Why They Are As They Are

"but for the love of God for them."

WHEN THE Apostle Paul called the Jews’ covenant “Old”, a certain image forms in our minds. That of something decayed. Moldy. No longer used. That isn’t what he meant. He sought to contrast it with the New, written in Jesus. In his day, the temple still stood, so to say to not obey the Law (the reason why he called it “Old”) came up against huge disbelief. Didn’t God punish them as a nation for not obeying the Law?

The original purpose of the Law was to keep Israel from acting like Egypt. They had lived there for hundreds of years and, in fact, outnumbered the Egyptians (Exodus 1:9). So much so, Pharaoh feared them. His fear is why he enslaved them and why Hashem set them free. But see them there observing Egyptian deities. Though false, the behavior became acceptable. So God wrote the Law, all of it done as He instructed, leaving them no hand in it but obedience. They disobeyed immediately.

Moses went up the mountain to speak with G_d and receive the Law’s Ten Commandments. Israel had Aaron melt down their gold and create a calf to worship. And it was disgusting worship. Worse than we can imagine. Seeing it, Moses threw the stone tablets down and shattered them. This wouldn’t be the last time Israel would worship false gods. They chose to have a king, going against God’s desire for them. King Saul sinned and lost his kingship. King David was a man after God’s own heart. And his son, Solomon built the temple, but Solomon refused to tear down the high places where idols were worshipped.

The famed “valley of the shadow of death” mentioned in Psalm 23:4 was a valley outside Jerusalem, the city of God, where Israelites sacrificed their children to the false god, Molech. It was through this valley that David escaped the rampages of Saul. What I want you to see is why Israel was given Law. It was, as is said in Galatians 3:24, a schoolmaster to keep them in line until their Moshiach came to earth. When He came, though, they were entrenched in it and blind to Him. It would take the fall of the temple to wake them up.

Jesus prophesied it in Matthew 24. We, the Gentiles, have taken His words as being end-time prophecy, but they were fulfilled in the Jews. Much of what is prophesied of them has already came to pass. This isn’t about prophesy, though, but why they are as they are. Today, their devotion is beloved. G_d has proven Himself to them. He keeps covenant, and they stand for Him to show Him to the entire earth, as they say.

For He is seen in His people, in His children. We are the product of His hands, beloved of Him, who would go so far as to become one of us and die to rescue us. The Jews know Him as covenant, as promise-keeping, as love and mercy. They know Him as salvation and redemption. This is promised to them in the Torah, and they know there is heaven, after death. Jesus fulfilled this, so that God’s Word would never be a lie, would never be deceit, and even if it was at His expense, would be to them deliverance.

And be rescue to us from what we, those outside of Israel, would never have had access to but for the love of God for them.

Photo by menachem weinreb on Unsplash


----------
Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com