In this article, Fr. gives us some historical background of Israel. It is a part of Bible study. Bible and the history of Israel go together. 

The Bible is not a mythical book or an epic of some unknown story. It is a historical book and speaks about history.

Maybe in some places the dates and calculations may be wrong but only what has happened in history is written in the Bible. It is not a cooked-up story. 

What we need to understand is the history of the Bible; the history of Israel. The whole history of Israel is well connected to the whole history of the Bible. 

If we want to know our history, we need to look into the history of Israel; to know the history of Israel we need to look into the Bible. Because it is connected with each other.

We know who Israel is. Israel is the sons and daughters of Abraham; the chosen people. As we know, God chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They all came and settled in the land of Canaan, the Promised Land of God.

In the present day, the land of Canaan is called Israel. The present day where Israelites are living is the original and official land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is there that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had settled.

Then why these issues and confusions exist between Palestine and Israel? There is a big historical reason behind this. 

Fr. is not speaking about the conflict between the Palestine and Israel but he is telling about what happened to Israel – How and why this confusion happened between these two countries. 

When Abraham settled there, it was originally a barren land. But because of the goodness of Abraham, it became the land of Canaan – the Promised Land. 

As we know Lot and Abraham had divided their land. Lot selected the fertile land and Abraham remained with the waste land. The fertile land later became Sodom and Gomorrah, which was destroyed due to their sins and the waste land of Abraham became the Promised Land. 

Once, during famine in the world, only Egypt had food. That time, Joseph, (one of the twelve sons of Jacob) was the Prime minister of Egypt. He told his father and brothers to leave their ancestral land and property of Canaan and live with him in Egypt.

Jacob’s other name was Israel. Jacob (Israel) had twelve sons. All 12 sons along with their families settled in Egypt. In the beginning they used to be called the people of Israel – the 12 sons of Jacob (Israel). 

When they left their land Canaan and settled in Egypt, many other people came and settled in Canaan. This was the ancestral property of Jacob (Israel), where Abraham, Isaac, and he had lived.

The other people came and settled in Canaan and multiplied. They were Cannanites, Jebusites, Hittites and Hivites. While other tribes multiplied in the land of Canaan, Jacob’s twelve sons multiplied in Egypt.

After sometime there was a pharaoh in Egypt, who was very cruel. He made all the Israelites slaves of Egypt. They underwent terrible torture and sufferings. The Israelites lived in Egypt for more than 430 years.

One fine day God spoke to Moses and told him that HIS people are suffering, so HE is going to take them back to the Promised Land – their ancestral land, the original Promised Land.

It was actually their land, because Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived there. So, God promised to take them back to their ancestral land. That is how Moses saved all the Israelites from Egypt.

After that the Exodus began; the 40 years long Exodus to go back to the original property – their ancestral property i.e. the land of Canaan (the Promised Land). 

In fact, the land of Cannan and the true Promised Land are different. This is only a figurative journey. There is another journey, where God wants to take everyone to the real Promised Land – the Heavenly Promised Land, Heavenly Jerusalem.

The journey which took place to the Promised Land, the land of Canaan, is going to take place again in the future. We will read about this later.

The Israelites started their journey from Egypt, and it took them almost 40 years to reach the Promised Land, where they settled. In the book of Exodus we read everything about their journey from Egypt to settling down in Israel. 

After going back to their ancestral land, they chased all the other tribes who were living there – the Canaanites, Jebusites, Hittites and Hivites, and they settled in their Promised Land. 

After settling there, they thought since it is the Promised Land of God, it will be a land of milk and honey, and there will be peace, prosperity and blessings forever. 

They thought they would always be happy and that there would never be any attacks or any misfortunes. So, though they settled in the present Israel, they never settled there properly.

After settling in Israel, the people of Israel started asking for kings. Then God gave them Saul, then David after that Solomon. After Solomon, the whole country revolted and a civil war began within Israel.

Israel consisted of twelve tribes. It is like twelve constituencies or twelve provinces. The whole Israel divided into groups and started fighting with each other. 

Ten tribes came together and formed one country. They called themselves as Israel or kingdom of Israel. The other two tribes came together and formed another country calling it as the Kingdom of Judah. This division happened in the year 930 BC. 

The Promised Land was divided into two parts – the Northern and the Southern part. The northern part of the country is Israel. The southern part of the country is Judah. Jerusalem happened to be in the southern country. 

The northern country people were not allowed to enter into the southern country. But in fact, the southern country people permitted the northern country people to come to Jerusalem. This was because their temple was in Jerusalem. 

The Jews had only one temple and they could not have two temples. It is mentioned in the Bible, that all the Jewish people have to visit Jerusalem at least 3 times in a year.

But the problem was that, the country had divided into two parts. The northern country people were afraid to go to the southern part to visit the Jerusalem temple. At that time King Jeroboam was the king of the northern part.

God had said there should be only one temple for one place. Therefore, to settle this problem, King Jeroboam decided to build a temple in the northern part. He made two golden calves and told his people that this was their God, who brought them out of Egypt.

He told the Kingdom of the ten tribes of northern part not to go to Jerusalem, but to worship this God. After that some people started worshipping that God. But some people did not worship that God.

The idol worshipping of the golden calf went on for 200 years. After this, around 722 BC, the Assyrians came and destroyed the northern kingdom. Jeroboam and his successors were destroyed completely and also all the ten tribes.

Out of fear all the people of the ten tribes ran away from that place. They migrated to different parts of the world. They were scattered. Even now nobody knows where the ten tribes are living. 

Some went to Africa. Some went to America and Europe. Some of them went to Asia including India. Then wherever they were, they married the locals and mingled with different races.

Slowly they disappeared. That is what we call the lost ten tribes. Because they worshipped the golden calf, the idol worshipping, they were destroyed completely. That is one of the reasons but there are many reasons. 

What happened to the remaining two tribes who were called the southern country – the Kingdom of Judah? After sometime around 587 BC, the Babylonians (the present-day Iraq) came and destroyed the Kingdom of Judah and the temple of Jerusalem.

The whole country was taken for slavery. It is called the Babylonian exile. Israel disappeared from the Promised Land. If you were to go to Israel at that time, you would not find Jewish people there. They were all scattered. They were hiding and living with other tribes.

Now the whole Promised Land was no more a Promised Land. It was taken up by the Babylonians and the Assyrians. In this way the Jewish lost their land and this is history.

After this, may be fifty years later, the Persians came and attacked the Babylonians. The Persian King, Cyrus, allowed the Israelites to go back to Jerusalem. So the remaining people of the two tribes went and settled there.

As we know, by that time all the ten tribes were destroyed. The remaining of the two tribes that belonged to the Kingdom of Judah, are called Jews. Initially they were called Hebrews or Israelites.

Now only the Jews are there. Hebrews are not there. Majority of the Hebrews have disappeared. Only the people who belonged to the Kingdom of Judah are there. Today Jews means, the people who belong to the Kingdom of Judah.

The Jews when they came back to Israel, they wanted to bring back all the twelve tribes back to their Kingdom. But it is impossible to bring back the twelve tribes because ten tribes are missing. There is also a movie on this called “The Missing Ten Tribes”. 

After the Persian invasion of Babylon, the two tribes came and settled in Jerusalem. Day by day they started increasing more and more. After that they all were called Jews. Even during the time of Jesus, they were called Jews. Jesus himself was a Jew.

During AD 70 that is after Jesus was born and after the preaching of Jesus, Romans came and they destroyed Jerusalem temple and also the remaining Israelites. It was prophesied by Jesus.

Jesus had said that ‘all will be scattered and Jerusalem will be surrounded by enemies. All these things, which Jesus prophesied happened within 40 years. Jesus died in AD 30 and 40 years after i.e. AD 70, Romans came and destroyed Jerusalem.

They were all scattered again; this was their second exile. They went to America, Europe and Africa and to many other countries. They multiplied, where they lived. After migrating they started marrying the locals of different races. Slowly they disappeared. 

So, this is the situation now, after the coming of Jesus Christ. But there is a prophecy in the Bible – when the Messiah comes back, he will bring back all the twelve tribes together again. They will come back to one body. That is why the Israelites wanted the Messiah to come back fast.

Even today in Israel, they are praying for the Messiah to come. So that all the twelve tribes will get back together. Still the twelve tribes have not reached Israel. But only two tribes have reached Israel. 

They are trying to find out all the twelve tribes, but there is a problem because everyone has mixed with other races. That is why there is another prophecy in the Old Testament, ‘when the Messiah comes, he will bring back not only Jewish people but also all the other people along with the Jewish’.

All the Jewish people are mingled with other races and tribes by marrying them. So, if you want to bring back the twelve tribes, you have to bring back the whole world. You cannot avoid or reject one country or any race. If you do so, you will reject one part of Israel.

That is why when Jesus came, he chose 12 disciples and told them that you are going to be the twelve heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. He appointed twelve disciples for the twelve tribes. 

Matthew 19:28 – Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel”.

In this verse Jesus says “I am going to renew everything”, because everything was collapsed and messed up in the past. He has to renew everything together. He says “When the Son of man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel”.

That is why he appointed twelve disciples as the leaders of all the 12 tribes of Israel. The ten tribes mixed with other races and the two tribes which also mixed with many other races. 

If you want to bring back all the Israelites together, you have to bring back all the humanity together. 

In Luke 22:30, Jesus says “so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel”. 

That is why in the Church which is established by Jesus, the twelve apostles are the twelve pillars of the Church. 

Now not only Jewish people but people from America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and all the Continents, from all the races and creeds, are coming together and forming one Church.

That is called the new Israel and this is called the ingathering of the people. There is a prophecy in the Old Testament, “I am going to gather all my people together”. 

Not only the Jewish but also the Gentiles will be brought back together, because Jesus says all are my people. That is how Israel is formed. God also prophesied that they will make a leader for them.

Hosea 1:10 – God says, “Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbered and, in the place, where it was said, “you are not my people”, it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God”. 

Today if you see Israel, you can easily count them. But if you see the Holy Catholic Church, the Christian World is like the sands of the sea. It is increasing day by day. If it is decreasing in one place, it is multiplying in another place. It is already increasing. 

So, the new people, the new Israel, will be called the children of the living God. We know that Jesus is alive and we all belong to the same body of Christ. We belong to the people of the living God.

Not a dead God or lived God but a living God, because Jesus is alive. Jesus said, “I will be with you till the ends of the age. Therefore, we are called the Children of the Living God.

It is written in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the Jewish book. In that book it is written, what is going to happen in the future. 

Hosea 1:11 – The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head; and they shall take possession of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

The people of Israel (10 tribes) and the people of Judah (2 tribes) shall be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves one head. Under one leader the whole Church will gather together. It is prophesied by God.

In the Catholic Church we have only one Head – the Pope. Under him all the different races, creeds, nationalities, languages, all come together. The twelve apostles are the pillars of this Holy Catholic Church. 

God has already prophesied all these things in Hosea 1:11. ‘And they shall take possession of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.’ 

God also prophesied, ‘in this ingathering just like in the previous days during Exodus, now there will be a new Exodus. In this new Exodus, I will ingather them as during the old Exodus.’

During the old Exodus, they got Manna, Ark of the Covenant, Bread of the Presence, Tabernacle, Sacrifice, Menorah, and all these things. God said in the new Exodus, I will give all these things to them along with priests; Priests with celibacy.

God also prophesied that when the ingathering of Israel takes place, when all the twelve tribes come together, there will be priests – not only Jewish priests but also the Gentiles will come and serve at the Altar. Even the Eunuchs, who lead celibate lives, will be serving at the Altar.

There is a prophecy, already, in the Bible. Isaiah 56:3 – Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.”

No foreigner should feel out of place. Every foreigner will be accepted in the Church of God, the temple of God, in the land of Israel. 

God says, “When HE ingathers all the Israelites together, it is not only the Jewish people, not only the Israelites but also the Gentiles and the foreigners that will be brought together.” 

‘The Lord will surely separate me from these people. The Eunuchs should not say, I am just a dry tree.’ Nobody should say I am out of place. I am an outcast. Everyone has a place in the new Israel. 

Isaiah 56:4-5 “For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house, within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 

Isaiah 56:6: And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath, and do not profane it and hold fast my covenant,

Isaiah 56:7: these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

God said, ‘all these Gentiles will come to me and the Eunuchs will be serving at my table. They will be ministering to me and offering sacrifices on my altar and my house shall be called the House of Prayer for all nations’. 

This is exactly what Jesus prophesied later. Jesus quoted this passage when he was cleansing the Jerusalem temple and said, “My house shall be called a House of Prayer for all nations”.

He said, “It is not only for the Jewish people but also for the Gentiles”. Let everyone come because the new Israel means not only the twelve tribes of Israel, but the twelve tribes of the whole humanity. 

That is why we all are part of Christianity. Otherwise only the Jewish people would have been in Christianity. That is why we are all eligible and privileged to be in Christianity. 

This is a fulfillment of all the prophesies of the Old Testament. The Holy Catholic Church, the new Israel. There is a head to lead all these people. God already prophesied. They will select a head for themselves who will lead them. It is written in Hosea 1-11.

Therefore, if we are the new Israel, if the Church is the new Israel, then the twelve tribes mean all of us. The leaders of the twelve tribes are the twelve apostles. That is why Jesus did not select 13, 14 or 11 apostles for him. He selected exactly 12 apostles.

After one disciple committed suicide, they became 11. God wanted a replacement in that place. God could have said 11 disciples are more than enough for me. But God said I need 12 disciples. Why he wanted 12? Because of the 12 tribes, God wanted 12 apostles. 

If the Church is the new Israel, then where is the Promised Land? What God was talking about is the Kingdom of God. It is what Jesus was preaching about and HE said that the Kingdom of God is already here.

It means that it is something which starts on earth but ends in Heaven. Heaven is the Kingdom of God. It is our promised land or the final destination.

When the beautiful palace was built in Jerusalem and the temple was not built, that time Prophet Nathan came to David and told him:

1 Chronicles 17:7-9: ⁷‘Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people Israel ‘ 

⁸‘and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies before you; and I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ‘

⁹‘I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall wear them down no more, as they did formerly, ‘

God says, “I will appoint a place for my people Israel.” Why do they need another place, when they are already in the Promised Land? They were already settled there. They had a palace. They had a beautiful fortress around.

Then why does God want to give them another place? It is because the Promised Land, the land of milk and honey, is not the present Israel. It is somewhere else. We do not know the exact place of the Promised Land but God tells us where it is.

God will plant them so that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed any more. God says, “I will give them another place.”

Where is this new Israel or the new Promised Land? God says, “No evil doers will enter that new Israel. The evil doers have no place there.” 

1 Chronicles 17:10: ‘from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the Lord will build you a house.’

The new Promised Land and the new house are closely connected to the house of God, the temple of God, the Church of God. The Church of God and the new Promised Land is connected because this new land and new temple is the Heavenly Jerusalem.

Heaven is our final destination. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “Heaven is the new Israel, the final destination, the final home, where we are all going to join the heaven. Jesus came and preached about this heaven. 

How do we know that, Jesus preached us about this heaven? 1 Chronicles 17:11: ‘When your days are fulfilled to go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.’

It is said, “One of your sons will come and establish his Kingdom. The son of David will come and establish his Kingdom. He is not Solomon. Jesus is the son of David. 

1 Chronicles 17:12: He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.

Solomon also built the house but his throne was not established. But we know Jesus said, “destroy this temple and within three days I will build the temple.” Jesus built this temple in three days – that is his own body.

1 Chronicles 17:13: I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you,

God never called Solomon his son and Solomon never called God, Father. Only Jesus called God, Father. So, we know Jesus is going to lead us to the new Kingdom, new Israel, the new temple, the final destination. He is the Messiah.

Jesus is the one who is going to gather everyone. He will gather all of us together through the twelve disciples. He established the new Israel – that is the Church and the Kingdom of God, the new kingdom, for which everyone was waiting.

When Jesus came, the first thing he preached was the Kingdom of God, because everyone was waiting for it. 

These are the historical events. If we understand the whole Bible and these historical connections, we will be shocked. There are so many treasures of secrets and so many treasures of mysteries in the Bible, which are connected to History.

Let us thank the Lord and be grateful to God for having the privilege to be part of the new Israel. We are part of the new Kingdom of God. We all are already in the Kingdom but not yet. When we die and go there, we will be fully part of the new kingdom.

If we want to be part of the Kingdom of God then, we need to live a holy life here on earth. We are already part of the Kingdom by becoming a Christian; by Baptism and by receiving the Sacraments. It will be completed once we enter into heaven.

That is why the Catechism of the Catholic Church says that Heaven is the final destination, our Jerusalem city, the heavenly Jerusalem, heavenly temple and heavenly Promised Land, the land of milk and honey.

The land of milk and honey is figuratively speaking. The heavenly Promised Land is full of joy, happiness and prosperity in every sense. It may be in a different format but that is what we expect with faith. 

Transcribed by Greta Furtado