Who are the Israelites?

 Who are the Israelites?

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To really study the book of Numbers, we need to find out WHO is Under the Cloud.  The main characters in this historical narrative have just been delivered from slavery in Egypt and the majority of them are Israelites descended from Jacob also known as Israel. Who are the Israelites?  We have to go back to Genesis to find out.  In Genesis 1, God created the first human, Adam and shortly thereafter God created his wife, Eve.  Sin entered the world as Eve was deceived by the serpent-shaped devil.  It wasn’t long after sin entered the world that the first murder occurred as Cain killed his brother Abel.  The next chapters of Genesis give account of how evil earth became and the preparation for a devastating flood.  Noah and his family were the only people who were saved through the flood designed to cleanse the world from evil. (Genesis 7)

Noah’s three sons repopulated the world and it was through the genealogy of Noah’s son Shem that a man named Abram was born.  God called Abram to follow Him and led him on a journey of trials and testing. God then made a covenant with Abram and changed his name to Abraham.  Abraham’s wife Sarah had a son when she was 90 and Abraham was 100.  This miracle child was named Isaac.  Isaac married Rebekah and she had twin sons: Esau and Jacob.  Esau was born first.  Jacob came out second, grasping his heel (Genesis 12 to 25). There are a lot of twins in my family.  My dad was a twin, and my brother has lovely twin daughters.  My mom had twin brothers.  I can remember my Grandma telling me how it was when she had twins.  You didn’t know till the birth in those days.  So she had a second baby and wondered how to handle that.  You can imagine the anxiety!  But she was such a matter-of-fact woman, within minutes she said, “Well, I thought, ‘I used to go a country mile to see a set of twins and now I won’t have to!’"

While Rebekah was carrying the twins, God told her, (Genesis 25:23) “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” So Jacob was to be the stronger and the master of Esau and his people.  Jacob had 12 sons and a daughter.  This is going to be a very important fact in our study, that Jacob had 12 sons.  These 12 men are tribal leaders and the tribes are known by their names even hundreds of years after they lived.

For another short history of the Hebrews, see Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin in Acts Chapter 7.

Big Families

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In future posts, you will learn more about the 12 sons of Jacob and their story is an integral part of the wilderness journey in the Numbers historical narrative. God gave Jacob the name Israel after he wrestled with Him and held on until God blessed him (Genesis 32:28).  That is why they are called Israelites; they are descended from Israel.  Numbers begins with a census of the Israelites and you will find that there are over 626,000 men in the Israelite nation and that does not include women and children.  The Bible tells us that when they moved to Egypt there were 70 of them (Genesis 46:26-27) and the day they left Egypt was 430 years to the very day after their arrival (Ex 12:41).  So if you wonder how there could be millions of Israelites, just look at any large family you know of.  My dad was one of 9 children.  When my dad's family gets together, they have to rent a hall.  If everyone came, there would be over 100 people.  His parents had their children in the 1940s, so this is just 70-80 years of growth.  For those of you that know Mathematics, the growth after the first 100 years will be exponential as each of the offspring most likely has a family.

The Israelites...That's Who!

The Israelites will go through many trials, some due to their own choices.  In this book, we can see how to learn from their journey.  It is so much nicer to learn from someone else's mistakes and not have to suffer consequences yourself!  This people group will set examples for us, both good and bad.  Moses will be a paragon of servant leadership, intercessory prayer and humble mentor.  Many other characters will inspire us throughout the history of the wilderness journey.  Still others will strike fear in our hearts at the thought of how wicked man can be.  Like the disciples who just found out that Jesus would be betrayed by one of them, we ask, "Is it I, Lord?"