The Origin of Israel
Israel and his household, which included eleven of his sons and their households, went to live in Egypt. His twelfth son, Joseph, was already in Egypt. While there, they multiplied greatly, and grew exceedingly strong, filling the land with them.
When a new king came to power in Egypt who did not know Joseph, he enslaved "the people of Israel" so that they would not fight against them and leave the land, because they had become many, and mighty.
When the king of Egypt died, "the people of Israel" groaned, and cried out to God for help because of their slavery. Their cry came up to God, and He heard their groaning, and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw "the people of Israel" - and God acknowledged them. - Exodus 1-2
In Exodus 1-2, "the people of Israel" are the descendants of Israel (Jacob) who multiplied throughout Egypt, became slaves to the Egyptians, and cried out to God to rescue them. They were of the household, or dynasty, of Israel (Jacob).
"A Mixed Multitude" and God's Covenant
The people of Israel lived in Egypt for 430 years. God sent Moses to lead them out of Egypt when He heard their cry. About six thousand men, not including women and children, as well as "a mixed multitude" left Egypt that night. There were probably well over a million people who left Egypt.
After Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt and out of slavery, God made a covenant with them at Mount Sanai. [2] "There Israel encamped before the mountain, [3] while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: [4] ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. [5] Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; [6] and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” [7] So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. [8] All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. - Exodus 19:2-8
After being given the law and the commandments, God called Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel up to Him to worship Him and to give Moses all of the "rules". Moses told all the people, and they all answered in one voice saying, "All the words that the LORD has spoken we shall do."
Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD and he built an altar and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. He had young men of the people of Israel offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings to the LORD. He divided the blood, putting half in basins and half on the altar.
Then Moses read the Book of the Covenant in the hearing of the people, and they said, "All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient."
Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Then Moses and the other men went and reported it to the LORD.
Afterwards, the LORD called Moses to come up to Him so that He could give him the tablets of stone and the law of the commandments, which He had written. He was on the mountain, away from the people, for forty seven days. When the people saw that he was gone for so long, they ordered Aaron to make them gods to go before them. He obliged, and took their gold and made a golden calf from it. The people said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" Aaron built an altar where they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. They ate and drank and rose up to play.
When God saw what they were doing, He was furious and wanted to destroy them in His wrath. But Moses interceded, and the LORD relented of His anger. However, He instructed those who were on His side to kill their brothers, their companions, and their neighbors (those who were not on His side), and about three thousand men of the people died that day.
The next day, Moses went up to the LORD to make atonement for their sin. He said to the LORD, "If you will not forgive them, please blot me out of the book you have written", but the LORD said, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book... In the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them." Then He sent a plague on the people because they had made a calf - the one that Aaron made.
Because of their sin, He said to Moses to leave Sanai, and take the people to the land that He promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He said that He would send an angel before them to drive out the inhabitants of the land, however, He was not going to go with them, because if He did, He would destroy them. This caused the people to mourn, and no one put on his ornaments. The LORD said to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’ Therefore, the people stripped themselves of their ornaments from then on.
Once again, Moses interceded on behalf of the people of Israel, and the LORD relented and renewed His covenant which they had previously broken. He re-wrote the words that were on the first tables, which Moses threw down and broke in his anger towards the people of Israel. He gave Moses the words of His covenant between Him and Israel, for them to observe, which Moses wrote on the stone tablets - the ten commandments. Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. - Exodus 12:37-38, 19-34.
After leaving Egypt, Israel was a "mixed multitude" of people. It was no longer only the household of Israel (Jacob), but it now contained people of various ethnicities. It may have been the influence of this "mixed multitude", as well as the Egyptian cultural influence on the Hebrew people, which led to their idolatry of the golden calf.
The original covenant which God had made with the people of Israel was broken by them, very soon after they agreed to its terms and it was established. God was so angry with them, that He was going to destroy them all. It was only because Moses intervened that He relented, but even after that, He was not going to go with them to the land that He promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because He still wanted to destroy them. Even though He did not destroy all of Israel, they still suffered the consequences of their sin. He put the sword to thousands of them, and on the rest who were not faithful to Him, He put a plague, a promise of vengeance, and a promise to blot their names out of His book.
Because they broke the covenant, God renewed it, but only because Moses once again intervened on their behalf. He was still going to fulfill His promise of the land that He had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but He was not going to go with them. Because they did not obey His voice or keep His covenant, which were the terms they agreed to, He was going to leave and abandon them, and therefore they would not be His treasured possession among all peoples, nor a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to Him. In other words, they were not going to be His people, and He was not going to be their God. They were going to be on their own.
The Sign of the Covenant
The sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham was that every male eight days old would be circumcised throughout the generations of his descendants. This sign of the covenant applied to any male who was among Abraham, whether born in his household, or bought with his money from any foeigner who was not his descendant. Anyone who was not circumcised, was cut-off from his people because he had broken God's covenant.
This means that one was not required to be a descendant of Abraham in order to be in God's covenant. It also means that a descendant of Abraham would not be in God's covenant if he was not circumcised. - Genesis 17:10-14
The same thing applied to Israel during the Exodus. While giving instructions of the Passover to the people of Israel, God instructed Moses to tell them that if a stranger travels with them and wants to keep the Passover, he, and all of the males of his household are required to be circumcised. He then shall be as a native of the land. However, no uncircumcised person were allowed to eat of it, whether a native or a stranger. God implemented one law for both the native, and the stranger who traveled among them. - Exodus 12:48-49
Anyone who wanted to be in God's covenant - who wanted to be a part of Israel - could be, if they were circumcised. God's covenant, or being of Israel, was not restricted to the Hebrew people.
Israel and the New Covenant
Today, it is widely believed that anyone who is Jewish is of Israel, and the covenantal promises apply to them. However, technically, to be Jewish means either one of two things:
1)they are descendants of the tribe of
Judah, or
2) they are a practitioner of the religion of
Judaism, which was not developed
during the times that the Abrahamic or
the Mosaic Covenants were made.
The more common idea, is that to be Jewish does not mean that one has to specifically be from the tribe of Judah, or practice Judaism, but that anyone who is of Hebrew ethnicity is Jewish. Many of these "Jews", or those of Hebrew descent, are not practitioners of Judaism. Yet, because they are "ethnic Jews", the covenantal promises pertain to them. Therefore, it is widely believed that those people who live in the modern day geopolitical nation of Israel are God's covenantal people.
However, the Bible tells us differently. It tells us that a person of any ethnicity can be of Israel. I did not go into what the New Testament tells us about Israel, but I will suffice to say that anyone who has faith in Christ are of Israel, and anyone who does not, is not of Israel. Though there are some people in the modern day geopolitical nation of Israel who have faith in Christ, most of them do not, and therefore they are not of Israel. Furthermore, God's people Israel are a people, not a geopolitical nation.
Today, the people of Israel are not required to be circumcised in order to be of Israel, because God has made a new covenant with them, which He sealed with blood of Christ. The old covenant was sealed with the blood of oxen. Faith in Christ is all that is required to be of Israel now.
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