Identify Israel, briefly summarize their Old Testament history

Abraham is called the father of Israel because it was his descendants that formed the

nation chosen by God. His son Isaac had two sons: Esau and Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons,

each of which became a tribe in the nation that was beginning. In a desperate life situation, the

Angel of the Lord appeared to Jacob and Jacob fought with him in order to receive His

blessing. Though he prevailed in receiving the blessing he longed for, he was forever

wounded causing him to limp for the rest of his life. During this incident, Jacob received a

new name – Israel, which means “the one who fought with God and prevailed.”

As a result of a famine in the land of Canaan, Israel’s family moved to Egypt where

God had prepared Joseph to save his family from famine by making him the ruler of Egypt.

The Israelites lived in Egypt for 400 years. Towards the end of this time, when the ruler of

Egypt did not know of Joseph’s merit, the nation was oppressed by Pharaoh to the point that

they called out to God for rescue. God sent Moses, through whom He performed many

miracles and whom He made the leader of Israel. Moses led the people out of Egypt and was a

prophet delivering God’s words to the people until they were ready to enter into the Promised

Land.

God appointed Joshua, Moses’ pupil, the next leader of Israel. Under his leadership the

children of Israel entered Canaan and settled in the portion of land appointed to them. Israel,

however, very quickly turned away from the God’s command to cast out all the Canaanites

from their lands and suffered the consequences through numerous oppressions. When the

people suffered, they turned to God for help, who in turn sent them a deliverer, judge. Sadly,

after the judge died, they returned to their sins bringing upon themselves yet another of God’s

punishments. This continued until the people wished to have a king. God granted them their

request by giving them Saul, the Benjamite. This marked the beginning of the kingdom of
Israel. As a result of Saul’s disobedience, God tore the kingdom out of his hands and gave it

to David, a man after his own heart. David proved to be faithful to God and received a

promise from God that his kingdom would last forever. David’s son, Solomon, committed sin

which ultimately caused the kingdom to be divided into two during the reign of his son,

Rehabeam. Jeroboam, the king of the northern 10 tribes, indulged in idolatry which every

king of Israel followed until the destruction of Israel by Assyria and the deportation of its

people. In the southern kingdom, Judah, some kings had the desire to please God, mainly Asa,

Jehoshaphat, Joash, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah. As a result of Hezekiah’s trust in

God, Jerusalem was not destroyed by Assyria. The punishment of Judah came 136 years later

by the hand of the king of Babylon, king Nebuchadnezzar. He organized three deportations

and destroyed Jerusalem along with the temple causing the remaining inhabitants of the land

to scatter.

God promised to save a remnant among his people. Among the exiles in the Babylonian

Empire a fraction of the Jews retained their nationality and religion until 70 years of exile,

promised by God were completed. At the end of that time God called Cyrus to declare an

edict allowing the Jews to return to their land and rebuilt their temple. Though the task wasn’t

simple, with God’s leading the temple was rebuilt as well as the walls of Jerusalem. Malachi

is the last book of the Old Testament. It lends to the sad reality that Israel had not completely

conformed to the will of their God and were still in need of a changed heart.