Friday 15 July 2011

Are the Jews God’s Chosen People?




















Not according to Rev Dr Stephen Sizer (pictured).

A few weeks ago, the vicar of Christ Church, Virginia Water was in Malaysia participating in a lecture tour organised by Muslim organisation Viva Palestina Malaysia. Shahanaaz Habib of the Star Newspaper interviewed him and he was so impressed by her “rather provocative article” that he posted it on his blog:

“‘Absolute rubbish’, replies Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer when asked about the popular Christian view that Jews are the chosen people and that Israel is the Holy Land which gives them the right to return.

“The senior pastor of Christ Church in Surrey, England, who has a master’s in theology from Oxford University, stresses that the New Testament never once mentions that the Jews are the ‘chosen people’ nor does it say that the land belongs to the Jews.

“In fact, he adds, the Hebrew scripture doesn’t say that either.“‘God’s chosen people are not based on race but based on faith,’ he insists.”

So both Jews and Christians have been getting it wrong for thousands of years. We thought the Bible – both Old and New Testaments – taught that Israel was “the people of God”. But they’re not.

How does the claim that the New Testament “never once mentions that the Jews are the ‘chosen people’” stack up against the New Testament itself?

Well, in one sense Rev Sizer is correct; there is no verse that says “the Jews are the ‘chosen people’.”

But does it need to? If the Old Testament teaches the Jews are God’s chosen people, why should we assume that the silence of the New Testament means they no longer enjoy “favoured nation” status? Should we not, instead, expect to find – if Sizer is right – an announcement that the Jews are no longer persona grata with God?

But, says Sizer, even in the Tanakh we find no evidence that the Jewish people are God’s chosen. It’s all based on faith. Really? How about these verses?

Ex 3:10: “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

1Sam 9:16: “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.”

2Sam 7:10: And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more.”

Ps 81:11: “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.”

Ezek 34:30: “And they shall know that I am the LORD their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people…”

It is possible, of course, that Stephen Sizer will say that the actual term “chosen people” does not appear in any of these verses. Well, try these verses for size…

Dt 7:6: “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God." The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”

Dt 14:2: “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”

1Chron 16:13: “O offspring of Israel his servant, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!”

Ps 33:12: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!”

Ps 105:6: “O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!”

Ps: 105:43: “So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing.”

Is 43:20: “The wild beasts will honour me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people…”

“God’s chosen people are not based on race but based on faith”, insists Stephen Sizer, but the verses listed above are applied indiscriminately to all the Jews. If Sizer wants explicit statements, where does God ever say that only those Israelites who possess faith are his people?

In Amos 3:2, God warns Israel: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

With privilege comes responsibility. Not every Israelite loved God with his whole heart but, because he was an Israelite and because he was chosen, his punishment would be more severe. To whom much is given, much is required.

But what about the New Testament? Is Sizer correct when he claims the New Testament is silent about the Jews being the “chosen people”?

The objection is a smoke screen. It’s similar to the one raised by those who deny the deity of Jesus: “Jesus never said he was God.” Well he may not have said “I am God” in so many words but if someone is accorded all the titles of God, and if he speaks like God and acts like God, the chances are pretty high that he is God. Jesus didn’t need to go around declaring his deity any more than the Queen of England or the President of the United States needs to constantly jog our memories about their status.

The New Testament, of course, never states explicitly that the Jewish people are “the chosen people” but the evidence is there.

Mt 2:6: “And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”

Addressing a crowd of Christ-rejecting Jews, Peter states in Acts 3:25: “You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

In Romans 9:3ff, Paul writes in the present tense about his “brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh”:

“They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

In Romans 11:28f, he says of the Jews: “As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

God called Israel because he chose to, and he will not revoke that call or the gifts he bestowed on them. That is why Paul could say in Romans 2:9: “There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first …”

He is repeating what Amos said centuries before: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

That is why the gospel, although it is “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes”, it is (present tense) and remains, “to the Jew first” (Rom 1:16).

Does the New Testament teach that Jewish people are still the chosen people? You bet!

5 comments:

  1. THESE PEOPLE WHO CALL THEMSELVES "JEWS" ARE GOD'S CHOSEN? READ WHAT THEIR TALMUD TEACHES. CHRISTIANS, PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO ENTRIES 10, 11, AND 14:

    1 - Unnatural intercourse does not cause a woman to be forbidden to marry a High Priest. - Talmud YEB. 59A-59B.

    (Often the rabbis go into pages of imbecilic explanations of these laws; the following is typical: "A woman who had intercourse with a beast is eligible to marry a High Priest unless specifically warned in advance and the act seen by two witnesses. If she had intercourse with a dog while sweeping the floor, she is likewise reckoned to be pure. ")

    2 - A goy (any non-Jew) who studies the Torah deserves death, for it is written, it is our inheritance, not theirs. SANHEDRIN 59A.
    [ Note by a reader: The Torah is inclusive with he filthy Tal-MUD . ]

    3 - Adam had intercourse with every beast and animal but found no satisfaction until he cohabited with Eve. YEB. 63A.

    4 - Baby girls of three invoke sadistic punishments on those who have intercourse with them when they are menstruating. SAN. 55B and 69A.
    (Typical Jewish insanity as this is a physical impossibility.)

    5 - When a baby girl has attained the age of three years and a day, she is fit for cohabitation. YEB. 60B.

    6 - Women who are unclean (menstruating) must remain separate but only during the day time. HORAYOTH 4A.

    7 - The temple can accept money given by a man to a harlot to associate with his dog. SOTAH 268.

    8 - No occupation is inferior to that of agriculture. YEB. 63A.

    9 - Jesus is in hell. His punishment is being boiled in hot semen. GITTEN 57A.

    10 - Christians are boiled in hot excrement. GITTEN 57A.

    11 - Jesus committed bestiality with his ass. SANH. 105A and B.

    12 - There is a tale in ABODAH ZARAH, page 17A, about a rabbi who visited every harlot in the world, crossing seven rivers to reach the last one, but he was allowed to die in peace because he had not committed the one unforgivable sin, adopting Christianity.

    13 - Unnatural connection is permitted to a Jew, also sodomy with a neighbor's wife. SANH. 58B.

    14 - Murdering Christians is the same as killing a wild animal. SANH. 78B and 79A.
    [ Reader Note: How many Palestinians are Christians .................. ? ]

    15 - If a woman sported lewdly with her young son, a minor, and he committed cohabitation with her; he renders her unfit for the priesthood, unless he is under eight years of age. SANH. 470.

    16 - Intercourse is permitted with a dead relative regardless of whether she was single or married. YEB.55B
    [ To wit: the Jeffrey Dahmlers of this world; he just happened to get caught and had to be made a sacrificial GOAT . ]

    17 - A baby girl under three years and one day is always reckoned as a virgin because if she had intercourse previously, the hymen would grow back. KETHO BOTH 10B and 11A.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This insane dribble goes on page after page, book after book, completely obsessed with sex, perversion, sodomy and fanatical hatred for Christ, Christians and Christianity.

    Are the Jews literally and genetically insane?
    Let us check what the encyclopedia and the world's leading authorities on mental diseases have to say.

    From the Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, under nervous diseases:

    "The Jews are more subject to nervous diseases than the other races. HYSTERIA and NEURASTHENIA appear to be the most frequent. Physicians of large experience among Jews have gone so far as to state that most of them are NEURASTHENIC and HYSTERICAL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What is very clear from this is that you have never actually read the Talmud. You've simply copied and pasted material from other blogs, the authors of which have copied from others without bothering to actually check their sources. It seems to me that far from Jews being 'completely obsessed with sex, perversion, sodomy' it is those who trawl the Talmud for such references who are obsessed with such things. But yes, the authors of the Talmud did have 'a fanatical hatred for Christ, Christians and Christianity' but when you consider how the so-called church treated them and demonized them, can you blame them. You, on the other hand, seem to have a a fanatical hatred for Jews and Judaism. What's your excuse? And if Jews do suffer from nervous disorders, it's due to the attitude of anti-Semites like you. Sorry to be so blunt but you really should make sure of your facts before peddling third-hand nonsense.

      Delete
  2. I honestly don't understand why you Christian Zionists don't just get it over with and become Noachides - aka "Righteous Gentiles". At least you'd be honest.

    Noachide is the preferred way to go for goy, instead of converting to Judaism since you only have 7 laws to adhere to [Laws of Noah].

    Of course, the first one being No Idolatry means no more Jesus [as Son of God or Divine] but your lot shouldn't have much of a problem with that anyway since you've negated the entire point of Christ by supporting what he denounced.

    Meet the Noachides: youtube.com/watch?v=u_QsL7HAvPo

    Hop to it.

    John 8:

    42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

    43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

    44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

    45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

    46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?

    47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

    48 Then answered the Jews....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suggest you read John 8 in the context of the surrounding verses, the entire chapter, the Gospel of John as a whole, the New Testament and the entire Bible. Jesus was a Jew, his followers were Jews, and he told a non-Jewish woman in John 4 that 'salvation is from the Jews.' In John 8 Jesus addresses a particular group of Jews, not all Jews. All of us - Gentiles and Jews who refuse the word of Jesus - are children of the devil (including you and me). Bible-believing Christians (actually, there is no other kind of Christian) fully endorse Dt 6:4: 'Shema Yisroel, Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.' Believing that the one true God became man is not idolatry. It is an acknowledgement that nothing is too hard for an almighty God. If you don't believe that, your God is not almighty and therefore not the God of the Bible.

      Delete
  3. Chosen or not, the line was drawn and it can not possibly be more clear. The way to God is through his son Jesus. Believe and love him or perish without God, and those can not be 'chosen'.

    If you are curious about why so many jews are hated and have been throughout history, you need to catch up on your history. My only understanding of so many jews actions, especially over the last several hundred years, is that they truly believe they are 'chosen' unto God and their actions here on earth just don't matter, and that in the end, they will be saved. This idea that the jews have this "right" to do whatever they want, and in the process run this world into the ground through controlling monetary, political, social, and economic systems throughout the world...must end. If it takes the fulfillment of scripture and Revelations, so be it, as that will be God's decision. I happen to take solace in the fact that jews (the ones that have forsaken God) for the spoils of this earth, as well as any other peoples of any race or religion that have done the same will pay dearly for thousands upon thousands of years.

    ReplyDelete