Sinai, where they stayed for a year, during which time God revealed Himself to them, and formally pronounced Israel to be His chosen people, and revealed to them His requirements for them as His people (Exo 19 � Num 10). This part of Israel�s history � from about 1400-1000 BC � is recounted in the biblical books of Exodus to Judges.
After four centuries in Egypt Abraham�s descendants had grown into a great multitude, but enslaved by a Pharaoh fearful of them. Into this very trying time in their history, Moses was born. During a self-imposed exile motivated by fear for the consequences of having killed an Egyptian task-master, he met with God and was charged to return to Egypt to liberate his fellow Israelites from slavery. He succeeded, and set them upon a journey to the land God had once promised to Abraham (Exo 1-18). En route they came to Mount Sinai, where they stayed for a year, during which time God revealed Himself to them, and formally pronounced Israel to be His chosen people, and revealed to them His requirements for them as His people (Exo 19 � Num 10).
Continuing their journey towards the Promised Land, they arrived at an oasis on the southern threshold of Canaan called Kadesh Barnea. From here they were to launch their conquest of the land. They sent out spies to scout out the land, but when the scouts reported upon their return that the land was as God had promised but that it was also inhabited by oversized barbarians, the people rebelled and refused to enter it. For their rebellion they would spent the next forty years roaming the deserts until every one of the rebels had died, and during which a whole new generation was born (Num 11-20). By the end of this forty years period they had travelled into the Trans-Jordan highlands. Here they defeat the two kings, Sihon and Og, and took possession of their lands, which were then distributed to the two and a half tribes of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad (Num 21-36). Here too their leader Moses would die. Before he did, however, he would expound to them once more what God required of them and to urge them to obey. The substance of this exposition is what we now find recounted in Deuteronomy.
Under the leadership of Joshua the new generation of Israelites crossed the River Jordan and began their long and difficult conquest of the land (Joshua). By the time Joshua died, however, not all of the land had been taken, and pockets of pagan Canaanites continued to dwell alongside the Israelites for a long time (Joshua 1-24). Before long, however, the Israelites would succumb to the pagan influence of their neighbours, and a period of religious, social, and moral darkness descended upon Israel, a period summarized so pointedly by the author of the book of Judges as days when �everyone did what was right in his own eyes� (Judg 21:25).
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2013