The Israelites have rolled across the Jordan River with ease and entered, finally, the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. The first thing they do is circumcise the the males that were born during the journey through the wilderness. This is a renewal of the covenant. Then:
"The Lord said to Joshua, 'Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.' And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.
While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year."
Why did God choose the Jews? This is a question that Jews and Christians have pondered for centuries. We call it the "theology of election." The Hebrew scriptures do not provide a uniform answer to that question. Some passages indicate that God chose the Jews because God loved them more than any other people. Other places say the Jews were less evil than other people, so God chose them. Still, the most consistent reason given for their election is that God has a divine plan to bless the Jews so that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through them. They are an instrument of God's love.
This passage from Joshua doesn't seem to support the latter explanation. The Israelites enter the promised land and immediately begin eating the crops sown by other people. And chapter six describes the Israelite destruction of Jericho which was to include, by God's direction, the destruction of everyone but Rahab and her family. They weren't much of a blessing to those in Jericho!
These questions of election still concern Christians today as we seek to understand the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict. How do you understand election--Jewish, and for that matter, Christian (we Presbyterians have been known to say a few things about Christian election)? What kind of view of election would be helpful in the current conflict?
In the days when the the book of Joshua was written, the Israelites were enduring centuries of oppression, enslavement and occupation. These people were desperate to preserve their identity and tradition. One of the things they did to achieve this is to believe that they were “God's chosen people” and the hope that God's promise included land of their own where they were safe from their enemies and they would prosper. I think that if they didn't do this and other things in their tradition, the Israelites would have disappeared and assimilated into the occupying nations of the powerful countries around them They have carried this idea as a tradition into the 21st century, which may be the problem. The israelis still feel threatened by their neighbors, and they still believe that they are “God's chosen people.” It is hard to convince them otherwise. But as for the rest of us, in the Book of John it says that “For God so loved the WORLD....” I don't think God plays favorites, even with humans. I believe that God loves all the world including the animals, insects, and everything God created. And in response to that love, we, as a global human community, must be good stewards of the planet that God created and also be compassionate to all.
ReplyDeleteElection for me has elements of the sacred call that all have and only some discern. I reject the part of the “election of Israel,” as involving a geographical plot on this earth, notwithstanding the 1987 GA paper on Christians & Jews. For my view of this geographical debate, I commend Rami Shapiro's recent entertaining blog entry --- rabbirami.blogspot.com/2010/02/is-israel-promised-land.html
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of election as my call, I go back to the Book of Confessions in our PC(USA) Constitution. From the Westminster Small Catechism, I believe my call is “to glorify God, and enjoy him forever.” I see an exclusive, narrow definition of my being adopted into a called people, to put it tactfully, as not in my definition of glorifying God. I see my challenge is to help enable all people to see themselves as children of God with the ability to subscribe to the ideas of those Westminster theologians. Viewing the election or designation of Israelites as “chosen,” for my talking to all people, is a story, not a historic birthright for these times.
So if the OT covenant is not a God thing but rather a human cultural artifact, is the NT covenant--the so-called new covenant in Jesus Christ--anything more?
ReplyDeleteThe entire concept of election in the Hebrew scriptures is not a cultural artifact. The current Israeli government land argument is the one rather narrow (& I believe, incorrect) human interpretation of ancient texts, that is the cultural artifact. As Rabbi Rami Shapiro has stated, as well as other rabbis, if you have 2 rabbis, you'll have 5 interpretations of scripture. One of my (mostly) humorous reasons for the incarnation is that it is what happened after an angelic dope slap over another mis-reading of the Hebrew Bible. One of Jesus' assignments for which the angels hoped and lobbied, would be to live out the meaning that God designed for those scriptures. I believe Jesus helps us focus on the most important messages in the Hebrew scripture that concern not just election, but also guiding, judging, and saving.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted note the coincidence of the choice of a Thanksgiving hymn in yesterday's liturgy and the adult Sunday School discussion. The discussion revolved around possibly having an example of what the Third World typically eats at WPPC, around the time of our annual American turkey feast. Both the sermon verse and the School discussion point to meditating on food justice for all.