Who is Israel, and why does it matter? In the Bible, the man called Israel was actually born as Jacob. Remember the story of Jacob and Esau? Esau sold his birthright to his twin brother Jacob for a bowl of stew. These twins were the sons of Isaac who was the son of Abraham, who was promised in Genesis 22:17-18 that his descendants would be as many as the stars in the sky. Abraham was also promised in Genesis 12:2-3 that his descendants would be blessed.
“2And I will make you into a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And 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 will be blessed.”
In Genesis 26:3-5, Isaac was reminded of those promises. “3…for to you and to your descendants…I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed Me and fulfilled his duty to Me, and kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
The promise for Abraham comes through the line of Isaac to Jacob (who was later re-named Israel), and Jacob had 12 sons. The descendants of the 12 sons eventually scattered around the earth. Many of us could actually be from the genetic line of Israel.
Since ancestry websites do not go back that far, there is really no way of knowing if our DNA trail goes all the way back to Jacob, but it is definitely possible. Why is this important? Because Israel receives the blessings. Israel is not just a land, it is a people, and we are the people, and we will receive the blessings promised by God. Even if we are not genetic descendants of Jacob, we are adopted descendants through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5), and God promises the descendants of Israel (the person, not the country) in Ezekiel 34:15-16 that He Himself will be their Shepherd.
God promises blessings to Israel and to those who bless Israel, but He also promises a curse to those who curse Israel. The people of Israel belong to God, but again, the people of Israel are the descendants of Israel the man, not necessarily the country we see today.
God makes more promises in Ezekiel 34 to those who mistreat His people.
“Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should the shepherds not feed the flock? 3 You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. 4 Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you searched for the lost; but with force and with violence you have dominated them.”
Does any of this sound familiar?
The Lord also promises in Ezekiel 34:23-26 that someday He will bring us back to our own land. We will live in safety, and David will be our shepherd. Ezekiel was written 400 years after David had already lived and died. Therefore, this is referring to the future—our future.
I don’t know when this future will come, but I do know the promises of God. He promises to someday bring us home and take care of us, that we will no longer live in fear. He also promises to punish the wicked leaders of this world. This could happen tomorrow or in a thousand years, but wouldn’t it be wise to be counted as one of God’s sheep? Because He will seek us and bring us safely home again, and home sounds like a pretty wonderful place to me.