A Foundation for Israel

Not only does the book of Genesis provide a foundation for the rest of Scripture, but it also provides a foundation for the nation of Israel.  As we read of the lives of the men and women in the families of the Hebrews who were descended from Abraham we see God begin to weave the threads of their experiences and their shared history into patterns and themes that will be repeated and reinforced as the centuries of history flow by.

Arguably the most obvious of the ways in which God did this is in His provision of Jacob’s male children.  Each of these twelve men, alternately delivered by Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah (Gen. 29:31-30:24, 35:16-18), would go on to serve as the progenitor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. 

In addition to this, God deliberately kept the Hebrews in the land of Canaan until He was ready for them to sojourn in Egypt and be grown into a mighty nation in a peaceful and prosperous land.  Limiting our scope to chapters 26 to 50, we see this first with Isaac in Genesis 26:1-5 when God commanded him not to leave Canaan in the face of a famine.  Then again in Genesis 31:13 Jacob is specifically directed to return to Canaan after his time with Laban in Haran.  I think this had the effect of making the land of Canaan somewhat of an ancestral home for the fledgling nation of Israel.  Although prior to their conquests under Joshua they were always strangers and aliens there, God provided them with an initial seed plot of land.  This was the cave of Machpelah where Abraham, Sarah, and later Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah were buried.  So, I think, although certainly not from the perspective of the native Canaanites, and probably not even from the perspective of the Hebrews who crossed the Jordan later, there is a sense in which, by going to Canaan, the Jews were going home.

Another way in which God set the tone for the future nation of Israel in the latter half of Genesis is the way in which He prospered them materially.  Abraham had already been blessed with great wealth.  And in chapters 26 to 50 we see first Isaac (Gen. 26:12-14), then Jacob (Gen. 30:43), and eventually Joseph (Gen. 41:40-45) rise to the heights of earthly welfare and success.  All this divine orchestrating of events had the additional effect of placing the Hebrew people in Egypt, following Joseph’s lead.  Thus, the way was paved for them to walk out of slavery hundreds of years later, overflowing with wealth and possessions.  The foreshadowing we see in Genesis and then Exodus would be repeated numerous times throughout Israel’s history as God worked to cause His chosen people to prosper, even in the face of humanly insurmountable obstacles.

I think there is yet another way in which God weaves a thread of Israel’s future into the patriarchal history of Genesis.  In chapter 32 we read of Jacob’s nocturnal struggle with God.  Following this event, and seemingly based purely on Jacob’s tenacity, the Lord gives him a new name; Israel.  Obviously, this would go on to become the name of the nation itself.  So, in one sense there is clearly a foundational element to Jacob’s name change.  But on a deeper level, what God is really doing is forecasting the tumultuous relationship He knew that He would have with Abraham’s descendants.  Israel means “he strives with God”.  No better prophetic name could have been chosen by the Lord with which to name His rebellious, obstinate, and stiff-necked chosen people.

Finally, I think there is an over-arching theme that runs through Genesis 26-50 that will continue to be evident and pervasive for the rest of the Bible.  That is, God does not make His decisions of who to use and who to discard according to human wisdom.  Instead of the best and the brightest, God chooses the worst and the dimmest.  The mightiest heroes of Scripture were the ones who were initially the least, or the second, or the most treacherous. 

The first hint we see of this pattern is the Lord choosing Jacob over Esau.  Even before the twins were born, God declared to Rebekah that He was going to make her younger child the stronger of the two (Gen. 25:23), in complete defiance of traditional ancient middle eastern custom.  This family habit of nonconformity was carried on with Joseph.  He, although the least of all his brothers save Benjamin, was chosen by God to be the supreme instrument of the salvation of the family via his position as ruler of Egypt (Gen. 45:5-8).  Finally, and perhaps most significantly although least obviously, we find that Judah, although not the firstborn of Jacob’s sons, was prophesied to have pre-eminence over them (Gen. 49:3-4, 8-12).

I do not think the importance of this last point can be overstated.  From a biological perspective, it was the line of Judah that would eventually give birth to the greatest of Israel’s leaders, beginning with David and ending with the Messiah, Jesus.  So, from a genealogical perspective, the elevation of Judah over his brothers was Messianic in nature.  But beyond that, this pattern of God using the lesser of men to accomplish His purposes would see its ultimate fulfillment in the first advent of Christ as the suffering servant that Isaiah speaks of (Isa. 53).  Christ did not initially come in great power and honor.  He came first in humility, in shame, in poverty (Lk. 9:58), and in apparent inglorious defeat at the cross.

However, through this most ignoble of servants God would accomplish the greatest work of redemption the world has ever seen.  Therefore, I think the aspect of God’s choice of the least of men to accomplish the best of purposes, that we see repeatedly in the nation of Israel, is perhaps the most powerfully messianic pattern of them all.