“You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to Him, that you will keep His decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to Him. And the Lord has declared this day that you are His people, his treasured possession as He promised, and that you are to keep all His commands. He has declared that He will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations He has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as He promised.”-Deuteronomy 26:17-19
We now encounter what I believe are some of the most powerful verses in all of Torah.
I’m talking about verses 17, 18, and 19 of Deuteronomy Chapter 26.
Why are these verses so powerful?
FIRST, they affirm the mutual nature (not one-sided or forced) of the covenant relationship between the Lord with His people Israel.
SECOND, these verses finalize the acceptance of the terms of the Covenant (the equivalent of signing one’s name on the dotted line of a contract).
THIRD, they are a nice, precise and concise summary of what has been agreed to by both parties.
Together, these verses affirm that each individual member of Israel has agreed to the covenant.
This means that Israel is to walk in the Lord’s ways and obey His Laws and Commands all the days of their lives.
The key to really grasping the profound nature of these verses is to understand we’re NOT just talking about mere intellectual acknowledgement of God’s instructions here.
It goes much, much deeper than that.
The Israelites are to hold the Lord’s Torah in their hearts so that it brings about spirit-filled action in every area of their lives.
If Israel will be faithful to the God’s covenant, the Lord promises to…
…elevate Israel above every other people and nation group on the whole planet!
This means that God has declared only Israel HOLY!
However, understand that Israel has not been declared HOLY because they are inherently better or superior than anyone else.
Nope, the only reason they have been declared HOLY is because they have submitted to the Lord’s covenant.
Let me say that again.
The only reason Israel has been declared HOLY and is elevated above the gentile nations is…
...because they have accepted HASHEM’s HOLY covenant.
It has nothing to do with blood or ethnicity, in fact, it has been said that the mixed multitude outnumbered the native-born Hebrews at Sinai.
But even if they didn’t, my point still stands.
Israel became the Lord’s chosen because they accepted His Covenant.
And the reverse is also true.
Now just because the Lord has given Israel preeminence above all the other nations in the world doesn’t mean that God has thrown the rest of humanity into the trash can.
We’re talking about a spiritual hierarchy here.
This same type of spiritual hierarchy is also demonstrated within Israel.
First, while all of Israel is holy, recall that the Levites were set-apart and decreed a level of holiness above common Israel.
And then within the tribe of the Levites, the clan of the priests was set apart and declared a notch above the rest of the Levites in terms of holiness.
Finally, within the clan of the Levitical priests, the family of the High Priest (Aaron’s bloodline) was separated and placed on the very top of the holiness ranking inside of the Lord’s kingdom.
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