Salvation history moves forward. After the age of the Patriarchs, the people of Israel has grown, but is enslaved in Egypt. God intervenes again: he calls a man, Moses, and tells him to guide the people to the land he had promised to Abraham. With the Exodus, Israel ceases to be a family and becomes a people with a Law of its own. This is The Journey to the Promised Land.
In the previous article we explored the age of the Patriarchs. We now move on to the second stage of the Old Covenant, set around 1250 BC.
This journey follows the structure of Bible Portico, Saxum’s book of timelines, maps and infographics designed to help readers understand Sacred Scripture. Drawing on that material, we take a closer look at this second stage, recounted across four books: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Historical context: Egypt at its height
While the descendants of Jacob live in Egypt, the land of the Nile reaches a period of great expansion. Around 1450 BC, under Thutmose III, Egypt conquers Phoenicia and reaches its greatest extent. Between 1353 and 1336 BC, Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) introduces the monotheistic cult of the god Aten. Ramesses II reigns between 1279 and 1213 BC, while around 1200 BC the Trojan War takes place in the Aegean.
Within this context of Egyptian power, God liberates Israel, around 1250 BC, through the Red Sea (Exodus 14). In the desert, God establishes his Covenant with Israel; the people promise to be faithful, but turn away from God again and again, and wander in the desert for 40 years until Moses’ death.
Exodus: liberation and the Covenant of Sinai
The book’s opening chapters describe how the Israelites settle and prosper in Egypt, until a Pharaoh enslaves them. It then tells of the birth and calling of Moses: God chooses him to fulfill his promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, making him the prophet par excellence, he who reveals God’s name and speaks with him face to face.
Moses’ mission to Pharaoh, backed up by ten plagues, culminates in the Passover: God “passes over” and frees the people, an event that becomes the central feast of Israel’s religion. This is followed by the liberation — the departure from Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea — and the journey to Sinai.
The encounter with God and the Covenant sealed there are the heart of the book, which combines narrative elements (the theophany, the ratification of the Covenant, the episode of the Golden Calf) with legislative ones (the Ten Commandments, the Laws of the Covenant, and the laws for God’s Tabernacle and its ministers). The book concludes by showing God’s presence in the Tabernacle, guiding the people on their journey through the desert.
Leviticus: the holiness of God’s people
Leviticus sets out, above all, the laws given to Israel during its time at Sinai, in the 13th century BC. Its high point is the Law of Holiness, which conveys a profoundly religious sense of life: the people must be holy because God, who no longer speaks only from the mountain but dwells in the midst of his people, is holy.
The book institutes the priesthood and lays down detailed rules for the different kinds of sacrifice — the holocaust, the oblation, peace-offerings, sin-offerings and offerings in reparation — as well as the law of ritual purity, which includes the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and the Law of Holiness, which governs the feast days, the Sabbath Year and the Jubilee Year.
Numbers: the journey through the desert
Numbers combines censuses ordered by God — showing that the people belong to him — with lengthy legal texts and the narrative of Israel’s journey from the Sinai Desert to the plains of Moab, before entering Canaan.
The book teaches that the desert is a place of testing: the people rebel against God, yet it is also there that Israel learns of his mercy and faithfulness. God’s presence, accompanying and guiding his people, is symbolized by the cloud covering the Tent of Meeting, around which Israel organizes its camp.
The narrative unfolds across four stages: the Sinai Desert, where the people are organized; Kadesh, where the people rebel and experience both God’s punishment and Moses’ intercession; the journey from Kadesh to Moab, marked by further punishments, God’s mercy and the first victories; and finally the plains of Moab, the last stage before Canaan. Along this journey are set episodes such as the death of Aaron, the bronze serpent and the oracles of Balaam.
Deuteronomy: the testament of Moses
Deuteronomy gathers three long speeches by Moses — his testament before his death — together with the narrative of the people’s final stage encamped in Moab, and a second set of laws which is, in reality, a fresh presentation of the Law of the Covenant.
The first speech reviews the history from the great theophany at Horeb to the arrival at the plains of Moab. The second opens with the Ten Commandments and the confession of faith in the one God (the Shema), and contains the Deuteronomic legal code (chapters 12–26), which establishes that there is only one place where God may be worshiped. The third speech exhorts the people to remain faithful to the Covenant. The book closes with the succession of Moses and his death, after he views the Promised Land from Mount Nebo.
The end of this stage: the plains of Moab
The itinerary shown on the cover map comes to an end on the plains of Moab, facing the Promised Land, bringing this second stage of the Old Covenant to a close, at the threshold of the conquest of Canaan.
Walking the road of the Exodus from Saxum Visitor Center
Understanding the Exodus and the Covenant of Sinai helps to place the formation of the people of Israel, and of the Law they received from God, within a real historical and geographical context: not merely a spiritual account, but the history of real people and places, close to where Jesus Christ would preach his message centuries later.
Saxum Visitor Center, strategically located near Jerusalem, offers a living experience that connects the Bible, history, archaeology and Christian spirituality. Through its audiovisual and educational resources, it helps pilgrims and visitors better understand the biblical message of the Holy Land and gain deeper insight into the historical context that precedes the Gospels.
