“And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters” (Exodus 15: 27).

  The Old Testament history contains many precious types and lessons written for our learning.  By studying these types, we gain insight into spiritual truths which may not always lie on the surface.  Nevertheless, we must understand that the nation of Israel is given prominent position in God’s plan and purpose for the ages.  This is seen again and again throughout the sacred record.

   The above passage contains one of these types, which is expanded in the Apocalypse.  It is a historical type which has prophetic significance.  After Israel crossed the Red Sea, and Pharaoh’s hosts were destroyed, the nation sang a song of deliverance (Exodus 15).  This song proclaims Jehovah as a “Man of War” (Exodus 15: 3) the very thing affirmed of Jesus Christ in Revelation 19: 11.  When the Lord returns from heaven at the repentance of His people (Zech. 12: 10; Acts 3: 19-21), He will turn transgression from Jacob and punish the heathen (Isaiah 59: 20; Micah 5: 15).  This will be the true fulfillment of the type given in Exodus 14.  The resultant song of deliverance is found in Isaiah 25: 1-5.

    But let us look at the Old Testament type in more detail.  After Israel was saved from Pharaoh’s hosts, they then came to a place called Elim, where twelve wells watered seventy palm trees.   The typological significance of this resting-place may be seen by the discerning Bible student.  The number twelve denotes governmental perfection, and has to do with the nation of Israel.  The tribes are twelve in number, representing the nation in its corporate capacity. 

    On the other hand, Genesis 11 contains a list of the seventy nations that sprang from Noah’s posterity.  From this it is clear that Israel was saved from Pharaoh’s hosts to become a blessing to the nations.  The holy people, typified by the twelve palm trees, would water the nations of the world, and function in both a priestly and governmental character.  It was Jehovah’s purpose to make them a “kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” (Exodus 19: 6). 

   But, alas, fulfillment of Israel’s role was conditional upon obedience to the covenant.  Israel never kept the law; and so the Gentile blessings never materialized, though Israel’s headship was foreshadowed by the reigns of David and Solomon.  These kings were imperfect types, however, only sketching forth some of the perfections of Messiah, the True King.  David represents Jesus Christ as “Man of War;” while Solomon pre-figures Him as the “Prince of Peace.” 

      Among the many nations of the world, there is only one which God has chosen to be the channel of blessing.  That nation is Israel.  To them pertains the adoption (Romans 9: 4); and though the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing, the kingdom will come to the daughter of Jerusalem (Micah 4: 8) after Israel is redeemed with a spiritual deliverance far greater than that by which Pharaoh and his hosts were subdued.  In that day the horns of the Gentiles shall be cast out (Zech. 1: 18-21).

   Israel will yet fulfill the type set forth by the 12 wells of water.  In the New Jerusalem, there are four walls, and in each wall three gates (Rev. 21: 12-14).  “And at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.”  This is descriptive of the eternal economy.  However, even before the New Heaven and New Earth appear, Jerusalem will be a place of glory, and the administrative center of the tribes of Israel (Ezekiel 48: 30-35).  The prophets abound with glowing visions of a yet-future era, when the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth, as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11: 9).

  But what a long night this present economy has turned out to be!  Men sometimes ask, does God’s silence imply that His work is finished?  Has Israel ceased as a nation?  The answer to both questions is no.  God’s silence is merely indicative of the spiritual nature of this Dispensation.  The church cannot hope to partake of Israel’s earthly blessings, so long as the nation is absent from the Divine program.  As premier among the nations of the earth, Israel will brook no rival.  But when God’s principles of administration are moved from the terrestrial to the celestial, then all national limitations vanish, and Jews, as well as Gentiles, are able to equally partake of spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Eph. 1: 3).  Such an administration, which fills the present period, is a secret which was only revealed to Paul (Eph. 3: 9; Col. 1: 26).

   The time will come, of course, when even this dispensation must end.  Then will begin the breaking of those seals and sounding of the trumpets, which tell of so much woe for earth’s inhabitants.  When the Lamb comes forward to take the scroll from His Father’s hand (Rev. 5), the throne of grace will be exchanged for a throne of judgment; and the events which should have followed the crucifixion of Christ, will then commence as if the economy of grace had never happened at all.

   Israel will play such an important part in God’s dealings with the world during the last of Daniel’s “sevens.”  It will be a turbulent time for the nations at large, and one during which Israel will be severely tested, to bring them under the bonds of the New Covenant (Ezekiel 20: 35-38).  But the result will be national and spiritual deliverance of a level which we can hardly imagine.  And when Israel is redeemed from the hand of her enemies, and sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ at His parousia, she will at last have come to Elim.