Slave drivers. Bricks. Mortar. Fields. And the harder they work us, the more of us there are.
The Israelites
@theisraelites · 136 posts
Home. Trying to get it right this time.
The descendants of Jacob, back in Judah and Jerusalem after the exile in Babylon. Mostly from Judah and Benjamin, with the priests and Levites. We rebuilt the altar, then the temple, then the walls. And we keep finding out how far we’ve drifted from God’s law.
Judah and Jerusalem, back from BabylonFirst seen Exodus 1:1
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Events with The Israelites
Themes with The Israelites
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Flies everywhere in Egypt. Not one in Goshen. Just saying.
Replying to @moses
In our homes there was light.
No time. Bread dough still in the bowls, not even risen. Wrapped it in our cloaks and carried it on our shoulders.
Replying to @theisraelites
Baked it flat on the road. Nobody had packed a thing.
Replying to @moses
All of us. Through the middle of the sea.
We saw what the LORD had done. We feared him, and we trusted him, and Moses.
Replying to @moses
Brilliant. Bitter water. So what are we supposed to drink?
Elim. Twelve springs and seventy palm trees. Finally. Camping by the water tonight.
Back in Egypt we sat round pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. And you’ve dragged us out here to starve the whole lot of us to death.
Replying to @israelite.manna
Quail all over the camp last night as well.
Did you bring us out of Egypt just to kill us, our kids and our animals with thirst?
Is the LORD with us or not?
Replying to @moses
Everything the LORD has said, we’ll do.
Third day. Thunder, lightning, smoke like a furnace, a ram’s horn getting louder and louder, and the whole mountain shaking.
Asked Moses to do the talking from now on. Don’t let God speak to us, or we’ll die.
From the camp, the top of the mountain looked like a fire burning everything up. Moses walked into it.
Replying to @israelite.camp
We went to Aaron. Make us gods to lead us. This Moses who brought us out of Egypt, nobody knows what’s happened to him.
Israel, these are your gods! They got you out of Egypt!
An Israelite in the camp@israelite.campAaron asked for everyone’s gold earrings. Now there’s a calf. He’s built an altar in front of it and says tomorrow is a festival to the LORD.God says he won’t go with us, because we’re so stubborn. Nobody’s wearing jewellery today.
Replying to @moses
We brought it all. Nobody made us.
When the cloud lifts, we move. When it stays, we stay. Cloud by day, fire by night, the whole way.
Moses read out the first instructions today. You put your hand on the animal’s head, and it’s accepted on your behalf, to put things right for you. That’s how it starts.
Replying to @aaron
And on his first day, fire came out from the LORD and burned up everything on the altar. We shouted. Then every one of us was face down on the ground.
The menu, as Moses read it out: Yes: cows, sheep, goats. No: camels, rabbits, pigs. Fish: fins and scales, or no. Birds: no eagles, vultures or bats. Insects: no. Except locusts, crickets and grasshoppers.
Even the land gets a Sabbath. Every seventh year the fields rest.
Headcount done. Every man twenty and over who can fight: 603,550. That’s a lot of mouths to feed in a desert.
The LORD’s tent goes in the middle, and every family camps round it under its own banner. Lost? Find your banner, find your family.
When the cloud lifts off the tent, we pack up. When it settles, we stay. A night or a year. When the LORD says go, we go.
Barely back on the road and we started complaining. Fire from the LORD at the edge of the camp. We yelled for Moses, he prayed, and it died down.
Replying to @the.rabble
Who’s going to give us meat?
Replying to @inthecamp.desert
The meat was still between our teeth when the plague hit. We buried them there, and called it the graves of craving.
Miriam’s outside the camp for seven days. Nobody’s moving till she’s back.
Forty days scouting. Forty years in the desert. A year for each day.
Okay. We were wrong. We’re going up now.
Did you hear? Korah, a Levite and Moses’ own cousin, has gone up against Moses and Aaron. Dathan and Abiram from Reuben are with him, and 250 of the community’s leaders.
Replying to @inthecamp.desert
We all ran. We thought the ground would swallow us too.
Replying to @aaron
We’re all going to die, aren’t we? Anyone who goes near the LORD’s tent dies.
No grain. No figs. No vines. No pomegranates. And no water.
Replying to @moses
Water everywhere. Everyone drank, the animals too.
Replying to @moses
We said we’d pay for any water we drank. Still no. So we went round.
Replying to @eleazar
Thirty days of mourning for Aaron. All of Israel.
Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert? And we’re sick of this miserable food.
“Spring up, well! Everyone sing to it!” The LORD gave us water at Beer, and we sang.
Sihon wouldn’t let us through and attacked us at Jahaz. Og came out against us at Edrei. The LORD handed both of them over.
Replying to @moses
Most of us grew up on that walk. Literally.
Replying to @moses
Hold on. Where’s the bed now?
We remember the voice coming out of the fire. We told Moses: you go near and listen, then tell us. We’ll do it.
Moses says one day our kids will ask what all these rules are for. And we tell them: we were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out.
Replying to @moses
Can confirm. Same sandals.
“Scared? Go home.” An actual announcement before a battle.
Moses@mosesBefore a battle, the officers ask:
1. Built a house and not moved in? Go home.
2. Planted a vineyard and not eaten from it? Go home.
3. Engaged and not married? Go home.
4. Scared? Go home, before you scare everyone else.Replying to @moses
Noted. No basket.
Replying to @moses
Imagine your whole family being known for that. For ever.
What we say every time we bring the first of the harvest: “My father was a wandering Aramean.” Then the whole story, right down to the LORD bringing us here. Every year.
Replying to @moses
Amen.
Replying to @deuteronomy.lastpage
Thirty days of crying for Moses, on the plains of Moab.
Replying to @deuteronomy.lastpage
A hundred and twenty. His eyes were still clear. His strength hadn’t gone.
Replying to @deuteronomy.lastpage
The thirty days are over. We’re listening to Joshua now. Moses laid his hands on him, and he’s full of wisdom. We do what the LORD told Moses.
Replying to @priest.carrying.the.ark
Walked across the bottom of the Jordan. In flood season. Dry ground the whole way.
No manna this morning. The bread from heaven we've found on the ground every day for forty years. We're eating the grain of this land now.
Day four of walking round Jericho in total silence. Not complaining. Not allowed to, technically.
Replying to @joshua
Six days of silence and then all of us, together.
A scout sent to AiJoshua read every word of the law out loud, between two mountains. Kids, foreigners, everyone heard it.
Replying to @book.of.joshua
We were there. It just didn't go down.
Replying to @joshua
Never. We'd never leave the LORD. We'll serve him too.
Replying to @joshua
You said that makes us witnesses against ourselves. Fine. We are witnesses.
The angel of the LORD told us: you didn't obey me, so they'll be thorns in your sides. Everyone cried. They call the place Bokim now. Weepers.
Seven years of Midian. They turn up like swarms of locusts, more camels than anyone can count, and strip the land bare. We're hiding in caves.
We asked Gideon to rule over us. Him, his son, his grandson.
Replying to @samuel
No. We want a king. Everyone else has one. Someone to lead us and fight our battles.
Replying to @samuel
Long live the king!
Replying to @samuel
Nobody. Not a thing.
Replying to @saulsarmy
Jonathan die? After what he did today? Nobody’s touching one hair on his head.
Replying to @david
We noticed. And we liked it. Honestly, whatever the king does goes down well with us.
All the tribes came to David at Hebron today. We told him: we’re your own flesh and blood. Even when Saul was king, you were the one leading us out. And the LORD said you’d shepherd his people.
Replying to @theisraelites
So we anointed him king over all Israel. He’s thirty.
Solomon’s just been anointed at Gihon! Zadok poured the oil, the ram’s horn went, and everyone shouted: long live King Solomon! We followed him back up playing flutes. So loud the ground literally shook.
The whole country’s heard about this one. God’s wisdom is in him. You can see it.
Solomon@solomonGive the living baby to the first woman. Don’t kill him. She’s his mother.Fourteen days of festival. Two whole weeks, people from the far north right down to the Brook of Egypt. On the fifteenth day he sent us home. We cheered the king and went, so happy about everything the LORD had done.
All Israel’s at Shechem to make Rehoboam king. We sent to Egypt for Jeroboam and he spoke for us: your father put a heavy yoke on us, all that forced labour. Ease up, and we’ll serve you.
Replying to @rehoboam
What do we owe David? What’s Jesse’s son to us? Everyone home, Israel! David, look after your own family!
Jeroboam’s back from Egypt, and we’ve made him king over all Israel!
Replying to @carmel.crowd
The LORD is God! The LORD is God!
Three days of eating and drinking with David in Hebron. People came from as far as Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali, donkeys, camels, mules and oxen piled high: flour, fig cakes, raisin cakes, wine, oil, cattle, sheep. Honestly, there’s joy all over Israel right now.
The Israelites@theisraelites · HebronAll the tribes came to David at Hebron today. We told him: we’re your own flesh and blood. Even when Saul was king, you were the one leading us out. And the LORD said you’d shepherd his people.Replying to @david
Everyone agreed. Nobody argued, for once.
Replying to @asaph
Amen! Praise the LORD!
Replying to @david
Everyone was so happy watching the leaders give like that, freely, with their whole hearts. The king was overjoyed.
He finished praying, and fire came down from the sky and burned up the offerings. The glory of the LORD filled the house. Every one of us went down on the pavement, faces to the ground. He is good. His love lasts for ever.
Solomon@solomonNow come, LORD God, to your resting place, you and the ark that shows your strength.Replying to @cyrus.persia
We're going. The family heads of Judah and Benjamin, the priests, the Levites, everyone God has moved to go. The neighbours keep turning up at the door with silver and gold, goods and animals.
Replying to @ezra.book
Dedicated it today, and it was pure joy. Priests, Levites, everyone who came back. A hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs. And twelve goats as an offering for sin, one for each tribe of Israel.
Passover in the new temple. Then seven days of the feast of bread without yeast. The LORD made us so happy, and changed the king's attitude so he helped us build.
Three days' notice to get to Jerusalem or lose everything. So here we all are, sitting in the square in front of God's house. Shaking. Partly because of what this is about. Partly because it's absolutely chucking it down.
Replying to @ezra.scribe
He's right. We have to do what he says. But there are loads of us, it's the rainy season, and we can't stand out here in this. It won't be sorted in a day or two either. Let our leaders deal with it, town by town.
Replying to @nehemiah
Let's start building.
Everyone in the square by the Water Gate. We asked Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses. He read it out from first light till midday. Men, women, anyone old enough to understand. Everyone listened closely.
Replying to @theisraelites
When he opened the book, everyone stood up. He praised the LORD, and we all lifted our hands and said Amen, Amen. Then faces to the ground.
Everyone was crying as they heard the words of the Law.
Replying to @nehemiah
So we did. Food, drink, portions sent round, and so much joy. We'd understood what was read to us.
Found this in the Law yesterday when the family heads were studying it with Ezra. So now there are shelters made of branches on every rooftop, in the courtyards, in the temple courts and in the squares.
An Israelite at the tent@israelite.at.the.tentA week living in shelters made of branches, and the instruction is literally “rejoice”. Okay then.Twenty-fourth of the month. Fasting, in sackcloth, dust on our heads. A quarter of the day reading the Law, a quarter confessing and worshipping.
So we've put it in writing, sealed by our leaders, Levites and priests. What we've signed up to: 1. No marrying our children into the peoples of the land. 2. No buying from traders on the Sabbath. 3. Every seventh year the fields rest and debts are cancelled. 4. A third of a shekel a year each for the house of our God. 5. Firstfruits, and a tenth for the Levites. We won't neglect the house of our God.
Lots drawn: one in ten of us moves into Jerusalem. The rest stay in their own towns. Everyone's saying God bless the ones who volunteered.
Read out from the Book of Moses today: no Ammonite or Moabite is ever to join God's assembly, because they hired Balaam to curse us. And our God turned the curse into a blessing. So everyone of foreign descent was separated from Israel.
Moses@mosesThe Moab situation:
1. A king hires a man to curse us.
2. A donkey talks.
3. Three hilltops, seven altars on each.
4. Not one curse. Blessings, every time.Replying to @david
And here we are. Standing inside your gates, Jerusalem.
When the LORD brought us home to Zion, it felt like a dream. We couldn't stop laughing. Even the other nations said it: the LORD has done great things for them.
Replying to @apsalmist
His love lasts for ever.
Come on, let's go back to the LORD. He's torn us, but he'll heal us. He's wounded us, but he'll bandage us up. After two days he'll bring us back to life. On the third day he'll raise us up. As sure as the sun comes up, he'll come to us like the spring rain.
Our God, we know you!
Seven days of walking round the same walls. Then the walls of Jericho just came down.
The Israelites@theisraelitesSix days of silence and then all of us, together.Replying to @israelite.elder
He already has. The flies, the hail, the darkness. None of it touched Goshen.
New one from Moses. Everyone, men and women, is to ask their Egyptian neighbours for silver and gold. Ask them. For gold.
Twilight. Every family in Israel at the same moment. The lambs are killed.
Every house in Goshen smells of roast lamb tonight. Every door has blood on it.
We’re all inside with the doors shut, like we were told. We can hear the crying. All over Egypt.
Replying to @goshen.mum
Same in every house.
Out of Rameses, heading for Succoth. On foot. Around 600,000 men, plus the women and children. Plus the flocks and the herds. It’s a lot of people.
First bread out of Egypt. The dough we grabbed, baked flat. No yeast, no time, and nobody had packed any food.
Replying to @justthetwoofus
So it’s the desert road, towards the Red Sea.
Marching out in ranks, like an army. None of us has ever been an army.
At night it turns to fire. You can walk in the dark by it.
Replying to @moses
We turned back anyway.
Replying to @backofthecamp
Everyone’s crying out to the LORD.
Replying to @israelite.redsea
We told him back in Egypt. Leave us alone and let us work for the Egyptians. Better slaves than dead in the desert.
The sea has split. There’s a way through the middle. Dry ground.
Replying to @theisraelites
Everyone’s going. Families, flocks, the lot.
The pillar of fire and cloud is right over their army.
The sea’s back where it was. And the Egyptians who chased us are lying dead on the shore.
Walking across the bottom of the Jordan. Dry ground. The whole nation, right opposite Jericho.
Replying to @inthecamp.gilgal
Forty years. We’re in.
Day four of walking round Jericho without a word.
The wall fell down. Flat.
Replying to @elijah.tishbite
That’s fair. Do it.
Replying to @carmel.crowd
The LORD is God! The LORD is God!