{"id":4825,"date":"2021-08-04T08:22:13","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T13:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/?p=4825"},"modified":"2021-08-04T08:40:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T13:40:50","slug":"segulah-chosen-and-treasured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/segulah-chosen-and-treasured\/","title":{"rendered":"You are Chosen and Treasured…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"ONE OF THE GREATEST OF MISTAKES<\/strong> is to forget your beloved status before the LORD… “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isa. 43:1). Forgetting who you are leads to forgetting who the LORD is, just as forgetting who the LORD is leads to forgetting who you are… A passage from our Torah reading this week (i.e., Emor<\/a>) speaks to us along these lines: “You are children of the LORD your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be for him am segulah<\/em> (\u05e2\u05dd \u05e1\u05d2\u05dc\u05d4) – a treasured people out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deut. 14:1-2).<\/p>\n

In this verse, Moses reminds the people that since they are children of the LORD they were not to mourn for the dead like those without any hope of life beyond the grave… Our God, the Father of Israel, is eternal, and even if our earthly fathers were to die, we will never be orphans, because the LORD, the Everlasting God who is the \u201cGod of the spirits of all flesh\u201d (\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05d4\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b8\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7\u05ea \u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc\u05be\u05d1\u05bc\u05b8\u05e9\u05c2\u05b8\u05e8), always watches over us: \u201cHe will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber\u201d (Psalm 121:3). But if we forget who we are, if we lose sight of our place in the Heavenly Father\u2019s heart, then we are likely to fall into a state of excessive and self-destructive mourning over the losses we experience in this world. In the most tragic cases, this can lead to the darkness of unremedied despair, \u201cliving among the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones\u201d (Mark 5:5). On the other hand, if remember our place at the Father\u2019s table as his children, if we take hold that we are beloved of God – his very own \u201ctreasured people\u201d – then we will regard the difficulties we encounter in this world as a test of faith intended for our good (Deut. 8:3,16, Jer. 29:11).<\/p>\n

Notice further that this passage states that the people were chosen by the LORD to be his own \u201cpossession\u201d (i.e., segulah:<\/em> \u05e1\u05b0\u05d2\u05bb\u05dc\u05bc\u05b8\u05d4) from all other peoples in the earth. The grammar here uses a comparative use of the preposition “min<\/a>,” meaning \u201cmore than\u201d the other peoples of the earth. This idea was first mentioned when God said to the elders at Sinai, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my possession more than all other peoples (\u05e1\u05b0\u05d2\u05bb\u05dc\u05bc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05bc\u05b8\u05dc\u05be\u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05bc\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd), for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:5-6). The truth that the Jewish people were specially chosen to reveal God\u2019s salvation and mercy is repeated elsewhere in Scripture, including Mal. 3:17, Psalm 135:4, Deut. 7:6, 26:18. The word segulah<\/em> essentially means valuable \u201cpersonal property,\u201d guarded for safe keeping, such as David\u2019s treasure of gold and silver which he donated to the Temple (1 Chron. 29:3), or Solomon\u2019s treasure collected from the kings and provinces (Eccl. 2:8). Undoubtedly God\u2019s redeemed people are regarded as a treasured group of people among the nations of the earth…<\/p>\n

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In addition to being a treasured<\/em> people (\u05e2\u05b7\u05dd \u05e1\u05b0\u05d2\u05bb\u05dc\u05bc\u05b8\u05d4), however, the Jewish people were also called am nivchar<\/em> (\u05e2\u05b7\u05dd \u05e0\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05d7\u05b8\u05e8), a chosen<\/em> people. But what does this mean? What is the point of being \u201cchosen\u201d? Is \u201cchosenness\u201d simply a matter of being a biological or ethnic descendant of the Jewish patriarchs, or does it mean something more?<\/p>\n

In this connection it is helpful to remember that the Hebrew word “Jew” (i.e., yehudi<\/em>: \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b4\u05d9) comes from a root (\u05d9\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4) which means to “thank” or to \u201cpraise\u201d (Gen. 29:35). The Apostle Paul alluded to this by saying that a Jew whose heart has been circumcised by the Spirit is “one who is praised by God,” not by men (Rom. 2:29). Being a Jew therefore means that you are \u201cchosen\u201d to receive special blessings and grace to live in holiness for the glory of God and for the welfare of the world. The performance of various commandments are for the greater purpose of tikkun olam<\/em>, the \u201crepair of the world,\u201d in order to reveal God\u2019s goodness and love. Doing so makes a person a Jew, since his or her praise comes not from man, but from God. God is the source and the power of what makes a true Jew a tzaddik<\/em>. After all, Israel was meant to be a \u201clight to the nations\u201d (Isa. 42:6; 60:3), and God had always planned for all the families of the earth to come to know Him and give Him glory through Abraham (Gen. 12:3). \u201cJewishness\u201d is therefore not an end in itself but rather a means to bring healing truth to the nations… Indeed, the entire redemptive story of the Scriptures is about the cosmic conflict to deliver humanity from the \u201ccurse\u201d by means of the “Seed of the woman” who would come. Any talk of ancestry, bloodlines, lineage, \u201cchosenness,\u201d and so on must be understood as a means to this greater redemptive end.<\/p>\n

Indeed a person is never chosen simply on the basis of their genetics or lineage, but because of the personal call and election of God: \u201cFor not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but \u2018through Isaac shall your offspring be named.\u2019 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring” (Rom. 9:6-8). The idea of chosenness therefore is independent of considerations of \u201cflesh\u201d but is directly related to our response to God\u2019s promises…. This was true of \u201cIsrael at large\u201d in relation to its faithful subset called she\u2019arit Yisrael<\/em> (i.e., the faithful remnant), just as it is true of those who embrace the promise of salvation through Yeshua the Messiah:<\/p>\n

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Therefore the Apostle Peter can refer to followers of Yeshua<\/em> as \u201ca chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession\u201d (1 Pet. 2:9, cp. Exod. 19:6, Deut. 7:6). This is clearly a reference to both Jews and Gentiles who receive Yeshua as their Savior, since he adds: “Once you were not a people (i.e., lo ammi:<\/em> \u05dc\u05d0 \u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05bc\u05b4\u05d9), but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy (i.e., lo ruchamah:<\/em> \u05dc\u05d0 \u05e8\u05bb\u05d7\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05d4), but now you have received mercy.” (1 Pet. 2:9-10). This echoes the words of the LORD given to the prophet Hosea: “Although it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “You are children of the living God (Hos. 2:23; Rom. 9:25). The Apostle Paul likewise understands Christians to be \u201cchosen people\u201d (Eph. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13). Followers of Yeshua are be\u2019kehunat Mashiach<\/em> – in the priesthood of Messiah Yeshua and therefore have direct access to God (Heb. 4:16, Rev. 1:6). This priestly lineage began with Malki-Tzedek<\/em> (Melchizedek), to whom Levi gave tithes (Heb. 7:9-10), culminated in Yeshua, and is passed directly to the believer by means of his or her justification and identification with the Lord, “who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a \u2018peculiar people\u2019 (i.e., am segulah<\/em>: \u05e2\u05b7\u05dd \u05e1\u05b0\u05d2\u05bb\u05dc\u05bc\u05b8\u05d4), zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14). The enmity between Jews and Gentiles has been overcome through the sacrificial death of Yeshua the Savior of the world. We are made \u201cone new man\u201d (\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05be\u05d0\u05b6\u05d7\u05b8\u05d3 \u05d7\u05b8\u05d3\u05b8\u05e9\u05c1) because of the unfailing love and salvation of our Lord (Eph. 2:11-16).<\/p>\n

Within some groups of Messianic Judaism, non-Jewish believers tend to regard themseves as \u201coutsiders\u201d and \u201csecond-class\u201d members in the family of God. They often seem to be self-deprecatory, calling themselves \u201cwild olive shoots,\u201d \u201cGentile believers,\u201d or even \u201cger tzedek\u201d (a righteous convert). This is most unfortunate, since it robs these precious souls of their true identity as co-heirs of the Kingdom (Gal. 3:9; Titus 3:7), and it also destroys the unity that Yeshua sought to bring among God\u2019s people (John 17:20-23; Eph. 2:14-15).<\/p>\n

While it is indeed true that ancient Israeli society was composed of various classes of people in a hierarchy (priests, Levites, Israelites, women, converts, slaves, outsiders, etc.), it is evident that our Lord Yeshua didn\u2019t come to create a \u201ccaste system\u201d among His followers. In fact, he turned things upside-down by saying that the \u201cgreatest would be the slave of all\u201d (Mark 10:44; Matt. 18:1-4, Matt. 20:25-28). Whoever would be great in the Kingdom must humble himself and walk hatzne’a lechet<\/em> – in childlike simplicity before the Lord (Micah 6:8). Yeshua transposed the all-too-human view of social relationships by inverting the \u201cnatural\u201d order. Do you \u201cseek great things for thyself\u201d? Then take hold of your absolute nothingness before the LORD and serve your fellow man (Jer. 45:5). Show gratitude for the gift of life and quit your vain conceits.<\/p>\n

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The Apostle Paul – undoubtedly the greatest Torah sage of the Second Temple period – taught that in the Messiah there \u201cis neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female\u201d since we are all one (echad<\/em>) in the Messiah (Gal. 3:28). But what does this mean? Despite the egalitarian ideal, don\u2019t we use these very distinctions to this day? On a fleshly level we certainly do. After all, we clearly distinguish between men and women, rich and poor, slave and free, and various ethnic identities. We all live with these distinctions in the world of basar<\/em> – the carnal world that is known through sensuous apprehension. However, \u201cfrom now on we regard no one according to the flesh\u201d (2 Cor. 5:16) but we aim to understand, with the help of God, that a follower of Yeshua is briah chadashah<\/em> – a \u201cnew creation.\u201d In the Spirit of God\u2019s love we are ish-echad chadash<\/em> (\u201cone new man\u201d) designed to live in unity. k’ish echad, b’lev echad<\/em> – \u201cas one person with one heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

God is said to be no \u201crespecter of persons\u201d (Acts 10:34, Rom. 2:11). He is able to make the unclean clean (Acts 10:28) and to regard those who were once called \u201cNot My People\u201d as \u201cMy People\u201d (Hos. 2:23, Matt. 3:9). Indeed, a true Jew is one who is circumcised inwardly, someone who has undergone spiritual brit millah<\/em> – \u201ccovenant of the word\u201d (Deut 10:16, 30:6; Rom. 2:28-29, 1 Cor. 7:19, Gal. 5:6; 6:15; Phil. 3:3, Col. 2:11, etc.). Indeed, Paul insisted that any merit obtained either through his pedigree or his adherence to the moral law code is accounted as less than nothing in comparison to the imputed righteousness given by means of his relationship with Yeshua (Phil. 3:3-8).<\/p>\n

Chaverim<\/em>: Regardless of your ethnic background, or your gender, or your social status in this world, understand that you are am segulah<\/em> (\u05e2\u05b7\u05dd \u05e1\u05b0\u05d2\u05bb\u05dc\u05bc\u05b8\u05d4) – precious and elect, and part of the family of God. Do not \u201ccut yourselves\u201d in mourning or regard yourselves as without hope. You are now Kohanim l\u2019El Elyon<\/em> – priests of the Ascended God – \u201clike living stones being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Yeshua the Messiah\u201d (1 Pet. 2:5).<\/p>\n

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\nShalom and love to you all….<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ONE OF THE GREATEST OF MISTAKES is to forget your beloved status before the LORD… “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isa. 43:1). Forgetting who you are leads to forgetting who the LORD is, just as forgetting who the LORD is leads to forgetting who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-dvar","category-hebrew-reading-practice","category-torah"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4825"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4837,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4825\/revisions\/4837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}