Context or Confusion: We Are Living in the Great Parenthesis of Ephesians 3 Until Israel is Used of God Again

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv (which is the second month), he began to build the house of the Lord.

-1 Kings 6:1

In First Kings, scripture reckons the start of the fourth year of Solomon's reign, when he began building the temple. So, the 480 years covers the time from the Exodus through the third year of Solomon's reign (the fourth year having just begun, but not completed).

Some have tried to argue that this is in contradiction to what Paul states in Acts chapter 13. Now, Israel is God's timepiece from the time of Abraham to the start of the current age (Post Acts) and will soon be again. God is not done with Israel and he will fulfill all his promises to the nation in an age to come.

So, let's look at Paul's timetable in Acts 13.

Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt, and with great power He led them out of it. For about forty years He endured their conduct in the desert. When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave them their land as an inheritance by lot. “After about four hundred and fifty years, God gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they requested a king. And God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. When He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, of whom He testified, saying, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will fulfill My entire will.’

-Acts 13:17-22

Here we have 40 years in the desert. Then we have another 450 years of the time of the judges until Samuel. Then 40 years of Saul, 40 years of David, add the three years into Solomon's reign to start building the temple. This gives us 573 years from the exodus from Egypt to Solomon and the temple as noted in 1 Kings 6.

How do we explain the seeming 93 year discrepancy?

We first have to turn to the prophet Hosea.

Then the Lord said: “Call his name Lo-Ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not your God.”

-Hosea 1:9

During Israel's history, there are periods during which God pictures them as "not My people." Of course, Paul reckons all the time from the Exodus to Solomon as Israel's history. We see that while God may put up a parenthesis in His dealings with Israel, when it comes to the earthly plan and hope, Israel (the seed of Abraham) is still at the center of God's plan.

So where are the missing 93 years? They're in the Book of Judges during times Israel was "Lo-Ammi" or "not My people."

The children of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. The children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim for eight years.

-Judges 3:7-8

Then the children of Israel once more did what was evil in the sight of the Lord... The children of Israel served King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.

-Judges 3:12,14

When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel once more did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. The Lord sold them into the hands of King Jabin of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera. He lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. The children of Israel cried out to the Lord, for Sisera had nine hundred iron chariots and had forcefully oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years.

-Judges 4:1-4

The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian for seven years.

-Judges 6:1

Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

-Judges 13:1

8 + 18 + 20 + 7 + 40 = 93 years

Note Paul's words in Acts 13,“Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt..." Paul clearly still recognizes and Israel and identifies with them. He also recognizes the Gentiles among them ("and you who fear God"). These are still distinct groups. Israel was still Israel and Gentile believers in the God of Israel were still separate (unless they became proselytes).

Paul going to the synagogue, to the Jew first, is his pattern all through the Acts and in the Acts Age epistles. Paul always went to the synagogue first in every city with Jews ("as his manner was"). Romans 9 clearly states that the promises, covenants, etc. are still for Israel, independent of any idea of new creation Gentile "church."

The Gentiles in the Acts Age were "grafted in" to specifically "make Israel jealous." And just as Gentiles could be grafted in to Israel, the could be "cut off" from Israel (Romans 11). To the end of the Book of Acts, Paul was in chains "for the hope of Israel" (acts 28:20). And he said this to "Jews" who he calls "Brothers" and identifies with them and "our fathers" (28:17).

There are some antisemites today who take the verse condemning "those who say they are Jews and are not" from the Revelation and try to place that charge on Jewish people today. They do this because of the error of believing the current "church" or Body began at Pentecost or at Acts 13. All the way until the end of the Acts (seen also in the epistles written during the Acts), Jews remain Jews, Israel remains Israel.

After the Book of Acts, Israel is temporarily set aside as we look to the heavenly hope revealed by Paul in Ephesians chapter 3. We are currently living in that parenthesis. But Israel will soon be back at the center of God's plan for the Earth.