Lord would reveal His promise of a New Covenant with the lost house of Israel and exiled house of Judah. The Prophet Jeremiah spoke to Israel before their exile, saying:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
And the Prophet Isaiah comforted Israel during their exile, declaring God’s future Everlasting Covenant with them and the nations who joined themselves to Israel:
“For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed” (Isaiah 61:8-9).
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat… Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—The sure mercies of David. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you” (Isaiah 55:1-5).
While the Jewish people had returned to the land of Israel after seventy years of Babylonian captivity, their Davidic kingdom and its Temple would never be fully restored to its prior glory. Even the presence of God has left the holiest place and never returned. Israel would endure a series of wars and civil unrest, be assailed by Syria and Egypt, and eventually come under several empirical occupations—the Medo-Persians, Greek Empire, and the Roman Empire. By the time of Jesus, all of Israel and Jerusalem had become a tributary of Rome.
Jesus, knowing the destruction that would soon come upon the Jewish people for their rejection of their Messiah, lamented and wept over Jerusalem, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:42-44).
But Israel’s story does not end here, and God’s promises for her restoration are being fulfilled. The Lord has gathered many of His people back to the land and is assembling a remnant of every tongue and tribe into His spiritual family, a company of Gentile nations that will join Israel, as promised to Abraham; another foundation stone is being built for God’s Kingdom.
[i] All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Bible (NKJV) unless otherwise noted, Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.
[ii] Genesis 35:11.
[iii] Bible Timeline: Old Testament. Bible Hub.
[iv] 1 Corinthians 15:46.
[v] Deuteronomy 28.
[vi] Exodus 32:26.
[vii] With All My Heart. The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute.
[viii] Exodus 28:43.
[ix] Bamidbar Rabba (2:7), and Ibn Ezra.
[x] Ezekiel 1:5 & 10.
[xi] Revelation 4:6-7.
[xii] Isaiah 6:1-2.
[xiii] Exodus 17:5, Song of Solomon 2:4.
[xiv] Isaiah 53:8.
[xv] Rabbi Waxman, Chanoch. Parshat Teruma—Of Sequence and Sanctuary: The View of Rashi. The Herzog Academic College.
[xvi] Exodus 19:6.
[xvii] Wikipedia. Hebrew Bible Judges.
[xviii] Deuteronomy 17:14-20. 1 Samuel 8:11-17.
[xix] Ancient Israel. TimeMaps.com (Note: There are differing opinions, so these are referenced to illustrate the overall timeline rather than to depict exact dates).
[xx] 2 Samuel 7:8-11.