I am not a theologian, but common sense tells me they were chosen to bring Jesus into the world. And the Jews had a convenant with our God, the one true God of Abraham. I would welcome input on this, too.
Seems to me that God likes to pick hard cases and difficult people to reveal His divinity to. Maybe the Hebrew tribes were a hard necked people who would be difficult and resistant to God's word and thus the best choice for both stubbornness for and against God. If he'd picked the Irish, we'd be in paradise long ago!!!
DS7 answers simply, "Abraham". But this is true, for Jesus may have ascended into heaven, but he did not descend in like fashion. No, He was conceived of a virgin, of the tribe of Judah, from the House of David, able to trace his lineage back to the days of Jesse, Joshua, Moses, the Egyptian enslavement, Jacob, and Abraham. The messianic promise is an essential part of God's reclaiming not only of a People, but of all creation! Romans 8:18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. And in the first Letter of Peter our position as the new extended Israel shows how the inheritance is now offered to all! Notice how specific Jewish terminology is also extended to us Gentiles: 1 Peter 2:4 Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; 5 and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame." 7 To you therefore who believe, he is precious, but for those who do not believe, "The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner,"8 and "A stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall"; for they stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. --------------------------------------------------------------------- And though Jews for the most part of the last two millennium rejected Jesus, in this third millennium shall soon embrace Him! Romans 11: 25 Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, 26 and so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob"; 27"and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Then God will be all in all! Alleluia!
I had a book a long time ago on Irish Verse. It told the story of a monk in a hive copying scripture and got bored. he apparently was pondering this same question, and in one of the side bars of a page he wrote , "How odd of God to choose the Jew . . .how did he fail to chose the Gael? "
My understanding of what the Catholic Church has taught for 2000 years is this: all of God's covenants leading up to the last covenant, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, were with the Jews. Also, Jesus himself was Jewish. However His sacrifice, the ultimate and final covenant, replaced the previous covenants and marked the beginning of Christianity. The new covenant in His blood was for all, Gentiles and Jews alike. From that point on the Jews were no longer God's chosen people as His covenant was for all not just the Jews. The Jews who refused to believe in Jesus rejected God . They were no longer God's chosen people. So to say that the Jews are now God's chosen people is incorrect.
If I remember correctly (from Blessed Ann Catherine Emmerich’s book) Noah’s sons Ham (land of Ham is Egypt) and Japheth’s kin participated in the building of the Tower of Babel. Only a tribe of the kin of Noah’s third son Shem, refused to participate in the building. This loan tribe was given God’s own language (Hebrew) and Abraham was of this tribe. This is not official Church teaching but from Blessed Ann Catherine Emmerich’s visions that purportedly came from our Lord. Peace, Ed
I once read that when God was asked why He chose the Jews from all the peoples on earth, it was because they were the least of all the people. A wandering people who had nothing to offer. A people who could Glorify God the most by their coming to Faith in A Heavenly Home. I believe they were mostly shepherds, not sophisticated in any sense of the word. How great is our God. For the Jews are our very roots, and may God bring them the Light of Holy Faith and come to recognise their Redeemer lives in the Person of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Okay, I'll take a crack at this question... This discussion forum is dedicated to Our Lady. The Blessed Virgin Mary was preeminently chosen and prepared by God – prior to the beginning of time – to assume an unparalleled role in salvation history as the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The only possible explanation is found to be entwined within the flawless and mysterious predilection of Our Creator. “For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? Or who has given him anything that he may be repaid? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” - Rom. 11:34-36 In a subordinated and temporally preceding manner - as the ‘primogenitor’ (i.e., a technical word meaning patriarchal source or earliest ancestor) of the twelve tribes of Israel through his son - Abraham was also uniquely chosen by God to assume a special role in preparing the way for the Messiah: The Lord said to Abram: Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will find blessing in you. – Gen. 12:1-3 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said: I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless. Between you and me I will establish my covenant, and I will multiply you exceedingly. Abram fell face down and God said to him: 'For my part, here is my covenant with you: you are to become the father of a multitude of nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a multitude of nations.'” – Gen. 17:1-5 “For you [Israel] are a people holy to the Lord, your God; the Lord, your God, has chosen you from all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a people specially his own. It was not because you are more numerous than all the peoples that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you; for you are really the smallest of all peoples. It was because the Lord loved you and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn to your ancestors, that the Lord brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. - Deut. 7:6-8 Again: “For you are a people holy to the Lord, your God; the Lord, your God, has chosen you from all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a people specially his own.” - Deut. 14:2 St. Matthew’s rendering of the genealogy of Jesus Christ in the New Testament recounts this historical fact in its opening line: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” - Matt. 1:1 Furthermore, we are told by St. Paul: “And they also, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated one, how much more will they who belong to it by nature be grafted back into their own olive tree. I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not become wise [in] your own estimation: a hardening has come upon Israel in part, until the full number of the Gentiles comes in, and thus all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The deliverer will come out of Zion, he will turn away godlessness from Jacob; and this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’ In respect to the gospel, they are enemies on your account; but in respect to election, they are beloved because of the patriarchs. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” – Rom. 11:23-29 TAKEAWAY: Every person reading this post has ALSO been called by God to fulfill a unique and irreplaceable role in salvation history. This too is part of the immutable and sovereign design of Our Creator. What may seem insignificant in our own estimation is of paramount value and importance to God. By decidedly surrendering our own plans and agendas to the Lord, actively seeking His will in all things, and persevering in prayer – we too will "shine like the stars / lights" (cf., Phil. 2:15) and eventually join the "great cloud of witnesses" in heaven (cf., Heb. 12:1) along with Abraham and many others. As we read the Scriptures, we must never overlook the reality that each one of us are integral parts of this ongoing real-life narrative.
I've been listening to the Bible in a year with Fr. Mike Schmidt and remember him saying what happened to Noah and his son Ham - that he had seen his father's nakedness (but more to it than that) and that Noah cursed him and all his descendants. But blessed the descendents of his other 2 sons Shem and Japeth and cursed Ham's children and said they would be slaves to Shem and Japeth. Abraham is a direct descendent of Shem and so on to David. Ham's descendants were the Cananintes. So basically the sons of Ham had been cursed whereas the descendents of Shem were blessed as Shem and his brother had covered their father's nakedness without looking at him. Jesus came from the line of Shem. I would think this is the reason that these are God favored people . But of course I'm a nobody and certainly no scholar! Just my opinion as to how I see it .
I like Roy Schoeman's take on the role of the Jews in Salvation History. He details his arguments in his book, Salvation is from the Jews and on his YT channel. He discusses the subject in several of his talks or interviews, like here and here.
Hi Andree, Thanks for mentioning Roy Schoeman's valuable Judeo-Christian insights and contributions. Initially, it was also my intention to reference his popular book in my recent post. For whatever reason, I didn't. Good stuff!
Yes God made a new covenant with creation and conferred on Noah dominion over all living things as had originally been given to Adam. Noah cursed Canaan who was the fruit of Ham's incestuous act with his mother. Noah blessed Shem, who was his first born son and the first born of the new creation. For the first time God, through that blessing, was identified as the protector and patron of a single person. It's from Shem that we get the word "Semite" in reference to the Jews. That's my very inadequate synopsis of Fr. Kirby's explanation in this video which is part of his series of a Bible study on Genesis. Go to about the 30 minute mark to hear Fr. Kirby's explanation. The explanation of the significance of Shem's blessing lasts about five minutes but the whole video is worth watching. Incidentally, I found this thread when searching for a suitable thread to post a link to this discussion with Scott Hahn and Fr. Mike Schmidt. I haven't finished watching the video but I was enjoying it so much that I decided to share because Dr. Hahn and Fr. Schmidt are a breath of fresh air in these oppressive times. I couldn't find a suitable thread, so might as well post it here. I hope nobody is annoyed because it's not on topic:
No. The Jews are descended from the line of Shem, Noah's first born son. Abraham was of Shem's line. The twelve tribes of Israel are of the line of Abraham's son Jacob (renamed Israel). King David was of the line of Jacob's son, Judah, and Jesus was of the line of David. So, unless you share that lineage, you are not Jewish. All the baptised, irrespective of lineage, are adopted sons and daughters of God by virtue of their Baptism because Jesus redeemed all by His sacrifice on the cross.. Jesus is the vine. The baptised are grafted onto the vine but we haven't replaced the Jews. Just like Jews who are severed from the vine if they reject Jesus as Lord and Saviour, unrepented sin can see us severed from the vine. Scripture tells us that all Israel will be converted before Jesus returns. We don't have that assurance, but we do have the Sacraments especially Confession and the Eucharist. The above is my understanding, but don't take it as a very learned opinion.
So I have to ask, do persons actually sit down and read the old testament through?? It does pretty much answer this question over and over again. SO many layers to the answer to this question and some good answers above. However, I have one more to put to you: The SEED of Adam and Eve, the first man made in God's own image, MUST be carried intact through the generations to the Christ. The seed was damaged by Satan when they mated with women and produced the Nephilim. Since Cain killed Abel and Cain was sent to a NON homo sapiens line to reproduce (yes there were other humanoids on earth, cavemen we call them), Adam and Eve were given a new son to carry the pure line: Seth. That line was purified by the flood except for Ham's wife who did have Nephilim blood. This is why ALL Hebrews had to know their lineage all the way back to Adam, so that the blood line was pure until the Messiah was born. This is why Satan and his demons have been persecuting the Jews and this bloodline since day one! The Serpent in the garden was given the same clue as we are: That the SEED of Adam and Eve will produce the One who destroys Satan. The Jews in summary were the chosen race to carry unblemished the pure lineage God intended for Humans to the day of Jesus birth. From then on, we now receive the healing of OUR seed or DNA through the Eucharist. That is why Mary and Jesus are considered the NEW Adam and Eve. NOT just spiritually which is true, but with our very flesh.
