![]() ![]() ![]() Despite severe castigation of Israel’s failings, the prophetic corpus appears to assume the permanence of Israel’s election even while the prophets proclaim that Israel’s privileged status carried with it heavier responsibility than other nations and stricter standards of judgment (Amos 3:2). Genesis 18:19 states, “I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” Similarly, Exodus 19:5–6 proclaims: “Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples.” Election is related to Israel’s status as a “holy nation” (e.g., Deut 14:2, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession”), and is grounded in an act of divine love and faithfulness to the divine promise (Deut 7:6–9). God’s granting Israel special status entailed both unmerited privilege as well as an expectation of a proper human response toward God. Election/chosenness is quite pervasive in the Hebrew Bible as evidenced by the recurring sibling rivalry stories in Genesis in which one sibling is specially favored. ![]() Election within the Bible is the notion that God favors some individuals and groups over others, an idea that finds fullest expression in the Hebrew Bible’s affirmation, supported in the New Testament, that Israel is God’s chosen people. ![]()
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