GENESIS | 12:1 blessing — GEN766 To understand [Jewish] chosenness, one mus...
GEN766 To understand [Jewish] chosenness, one must first understand the unique role of the Jews in the world and how that role developed. Originally, God created the world with the desire that every human being would achieve the highest spirituality, holiness and closeness to God. Beginning with the sin of Adam, the then by Cain, the people in the world continued to sin and gradually deteriorated spiritually. Ten generations later, the entire world had sunk to such a low level that God was forced to destroy his creation and start over with Noah and his family. However, soon after leaving the ark, Noah sinned by getting drunk, during which his son Ham and grandson Canaan sinned against him. Eventually, the entire world sinned against God by building the Tower of Babel. God then decided to achieve maximized spiritually among all human beings by selecting one individual, instilling the ideas and moral behavior only in this person’s family, and grow it into a nation. The entire world would then “take notice” and gradually develop the maximal spirituality intended at creation. God chose Abraham, and thus his descendants, to be moral role models for the world. At the time of Messiah, the non-Jews of the world will voluntarily acknowledge the Jewish God and adopt the ways of Judaism. Maimonides, Laws of Kings, 11:4. This was the divine plan and the concept of chosenness of the Jewish people by God. [Forgoing is synopsis of longer excerpt]. The microcosm of Jewish history and this goal can be seen in the first words of God to Abraham. God tells Abraham to leave his society, his city, and his family to live in Canaan, thereby setting him part as different from all other people. He promises Abraham that a great nation will come from him and eventually all people will bless him [this verse]. The blueprint of Jewish history is being separate with a different code of behavior until the rest of the world eventually acknowledges Abraham and his people. Zechariah 8:23; Isaiah 49:6, Pesachim 87b, end of Aleinu prayer, Zechariah 14:9. AMEMEI 193
Source Key | AMEMEI |
Verse | 12:1 |
Keyword(s) | blessing |
Source Page(s) | (See end of excerpt) |