Judaism (340-20300 & 344-20300) |
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Judaism (340-20300 & 344-20300) |
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1. What does it mean for Israel to be “the people of God,” chosen by God? Why Israel among all the peoples?
Exodus 6:6-7: “Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am the Lord. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements. And I will take you to be My people and I will be your God.”
Exodus 19:3-6: The Lord called to him (Moses) from the mountain, saying, “Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and declare to the children of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine, but you shall be to Me a kingdom ofpriests and a holy nation.”
2. If Israel is chosen, why does it suffer? What are the consequences of disobeying the covenant? What are the choices given to the people by Moses (in Deuteronomy)?
Read: Deuteronomy 28:1-14 blessings of the covenant; 28:15-68 curses of the covenant.
Deut. 28:1, 9, 11 (spoken by Moses to the people): “Now, if you obey the Lord your God, to observe faithfully all His commandments which I enjoin upon you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. . . The Lord will establish you as His holy people, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. . .The Lord will give you abounding prosperity in the issue of your womb, the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to assign to you.”
Deut. 28:15, 25, 47-50, 64-65: “But if you do not obey the Lord your God to observe faithfully all His commandments and laws which I enjoin upon you this day, all these curses shall come upon you and take effect. . .The Lord will put you to rout before your enemies. . .Because you would not serve the Lord your God in joy and gladness over the abundance of everything, you shall have to serve – in hunger and thirst, naked and lacking everything – the enemies whom the Lord will let loose against you. He will put an iron yoke upon your neck until He has wiped you out. The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, which will swoop down like the eagle. . . a ruthless nation, that will show the old no regard and the young no mercy. . . The Lord will scatter you among all the peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods. . .Yet even among those nations you shall find no peace. . . The Lord will give you there an anguished heart and eyes that pine and a despondent spirit.”
Deut. 30:19-20: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day; I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life – if you and your offspring would live – by loving the Lord your God, heeding His commands, and holding fast to Him.”
3. How does Isaiah refer to Israel? How does he conceive of Israel’s designation as a “chosen one”? What is Israel chosen for? Can other people join the covenant of Israel and gain the same benefits as Israel?
Isaiah 41:8-9: “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, seed of Abraham, my friend--you whom I drew from the ends of the earth and called from its far corners, to whom I said: You are My servant; I chose you, I have not rejected you.”
Is. 42:1-6: “This is My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one, in whom I delight. I have put my spirit upon him, he shall teach the true way to the nations. . . he shall not grow dim or be bruised till he has established the true way on earth; and the coastlands shall await his teaching.”
Is. 42:24-25: “Who was it who gave Jacob over to despoilment and Israel to plunderers? Surely, the Lord against whom they sinned, in whose ways they would not walk and whose Teaching they would not obey. So He poured out His wrath upon them, His anger and the fury of war.”
Is. 49:6: “For He has said: It is too little that you should be My servant in that I raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the survivors of Israel: I will also make you a light ofnations, that My salvation may reach the ends of the earth.”
Is. 56:3, 6-7: “Let not the foreigner say, who has attached himself to the Lord, ‘the Lord will keep me apart from His people. . .’ As for the foreigners who attach themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants – all who keep the sabbath and do not profane it, and who hold fast to My covenant – I will bring them to My sacred mount and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices shall be welcome on My altar; for My House shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
This page maintained by: Rebecca Lesses
Last revised January 15, 2006
