Returning to the words of Samuel, he makes an appeal to the
recurring motif of exile and exodus, as he very briefly recounts the history of
Israel, saying “When Jacob entered Egypt, your ancestors cried out to the
Lord. The Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and they led your ancestors out of
Egypt and settled them in this place. But they forgot the Lord their God,
so He gave them into the hand of the Sisera… and into the hand of the
Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against
them” (12:8-9). Samuel presents the fact that the people were in exile,
and that God granted them exodus, but that they repeatedly returned to exile.
Then, “they cried out to the Lord,” groaning like Israel in Egypt, and
repeatedly “admitted, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have
served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth’.” (12:10a) Upon confession
of what took them into exile, exodus is repetitively requested, with words such
as “Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you”
(12:10b), which reminds us that exodus is not an exit, but an entrance upon
God’s divine purposes for those previously in exile. The Lord, as we
know, and as Samuel reminds the people, acted in the form of deliverers, and
“sent Jerub-Baal (Gideon), Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and He delivered you
from the hand of the enemies all around you, and you were able to live
securely” (12:11).
Samuel’s recitation
of Israel’s past is not something that is confined to the Hebrew Scriptures,
but we see it in the New Testament as well, especially since Christianity is
pre-supposed by an actual, literal, physical, historical Resurrection. The book
of Acts---that which marks the beginning of what we might refer to as the
“Christian era,” is replete with the same such recitations, rooted in
Resurrection. This demonstrates the importance of the historical
underpinnings of this faith, and the eternally historical nature of the Gospel
message (Jesus is Lord of all), which has God’s covenant with His people, the
repetition of exile and exodus, God’s action within history, and the historical
example of the Caesar and the Imperial/Caesar-cult (along with its language at
the time of Christ), as its foundational premises.
Peter, in his
Pentecost sermon, makes an appeal to history as he preaches the Gospel of the
resurrected Lord. Stephen, the man who carries the record of being the
first to be put to death for naming the name of Christ, presents a thorough
history of Israel, replete with references to idolatry, and the ever-present
themes of exile and exodus, before being stoned to death. In the
thirteenth chapter of Acts, Paul speaks of Israel’s history as he is called
upon to provide a “message of exhortation” (13:15), and does so by preaching
the Gospel. We can imagine that such was not the first nor the last
time. In Romans and Galatians, Paul makes it clear that the message of
the Gospel cannot be presented without reference to Abraham (along with Isaac),
as it was God’s dealings with Abraham that effectively mark the beginnings of
the church. In the tenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul
makes reference to Moses and the failures of Israel, and references Moses again
in the second Corinthian letter, making yet another important historical
connection, as Moses, and by extension, the significance of the exodus as it
relates to the history of the people of God, is brought forward into the era in
which Resurrection power is at work in the world.
In the anonymously
composed letter to the Hebrews, we find that it is impossible to understand
most all of what is written without reference to Israel’s history, its
covenants, and its theology. The famous eleventh chapter of Hebrews, in
fact, is a recapitulation of Israel’s history, couched in terms of God’s
covenant faithfulness, as it boldly speaks forth of exodus after exodus, and of
the deliverers and deliverance that only God could provide as He plots the path
of His people though the ages. In the first letter of Peter, his speaking
of God’s Israel (for all time) as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people of His own” (2:9a), has him quoting from the book of Exodus, with
the reminder that the purpose of the choosing being so much more than an escape
from this world, but rather “so that you may proclaim the virtues of the One
Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (2:9b). With
those words, Peter might as well have spoken of proclaiming the One Who took
you from exile into exodus, rescuing you (and continuing to rescue you) from
the foreign subjugation that seeks to rob God’s people of their hope and
confidence in Him.
Of course, all of
Jesus’ words and actions, as recorded in the Gospels and in Acts (with His
disciples questions concerning the restoration of the kingdom of God in the
nation of Israel), are rooted in an understanding of the history of Israel, as
Jesus echoes the themes of the past in the image of the judges and prophets of
old, as it is impossible to understand the need and desire for a messiah apart
from understanding the foundational premises of exile and exodus in God’s long
dealings with His people. Indeed, it is impossible to understand the
continued need for a redeeming messiah (King and Lord) apart from an
understanding of the foundational premises of exile and exodus---historically,
theologically, and cosmologically---in the context of God’s ongoing mission for
and purposes in this world, as conducted and carried out through His church
(renewed Israel), as He continues His long dealings with His people.
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