The Earth Is The Lord’s

The same day that God promised Abraham a son, God gave a prophecy about the future, as Genesis 15:12-15 describes the first part of the prophecy.  “And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.  And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.”

It would be another twenty years before Abraham’s son Isaac was born.  Two hundred years later, his grandson Jacob’s entire family would move to Egypt as a result of a famine, during the First Intermediate Period of Egyptian history.  Jacob’s son Joseph would become one of the most powerful men in Egypt, and for the first thirty years, Abraham’s descendants would be well regarded, but as later, they were regarded as foreigners and were forced into slavery, for four hundred years, during Egypt’s Middle Kingdom period.  At the end of that period, God would bring a series of plagues on Egypt, and they would be forced to release the Hebrews, even paying them to leave. 

In the process Egypt’s economy was destroyed, as well as her army, leading to their being conquered by the Hyksos during the Second Intermediate Period.   The story can be found in Exodus 1-14.  Exodus 12:40-41 tells us, “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.  And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.”

As we have seen, in Abraham’s day the Egyptians were still worshipping God.  Six hundred years later, in Exodus 5:2, “…Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.”   The story is a demonstration of the statements in Acts 17:24-27.  “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.” 

All the different races of humans on earth are related to each other genetically, through Noah.  They were commanded to populate the entire earth, and when they refused, at the the tower of Babel, he changed their languages so they couldn’t readily understand each other to force them to scatter to ends of the earth.  He has predetermined where and how long each political system will remain in control of an area, based on whether they will seek to please God or not.  The middle kingdom lasted approximately four hundred years, but was destroyed when they forgot God, worshipping their political system and other things instead.    

Abraham had a close relation with several of the Amorite tribes who served God, but in Isaac’s day things had begun to change.  In Moses’ day Abraham’s servants would return to Canaan, destroying the Canaanites and Amorites, but At the time the Amorites were still serving God and he would not take the land away from them as long as they were doing what they should.  Genesis 15:16 says, “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” 

Understanding that the earth belongs to God and he allows different groups to use it, evicting them if they insist on misusing his property results in an unpopular perspective of human history, but it is what the scriptures teach.  Every empire and political system in history has collapsed when they turned their backs on God’s principles.   If a person or group doesn’t pay the rent, or damages the property and the lease expires, it is their own fault if they get evicted because they don’t own the property but have just been allowed to use it.  They no right to hold grudges against the people who occupy the property next.