The question is, “Why were the Jews chosen people?” Specifically, we have seen that is the people of Judah, the lower nation, but eventually Judea – Old Israel. That is almost modern-day Israel which was recreated in 1948. “Jewish” is not a religion but the nationality of the people of the nation of Israel (Judea). Their religion is Judaism which is the religion of Judah. Most, however, are secular today.
My belief is that modern-day Jerusalem is the “harlot Babylon” from the book of Revelation. That’s because it is so irreligious now, as Babylon was pagan in its day. In other words, Israel the nation, is in the winnowing process as well. It must be cleaned up by threshing until it’s fit to become New Jerusalem, and again, “The City of God.” All elements of Ishmaelism (Islam) will be cleansed before Israel is again fit to be the chosen people.
In the end, 144,000 will escape the threshing and become God’s righteous people as Christians.
Now to answer the question directly, it is wise to use available resources. My resource is Holy Scripture because what I believe must come from the inspired word of God. God tells why in the following passages:
But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deut 7:5-8)Anything God does is out of love, so it is hi-lighted in the scripture above. The reason that God chose the Jews was because He loves them. But He loves everyone, does He not? (John 3:16). Then, there must have been a secondary reason that makes Jews “special” (from above.)
Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” is based on which species is able to multiply the greatest. From the scripture above, that is not God’s metric for survival. The Jews were the fewest of all people. Them being “the little guy” against the bullies may have contributed to God’s selection of them! It seems that perhaps God wanted to protect the lesser from the greater. Indeed, Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit the Earth.” (Psalm 37:11; Mat 5:5).
From the references, it can be seen that God told the Jews that as well as the Christians. Thus, meekness is God’s metric for survival, and it turns out that meekness is the strength which allows the human species to survive. (That by the way, contradicts Darwin.)
Some little guys have “big guy attitudes.” Israel was a big guy (from the sea to the Euphrates and from Egypt to Turkey), but God diminished their numbers and territory with threshings from the Assyrians and Babylonians. He kept the “good grain” and blew away the “chaff” with those two wars. After the diaspora (dispersion of the Jews), mostly “good grain” was left and they merely heard the long- forgotten scripture (70 years in confinement without God) and hearkened unto God’s call. That was why the Jews were diminished – to make them meek.
Of course, that was part of the divine Plan because God knows men’s hearts. The Covenant was written in blood with Abraham. Circumcision sealed the deal. It was a covenant of two parties and two parts; between God and the Hebrews and the conditions were God’s promise of prosperity for the Hebrews pledge of fidelity to God. “Prosperity” was ambiguous. The Hebrews thought that God meant the land of milk and honey – the land of Israel. Not so, God meant prosperity in New Jerusalem after they were saved from the cunning of Satan. The meek shall inherit the Earth in the sense that it is annihilated and regenerated (Rev 21).
Abraham knew who God was when He spoke to him. Abraham served Melchezedec who as a man in the flesh was Jesus (Heb 7:1). Moses saw God on the holy mountain. He saw Jesus because when people see Jesus, it is God they see. (John 14:9). Then on another holy mountain years later, Moses finally saw God face to face… and lived although he was already physically dead!
Moses was made meek to see God. He could not be buried in Israel because he was disobedient and not willing to do things exactly to God’s instructions. He took it on himself to add to God’s directions, then God humbled him by not letting him into the Promised Land. By grace, though, Moses did see God!
In order to be special people chosen by God, the trait must be meekness. That is diminishing oneself as God is elevated.
Moses and the righteous did that in the midst of the snakes. Although, Zipporah had circumcised Moses’s son, that was not saving. Remembering that safety was by the parting of the sea, salvation had not yet come because they had not entered the Promised Land. God threshed the “wheat” again and winnowed out the unfaithful with the pit of vipers. Jesus referred to that act as the sort of meekness required; to quit depending on themselves, but to depend on God. His words were, “Marvel not; ye must be born again,” (John 3:7) and then made reference to Moses using the serpent on the pole. (John 3:14). They were not to marvel at Jesus’s purpose which was vicariously killing the Serpent in his own “tree.” Thus, to be born again is total reliance on God and not on oneself; that is meekness!
For the Jews, God’s Will was given:
For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. (Deut 14:2-3)Think on those verses: It’s what God told Adam exactly! “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:17). To be chosen, or peculiar, people need be obedient. It turns out that not because God demands it but because of His Will (Mat 6:10). That is submission to God and becoming humble (Note that self-esteem is not in the metrics, but Christ-esteem.) By abstaining from eating abominable things was still required of the Jews at the Council of Jerusalem in the New Testament. The willingness to obey remains to this day the attitude of God’s chosen people! In that passage, God equates chosen and peculiarity.
Throughout the centuries, the Jews have been persecuted for trusting God, and the world considers them “a peculiar people.” Hitler even used their cranial characteristics to metricize their peculiarity, and used that to diminish them further. If anyone is persecuted for God’s namesake, then be sure, they must be peculiar, chosen people! (Luke 21:12). That is being bullied by the world, and God chose to protect the meek from the bully (Satan).
To enter into the promised land, symbolic of eternal prosperity, required something:
And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the Lord. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel. (Josh 24:21-23)We find that the “choosing” is still the party of two parts just as with Abraham. Joshua (symbolically Jesus who share the same name) must choose themselves. Be it God or strange gods they serve? Strangely enough, ourselves are the strangest gods! Adam and Eve were warned that with their new knowledge, they would think they are gods (Gen 3:5). Actually, choosing other gods is doing what your own will is, and ultimately it makes that person a false god.
Here again, to be saved, this time in the paradise of Canaan-land, required diminishing their own will in favor of God’s Will. God chose all mankind, but only “Jews” up until that time chose God.
As soon as Israel was established, there came a day when they desired a king. Saul was first, but another king made a pact with God by meekness. Solomon pointed out to God the character of his father, David, when he said,
Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness… And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. (1 King 3:6,7,9)God took a lesser person who chose him and made them greater. It was not the species who was strongest which survived to Darwin’s criteria, but the meek made strong and came to be numbered greatly. Obedience to God’s precepts made the chosen Jews fit to survive. Wise Solomon pointed out the characteristics of those chosen: (1) walk in truth, (2) be righteous, and (3) have a pure heart. With that attitude God will have mercy on His people. David changed from an old sinful creature to a new regenerated one! Note that Solomon said nothing about David chosen because he was a Jew. It was something internal, what is called “the heart.”
Anyone with that attitude are “spiritual Jews” – chosen peculiar people! “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Pet 2:9). That letter was referring to Christians and Jews as chosen, peculiar people. That answers the puzzle when God said that Japheth will dwell in the tents of Shem! The “tents” were the tabernacles, and soon, it was disclosed that the tabernacle is in all those who are born again! (1 Cor 6:9). Thus, what makes a “chosen people?” Not because they are Jewish but because of circumcised hearts! (Rom 2:29).
It appears that when the Jews trusted Jesus as they looked on the brass snake dead on his tree, they saw the blood of Jesus as effectual to save them from perishing. It is trusting the saving blood of Jesus as what makes people peculiar. As choosing is a two-way street, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Mat 22:14). Calling is by grace. God calls everyone (John 3:16) but not all respond. Our response is trusting God; that’s how we choose Him. Ultimately, though, God knows who will respond and who will not. In effect, God does all the choosing (John 15:16). God knows the hearts of men and who will respond! He knew that some of the Jews, the meekest would respond. Likewise, God chose us Gentiles because he knows which of us will respond.
Furthermore, the chosen Jews whose number will eternally survive in 144,000. God chose that number back when he cut the deal with Abraham, and when he told Adam how special they were back in the Garden.
I am thankful that God chose me, and in return humbled me enough that I chose to accept that gift – not of myself but because of His love which I felt! “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephes 2:8). As in the Abrahamic Covenant, God offers the gift, and the redeemed must accept the gift of the blood which the Redeemer proffered.
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