Gods Chosen People - Essay Example

?God’s Chosen People History When God created man in his own image, the intention was to reveal God’s decision to choose man and to bless man as ruler of all the living and non-living creations (Genesis 1: 27-28).However, it turned out that man has a natural weakness to be easily deceived, tempted, and to fall into temptations of the devil. Adam and Eve had to be driven out of paradise as their punishment for disobeying God. It meant having to suffer in order to have something to eat, to live, to pro-create, and multiply. And all of man’s toil will only end up in his death (Genesis 3:19). Scientists estimated that Adam and Eve lived “during the late Paleolithic/early Mesolithic” era about 8,000 B.C., according to Choice, Eloise T. ( 2005, p.131) It is true that God chose the whole of man in the beginning of man’s time. Next to Adam and Eve, God chose Noah above all other men for the reason explained by the Scriptures: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord…Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” (Genesis 6: 8-9) God was decided on destroying men and beast, creeping and flying, because of its corruption and filled with violence, when He told Noah what to do in order to escape the first end of the world. After the flood destroyed all living things except those in the Ark, and the flood subsided, “…God blessed Noah and his sons and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” (Genesis 9:1) When the descendants of Noah did multiply, God scattered people throughout the earth by confounding or differentiating the languages of men and causing them to spread out. Then God favoured Abraham who was very productive –“very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold” (Genesis 13: 2). He was also a prayerful person who frequently talked to God. So God gave vast lands to Abraham and told Abraham that his descendants will multiply as much as the dust of the earth (Genesis 13: 16). When referring to the phrase God’s chosen people, it should mean those men and women to whom God communicated, cared for, and allowed to survive from generation to generation until the present. Furthermore, their lives became known through written words in stories utilized to teach other people the truth, the difference between right and wrong, and many virtues worth learning and assimilating for better lives. God blessed Abraham, his eldest son Ishmael (Genesis 17: 20 and 21:1-21), and Isaac (Genesis 17: 23), the younger son. But the Scripture says, “But my covenant will I establish with IsaacThe story of man’s relationship with God continued mostly through the life of Isaac, then his son, Jacob, followed by Joseph. Through Joseph, the family of Jacob was able to find food supply during the seven years of worldwide famine, coming from Egypt which was said to be the only nation with abundant supply. It was because God gave Joseph the power to accurately interpret dreams. Like Abraham, he had the gift of prophecy. With that gift of prophecy, he received authority and power from the Pharaoh and was able to prepare for the famine for 7 years. According to Schoenberg, Shira (2012), two of the tribes of Israel came from Joseph, the northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. 300 years after Joseph died, Moses was born in Egypt. By that time, Israelites had been turned into slaves after a change of administration and also because the Egyptians saw that Israelites multiplied their population in Egypt. By the time of the Exodus, Israelites in Egypt were estimated to have reached 2.5 million to 3.5 million according to the Archeological and biblical research of Rudd, Steve (2005). It should be recalled that the name Israel was Jacob’s God-given name. Thus, whenever Israelites are mentioned, they are traceable to just one family, the family of Jacob whom God chose to have 12 tribes. Thiel, Bob (2012) traced the 12 Tribes of Israel that started out with the children and grandchildren of Jacob, namely, (1) Reuben whose descendants went to France; (2) Judah whose descendants occupied Israel; (3) Simeon whose descendants scattered throughout the tribes; (4) Levi, the tribe of Moses (Exodus 2: 1-10), also a tribe that spread out throughout the various tribes; (5) Isaachar whose descendants were traced to Finland; (6) Zebulun descendants went to Netherlands and a few in South Africa. (7) Gad’s descendants reached Switzerland. (8) Dan’s descendants occupied Denmark and part of Ireland. (9) Asher’s descendants were found in Belgium and Luxembourg. (10) Naphtali’s descendants are those in Sweden. (11) Benjamin’s descendants were traced to people in Norway and Iceland. (12)Joseph’s tribe branched out to Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim’s descendants live in Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Manasseh’s children and grandchildren eventually reached USA. 2. Life in Egypt While Joseph was alive, the family of Jacob were treated well. But Joseph grew old and passed away. New rulers of Egypt made slaves out of the Israelites. Moses, who was then adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter, had to kill an Egyptian when he saw the beating of a Hebrew slave. That was when Moses hid and in Mt. Horeb, God gave him power to do miracles in the name of God in order to convince the Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt. After the Pharaoh refused to believe even after forewarnings about curses from God, the forewarnings of Moses came true. Egypt was cursed with multiple curses until the Pharaoh finally allowed them to leave. Egyptian soldiers tried to go after their slaves, the Israelites, apparently by a change of mind of the Pharaoh until Moses was told by God to divide the sea so that they could pass. A strong wind held back the waters and gave land for the passage of the chosen people of God. When the Egyptians tried to catch up and cross the sea, Moses used his miraculous power again this time to drown all Egyptians in the middle of the sea. (Exodus 12-15) In other words, life in Egypt during the time of Moses was miserable, even if they had meat to eat. Millions of people took the risk with Moses who had no army to defend them while escaping. 3. Obstacles in the Desert and Mount Sinai The Lord gave Moses and Israelites the 10 Commandments to obey, that they may not lose their faith in God and be deceived by idols and worldly things. But the people kept complaining during their journey to the promised land. When they ran out of food, people complained. God sent them manna from heaven that tasted like wafers with honey. God sent them quails twice a year. And these miracles happened during their 40 years in the desert. When they ran out of water, they complained. God made Moses produce water out of a rock. God also made them win against Amalekites who threatened their journey to the promised land. (Exodus 16-17) The faith of people was tested for 40 years of journey. Only 2 of them, Joshua and Caleb, sons of those counted in the census on Mt. Sinai agreed not to retreat. There were 601,730 men who decided to pursue the journey to the promised land, excluding the children and women. In the census on the plains of Moab, not one of them was present. (Numbers 26) 4. Deliverance to the Chosen Land Even Moses died of old age before Joshua and Caleb entered the promised land. Joshua was anointed by Moses for his successor. And God made the next generation of Israelites strong enough to defeat 8 kings – the King of Arad in Negev, Canaan (Numbers 21: 1-3), the King Sihon, the Amorite in Canaan (Numbers 21: 23-26), King Og of Bashan in Canaan (Numbers 21: 33-35), and 5 kings of Median (Numbers 31). The total number of kings defeated by Joshua was 31. (Joshua 12) 5. Continued Disobedience of the People and the Punishment In spite of all those miracles of Moses and war victories by Joshua, the first 300 years of the chosen people of God was marred by idolatry, anarchy, civil war among themselves, After Joshua passed away, they fell into the hands of their enemies as punishment for their disobedience. But whenever they repented, God sent them judges. Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Barak, Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson were the judges raised to defeat the oppressors of Israelites who repented. (Book of Judges) Each time God redeemed the chosen people through the judges, they returned to their sins of idolatry and failed to obey other laws of God. So God paved the way to new leaders of the chosen people through Ruth, the great grandmother of David, and Prophet Samuel who was also a priest and a judge among Israelites. As judge, Samuel led people to repentance and to defeat thousands of Philistines But when it was the turn of his sons to judge, they were found to be dishonest, practitioners of bribery, and with perverted justice. So once again , God raised another leader by the name of Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. Samuel himself anointed Saul and not his sons.(Samuel 8, 9, and 10) Saul became a proud King. At that time, there was a humble lad who stood as the armor-bearer of King Saul. His name was David. Jesse, father of David was but a servant of King Saul. Acting through Samuel, God anointed David and gave him the opportunities to become known in to the chosen people of God. He first defeated Goliath, a 9-feet tall trained warrior of the Philistines. Saul then made him commander of the armies of Israel. Later on, when David became very popular, Saul aimed to have David killed. Saul became an evil king by killing all those who helped David. He killed even a priest, Ahimelech, and had the family of Ahimelech massacred. For all his crime, he was defeated along with his sons, in an attack by the Philistines. He killed himself. The enemies hung their dead bodies on a wall. David was proclaimed King of Judah while the other parts of Israel proclaimed Ish-Bosheth, another son of Saul, as their King. But God was on the side of David because of his humility and merciful heart for people who deserved mercy. David won more battles and eventually became King over all of Israel. Under his reign, Israel experienced a golden age of progress. This was sometime 2924 BC to 2964 BC (Harris, Raphael 1999). However, David also failed to obey all laws by taking Bathsheba, the wife of another man. His son, Solomon became king after him, Although said to be wisest of all men, Solomon also offended the Lord by adopting the idols of his 700 wives and 300 concubines. He was not content with marrying the daughter of a Pharaoh. Thus, God punished his reign with great troubles such that when he died of old age, his children divided the kingdom, causing Israel to become weak against enemies. The 17 books of the Holy Bible, namely, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amon, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi all belong to the fall of the Hebrew nation, from 745 B.C. to the coming of Jesus. By the time the Son of God came, many other world powers had persecuted the Israelites, and the people were hoping for a Savior from their miseries. The Assyrians in 722 BC, Babylonians in 587 BC, Persians in 538-333 BC, the Hellenistic Empire under Alexander the Great in 333-63 BC., the Roman Empire in 63 BC to 313 AD, the Byzantine Empire in 313 to 636 AD, the Arabian Empire in 636 to 1099 AD, and the Crusaders from 1099 – 1291 AD, the Mamluk 6empire in 1291 to 1516 AD, the Ottoman Empire in 1516 to 1918 AD, and the British empire in 1917 to 1948 – all these empires caused great instabilities in the lives of chosen people of God. It was only after World War II in 1948 the Israel was recognized as a Jewish nation first by Great Britain up to the present. However, through the teachings of Jesus Christ, the new chosen people of God are no longer purely Jewish people. All those who believe in God and in His Son, and who obey the commandments (whether Jews or baptized Gentiles) are considered chosen people of God today. (Matthew 28: 19-20) (Romans 10: 13-14) References BibleSTudyTools.com (2012). The Holy Bible, King James Version: Genesis 1-50. [Online] Retrieved July 20, 2012 from Choice, Eloise T. (2005). The Secular and the Sacred Harmonized. USA and UK: AuthorHouse. September 30, 2005. Harris, Raphael (1999). The Golden Age of Israel: Jewish History. The Jewish Magazine. February Purim 1999 Edition. [Online] Retrieved July 20, 2012 from Rudd, Steve (2005). Archeology: Digging Up Bible Stories. [Online] Retrieved July 20, 2012 from < http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-route.htm>. Schoenberg, Shira (2012). Joseph (ca. 1562-1452 BCE). Jewish Virtual Library: A Division of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. [Online] Retrieved July 20, 2012 from Thiel, Bob PhD. (2012). Anglo-America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel. Church of God. [Online] Retrieved July 20, 2012 from Read More