Bible Overview: Sin and God's Desire to be the God of His People - Part 3

Sin and God's Desire to be the God of His People - Israel and His Twelve Sons

How Israel Came to Dwell and Be Taken Into Captivity In Egypt 

Jacob (Israel) had twelve sons who comprised the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel whom God would later lead out of Egypt by Moses (Genesis 35:22-26). This is how they ended up in Egypt:

Jacob's son Joseph was hated by the rest of his brothers because Jacob favored him more than them (Genesis 37:3-4). One day, they threw Joseph into a pit, but when Ishmaelite slave traders came along, they decided to sell him to them instead, where they took him to Egypt where he was sold to Pharaoh's captain of the guard (Genesis 37:36).  Through a series of hardships and trials, Joseph became Pharaoh, King of Egypt's, right hand man. No one other than Pharaoh had more power over Egypt than Joseph had (Genesis 41:37-45).

Due to Joseph's obedience to God, he was extremely wise. He built a storehouse of grain when there was an abundance during the good years, so when a famine came upon the surrounding nations, they all came to Egypt to purchase food (Genesis 41:47-57). When Israel sent his sons to Egypt to buy food, Joseph recognized his brothers, and eventually their relationships were restored. Soon after, they brought Israel down to Egypt with them to be reconciled to his son Joseph, whom he thought was dead. God appeared to Israel as they traveled to Egypt, and He said to him, “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes” (Genesis 46:1-4). Pharaoh gave Israel and his sons the land of Goshen, which he described as "the best of the land" (Genesis 47:6). There in Egypt, is where the twelve tribes of Israel lived, and where their possessions and population multiplied. (Genesis 46-48).

The twelve sons whose descendants would comprise the twelve tribes of Israel were not guiltless of sin. As we just saw, Israel's sons had it in their hearts to kill their brother Joseph. Although they ended up not killing him, they did sell him for profit and they deceived their father by telling him that he was dead.

Genesis 38 gives another account of sin within the sons of Israel. It tells the story of Israel's son Judah and his children and how God killed two of them - one for his wickedness, and the other because his actions displeased God.

Judah's daughter in-law, Tamar, was the wife of the first son that God killed, Er. The account does not describe what Er did for God to kill Him, only that he was wicked in the sight of the LORD. Judah told his other son, Onan, to have a child with Tamar and to raise it as an heir to Er. However, Onan knew that the child would not be his heir, so when they had sex, he emitted on the ground rather than within her. Because this displeased God, He killed him. 

Judah then promised Tamar that he would give his son Shelah to her to have a child with when he was grown. When she realized that Judah was not going to go through with his promise, she deceived Judah by dressing as a harlot and conceiving a child with him. When Judah found out that Tamar was pregnant, he was going to burn her to death for being a harlot, but she had proof that she was pregnant by him by revealing some of the items that he had given her as a pledge of payment. Therefore Judah did not kill her, but acknowledged that the items were his, and said that she was more righteous than he because he did not give Shelah to her as he had promised. 

After the sons of Israel had all died in Egypt, their children were multiplied and increased throughout the land. They became a mighty people. A new Pharaoh was now reigning over Egypt, who did not know Joseph, and who became concerned that the descendants of Israel were becoming mightier than them. Therefore, he conquered and enslaved them and afflicted them the more they increased. He commanded that male babies be drowned in the river, and that female babies to be kept alive (Exodus 1).

*Ishmaelites were the descendants of Abraham's son Ishmael, who was the son of his wife Sarai's Egyptian maidservant Hagar, and whom God also promised many descendants through (Genesis 16)*.