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From: Deuteronomy 7:6-11

God’s Election of Israel

[6] “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has
chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are
on the face of the earth. [7] “It was not because you were more in number than
any other people that the LORD set his love upon you and chose you, for you
were the fewest of all peoples; [8] but it is because the LORD loves you, and is
keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you
out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the
hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. [9] Know therefore that the LORD your God is
God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love
him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and requites to
their face those who hate him, by destroying them; he will not be slack with him
who hates him, he will requite him to his face. ‘’You shall therefore be careful to
do the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command
you this day.”

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Commentary:

7:6-16. It is fair to say that Deuteronomy 7:6-7 is the classic passage in Old Tes-
tament revelation on God’s special election of Israel. That election, and the love
which it evidences, are themes basic to this book; it keeps on stressing them (cf.,
e.g., 4:20, 34; 9:5). God makes his choice first—quite independently of the quali-
ties or merits of the people or of individuals. The only reason for his choice is pure
love and (in the case of the Israelites) the promises he made to their ancestors
(cf. the note on Ex 1:8-14). Consciousness of this election, awareness that Isra-
el is God’s special possession, runs right through Holy Scripture. The New Testa-
ment upholds this privilege that belongs to Israel: John 1:11 (”He came to his own
home”) must be interpreted in the first instance as meaning that the Word comes
specially to his people Israel; in the second instance he comes to all mankind.
Romans 9:4-5 carries the same message: “They are Israelites, and to them be-
long the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and
the promise, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ [...].”

Verses 7-8 give the theological explanation of this election: God’s pure love, his
predilection, is totally unmerited by Israel; this means that God is sovereignly
free to choose whomever he wishes for the mission he has in mind; and no one
has any right to be chosen specially by God.

What happens in the collectivity of the people of Israel also applies when God
singles out individuals for special assignments. In the New Testament, it says a-
propos of the apostles, that “he called to him those whom he desired” (Mt 3:13);
and the case of St Paul is particularly apposite: Jesus called him though he “had
blasphemed and persecuted and insulted him [Christ]” (1 Tim 1:13).

“Vocation comes first,” BI. Josemaria Escriva reminds us. “God loves us before
we even know how to go toward him, and he places in us the love with which we
can respond to his call. God’s fatherly goodness comes out to meet us. Our Lord
is not only just. He is much more: he is merciful. He does not wait for us to go to
him. He takes the initiative, with the unmistakable signs of paternal affection”
(”Christ Is Passing By”, 33).

7:10. This verse touches on something very important as regards human behavior:
God rewards those who do good and punishes those who do evil. Everyday expe-
rience does not always seem to bear this out: evil people enjoy success whereas
good people are mistreated and despised. Men have always asked themselves
how God’s justice can be compatible with these facts.

The prophet Jeremiah will ask the Lord: “Why does the way of the wicked pros-
per? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” (Jer 12:1). Many psalms echo the
same idea (cf Ps 37; 38; 29; 49; 73; 92). But the place where the matter is dealt
with most dramatically is the book of Job. The Wisdom books of the Old Testa-
ment do a lot to provide an answer to this question, but it will not be until the full-
ness of Revelations in the New Testament that it is fully solved. Throughout the
New Testament reward or punishment is not depicted as a mathematical calcula-
tion, to produce instant recompense in this life; rather, the way a person behaves
in this life decides his or her fate in the next life. If the wicked are successful in
this life, that is something very short-lived; whereas the joy of the righteous will
reach its fullness in eternal beatitude. Prior to that, the righteous often suffer con-
tradiction, pain and sorrow: it purifies their lives and gives an increase of divine
grace.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.