“I gave to Yitz’chak Ya‘akov and ‘Esav. To ‘Esav I gave Mount Se‘ir as his possession, but Ya‘akov and his children went down into Egypt.”-Joshua 24:4
We’re gonna be talking a bit more about how the Lord progressively revealed Himself to His people throughout history.
And as much as I hate to use stuffy academic terms, you should know this idea is called “Progressive Revelation” by scholars, Bible teachers, and seminary professors.
In the opening verses of Joshua 24, there are four major stages of Israel’s history.
Here are the stages:
STAGE 1:
This stage was known as the era of the 3 Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and this was the time when God was known to them only by the Canaanite term EL. I find this fascinating because even the name of the Holy Land is ISRA-EL. It’s named after a Canaanite god.
STAGE 2:
This was the stage when Israel went down to Egypt and served Egypt’s gods. Again, according to their thinking, they had no choice because they had left their god EL back in Canaan. (Remember, the firmly entrenched belief system of the time was that the power of the gods was restricted to certain territories).
STAGE 3:
This was the stage when Israel conquered the land on the eastern side of the Jordan River (known as the “Trans-Jordan) and this was the first time in Israel’s history that God revealed Himself to His people as YAHWEH (or YEHOVEH).
STAGE 4:
The next stage (where we’re at now in our Bible study) is when Israel finally crossed over the Jordan River and entered into the Promised Land.
So here’s what I want you to get.
The stages of Israel’s history not only came with a change in how the Israelites called their God but also how the theological ideas swirling around inside of their heads changed.
This transformation of theological perception goes to the very heart of what “Progressive Revelation” is all about.
This should also help you understand why the Israelites lost hope when they were slaves in Egypt.
Because if the gods were territorial, how could their God (who’s power was restricted to the land of Canaan) possibly save them while they were in Egypt?
This was also the reason why Jacob wanted so desperately to relocate his sons and their families back to Canaan.
They wanted to get back into an area where their God (called EL SHADDAI at the time) held power.
The next time we meet we’re gonna be looking at some actual Scripture verses from the Torah demonstrating more of this Progressive Revelation.
I hope you’re enjoying this as much as I am.
You started off on a wrong presumption about the God of Abraham and now you are progressively trying to fit your entire perception of the scriptures into that presumption. When the foundation is flawed, the whole structure is compromised.
Have you read the book of Jasher? Did you study how Abraham’s heart burned for the knowledge of the true God of the Universe, felt after him, confronted his family’s idolatrous beliefs, smashed twelve of the family deities to pieces, challenged the King’s Council and Nimrod on the pain of death by fiery furnace and even relocated to the mountains of Eba to learn about the God of Enoch, Methuselah and Noah?
While I believe in the teaching on progressive revelation, I also think that there’s no way you can study the life of Abraham in Jasher and Jubilees and come off with this presumption that his knowledge of God was subject to or inspired by the territorial gods prevalent in his land of sojourn. Sir.
If there’s one thing the Abrahamic faith is known for, it is the firm belief in the creator of heaven and earth as the one true universal God and not the territorial gods of the lands of sojourn.
They carried that belief with them to every land they journeyed to and that’s what made them popular and stand out for exceptional love and favour or envy and persecution by their surrounding neighbouring countries of sojourn.
You should rethink and edit this entire topic from the drawing board.
Appreciate your comment Collins but I stand by every word I wrote. Every word. Have a good day.
This will be interesting to follow through. Looking forward to it 🙂
Yes! thanks