Despite the horrors of slavery, it was no easy decision to flee.
No matter how courageous or clever, few enslaved people threw off their shackles without at least some outside help - history.com(tubman) [1].
Between The Ears BLOG INDEX, with titles and summaries.
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| Black Slaves Defeat Napoleon's Troops |
Note that Haiti is the only nation that gained independence as part of a successful slave rebellion. And this independence came at a terrible cost – an estimated 400,000 Haitians and 50,000 European soldiers were killed over the 13 year rebellion, which began in 1791 - Wiki(Haitian_Revolution) [2].
Anyway, God DID deliver Israel, through ten plagues, and other miracles like parting of the Red Sea – He was that outside help needed to free slaves. You could argue that the nation of Israel was born the day they left Egypt, or when they passed through the Red Sea. But were they really a nation yet? They had no land of their own, though it was promised, they had no laws or judicial system, they were under Egyptian slavery law. Did they have a religion of their own? Or did they follow Egyptian religions? They had been slaves for centuries by the time of the Exodus.
Is 66:8 World English Bible - Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she gave birth to her children.
What happens to the culture of an enslaved people? Writing about slaves in the US.
Enslaved people adopted a variety of mechanisms to cope with the degrading realities of life on the plantation. They resisted slavery through everyday acts, while also occasionally plotting larger-scale revolts - khanacademy.org [3]
This had to become a way of life for Israel. It had to create a mistrust of authority. Recall that Pharaoh dealt shrewdly with the children of Israel – Exo 1:10. He placed Israelites over Israelites, under Egyptian taskmasters of course. We read in Exo 5:14, 19 that the officers (KJV) were Israelites, some translate it as foremen. Orders came from Pharaoh to the taskmasters to the officers to the slaves. This was recorded during the “no straw for bricks” episode.
Exo 5:14 And the officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, …
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| Yellow Star Worn By Kapos |
They forced a person to choose in a way we were never forced to choose before: to become either a victim or a perpetrator.” lithub.com(collaborator) [5]
Israel were slaves for generations. Everyone, old and young, who left Egypt had been a slave their whole life. They had the culture and thinking of slaves. This didn't vanish when they crossed the Red Sea. You can take Israel out of Egypt, but can you take Egypt out of Israel? The sad truth is that they all had to die, and it was their children that went into the Promised Land.
Num 14:22 Certainly all the people who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, 23 shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who were disrespectful to Me see it.
What happened there on a national scale is what happens to each of us on a personal level.
Rom 6:6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
It took more than ten plagues to take Israel out of physical slavery. At Mt Sinai, God gave ten commandments to take them out of spiritual slavery. Even then, Israel “put God to the test” ten times. The number ten shows up at least three times in the birth of the nation. I don't know the full significance of “ten", but I don't think it's an accident.
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| God Speaks At Sinai |
After the Exodus came Pentecost/Shavuot, when God spoke to the nation directly.
Exo 20:2 I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים
In introducing Himself, He reminds the people that He was the outside help who delivered them from slavery, the house of bondage. That was deliverance from physical slavery by ten plagues. Now He gives ten Commandments to deliver them from spiritual slavery. But one more thing is needed to give birth to a nation – a system of justice, in Bible terms statutes and judgments. And chapters 21-24 of Exodus are the beginning of that system of justice. And the response of the elders of Israel?
Exo 24:1 Then He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance. 2 Moses alone, however, shall approach the LORD, but they shall not approach, nor shall the people come up with him.” 3 Then Moses came and reported to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!”
I find it interesting that the first judgments (mishpatim) given in Exodus 21 concern slavery.
In my opinion, when the 70 elders ratified the covenant, Israel became a nation. Follow these laws, and these statutes and judgments, and you will be free indeed. Free to work for yourself. Free to enjoy the rewards of your labor. Free to buy and sell. Free to marry. Free to come and go. Free to develop your own traditions, free to create your own culture. Much of the Old Testament is devoted to the history of that nation of Israel.
Second Israel
Israel eventually lost that national freedom because they would not obey God, but amazingly Israel was reborn.
On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, establishing the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. Ben-Gurion became Israel’s first premier - history.com(israel-proclaimed) [6].
Israel is the only nation on earth that was born in a day - godencounters.com [7]
Not only that, but twice! Accompanied by many miracles both times.
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| Palestine Post, May 14 1948 - Wiki(PalestinePost) [8] |
Birth of the Church
Let's bring this closer to home. What other “nation” was born in a day? We recognize the day of Pentecost as the birth of the church. Note how Peter described the church.
1 Pt 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN PEOPLE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR GOD’S OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
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| Cloven Tongues Of Fire |
According to Acts 1:15, about 120 people gathered to keep that Pentecost,
Acts 1:15 At this time Peter stood up among the brethren (a group of about 120 people was there together), and said,
but by the end of that Pentecost day,
Acts 2:41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.
Apparently, preaching with a tongue of flame on your head is very effective.
One big reason I consider Pentecost the birth of ancient Israel is because of the parallel with the birth of the church on Pentecost.
Another nation born in a day? When Christ returns, He will establish a new nation in that day. We will be a part of it. It will be a new Israel.
Common Traits
I'll close with some thoughts on traits common to birth which we can apply to the birth of nations as well, specifically gestation, delivery, and infancy.
Ancient Israel gestated in Goshen - theisraelbible [9]. They went from a tribe of 70 to a nation there. Delivery is the familiar part of the story – the plagues, the miracles, and the Exodus. Note that delivery is painful. Then came infancy, where Israel set about becoming a new nation, learning to stand on their own two feet
The gestation of modern Israel is harder to describe. The Jewish people certainly maintained their identity for thousands of years, suffering persecution in most generations (a long difficult pregnancy if you will), which reached a crisis in WWII. The holocaust could be described as the birth pains. God delivered them to a land of their own, the very same land as ancient Israel. Modern Israel had to grow up fast – they were attacked almost immediately upon becoming a nation.
The church started small, gestating during Jesus' ministry on earth, followed by the anguish of His death. Born (delivered) on Pentecost, the infancy of the church is described in the book of Acts.
And the future kingdom. The church has been a spiritual nation of Israel “wandering in the wilderness” for nearly 2000 years, groaning for deliverance which we believe is coming soon. Prophecy shows a very painful birth for the kingdom. Prophecy also gives us a glimpse of life in the world tomorrow. That's where we come in.
On a personal level, Acts 14:22 tells us “It is through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God.” That tribulation is like birth pains.
Pentecost is rich in meaning, with much symbolism in it. It pictures First Fruits, it pictures giving of the law on Sinai, giving of the Old Covenant, giving of the Holy Spirit. By the count 50, it links back to the Wave Sheaf Day and links forward to Atonement when the Jubilee (50th year) is announced, a year of liberty and redemption. And as we've seen, it looks backward to the birth of the nation Israel and the birth of the church. It also looks forward to the birth of the kingdom, the day we pray for when we say “Thy kingdom come”.
References
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution
3. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/civil-war-era/sectional-tension-1850s/a/life-for-enslaved-men-and-women
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapo
5. https://lithub.com/inhabiting-the-mind-of-the-worst-kind-of-collaborator-a-nazi-kapo
6. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/state-of-israel-proclaimed
7. https://godencounters.com/can-nation-be-born-day-hint-yes
8. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:19480516_PalestinePost_Israel_is_born.jpg
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