Has God forgotten Israel? This is a question that many
wonder about…
(Romans 11:1-2) I ask, then,
has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a
descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. (2) God has not
rejected his people whom he foreknew…
God’s promise is that He will not leave them…
(1 Samuel 12:22) For the LORD
will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased
the LORD to make you a people for himself.
The problem is not that God has forgotten Israel, but that the
people have forgotten their Lord. Instead of living as God commands, they have
done whatever they wish (Judges 21:25). The resulting consequence has been the
exile and the scattering.
(Ezekiel 36:19) I scattered
them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In
accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them.
(2 Kings 23:27) And the LORD
said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and
I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which
I said, My name shall be there.”
The exile could have meant the extinction of the Jewish
people… but it wasn’t, because God has not forgotten His People. God drove his
people away from His Presence, but it was only for a while…
(Psalms 94:14-15) For the LORD will not forsake his
people; he will not abandon his heritage; (15) for justice will return to
the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.
The exile was the consequence of disobedience, but God’s
plan is to restore his people, Israel; and this includes taking them back to
the land which he promised he would give them: the Land of Israel (Heb. Eretz
Yisrael).
(Deut. 30:1-8, NKJV) Now it shall
come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse
which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations
where the Lord your God drives you, (2) and you return to the Lord your God and
obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your
children, with all your heart and with all your soul, (3) that the Lord your God will bring you back from
captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has
scattered you. (4) If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under
heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will
bring you. (5) Then the Lord your God
will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall
possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. (6)
And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants,
to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you
may live. (7) “Also the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies
and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. (8) And you will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all His
commandments which I command you today.
The promise to return is in the Torah (Deuteronomy) and also
in the prophets:
(Jeremiah 30:2-4, NKJV) “Thus speaks
the Lord God of Israel, saying: ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words
that I have spoken to you. (3) For behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord,
‘that I will bring back from captivity
My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their
fathers, and they shall possess it.’” (4) Now these are the words that the
Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah.
(Jeremiah 31:8-10, NKJV) Behold, I will
bring them from the north country, and gather
them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the
woman with child and the one who labors with child, together; a great throng
shall return there. (9) They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to
walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not
stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn. (10) “Hear
the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say,
‘He who scattered Israel will gather
him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’
On the next post we will continue reading about God’s plans
to return the people of Israel to the Land God promised them…
More articles on the
Promised Land, in the page: Israel
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