Dear Jeffrey,<\/p>\n
I have a question and would like to seek your wisdom. This pertains to God’s purpose in the various journeys involving the children of Israel. What does the scriptures say or infer about God’s purpose?<\/p>\n
This turnaround from Egypt back to Canaan took about 400 or 430 years (Genesis 15:13; Exodus 12:40).<\/p>\n
My question surrounds what God’s purpose was for allowing all these. Abraham arrived in Canaan, and then Israel had to migrate to Egypt, only to later return to Canaan. What does the scriptures say or infer about this? What application does this same turnaround event have for Christians today, other than to be patient and wait for the return of Jesus?<\/p>\n\t
When Abram was to travel to Canaan, he had a relatively small group. Even by the time of his grandson, Jacob, there were only 70 descendants. They were far too few to hold the land of Canaan. Time was needed for the family to grow, but to get the best growth, they needed someplace safe. Attacks and wars would reduce their numbers, so God sent them into Egypt. “But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 4:20). God told Israel that the hardship and suffering they endured in Egypt caused them to become a better people. True, Egypt was a place of hard bondage, but those hardships made them strong (Deuteronomy 26:6).<\/p>\n Egyptians did not accept foreigners (Genesis 43:32), and they considered shepherds, such as Abraham’s descendants, to be the lowest class of people (Genesis 46:34). Add to this that the Egyptians saw the Israelites as nothing more than slaves and the result was that there was little mingling between the Egyptians and the Israelites. Although the Israelites lived in Egypt, the cross-cultural contamination was limited.<\/p>\n At this time, Egypt was the most powerful nation on earth. It didn’t even have walled cities because no one would dare attack Egypt. However, Egypt’s strength became Israel’s protection. God nurtured Israel by encircling them with their enemies (Deuteronomy 32:9-12).\u00a0The enemies of God’s people became the buffer that protected God’s people!<\/p>\n The hardship Israel faced in Egypt was a shadow of what was to happen to the church (Zechariah 13:7-9).\u00a0We are kept by God’s power (I Peter 1:3-5), but our faith is allowed to be tested (I\u00a0Peter 1:6-7). The result is that we become stronger people, leading to our salvation (I Peter 1:9).<\/p>\n Like the Israelites, we live in a world that doesn’t accept us (I Peter 4:1-5). We have been chosen out of the world (John 15:19), but we live in the midst of our enemies (Philippians 2:14-16; Psalms 110:2). The Lord’s people, his kingdom, dwell as strangers (I Peter 2:11-12).<\/p>\n God wants the maximum “harvest” of righteous souls (II Peter 3:9), but it takes time for growth. Thus, the world continues until the Father decides no more can be saved. God knows what He is doing. We have to be patient to see the end.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Dear Jeffrey, I have a question and would like to seek your wisdom. This pertains to God’s purpose in the various journeys involving the children of Israel. What does the scriptures say or infer about God’s purpose? God asked Abraham to pack up and move to the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:1). It is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[557,1328,648,941],"class_list":["post-88008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-israel","tag-plans","tag-promises","tag-purpose"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28643,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-hebrew-israel-jew-canaan-etc\/","url_meta":{"origin":88008,"position":0},"title":"What is the difference between Hebrew, Israel, Jew, Canaan, etc.?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: God promised to bring the people of Israel to the promised land, and the Jews went to the promised land, but wasn't there more people in Israel than just the Jews? Answer: I'm having trouble with your question because I think there are some problems with definitions. Hebrew This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39133,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-joseph-want-his-bones-dug-up-and-buried-in-the-promised-land\/","url_meta":{"origin":88008,"position":1},"title":"Why did Joseph want his bones dug up and buried in the Promised Land?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did Joseph want his bones dug up and buried in the Promised Land? Answer: Joseph prophesied that Israel would not remain in Egypt. To demonstrate his confidence in God's promise, Joseph insisted that when they left, they would take his bones and bury them in Canaan -- a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23560,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-land-promise\/","url_meta":{"origin":88008,"position":2},"title":"The Land Promise","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Franklin T. Puckett in\u00a0The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 10, August 1952. Premillennialists tell us that God's promise to give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed has never been fulfilled. Since His promises do not fail, there must be a future fulfillment. Consequently, when Jesus comes the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17599,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-long-did-the-exodus-from-egypt-take\/","url_meta":{"origin":88008,"position":3},"title":"How long did the exodus from Egypt take?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How long did it take Israel to travel out of Egypt? I know that they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness of Sinai, but how long did it take them to walk the journey from Egypt to the crossing of the Red Sea? Answer: The Exodus started on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32952,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-long-would-it-have-taken-israel-to-reach-canaan-if-they-had-not-wandered-for-40-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":88008,"position":4},"title":"How long would it have taken Israel to reach Canaan if they had not wandered for 40 years?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How many days would it had taken the Israelites to travel from Egypt to Canaan, instead of 40 years? Answer:","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17694,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-still-need-to-keep-his-covenant-with-abraham\/","url_meta":{"origin":88008,"position":5},"title":"Does God still need to keep His covenant with Abraham?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you so much for\u00a0answering me. So many people are\u00a0deceived about the Jewish people and their destiny. I\u00a0was 99.999% sure I was\u00a0reading God's\u00a0Word in the context\u00a0in which God meant for it to be understood. I know they are no longer God's chosen people. 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