Troublesome Topic: God Chose a People for Himself

The descendants of Abraham had become very numerous but were living in slavery under the powerful hand of the most dominant empire of that time—Egypt. God had not forgotten them. He had chosen the descendants of Abraham to be His agents, His ambassadors in this world. Through them He would work out His redemptive plan. For this purpose God set them apart from the other peoples of the earth and gave them the identity that He wanted them to have. The exodus was how and when He did it.

In this one event we call the exodus, God took a people who were nothing, and gave them an identity of their very own. He brought them from death to life, from being considered sub-human, to being called God’s special instruments. In Deuteronomy. 7:7-8 Moses tells the people,

God did not choose a group of people who already could get the job done on their own; He chose the most insignificant people of the earth. They were not considered a nation, just a large group of slaves. He chose the very symbol of weakness in order to reveal His great strength. He chose a group that would have to depend on Him to get anything done because they had nothing in them worth depending on—no organized governing body, no army (yet), no economic structures, etc. In contrast Egypt was the most powerful and advanced nation of the world, and thus represented the very best that men could achieve on their own, without God. From this point on the Bible often sites Egypt as an example of human effort without God, and thus a representation of sin itself. By ripping Egypt’s slaves from them He was showing the world that He alone is the true authority, no one else deserves the glory. He was also establishing as His people the kind of group He could mold according to His own purpose.

God chose a group of people who had only a partially developed culture. He did this in part so He could shape their culture to be what He wanted it to be. He chose an almost empty glass so He could fill it. If he had chosen a full glass, He would have had to empty most of it first, (strip away established cultural norms and perspectives) and all humans resist that.

As 21^st century Americans we find the Bible hard to understand because our culture is so different from the culture we read about in the Bible. We jump to conclusions based only on what we know or how we think, not based on research about how the ancient Israelites thought. Our culture hinders our ability to understand the Bible, and learning about ancient cultures takes time and effort. I think the time and effort are worthwhile, but many Americans don’t even realize they need to seek a different perspective.

The idea of setting something apart for a special purpose is the very heart of what holiness or sanctification is all about. As an example consider the utensils later used in the tabernacle and the temple. Many of them were what we consider common household items, but because they were set apart for a special use in the religious rituals, they could not be taken home and used to grill a chicken. Being set apart, or sanctified, meant that they were to be used exclusively for a special, God-ordained purpose. That is exactly the mental picture God wanted His people to keep in mind. He had set them apart from the other nations for His own special purpose, and He wanted them to act exclusively according to that purpose. (Of course, He allowed them to keep their free will, so this was only by their choice.) That purpose was the same that He expressed first to Abram—the desire for a special relationship. We read in Exodus 29:45-46

That the God of creation would want to dwell among men rather than in His own special place indicates the degree to which He was willing to go to find closeness with His creation.

The next lesson in the Full and Medium Length Series on Covenants is: God Led Them Through Suffering and Death