“So the anger of Adonai blazed against Israel; he said, “Because this nation violates my covenant, which I ordered their fathers to obey; and they don’t pay attention to what I say…”-Judges 2:20
I wanna show you something really interesting in verse 20 of Judges Chapter 2.
This underscores just how much flavor and nuance we’re missing when we don’t understand the original Hebrew of the Scriptures.
In this verse, the Lord is making His point that He’s really ticked off with Israel for their disobedient behavior.
And then he goes on to say “Because this nation violates my covenant“.
In the original Hebrew it says HA GOY HAZEH violates my covenant.
Now this is really interesting because GOY (or GOYIM in the plural) is a word that only refers to the gentile nations.
Of course, way back in Genesis before Israel even existed, GOY simply meant “nation” as in any ole’ nation on the planet.
However, once God declared Abraham to be His first chosen one, at that very instant the world was split into 2 distinct people groups: the Hebrews and everyone else.
My point is this.
Speaking to Israel, the Lord is saying “because this gentile-like nation breaks my covenant”.
Like WOW!
The implication here is as clear as day.
God is saying if your behavior becomes too un-kosher and reaches the point where there’s really no difference between you and a gentile, then I really have no choice but to view you as a gentile.
Of course, I can’t say for sure where exactly that line is drawn that if crossed the Lord will declare LO AMMI or you are NOT one of my mine.
But rest assured that line does exist.
That’s why it’s so important to SEPARATE ourselves from the unclean.
Because there is the danger that the Lord will lump us together with the unbelievers.
And that would be a tragedy.
Leave a Reply