Promise Of a Nation to Abraham
Year of Prophecy: ©1977 BC (Genesis 12)
Year of Fulfillment: ©1395 BC (near death of Joshua – Joshua 24:13)
Time until fulfillment: ~582 years
The promise of a nation to Abraham is an example of fulfilled Biblical Prophecy. To show how the amount of time passing between prophecy and fulfillment doesn’t matter, we will cover ten of such prophecies. This is the second of ten.
As was seen earlier, when God made His covenant with Abraham (Gn 17), it included the promise of making Abraham into a great nation. Actually, this promise was given even earlier – when God called Abraham out of Ur of Chaldea (Gn 12:2). However, the fulfillment of this promise did not occur during Abraham’s lifetime. Both Abraham and his son Isaac seemed to remain somewhat Nomadic during their lifetime (Gn 20:1, 21:34, 24:62, 26:1, 17, 23) although they became very wealthy (Gn 26:13), another part of the promise (Gn 12:2-3). It was not until after the time of Moses and during the leadership of Joshua that the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham through the promise, became recognized as a nation. The life of Joshua was devoted to the conquering of the land of Canaan for establishing Israel as a nation. At the time of his death, Israel had rest from war (Js 23:1). Although other altercations later ensued, Israel had become a formidable nation with which to be reckoned.
Because this promise to Abraham was unconditional, the actions of Abraham or his descendants did not change the outcome. This was probably a good thing, because the Israelites were not always appreciative of the journey to becoming a nation. Over the 2-year period it took the Israelites to reach Canaan, the Promised Land, from Egypt (Ex 13:17-18 states that they did not take the shortest way so as to avoid early war with other nations which would discourage them and have them voluntarily return to Egypt) there are 10 rebellions that are recorded in Scripture:
1. Complained at the Red Sea about being trapped (Ex 14:11): God performed a miracle by parting the Red Sea so Israel could go through on dry ground, but Pharaoh’s army was drowned (Ex 14:21-31)
2. Complained at Marah about water being bitter (Ex 15:24): God performed a miracle by showing Moses a tree to cast into the waters which then became drinkable (Ex 15:25)
3. Complained in Desert of Sin about no food (Ex 16:3): God performed a miracle by sending quail for food and sent manna every morning until they reached Canaan (Ex 16:4-15)
4. Disobeyed and tried to gather manna on the Sabbath (Ex 16:27): God had Moses re-explain the significance of the Sabbath and why a double portion was to be gathered on the sixth day (Ex 16:29-30)
5. Complained at Rephidim about lack of water (Ex 17:2): God performed a miracle by providing water from a rock (Ex 17:5-6)
6. Worshipped golden calf (Ex 32:5-6): Levites killed about 3000 people using their swords (Ex 32:27-28)
7. Complained at Taberah about their hardships (Nu 11:1-3): fire from the Lord consumed the outskirts of the camp (Nu 11:1)
8. Complained about the manna at Kibroth Hattaavah (Nu 11:4-6): God performed a miracle and sent quail, but also sent a plague among them (Nu 11:31-34)
9. Miriam & Aaron opposed Moses (Nu 12:1-2): Miriam was given leprosy and had to dwell outside the camp for 7 days at which point God healed her (Nu 12:15)
10. Complained at Kadesh Barnea about not being able to enter the Promised Land (Nu 14:2-3): God had them stay in the wilderness a year for each day the spies were spying out the land of Canaan (a total of 40 years) (Nu 14:34).
These incidences show the longsuffering of God to Israel and how the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham was not dependent upon their obedience. The first five instances above have no consequences attached to them. However, the last five have consequences, yet Israel still did not learn their lesson. Then, after the 10th rebellion, God stated that they would have to roam for another 38 years before the Israelites could enter the Promised Land (Nu 13:34, Dt 2:14) – to purge those that disobeyed (Nu 14:22-34) and allow them to learn to depend and trust upon God. As noted above, God fulfilled the promise through Joshua and his conquests with help from the Lord (Js 24:13).
Therefore, it took over 5 centuries for God’s promise to Abraham to be fulfilled. It seems obvious that the people of Israel did not necessarily remember this promise as evident by their complaints or was just too self-absorbed about their own comfort and desires at the time, God did not forget, and the promise came to fruition.
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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens