Why Favor (or Even Have) Israel?

Why does Israel seem so favored by the Lord? We are all God's children, so he should love us (ie. treat us) all the same, right? Then why do we find promises like this one throughout the scriptures:

"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people." (Exodus 19:5-6)

The answer is also found in the scriptures:

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.

"Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

"I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it." (Isaiah 41:10...20, emphasis added)

Israel is a special witness of or example before the Lord. That means they are greatly blessed and sorely cursed:

"Even all nations shall say, 'Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?'

"Then men shall say, 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers: For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.'" (Deuteronomy 29:24-28)

The House of Israel is a light to the Gentiles. Many, of course, do not recognize that light and persecute the Jews and pay no attention to the covenants God has made with them. Others, however, will be introduced to Jehovah through the witness of the Jews in Jerusalem:

"Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, 'We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.'" (Zechariah 8:22-23)

I like how Max I. Reich puts it:

"The nation of Israel was chosen to be the trustee of the divine self-revelation, culminating in the Messiah." (The Messianic Hope of Israel)

(As a side note: a Jewish friend commented on the difficulty of becoming a Jew. They don't seek converts and they make it very difficult to convert---the process may take years. My friend summed up by saying, "You'd have to be crazy to want to be a Jew anyway. Life is so much easier not being a Jew and you can still get all of the same blessings in the afterlife.")

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Warning Label for The Lamb of God

I thought I'd share a little warning about one of the Church's videos, The Lamb of God.

The Background
My daughter A*, 5, loves this video. She watches it just about every Sunday and has for the last couple years. My 2-yr old often joins her.

The Setup
A* has a friend, S*, whose family is not religious, and as far as we know has had no exposure to Christianity. A* and S* play together often. S* came over to play last Sunday, and A* asked, "Do you want to watch Lamb of God?"

The Joy
Oh, what proud parents we were! "There's our little missionary," we thought, as we overheard an occasional word. A* was explaning all the various parts of the story: "...and after we die we will live with him and be happy and never be sick." My wife and I went about preparing dinner, half-listening the way parents do when nothing is the matter.

The Alarm
Something started to prick my attention. I thought, "What is it? No sounds of trouble—just the girls watching the video. The video...what was it about that video...?" It had been some time since I watched the video, but I remembered loving it. It was very emotional. "Yes," my brain warned, "it was very emotional."

The Tragedy
I went into the livingroom just as the story was depicting Jesus being raised on the cross. This is, as most readers will know, just after he has been flogged, slapped, spat upon, mocked, and nailed to the cross. S* was wide-eyed but expressionless on the couch, saying nothing. In other words, she looked petrified. (A*, of course, looked as content as ever.)

I shut off the television, at which point S* looked up at me and began to cry. Then wail. Then cry out with fear.‡

The Catastrophe
I tried to comfort S*, letting her know that she would not be hurt and Jesus was okay in the end and—! A* tried to explain more to her friend, only to get things mixed up in her excitement and—! I tried to get A* to leave S* and me alone, so I could explain things slowly, calmy, but—! A* felt like she had done something wrong and also started to cry.

The Clean-up
I took S* home, still sobbing, and tried to explain to her mother what had happened. Her mother was familiar enough with the story of Jesus to understand what her daughter had seen. "Was it animated?" she asked, then added reluctantly, "or was it...?"

"Not animated," I replied, disheartened. "Film." Her mother's face went a little pale.

The Aftermath
Her mother was very understanding, S* and A* still play together each day, and S*'s family has not brought it up. A* watched The Lamb of God today and didn't even mention last week.

The Lesson
No harm no foul, right? Maybe, but I worry that there was some harm. For one, how will S* respond emotionally the next time she hears the "good news" of the Christian message?

I also learned to think about our stories a little differently. A* grew up hearing about the cross. She saw paintings and cartoons and talked and sang songs about it before she ever saw the movie version. But what a terrifying, brutal, awful story it is if you don't know what to expect!

‡minor edits since first published

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