Spying in the Bible 2 - 2166 BC to 1900 BC

From Abraham to the Tribes of Israel

Abraham (a Semite) was born around the beginning of the First Intermediate Period in c. 2166 BC and traveled to Egypt during the First Intermediate Period, when many other foreigners were doing so, indicating that his arrival would not have been viewed as unusual or surprising. Eventually, in c. 2091 BC, Abraham settled in Canaan, which is the land northeast of Egypt that God promised to give his family. Canaan was situated in the Middle East, between the Mediterranean and Dead Seas, which is modern day Israel, West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Southern Lebanon, and Southern Syria. Abraham settled there with his nephew, Lot, whom he had taken in when Lot’s parents died. Lot eventually settled in the Plain of Jordan (modern day Jordan), east of the Dead Sea. Once settled, God promised Abraham that his offspring with his wife Sarah would form a great nation that would be God’s chosen people (Genesis 22:17-18).

“I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

When Sarah was old and had still not had any children, she told Abraham to have a child with her Egyptian slave, Hagar, and from that Ishmael was born. Ishmael’s descendants became the Ishmaelites and the Islamic prophet Muhammad claimed to be a direct descendant. Abraham also had another wife with whom he had multiple children. Abraham and Sarah eventually did have a son in c. 2066 BC, named Isaac, who inherited everything that Abraham owned and the rest of Abraham’s descendants were sent away to the east, presumably becoming modern day Arabs. God then told Isaac that His covenant with Abraham would be fulfilled through him (Genesis 26:3).

“Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.”

After receiving God’s blessing, Isaac and his wife Rebecca had twin sons named Esau and Jacob in c. 2006 BC. Esau was born first, so he was the rightful heir of Isaac. However, one day after Esau had been away hunting and came back starving, Jacob sold him some red stew for his birthright. After that Esau was sometimes called Edom, which means red, and so his descendants were called Edomites. Later, when Isaac was old he became blind he called for Esau to give his blessing to him as the oldest son. Rebecca heard about this and told Jacob, who was her favorite son, to impersonate Esau to get the blessing. Esau was very hairy, so Jacob tricked his father by putting goat hair on his arms, so when his father touched him he would feel like his brother. Thus Jacob received all of Esau’s inheritance, both his birthright and their father’s blessing that was supposed to be for the oldest son. This is really the first instance of espionage and being a "secret agent" or impersonation for political gain.

Jacob was, therefore, given the lands east of the Dead Sea, extending both north and south and God gave Esau the lands south of Lot’s land (in modern day southern Jordan). Once Esau found out that Jacob had deceived him out of his birthright and his blessing, he planned to kill him. Rebecca found out about Esau’s plot of vengeance, so she told Jacob to run away to her brother, his uncle Laban. It could be said that Rebecca spied on her family to further her cause of helping her son Jacob. At any rate, the story is filled with intrigue, false identities, and deceit and sets up what is definitely a story of spying in the bible, with Jacob’s son Joseph.

While living with and working for his uncle, Joseph fell in love with Laban’s youngest daughter Rachel and agreed to work for seven years in return for marrying her. At the end of the seven years, Laban said it would not be right for her to marry before her older sister Leah, so Joseph could marry Leah and work another seven years to marry Rachel, which he agreed to. Leah had four sons with Joseph, named Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Rachel became jealous of her sister, so she told Joseph to have children with her maid Bilhah. Jacob then had Dan and Naphtali, with Rachel’s maid. To get back at her, Leah told Jacob to have children with her maid Zilpah as well, so Joseph had Gad and Asher with her. Then Leah had two more children named Issachar and Zebulun.

At last, Rachel conceived for the first time and had Joseph, who became Jacob’s favorite son, since he loved Rachel the most. After these eleven sons were born Jacob and his family moved back to their homeland, where he reconciled with Esau and God changed his name to Israel. At that time God confirmed that the covenant he had with Abraham and Isaac would be fulfilled through Israel and all of his male offspring (Gensis 35:11-12).

And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you. ”

Rachel then died giving birth to her second son Benjamin in c. 1901 BC. These twelve sons’ descendants became the twelve tribes of Israel, known as the Israelites, or Hebrews (a language/ethnicity designation).