Abrahamic Covenant - Deliverance from Egypt

[Herald]

Could the Abrahamic Covenant of Genesis 12 be a shadow of God's decree to deliver Israel from its bondage in Egypt (Exodus 3)?

 

[TsonMariytho]

The Israelites' deliverance from Egypt and entry into Canaan is itself a shadow of the ultimate promised land. That's certainly what Abraham himself desired.

Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
Heb 11:9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
Heb 11:10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
....
Heb 11:13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
Heb 11:14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.
Heb 11:15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
Heb 11:16 Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.​

 

[Herald]

Andrew, I agree with that. I am questioning whether the Abrahamic Covenant had some partial-fulfillment in the deliverance of Israel from bondage.

-----Added 12/27/2008 at 05:17:38 EST-----

*bump* Come on all you exegetes. What say you?

 

[Contra_Mundum]

I guess I don't exactly get the question. Are you talking about the end of the chapter, when Abraham goes down to Egypt?

In Gen.12, God promises Abraham a place, a posterity, and to bless the whole earth through him. This is the initiation of the covenant.

Actually, Gen 12, 15, and 17 are inseparable, though the parts unfold over several years. They all form one covenant message; God does not keep "time" like we do, and there are necessary steps that must take place in Abraham's life, connected to the decree of God, which fit into his (and our) understanding of that covenant.

So, are you asking if Abraham's trip down to Egypt (in the latter half of ch.12) "foreshadows" the later family's journey, and subsequent Exodus?

I think one can find parallels, but there are also a number of things that make the two events quite different as well.

Or is it simply a question of "does Israel's coming out of Egypt have anything to do with the Abrahamic promise?" Well, as he directs Moses to be the leader of the Exodus, God says that he's keeping his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (e.g. Ex.3:6ff; 6:3ff; etc.); so in that sense he is definitely answering to the covenant's origination.

 

[Herald]

Bruce,

Here's one take on what my question is about:

Going Forth of the Command

The command to restore and build Jerusalem did not originate according to human providence, but divine providence, although as the 19th century theologian Ernst Hengstenberg wrote, "As the covenant people were then subject to the Persian king, we naturally expect to find an echo of the word of God in the edict of a Persian monarch." In other words, even though the command to restore and build Jerusalem originated from God's decree, the effects of such a decree naturally had to appear on earth. Consider how one heavenly decree was manifested on earth.

In the book of Genesis, God made a promise to Abraham:

Genesis 12:1-3 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

This promise was reiterated a few chapters later:

Genesis 15:18 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:

While Abraham, Isaac and Jacob prospered in the land of Canaan, they never possessed the land entirely as had been promised by God. The end of the book of Genesis deals with Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers. Joseph was taken to the land of Egypt where he gained favor with Pharaoh. Through God's providence, Joseph provided for his father and brothers. His family settled in the land of Egypt and grew strong in number. Exodus 1 tells us that the people of Egypt grew fearful of the children of Israel. As a result, "they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor." (Exodus 1:11) With the nation of Israel in a state of slavery would God's promise to Abraham still be fulfilled? Consider God's commissioning of Moses to lead His people from bondage.

Exodus 3:10 10 "Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

Exodus 3:19-20 19 "But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. 20 "So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.

Exodus 11:1 And the LORD said to Moses, "I will bring yet one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.

Exodus 12:29-32 29 And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. 30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. 31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, "Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the LORD as you have said. 32 "Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also."

Exodus 12:41 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years -- on that very same day -- it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. The decree to deliver Israel out of Egypt existed in the mind of God from eternity but was manifested in time. God always knew what He planned to do, but that plan was carried out in human time.

The decree to deliver Israel out of Egypt existed in the mind of God from eternity but was manifested in time. God always knew what He planned to do, but that plan was carried out in human time.