[First posted in 2014. There is much misunderstanding of the significance of “chosenness” particularly in terms of Divine selection/election of a particular people. We have a book that well explains that, please check out the following posts:
- Q&A: That recurring question about Israel’s ‘chosen-ness’…
- If Israel was ‘the chosen’ in the “Old” Testament, are the New Testament believers “the new chosen”?
- Must Read: Reuven Firestone – 4 – Chosenness in the Ancient Near East
- Revisit: The First Torah-based Religion – Judaism
- Revisit: Why the Jews?
- Revisit: The ‘Redeemed’ and the ‘Elect’ in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
—Admin1]
——————————-
One of the longest ‘search terms’ landed on our website on 1/12/14. Automatically, it was added to the daily updated post intended as aid for searchers: Yo Searchers! Can we help you? – January 2014. Since it was in the form of a question which had loaded implications coming from a mindset that was obviously Christian-oriented, I wrote a short reply instead of directing the searcher to a whole bunch of articles we had already written. However, upon rereading I realized I had not REALLY addressed all aspects of the question, so this is a follow-up.
The Q has been reformatted according to points that need to be elaborated on:
Q: Israel means,
“he will rule as god.”
*and so the question is,
who will rule as god?
A: [searcher answers his own question with presumptions]:
- people who have repeatedly, throughout history, abandoned their covenant with god
- people who may have been born under a certain genetic lineage?
- people who futilely put their hope in perfect obedience to an impossible set of laws?
——————-
Let’s start with point # 2 first, that’s the easiest:
—people who may have been born
under a certain genetic lineage?
Genetic lineage —
referring to the people
who issued from 3 generational line of patriarchs:
Abraham,
Isaac (not Yishmael),
Yaakov (not Esau);
the 12 sons of Yakov AKA Yisrael,
the 12 tribes — Yisrael.
The name “Yisrael” was given only to the 3rd patriarch, Yaakov in Bereshiyth/Genesis 31. Please do your homework and read that chapter and previous ones, to understand the reason for renaming “Yaakov” (heel, supplanter) at this crucial point in his life. Not all biblical figures were renamed; only ones who underwent a change in character or awakening or assignment as well as other reasons.
Most translators claim ‘Yisrael’ means ‘he wrestles with God’; jewfaq.com says it means “the one who wrestled with G-d” or “the champion of G-d.”
Later in the Hebrew scriptures, certain names interchange in referring to the chosen people—sometimes it is “Yaakov”, sometimes “Yisrael”. The point? It is about the people who descended from this renamed patriarch, Yaakov/Yisrael.
Does the meaning of the name carry over to them? This is the difficulty the searcher was facing: how could these people be so called when they have shown no reason to deserve the name?
Well, since the searcher’s definition of ‘Israel’ is “he will rule as god”, it is understandable why he had difficulty swallowing what he considered as ‘predestination’ of the people of Israel. But since the real definition according to Jewish sources is “he wrestles with God”, then that is not too difficult to swallow.
In fact, the name could indeed be prophetic and yes, the ‘chosen people’ do wrestle with what is expected of them because of the meaning of the name they inherited from the renaming of Yaakov, their progenitor.
On the other hand, just as Mr. ‘Ugly’ bore children who carry his name ‘Ugly’, that’s just an identifying name; the children may be anything but ugly! However, when you truly follow the destiny of the chosen people who inherited the name of Yaakov AKA Yisrael, there does appear to be a connection with their history and modern-day ‘reborn Israel’, a remnant who made aliyah back in a remnant of the LAND granted them by the United Nations but originally promised to them by their God.
Students of biblical prophecy closely watch how the modern state of Israel is somehow always dragged into world affairs whether or not they are even involved. Ultimately what they struggle with is the world’s expectations of them, a world that is skeptical of the claims of the Hebrew Scriptures for them; not to forget a major world religion has discredited them, their covenant, their God, and their Torah.
As for presumption no. 1:
–people who have repeatedly,
throughout history,
abandoned their covenant with god?
If being disobedient to the God who made a covenant with Israel on Sinai is tantamount to abandoning their covenant with God, no, we don’t agree.
- Yes the Israelites had difficulty obeying the Torah of YHWH. (Don’t some of us have the same difficulty with some commandments today?)
- The first generation who died in the wilderness were judged for that very reason (except for Joshua and Caleb);
- the 2nd generation who were born free, in the wilderness—-did enter, conquered the land and divided it according to divine instructions.
While they endeavored to obey the Torah of YHWH, as the books of Kings and Chronicles attest—
- there was failure of king after king to legislate and enforce the Torah as Israel’s way of life,
- and generation after generation of Israelites likewise failed to be faithful to their God and their Covenant with Him.
One might indeed conclude that Israel virtually abandoned their covenant with YHWH. Since the covenant on Sinai was ‘conditional’ —IF you do this, the result is this, if not the result is that.
Actually it was as simple as —-
- obey and receive blessing,
- OR disobey and do not receive blessing;
In fact the withholding of blessing might even result in ‘curses’ since the English text spells it out specifically as that.
Later texts add meaning to ‘obedience’ by implying it redounds to this: ‘choose life’. There is a right way, and that is the Torah Way.
Choose the opposite, as in disobey, then there is danger and darkness and automatic consequences connected with disobedience. ‘Curse’ is a pretty strong if not frightful word for the consequence of disobedience.
Now, failure to obey is not tantamount to abandoning a master or lord or father; is it? It simply means the subject (the child or an Israelite or any one of us) has difficulty aligning his moment-by-moment choices that eventually become a pattern that ultimately define his life, for whatever reason causes his failure. We know many people who have the best intentions and constantly resolve to change or do better; in fact this happens year after year with ‘new year resolutions’. From the simplest to the most difficult resolutions, people fail . . . not because they wish to abandon the higher power but simply because they give in to moments of weakness, and make wrong choices willfully or unintentionally, and sometimes leave circumstances to chance.
When Israel failed individually or corporately, they simply failed; but that should not be read as ‘abandoning the covenant’.
As for God, did He abandon that covenant inspite of His chosen people’s failure to keep it? Absolutely not! In fact, He renews it by the time of Jeremiah, with the same chosen people, about the same Torah to be internalized in hearts and not simply etched on external surfaces as reminder. The Divine Hand has always been extended toward Israel which says much about the God of Israel: He is faithful to His covenant even if the other party was not always faithful.
Admittedly Israel’s record of shame is a blight on their record as the chosen people and yet, you have to admire them nevertheless for recording their failures for all the world to read in no less than their history and sacred scriptures.
Now nobody would have known about it had their Scriptures remained in purely Jewish hands; who else would be interested anyway, and what business is it of anyone else who does not even believe in Israel’s God nor swallow the claim that Israel is the chosen people of this God Who figures prominently only in the Hebrew Scriptures?
Well, that national failure became known worldwide when the Hebrew Scriptures (TNK) was later appended to the Christian New Testament as a prequel and re-titled “Old Testament” and re-taught as obsolete and passe, yet the Jews were still blinded in observing them.
As for presumption 3,
“people who futilely
put their hope in perfect obedience
to an impossible set of laws”
Why “futilely”? This derives from a common misconception, identifiably Christian, that it is futile to try to obey the set of laws given by the God on Sinai to the mixed multitude, representative humanity. Why does Christianity think it is ‘futile’ or useless to hope?
For one, because they think humans are simply not programmed to be able to obey the Torah because humanity is under the curse of ‘original sin’ which places every person born in ‘damnation’ and ‘destined for hell’ and ‘automatically cut off from God’.
For another, there is a misconception that the Old Testament God who is ‘angry and vindictive and full of vengeance’ conceived laws that are impossible for man to obey. Why impossible? Because according to Christian belief, man is hopeless and helpless in his inborn state of inherited original sin, and therefore unless one embraces the Christian Savior and appropriate for himself Jesus’ saving work on the cross then one does not receive ‘salvation’ and its accompanying ‘bonus’ the Holy Spirit, 3rd person of the Godhead. What is the supposed work of the Holy Spirit? He enables and empowers the believer to rise from his fallenness, helplessness, and inability to obey any of God’s commandments. That Old Testament God supposedly demands perfect obedience which no person can accomplish on his own.
While it is true that absolute obedience is a must, if you get to know the ‘OT God’ who gave His Torah on Sinai, and look at the record of Avram, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Mosheh — you will quickly discover that those Patriarchs did not always demonstrate perfect obedience. Yet, were they damned to hell by their God? No. Did they obey as best as they possibly could? Not always.
The God revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures is exactly as He self-describes and self-reveals His name, nature, attributes, actions, conditions as well as unconditional declarations!
Such as —
- One, the First and the Last, there is no Other;
- Merciful
- and just,
- righteous
- a covenant-making God Who is faithful to His covenant;
- Who declares what He will do if He makes unconditional promises, and what He requires as conditions before He bestows blessing and fulfillment.
Let us not forget the attribute of this God that is a blessing to sinful man —He is MERCIFUL, and forgives the TRULY REPENTANT; review Ezekiel 18.
As for the “impossible set of laws” commanded by the God of Sinai, think about it: what is so impossible with the Torah laws, ordinances, statutes, etc.? Would the God in the Hebrew Bible really be so ‘unrealistic’ and ‘inconsiderate’ and ‘mean’ so as to impose an “Impossible set of laws” upon His chosen people? And for what purpose? To show that they are puppets in the hands of a manipulative deity, made fools of after being told how He loves them as His firstborn and suffering servant, only to be replaced by a future NT firstborn son and suffering servant? Awwww come on, let’s be fair! Give the God of Israel, the God in the TNK more credit than that! This is small-mindedness, showing ignorance or little understanding of the Self-Revealing God on Sinai! This comes from replacement theology and supersessionist doctrine, typical of Christian teaching. And where does that come from?
This human judgment of the God of Israel is a result of the teaching of Paul in the books attributed to him in the ‘New Testament’, particularly the Book of Romans. It also results from the NT Book of “Hebrews” (author anonymous) which promotes the same thinking; there is more to this than we can write here, please refer to all other posts that have already explained these in detail and at length.
