Posted on 05/17/2011 8:06:47 AM PDT by Kaslin
I assume that the type of person who reads columns such as this one has wondered at one time or another why, for thousands of years, there has been so much attention paid to Jews and why, today, to Israel, the one Jewish state.
But how do most people explain this preoccupation? There is no fully rational explanation for the amount of attention paid to the Jews and the Jewish state. And there is no fully rational explanation for the amount of hatred directed at Jews and the Jewish state.
A lifetime of study of this issue, including writing (with Rabbi Joseph Telushkin) a book on anti-Semitism ("Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism") has convinced me that, along with all the rational explanations, there is one explanation that transcends reason alone.
It is that the Jews are God's chosen people.
Now, believe me, dear reader, I am well aware of the hazards of making such a claim.
It sounds chauvinistic. It sounds racist. And it sounds irrational, if not bizarre.
But it is none of these.
As regards chauvinism, there is not a hint of inherent superiority in the claim of Jewish chosen-ness. In fact, the Jewish Bible, the book that states the Jews are chosen, constantly berates the Jews for their flawed moral behavior. No bible of any other religion is so critical of the religious group affiliated with that bible as the Hebrew Scriptures are of the Jews.
As for racism, Jewish chosen-ness cannot be racist by definition. Here is why: a) The Jews are not a race; there are Jews of every race. And b) any person of any race, ethnicity or nationality can become a member of the Jewish people and thereby be as chosen as Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah or the chief rabbi of Israel.
And with regard to chosen-ness being an irrational or even bizarre claim, it must be so only to atheists. They don't believe in a Chooser, so they cannot believe in a Chosen. But for most believing Jews and Christians (most particularly the Founders who saw America as a Second Israel, a second Chosen People), Jewish Chosen-ness has been a given. And even the atheist must look at the evidence and conclude that the Jews play a role in history that defies reason.
Can reason alone explain how a hodgepodge of ex-slaves was able to change history -- to introduce the moral God-Creator we know as God; to write the world's most influential book, the Bible; to devise ethical monotheism; to be the only civilization to deny the cyclical worldview and give humanity belief in a linear (i.e., purposeful) history; to provide morality-driven prophets and so much more -- without God playing the decisive role in this people's history?
Without the Jews, there would be no Christianity (a fact acknowledged by the great majority of Christians) and no Islam (a fact acknowledged by almost no Muslims). Read Thomas Cahill's "The Gifts of the Jews" or Paul Johnson's "A History of the Jews" to get an idea about how much this people changed history.
What further renders the claim for Jewish chosen-ness worthy of rational consideration is that virtually every other nation has perceived itself as chosen or otherwise divinely special. For example, China means "Middle Kingdom" in Chinese -- meaning that China is at the center of the world; and Japan considers itself the land where the sun originates ("Land of the Rising Sun"). The difference between Jewish chosen-ness and other nations' similar claims is that no one cares about any other group considering itself Chosen, while vast numbers of non-Jews have either believed the Jews' claim or have hated the Jews for it.
Perhaps the greatest evidence for the Jews' chosen-ness has been provided in modern times, during which time evil has consistently targeted the Jews:
-- Nazi Germany was more concerned with exterminating the Jews than with winning World War II.
-- Throughout its 70-year history, the Soviet Union persecuted its Jews and tried to extinguish Judaism. Hatred of Jews was one thing communists and Nazis shared.
-- The United Nations has spent more time discussing and condemning the Jewish state than any other country in the world. Yet, this state is smaller than every Central American country, including El Salvador, Panama and even Belize. Imagine if the amount of attention paid to Israel were paid to Belize -- who would not think there was something extraordinary about that country?
-- Much of the contemporary Muslim world -- and nearly all the Arab world -- is obsessed with annihilating the one Jewish state.
In the words of Catholic scholar Father Edward Flannery, the Jews carry the burden of God in history. Most Jews, being secular, do not believe this. And many Jews dislike talk of chosen-ness because they fear it will increase anti-Semitism; they may be right.
But it doesn't alter the fact that the obsession with one of the smallest countries and smallest peoples on earth, and the unique hatred of the Jews and the Jewish state by the world's most vicious ideologies, can be best explained only in transcendent terms. Namely that God, for whatever reason, chose the Jews.
Ever notice the tension between older brothers and younger borthers running through the Bible? Even wonder that that was about?
I would say that they carry the burden of man in history.
Actally, Ruth lived in Moab therefore she was called a Moabite...Ruth was an Israelite...you have Chinese who were born in America and are called Americans yet are Chinese. It is actually the same with Rahab, an Israelite.
God told Abraham that his people would be chosen. Do you think God breaks his promises?
That is probably very true
It will explain who is grafted into whom. It would be profitable to read Romans 11 through the end of the
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
chapter while seeking the illumination of the Ru'ach HaKodesh.
Hmmm.... I wonder why no one has asked this question before?
That's false. They still are His chosen. In fact, the Apostle Paul goes through great lengths teaching that they are still His.
So I don't know what New Testament you're reading.
They lost this status when they, as a group, chose to reject their Messiah, his son.
Since then, Spiritual Israel has been God’s new chosen people. It is made up of all those who choose to follow Christ, and includes many ethnic Jews on an equal basis with all other ethnic groups.
And this is the heresy of Replacement Theology. Their spiritual blindness was prophesied and Gentiles are the beneficiaries of it.
Don't mistake this with His casting them away. Every jot and tittle will be fulfilled.
Or you can get raw with these strings. Either way, the violin is sweet yet lethal.
Do it!
Ruth and Esther are two of my favorites of the Old Testament. Short books yet so, so deep.
Or you can get raw with these strings. Either way, the violin is sweet yet lethal.
Do it!
We were “chosen” to be good examples. Guess what? We usually fail. We are fallible and have every human foible. But we have been told by Our Creator to be that shining light, so we push on and keep trying.
Jews are better than nobody. Like being picked by the coach or teacher to demonstrate the technique to the rest of the team, we are supposed to suck it up and demonstrate perfection. Maybe G-d just wants us to work harder. :)
But we sure are misunderstood. Over millennia, everyone tries to kill us. We are still here.
What, without Jews there's be no Islam???
O.K., now Jews are starting to piss me off..
> Nor was Ruth.
Yes, that’s who I meant.
Naomi was an ethnic Jew and was Ruth’s mother-in-law.
I can be so dumb at times ...
Well, no. There is absolutely no evidence to back up your assertion, and scripture says otherwise. But if it makes you feel better . . .
The promised blessings are conditioned upon obedience and turn into terrible curses upon disobedience:
However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you... (Deuteronomy 28:15)
What disobedience was there that wasn’t paid for?
Human nature.
As the parent of three sons, I believe sibling rivalry to be hard-wired. Probably one way we learn to deal with the world once we leave home.
“it is quite clear that their tenure as the Chosen People was to be considered over. (Except apparently, for Dennis Prager)”
Except apparently, the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, and basically every significant Protestant denomniation, including every Bible Church I’ve ever set my foot in, you mean.
We Christians are grafted, as wild vines, into the family of Abraham.
That does not “unchoose” them. It means we ARE ALSO chosen.
Now, this does not mean Jews are going to heaven, mind you.
It does mean, however, that God keeps His unconditional promises, and that the Jews have a very special place in His plan, until the end of time.
The "conservative" dispensationalists and the liberal dual covenant theorists also believe that.
Everybody knows the Trial Lawyers are the chosen people.
This explains a LOT.
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