Ezek. 20. 12 I gave my sabbaths to be a sign between me and them.
22. 26 have hid their eyes from my sabbaths.
Matt. 12. 8 for the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.
10-12 lawful to do good on the sabbath day.
ISRAEL A CHOSEN PEOPLE.
The name, Israel, is used to designate the descendants of Abraham through Isaac his son, and Jacob his grandson. The Lord gave the name to Jacob the father of twelve sons, the heads of the tribes of Israel. "And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him. And God said unto him, thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; and he called his name Israel;" Gen. 35. 9, 10.
Abraham was a direct descendant of Shem, the son of Noah, and his native land was Ur of the Chaldees; chap. 11. "Now the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed;" 12. 1-3.
The promise to Abram, that he should become a great nation, has been fulfilled in his chosen seed occupying the land of Palestine, as such, for fifteen hundred years. It will again be fulfilled when they become a nation on that land forever.
The history of the eastern hemisphere for the two thousand years which intervened between the calling of Abraham and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, witnesses that every nation that fought against Israel, or in any way oppressed them, passed away. Time will show the same general result, from the destruction of Jerusalem to the millennium.