Ancestors of Israel (1850 – 1700 BC)
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The first generation – Abraham （ Genesis 12:1 - 25:18）：
Father of faith. In him we can see his deep faith in God. “The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. “ ﹙ Genesis 12:1-2﹚
“Abram put his faith in the LORD, who attributed it to him as an act of righteousness.” ﹙ Genesis 15:6﹚

The second and third generation – Isaac and Jacob （ Genesis 25:19 - 37:1）：
Isaac was the son of Abraham and his wife Sarah that God rewarded them when they were old, and Jacob was the son of Isaac. They all inherited Abraham’s faith in God. Jacob played a very important role in the history of God's salvation. (Genesis 28:10-22） The Bible recorded a dream of Jacob. In his dream, he saw a ladder connecting heaven and earth, and the angels of God were going up and down the ladder; this means that there is no barrier between God Yahweh and mankind. He gave birth to twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel. Before Jacob died, he gave his blessing to his son Judah. Later, when the eleven tribes of Israel perished, only the tribe of Judah survived and so Jacob’s blessing was preserved.

The 4th generation – Joseph （ Genesis 37:2 - 50:26）：
Joseph was one of Jacob's twelve sons. He was betrayed by his brothers and sold to Egypt. Later, Joseph was appreciated by the Pharaoh who made him the Prime Minister of Egypt. " Since the LORD was with him and was bringing success to whatever he was doing.." (Genesis 39:23﹚ Under Joseph's administration, he stored enough food for seven years. When the great famine occurred, only Egypt had enough food to survive. People from all over the world came to Egypt to buy food from Joseph, including his brothers. Not only did Joseph forget the past, he also allowed his brothers to emigrate to Egypt. In Joseph, we can see a glimpse of Jesus Christ—both suffering and glorified. Jacob's whole family moved to Egypt, foreshadowing the exodus of the Israelites in the future.

Exodus (1250-1200 BC)
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(1) The Lord named Jacob, Israel ﹙ Genesis 32:29﹚， so Jacob's descendants were called Israelites. After they immigrated to Egypt, they were called Hebrews, meaning migrants. There were more and more Israelis (Israelites) in Egypt, and the Egyptians became frightened. They forced the Israelites to do hard labor (Exodus 1:1 - 2:22）。 Moses became the savior of Israel （ Exodus 2:23 - 7:7）， and with the help of the Lord, he led the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 7:8 - 13:16）。

(2) The people of Israel miraculously crossed the Sea of Reeds, to begin their new life. （ Exodus 13:17 - 15:21）

(3) Although the Israelites got unlimited help from the Lord in the wilderness, they complained about Moses and the Lord. （ Exodus 15:22 - 18:27）
They arrived in the wilderness of Sinai and camped under the mountain. The Lord called Moses many times to the mountain of Sinai and here the covenant was made. The Ten Commandments were given to the people of Israel to obey (Exodus 19:1 - 24:18）。 The Israelites broke their faith, and the Lord made a covenant with them one more time. However, they still could not withstand the test （ Exodus 32:1 - 34:28）， so that they wandered in the wilderness for decades（ Numbers 10:29 - 14:45）。

Conquer of the Promised land (1200 BC)
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(1) After the death of Moses, the Lord ordered Joshua, the son of Moses (Moses’ aide) : “Moses my servant is dead. So now, you and the whole people with you, prepare to cross the Jordan to the land that I will give the Israelites." (Joshua 1: 2）

(2) The Lord is with Josue (Joshua) to help him and the people of Israel to capture Jericho and Hai （ Joshua 5:13 - 8:29）

(3) Josue (Joshua) built an altar on Mount Ebal to offer sacrifice to the Lord. There on the stone he carved the law that Moses had written in front of the people of Israel. Josue Joshua) read out exactly all the blessings and curses that were written in the law. (Joshua 8:30,32,34）

(4) Later Josue (Joshua) led his elite soldiers and militia to fight against the five kings of Amorites.（ (Joshua 10:1 - 10:43） "All these kings and their lands Joshua captured all at once, for the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. “ （ (Joshua 10: 42） The Israelites were able to conquer the southern part of Canaan.

(5) The princes from the northern mountains of Canaan and other places of Canaan united and encamped by the waters of Merom to fight the Israelites. Josue (Joshua)led his army to Merom to attack them. In the end, Josue occupied the whole of Canaan (Joshua 11:5,7 - 16） “ As the LORD had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua acted accordingly. He left nothing undone that the LORD had commanded Moses should be done.” (Joshua 11:15） Josue (Joshua) completed his mission. "Thus Joshua took the whole land, just as the LORD had said to Moses. Joshua gave it to Israel as their heritage, apportioning it among the tribes. And the land had rest from war." (Joshua 11:23） After that, the twelve tribes of the Israel divided Canaan among themselves. （ Joshua 13:1-21:45）。