God’s promises for Israel - Session 4.1
God’s plan with the the Jews and the Land
The land
In Genesis 12:7a we read “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring (seed) I will give this land.”
This land is also called The Promised Land, the land to which the Hebrew people would return after the period of slavery in Egypt, according to Genesis 26:2-4 and Genesis 28:12-15.
Genesis 28:2-4 says 2Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3May God Almighty
Genesis 28:12-15 says 12He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your
Q26 The descendants of Abraham experienced life in the diaspora, as prophesied in verse 14 above. And they were allowed to return to the promised land, as was promised in verse 15. Describe how realistic prophecy and fulfillment can be. Even if the fulfillment is delayed for several millennia.
The name of the land
Jews and Christians alike talk about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Earlier we heard that Abram was renamed to Abraham. Let’s now read passages that explain another renaming.
Genesis 32:22-32 reads 22That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered.
28Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 29Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. 30So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” 31The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32Therefore to this day the
Genesis 35:9-12 says 9After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be
A proof of God’s plan with the descendents of Abraham is the fact that Abraham’s grandson Jacob wrestles with God and in this wrestling the man, representing God, renames Jacob into Israel.
Q27 Did you notice the word “Israelites” in verse 32:32? Is this the reason that the reborn country was called Israel in 1948?