God caused the newly born Jewish people to grow and thrive as His children. 

Ezekiel 16:7

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“I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.” Ezekiel 16:7

The Israelites consists of twelve tribes and were born as the twelve sons of Jacob (Israel). The journey of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, all of the Israelites, began at the birth of those twelve sons. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel in Genesis 32:28, “And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel…”

From twelve people, the Twelve Tribes of Israel were made to thrive, grow, mature, and to become beautiful like a child growing under the care of a parent. The twelve sons of Jacob lived together with their father when Joseph was thrown into the pit and sold to the Egyptians by his brothers. That would lead to exponential growth of the Jewish population, the Israelites, the Twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Jacob. The other eleven sons continued to live with Jacob.

When Joseph was in Egypt, he became second in command over Egypt under the Pharoah. That is when the phenomenal growth of the Israelites began. During a severe famine, Joseph brought his father Jacob (Israel) and his eleven brothers to Egypt where there was plenty of food. During that time, there were a total of 70 to 75 members of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. “All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all. And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.” Genesis 46:26-27 “Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people.” Acts 7:14

While in Egypt, the Twelve Tribes of Israel grew to be a population of about 600,000 Israelites. A new Pharoah rose to power who detested the Israelites and their massive numbers, but Joseph had died during the early period of their phenomenal growth. The Egyptians tried to keep the Israelites in their captivity (as slave labor) against the will of God. Moses rose to power and led the Israelites out of Egypt by the powerful hand of God. They grew in God and began to look like His children, as children mature in physical appearance and into puberty. However, they were still naked and bare, meaning the Ten Commandments still had not been given to them from the hand of God.

Christianity was made to thrive and grow like a plant in the field. Jesus Christ died on the Cross to atone for the sin of whoever came to God through Him. God raised Him from the grave after three days and because He lives, we will live eternally with Him. He has ascended into Heaven where He now lives with God His Father. From the beginning, there were twelve Apostles of Christ who shared His life, death, resurrection, ascension, and spread His Gospel. During those very early days of Christianity, the Church began to form and grow like a beautiful child maturing into puberty. But Christianity was still a skeleton, naked, and bare compared to what it would grow to be.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11