ACT 3: ISRAEL

The Lord had said to Abram, " Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
" I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you"
---Genesis 12:1-3
In calling Abram( God later renamed him Abraham)
and promising to make him into later a great nation, God is narrowing his focus and
concentrating on one group of people for a period of time. But the ultimate goal remains
the same: to bless all the people on earth, remove the curse from creation and restore the
original relationship that existed in the garden.
When Abraham's decendants are later enslaved in Egypt, a central pattern in the story is set:
God returns to the people, frees them and restores them to the land promised to them.
God makes a covenant with this new nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai. He appoints Moses to be their
leader during the liberation fom Egypt- the exodus.
As part of the covenant, God makes it clear that if his people remain true to him and faithfully
follow his ways, he will bless them in their new land and make it like the original Garden of Eden.