[First posted in 2012 when Sinai 6000 was just starting out. This was asked by us, addressed to “Ask the Rabbi”. The answer is of course from the Jewish perspective, specifically a Rabbi’s perspective.
The Sinaite’s “A” to its own “Q”:
Sinaites have since resolved this question for ourselves; it is a bit different from the Rabbi, and it is explained in many of our articles. In a nutshell: God had to start out teaching His Way and revealing Himself first to a ‘people’, a ‘nation’, distinct in its assignment and destiny by virtual covenant relationship with Him. If the whole world, all other people, other nations watch and see how well these people function with His laws and instructions on how to live with one another, His Way, then those nations/peoples will be so attracted that they too will wish to emulate and apply those laws to themselves and worship the God who is the Source of such guidance.
Update 2018: We have featured a book that tackles the topic of “chosenness”, please check out the following:
- Must Read: Who are the REAL Chosen People? – by Reuven Firestone
- Must Read: Reuven Firestone – 2 – The Language of Chosenness
- Must Read: Reuven Firestone – 4 – Chosenness in the Ancient Near East
- Revisit: The ‘Redeemed’ and the ‘Elect’ in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
—Admin1].
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Question:
Why did God have to choose a “people”?
Why didn’t he make all his laws and commands and relationship available to the world equally?
When it comes down to it aren’t we all the same in potential as well as flaws? I always thought He did so in order to have a group of people that could be an “example” to the rest…but the more I think about it, if I had three children, it doesn’t make sense to put all my focus into one just so the other two can see how its done.
Thank you for your time…
Answer: Rabbi M. Younger/Aish.com
Shalom –
Thank you for your interesting question.
As I understand it there is a two part answer.
First, as a father of multiple children I can tell you that each is unique and we attempt to find the particular niche in the family for each one. I have one son who is very devoted to his Torah learning and we do what we can to support that and to not cause him undo interruptions. On the other hand, he is less than talented in using his hands. I have another who has not yet matured in his Torah studies but is both musical and handy. I will look for ways for him to show off his talents (usually that means singing zmiros at the Shabbos table) and help fix things around the house.
So too,on an national level. Different nations do have different aptitudes and attributes – call it spiritual genetics if you want. That nation that is built in the way that makes it most fitting to be the agency by which God manifests Himself in this world is the Jewish people.
But it is a two way street.
Let us go back to the beginning. God is the ultimate source of good and desires (to the extent that we can use such words to describe Him) to bestow good. God could have bestowed on us the good of the world to come without the “bother” of us going through this world first. But that would have been nahama d’kisufa – bread of shame, the unearned reward. It is the greater good to allow us to earn our future reward than to just give it to us.
We earn, or better yet create, our reward by overcoming the challenges that we are presented with an recognizing and manifesting God’s presence in this world. This world is called olam from the root word he’elem meaning hidden. God presents us with a universe in which he is hidden (mostly by allowing to imagine that we have independent existence hence desires and ego issues). Our mission is to get past the “curtain” of our self-centeredness and reveal God.
Originally this challenge was presented to Adam who included all of humanity in his great soul. When he failed the test, the challenge was then re-presented, not to one person, but to the corporate body made up of all humanity. But most of humanity abdicated responsibility for this job and just one person, back in the time of history when nations were being founded, accepted the mission for himself and his descendants. That was Avraham our forefather.
So it is to Avraham, whom we may call a “proto-Jew”, for he was still but one individual that we look as the progenitor of our nation. He was followed by Yitzchak and Yaakov as patriarchs and then there is the time of transition until we have a nation that is formed at the exodus from Egypt and the revelation at Sinai. And now we are all descended of that core nation and back to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. And it is these descendents that are the “chosen nation”
I hope that this has been helpful.
With blessings from Jerusalem.