Israel Destined to Become God’s Standard

In our last post, we talked about God’s instruction to Israel to annihilate the Amorites in the land of Canaan because of their wickedness and their lack of responding to God and turning from their wicked practices. God used Israel to enact the consequence to the Amorite’s sin but was also raising Israel to be his standard to the world. Let’s look more closely at this concept.

Israel was to be the standard to the world. For Israel to be a light to the rest of the world, Israel had to eliminate all elements which were ungodly. A standard must be flawless, or else it is not a standard. This was the reason Israel was held to a higher standard than other nations. All the laws given to Israel was for Israel, not for other nations to follow.

In addition, Israel was not to exclude outsiders from their land – after all, three main trade routes connecting three continents (Africa, Europe, and Asia) went through this area: Way of the Sea (later known as Via Maria), Ridge Route, and King’s Highway. All three of these trade routes would bring Gentiles through Israel so they could be taught the ways of God. Isael was to become the moral compass for the world. If Israel obeyed God and received all the blessings promised them (abundant rain, abundant crops, lush landscape, and longevity; Dt 28:1-14), that would be a testimony to all those who would pass through Israel on any of these three routes and inquire what makes things different here.

However, those living within the boundaries of Israel would be required to exclude wicked practices. Non-Israelites had to abide by the same laws of the land as the Israelites did (Ex 12:48-49, 20:10; Lv 16:29, 17:12, 15; Nu 15:14, 16). It seems God has always expected mankind to understand and follow what he knows is right (Ro 1:18-20), whether being his “chosen” people or not. Justice seems to always follow a failed response to the love of God’s longsuffering.

God allowed non-Israelites to live in the land but also had requirements for them. God often put the alien living in the land in the same category as the poor, orphan, and widow. This is because they were now a minority. They were to be taken care of in a loving way: allowed to glean the corners of fields and left-overs following olive and grape harvests (Lv 23:22; Dt 24:20-21), were to be treated judiciously (Dt 1:16; 24:17), should not be taken advantage of (Dt 24:14), and part of the third-year tithe would be for the alien (Dt 26:12). This was because God stated he loved the alien (Dt 10:18), and the Israelites were to remember they were once slaves in Egypt (Dt 24:22). This helped to train the Israelites to be kind to their neighbors who were not like them and to allow the non-Israelite to see how God loved them as well.

Those Gentiles living in the land had to obey the laws of the land (Ex 12:49; Lv 24:22):
• allowed to glean the corners of fields and left-overs following olive and grape harvests (Lv 23:22; Dt 24:20-21)
• had to observe the Sabbath (Ex 20:10)
• had to not work on the Day of Atonement (Lv 16:29)
• could not eat blood (Lv 17:10) but had to drain the blood from the animal before preparing and eating (Lv 17:13)
• had to cleanse themselves when encountering anything dead (Lv 17:15)
• would be put to death if they offered their children as a sacrifice to any god (Lv 20:2) or if they blasphemed the name of the Lord (Lv 24:16)
• had to abide by the rules of redemption and of the Jubilee (Lv 25:47-50) and had to abide by the decisions of the judges of the land (Dt 1:16)
• They were to be taught about God and His Law, just as were the Israelites (Dt 31:12-13).
• If they decided to become a proselyte, then all the Mosaic laws applied, and all males had to be circumcised before they could celebrate Passover (Ex 12:48).

God was inclusionary but required righteous living.

Also, God always gave warnings before his justice was administered. Before the flood, God announced coming judgment and the need for repentance (Gn 6:5-7) and announced a flood was coming during the time of Noah (Gn 6:17). He gave the Amorites time to repent before administering his justice (Gn 15:16). God announced his plans to the king of Nineveh (Jh 3:4-5), to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (Dn 2), to Cyrus, king of Medo-Persia (Is 45:1-13), and gave visions to Alexander the Great. Paul gave the gospel to Caesar’s household (Pp 4:22) during the time of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, it seems that most of these did not heed his warning. He has also given us a warning of future judgment in his word.

God also glorified himself among the Gentiles. He did not restrict himself just to Israel. The king of Nineveh did respond to Jonah’s preaching (Jh 3:5) and gave Nineveh another one-hundred years before it was finally destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar did finally recognize the authority of God (Dn 4:37), and several times did announce to his entire kingdom that the One True God was to be respected (Dn 2:47; 3:28-29). Several of the kings of Persia did the same (Dn 6:26; Er 1:1-2). Many of Caesar’s household in Rome accepted Christ as their Savior (Pp 4:22).

So, what happened? We know that this ideal state for Israel being a calling card to the rest of the world and to show the world the path to God did not happen. Rather than being inclusionary, they became exclusionary. They used God’s words about them being his chosen possession to mean they were special, meaning, at least in their way of thinking, all others were not special. So, rather than harmony, disharmony occurred. Disobedience led to cursing rather than blessing (Dt 28:15). Then, as typical, and with Satan egging on the disharmony, things never got turned around. Even the coming of their promised Messiah did not produce the harmony that even the Jewish leaders taught. Satan had truly sold them a bill of goods they could not see beyond.

Next time, we’ll look at the New Testament in light of God’s love and justice and see how that affects us today. Please join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens