Written by A.Thomas

Brethren Of Christ Articles - Israel

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The miracle that is Israel: her origin, history and destiny revealed in the Bible
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What do we mean by the word miracle ?  We can define it as some wonderful happening that is beyond the known laws of nature.  The Bible records many such happenings in both the Old and New Testaments, amongst which the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead stands out as the most significant.

A miracle is also used to describe a wonderful or amazing happening that appears to defy logic.  We might hear it said of a person emerging unscathed from a catastrophic accident, “it is a miracle that you weren’t killed.”   Where the Bible records such events or series of events, such as those in the life of Joseph, we define the wonderful and amazing outcome as due to God’s Providential Hand in the affair.
 Both definitions, but particularly the former, apply to the many and various incidents and events throughout the history of the people of Israel.

2008 marked the 60^th anniversary of the miraculous birth of the State of Israel.  We describe it as miraculous because its birth, in all the circumstances defied all logical expectations.  
It occurred just three years after the end of a war during which the Jewish people throughout Europe had been cruelly and systematically murdered. 
The small physically and emotionally battered and bruised remnant that emerged from the holocaust and made their way to Eretz Israel were to form part of the seed of the nation that gave birth to the State of Israel. 

The Bible speaks of the travail and sorrow of a woman giving birth, and such pangs were experienced with the birth of the State of Israel.   Britain, who should have played the part of a midwife, left just before the actual birth, believing she would not live long, and left her to the mercy of her enemies.   
These enemies, who were waiting to devour her as soon as she was born, were the six Arab armies of Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.  
They launched their attack on the State of Israel on the 15^th May 1948, the day after she was born.   
In all the circumstances it was a miracle was that she survived.  She did, albeit severely injured, and having overcome many threats and attempts on her life since that time, is still alive and celebrates her 60^th birthday this year.

Before looking at recent and past history of the people and land of Israel we should remember that the birth of the State of Israel would not have been possible were it not for another birth that took place some 3,600 years ago.   This birth was that of the nation of Israel.

 There is a distinction between a state and a nation.  A nation is a people who share a heritage, a culture or perhaps a system of beliefs.  A state, in the traditional sense, is the political apparatus that governs a territory.

 Now the nation of Israel could be said to have been born when they were miraculously delivered from Egyptian bondage around 1,600 B.C.   The constituents of that nation were the descendants of Abraham, the first Patriarch of the Jewish people, but in particular those of his grandson Jacob.   Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel, had twelve sons whose offspring became known as the twelve tribes of Israel.   
It was through the Providence of God that Joseph, one of Israel’s sons, was brought into Egypt from the land of Canaan, which corresponds to much of present day Israel.  

In Egypt he was brought to Pharaoh’s notice and was instrumental in saving both the Egyptians and his own relatives from the worst affects of the devastating famine that God had forewarned him was coming.   This involved the settlement of all of Israel’s children and their offspring in the land of Egypt.  The seventy souls who entered Egypt, in course of time became very numerous.  This fact together with the eventual death of Joseph, and that of the Pharaoh who considered him as the saviour of Egypt, signalled an end to the benefits Joseph’s people had hitherto enjoyed.

Subjected to extreme hardships and servitude by Egyptian taskmasters they prayed for deliverance.  Their prayers were answered and in due time God raised up and prepared Moses to lead them out of Egypt into the land of Canaan, the land he had promised to their Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Their deliverance was through a series of miraculous events which are the most dramatic happenings in their long and eventful history.