# Abrahamic Covenant - Deliverance from Egypt



## Herald (Dec 27, 2008)

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 (Dec 27, 2008)

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 (Dec 27, 2008)

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 (Dec 27, 2008)

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 (Dec 27, 2008)

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.
> 
> ...


----------

