EXOD320 … the Torah does not portray the Israelites themselves as all that pious or moral. On the contrary, it makes clear that God's choice of Israel for this task is not based on any rational grounds. It is not because of Israel’s greatness that God chose Israel for this task, for Israel is among the smallest of peoples. It is also not because of the people Israel’s goodness, for they stubbornly persist in their evil ways. (Deuteronomy 7:7). Indeed, shortly after entering into the covenant at Mount Sinai, that people abandoned God for the Golden Calf, and they sinned again in not trusting God to take them into the Promised Land after ten of the twelve spies report the difficulty of the task ahead. (Exodus 32-34 and Numbers 13-14. See also Deuteronomy 9:5). In both cases, God seriously considers destroying the people forthwith and starting over again with Moses leading some other people; But Moses, using a series of lawyerly arguments, prevails on God to retain His ties with the people Israel. Thus Israel’s size, piety, and goodness are not the reasons that God chose it as His people; it is rather because of God's love for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; His promises to them; and His need for a model people that He agrees to continue His relationship with their descendants, no matter what. The Jewish people, though, are to be what the Moabite seer Balaam described as “a people that dwells apart, not reckoned among the nations.” (Numbers 23:9; Deuteronomy 32:12, 33:28, Jeremiah 49:31, Micah 7:14).