ISRAEL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Origins: The Patriarchs

The story of Israel begins around the nineteenth century B.C. when God calls a man named Abram from Ur in ancient Mesopotamia to leave the country of his ancestors and go to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, promising to make of him a great nation and to bless through him all the families of the earth: 

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Gen. 12:1-3)

After Abram's arrival in the land of Canaan, God expands this blessing with the promise of giving him and his descendants the land in which he had just settled: 

Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you. (Gen. 13:14-17)

The promise is reiterated in Genesis 17 when God renames Abram to Abraham and establishes a covenant with him and his descendants, sealed with the sign of circumcision. He also now promises him the land of Canaan as a perpetual holding, or everlasting possession (אַחֻזַת עוֹלָם):

No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God. (Gen. 17:5-8)

After the testing of the Aqedah, where Abraham is found willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, God swears by Himself and repeats by this solemn oath His promise to multiply His descendants and bless through them all the nations of the earth (Gen. 22:16-18). God reaffirms this unconditional double promise of descendants and land to Isaac in chapter 26 and then to Jacob in chapter 35, along with the confirmation of a new name, Israel, which Jacob had received earlier after his "struggle with God":

God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; no longer shall you be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." So he was called Israel. God said to him, "I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you." (Gen. 35:10-12)

Jacob's sons become the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. But their inheritance is still far from being acquired. God had already told Abraham that his descendants would be "aliens in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years" (Gen. 15:13). We know the story of Joseph and how through him his family is saved from famine by resettling in Egypt. Within a few generations, however, their descendants are enslaved by the Egyptians for four hundred years until God raises up a man named Moses to deliver them and lead them back into the land that He had promised their forefathers.

The Exodus and Mount Sinai

God delivers Israel from Egypt with great signs and wonders: He afflicts the Egyptians with the ten plagues that culminate with the death of their first-born sons. The blood of the mysterious Passover Lamb, which protects the Israelites from the angel of death, marks for them the beginning of the Exodus. They escape Egypt, cross the waters of the Red Sea while the Egyptians drown behind them, and begin their long journey towards the Promised Land of their ancestors.

The greatest event of the Exodus, however, is not the entrance into the land of Canaan, but the great theophany at Mount Sinai. There God reveals to the children of Israel that He has chosen them as a people for Himself and set them apart for a special relationship with Him and a mission to the world. This election gives Israel both a distinctive status and a special responsibility: they are to be a "holy people," separated from all that is profane and consecrated to God's service. They are now God's special possession and the object of His special protection: "Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation" (Ex.19:5-6). Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger elaborates on the importance of Sinai in relation to the entrance into the Promised Land:

Sinai is not a halfway house, a kind of stop for refreshment on the road to what really matters. No, Sinai gives Israel, so to speak, its interior land without which the exterior one would be a cheerless prospect. Israel is constituted as a people through the covenant and the divine law it contains. It has received a common rule for righteous living. This and this alone is what makes the land a real gift. Sinai remains present in the Promised Land. When the reality of Sinai is lost, the Land, too, is inwardly lost, until finally the people are thrust into exile.[1]

At Sinai Moses receives the Torah, comprised of moral, juridical and ceremonial precepts that are to entirely govern the life of the children of Israel. The Tabernacle is built, with the Ark of the Covenant at its center. This rudimentary tent will be the sanctuary in which God will dwell among His people, and the place where the Levitical priests will offer sacrifices to atone for the sins of Israel. The Torah is an all-embracing rule of law and life necessary for Israel to truly become God's people. By living faithfully to it, the Israelites will live in safety, prosperity and peace in the land that God has promised them: "I will place my dwelling in your midst, and I shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be their slaves no more." (Lev. 26:11-13)

After having received their identity as God's people at Sinai, the Israelites are led through the wilderness by the pillar of smoke and pillar of fire. Yet because of their unbelief, they are condemned to wander in the wilderness for forty years until the first generation dies out. Still, God does not cease to guide them, protect them, and provide for them along the way, feeding them with manna, the bread from heaven that sustains them for the duration of their journey. As they finally approach the Promised Land, Moses reminds them of God's covenant with which the possession of the land is intimately connected:

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (Deut. 30:19-20)

Whereas the promise of the land of Canaan made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was unconditional, the possession of it has now become conditional upon their faithfulness to the Mosaic covenant. Sin and unfaithfulness will lead to exile:

"If you do not diligently observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, fearing this glorious and awesome name... The LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known." (Deut. 28:58,64)

But even exile should not be a cause for despair. Though Israel may be scattered because of her unfaithfulness, if they repent and return to God, He will also return them to their land. In addition, God will circumcise their heart and enable them to love Him with all their heart and soul - a promise only ultimately realized in the New Testament (Jer. 31:31-33, Rom. 2:29).

When all these things have happened to you, the blessings and the curses that I have set before you, if you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God...then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, gathering you again from all the peoples among whom the LORD your God has scattered you. Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back. The LORD your God will bring you into the land that your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors. Moreover, the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live. (Deut. 30:1-6)

The Kingdom of Israel

The Israelites finally conquer Canaan under the leadership of Joshua. But they have still not learned to walk in the ways of the Lord. Because of their sins and idolatry, after Joshua's death they experience a turbulent and unstable period, first under the judges and then under the tragic reign of King Saul. Only with the accession of King David to the throne does the nation finally find "rest from all her enemies." (2 Sam. 7:1)

The Davidic kingdom is the peak of Israel's greatness in the Old Testament and the summit of all that had been hoped for since the time of the Exodus. After David captures Jerusalem, establishes Zion, and has the Ark of the Covenant brought into the city (2 Sam. 5-6), God establishes the Davidic dynasty that He promises will endure forever (2 Sam. 7:16). David's son Solomon builds the Jerusalem Temple, the house of the Lord (1 Ki. 6), which is grandiosely inaugurated (1 Ki. 8). God renews the covenant with Solomon, but with a warning that Israel will be cut off from the land if they do not keep his commandments (1 Ki. 9:6-7). There follows an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity in Israel, until Solomon turns away from the Lord later in his life, triggering a gradual decline that ends with all the curses about which God had warned. After Solomon's death, the kingdom is divided: the ten northern tribes in the north secede from Solomon's successor and take on the name of Israel. Only Judah and Benjamin remain united in the south, and they are known from then on as "Judah." Both kingdoms sink further into sin and idolatry until the catastrophic end. The Assyrians deport the ten northern tribes in 722 B.C. They are never to return and become known as the ten "lost tribes" of Israel. A century and a half later, in 586 B.C., the Babylonians destroy the Temple and Jerusalem and carry Judah into the Babylonian captivity.

Exile and Return

While in exile, Daniel recalls the prophecy of Jeremiah that God would restore Judah after 70 years of captivity (Jer. 25:11, 29:10). He prays fervently that the Lord would have mercy on Jerusalem (Dan. 9:1-19). Similarly, Nehemiah appeals to God's covenant with Moses, confessing the sins of His people and praying that He would restore the children of Israel to the land where He had "chosen to establish His name" (Neh. 1:5-9). God hears these prayers and the exile comes to an end with successive waves of Israelites returning to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. They rebuild the temple and the city, yet these are but a shadow of their former glory, with the Ark of the Covenant now lost and the Holy of Holies empty. The kingdom of Israel is not restored as in times past, and the land remains under the foreign domination of the Persians, Greeks and Romans (except for a brief period of independence under the Maccabbees). In the beginning of the first century of our era, Messianic expectations run high. The Jews are anxiously waiting for the coming of the Messiah who, they hope, will deliver them from their oppressors and restore the kingdom of Israel to its former glory.

Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews in the Old Testament

Before moving on to the coming of the Messiah and to the New Testament, it is worth pausing for a moment to look at the three terms used to designate the chosen people in the Old Testament.

The name "Hebrew" is the most ancient and dates back to Abraham (Gen. 14:13). Some believe that the word comes from the Hebrew root signifying "to pass over" - thus he is "the man who passed over" the Euphrates. Others derive the name from Eber the ancestor of Abraham; the Hebrews are thus "sons of Eber" (Gen. 10:21,24). This name is later applied to the Israelites in Scripture only by one who is a foreigner (Gen. 39:14,17, 41:12), or when the Israelites are spoken of when contrasted with other peoples (Gen. 40:15, 43:32, Ex. 1:3,7,15,19). The term fell into disuse after the exile, though Paul still refers to himself as a "Hebrew of Hebrews" to emphasize his descent from Abraham (2 Cor. 11:22, Phil. 3:5).

We have seen how the origin of "Israel" goes back to Jacob. His sons and their descendants who form the whole people of the twelve tribes are called "Israelites," the "children of Israel" (Jos 3:17, 7:25 Jud 8:27, Jer. 3:21) and the "house of Israel" (Ex 16:31, 40:38). After the death of king Solomon the ten northern tribes arrogated to themselves this name, as if they were the whole nation (2Sa 2:9; 3:10,17) and their kings were called "kings of Israel," while the kings of the two southern tribes were called "kings of Judah." After the Exile, however, the name Israel came to designate the entire nation, though the ten original northern tribes exiled by the Assyrians were lost. This is seen in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah (see Nehemiah's prayer above), in the two books of Maccabees, and in the New Testament (1 Macc. 1:20,30, Mt. 2:6,20).

As for the "Jews," this name is derived from the patriarch Judah, at first given to one belonging to the tribe of Judah or to the separate kingdom of Judah (2Ki 16:6, 25:25, Jer 32:12) in contrast with those belonging to the kingdom of the ten tribes called Israelites. During the Captivity, and after the Restoration, this distinction was lost and the name was extended to the entire Hebrew nation (Es 3:6, Da 3:8, Ezr 4:12). Thus, as we come to the New Testament we find the terms "Jew" and "Israelite" used interchangeably to designate the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who were now chiefly of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

[1] Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, p. 19.