02.40. Examples of Unity in Israel

Examples of Unity in Israel In the Old Testament God owned the nation of Israel as His people. They were His chosen ones and He was their God and dwelt in their midst. In the New Testament God forms a Church out of all nations and owns that as His dwelling place and as His people. We have previously pointed out that unity in principle and action is what characterized the New Testament Church. We shall also find that the principle of unity was God’s mind for the nation of Israel and that the unity of the twelve tribes was always insisted upon in the Old Testament.

Since we are told in the New Testament that "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning," and that things in Israel are ensamples for our admonition and types and a "shadow of good things to come" (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11; Hebrews 10:1), it is important that we notice this principle of unity in Israel. For if the nation of Israel was one, how much more so is the Body of Christ, the Church, one! And if independency was wrong in Israel, how much more so must it be wrong in the Church of God! In seeking to point out examples of the unity of the nation of Israel, we feel that we cannot do better than to quote the words of C. H. Mackintosh who has ably summed the matter up thus: The Nation Was One The cities and tribes were not independent; they were bound up together by a sacred bond of national unity - a unity which had its center in the place of the divine presence. Israel’s twelve tribes were indissolubly bound together. The twelve loaves on the golden table in the sanctuary formed the beauteous type of this unity, and every true Israelite owned and rejoiced in this unity. The twelve stones in Jordan’s bed, the twelve stones on Jordan’s bank, Elijah’s twelve stones on Mount Carmel - all set forth the same grand truth the indissoluble unity of Israel’s twelve tribes.

"The good king Hezekiah recognized this truth when he commanded that the burnt-offering and the sin-offering should be made for all Israel (2 Chronicles 29:24). The faithful Josiah owned it and acted upon it when he carried his reformatory operations into all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel (2 Chronicles 34:33). Paul, in his magnificent address before king Agrippa, bears witness to the same truth when he says, `Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come’ (Acts 26:7).

"And when we look forward into the bright future, the same glorious truth shines, with heavenly lustre, in the seventh chapter of Revelation, where we see the twelve tribes sealed and secured for blessing, and glory, in connection with a countless multitude of the Gentiles. And finally, in Revelation 21:1-27 we see the names of the twelve tribes engraved on the gates of the holy Jerusalem, the seat and centre of the glory of God and of the Lamb.

"Thus, from the golden table in the sanctuary to the golden city descending out of heaven from God, we have a marvelous chain of evidence in proof of the grand truth of the indissoluble unity of Israel’s twelve tribes.

"And then, if the question be asked, where is this unity to be seen? or how did Elijah or Hezekiah or Josiah or Paul see it? The answer is a very simple one-They saw it by faith; they looked within the sanctuary of God, and there, on the golden table, they beheld the twelve loaves, setting forth the perfect distinctness and yet the perfect oneness of the twelve tribes. Nothing can be more beautiful. The truth of God must stand forever. Israel’s unity was seen in the past, and it will be seen in the future; and though like the higher unity of the Church, it is unseen in the present, faith believes it all the same, holds it and confesses it in the face of ten thousand hostile influences." (Notes on Deuteronomy, Vol. 2, pages 165, 166). At Jericho In the matter of the sin of Achan at Jericho, we see God acting in discipline with Israel on the ground of their national unity. When Achan of the tribe of Judah trespassed and took of the accursed things of Jericho, the Lord was angry against Israel and caused them to meet defeat in battle at Ai. When Joshua inquired of the Lord about it, He said, "Israel hath sinned, and they have also trespassed... they have taken of the accursed thing" (Joshua 7:11). The evil was not just a matter that affected Achan or his family or his tribe, but it affected all Israel. God held all Israel responsible for it because all the tribes were one nation. In His sight the whole nation was identified with the sin of Achan and defiled by it. It was not Achan’s family or the tribe of Judah that was defiled and held responsible, but all Israel. So "all Israel stoned him with stones" (Joshua 7:25), and put the evil away. Then the Lord’s anger turned and He was with Israel again. The same principle applies to the Church of God and to individual Assemblies today. If an individual in an Assembly has sinned, the whole Assembly is thereby defiled and is responsible to deal with it, otherwise God cannot go on with them. So also if evil is allowed in one Assembly, all Assemblies in fellowship with this gathering are defiled by it and must judge the evil. The Church is one as Israel was one and there is a corresponding responsibility. The principles of God never change, so the lesson God taught Israel at Jericho is a lesson for the Church also and is borne out by the teaching of the New Testament.

Evil in a City In Deuteronomy 13:12-15 Israel was instructed as to dealing with a report of idolatry in one of their cities. It was to be investigated and if the report was true and certain, they must smite the inhabitants of that city and destroy it utterly. There was to be no such thing, for example, as any in the south of Israel saying, "What have we to do with the evil in the North or in such and such a city? There is no such evil taught amongst us. Each city is responsible for the maintenance of truth within its own borders. That is a local matter; we do not feel ourselves responsible to meddle with their affairs" etc. To speak thus would have been a denial of Israel’s unity. The evil was in a city of Israel and if another city belonged to Israel, the evil was considered to be amongst its inhabitants also. Furthermore, God’s distinct commandment was - "If thou shalt hear say... Then shalt thou enquire" etc., so they were bound on the double ground of the nation’s unity and the plain command of God to investigate the reported evil and to deal with it. They were told to inquire whether "such abomination is wrought among you" (Deuteronomy 13:14). It was not merely a question of evil in a certain city, but among you - evil in Israel. Evil in one city was the concern of all Israel according to God.

If every city and every tribe were to take independent ground, the high-priest might take the twelve loaves off the golden table before the Lord and scatter them about here and there, for the unity of Israel would be gone. But no such independency was to be allowed in Israel and neither is it God’s mind for His Assemblies.

Thus even the instructions to Israel stress the principle of unity and corporate responsibility and action, and coalesce with what we have found in the New Testament to be the path of God for the Church and for Assembly relationships.