Exodus 19 is one of those setting the stage chapters to arguably one of the most epic and important chapters in the entire Bible, the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20. So naturally I want to spend two posts talking about this intro chapter.
Moses and the Israelites have continued to traipse around the Sinai Peninsula following the pillar of cloud or fire depending on the time of day and they eventually wind up in front of this mountain. This mountain, called Mount Sinai in the Bible, happens to be the same mountain where Moses whole adventure began with the burning bush, which to my knowledge was not still burning although the Bible doesn't say it wasn't. At any rate, they stopped there and made camp for quite some time.
Now there is a mountain at the bottom of the Sinai Peninsula that is called Mount Sinai, but it is probably not the same one that Moses and company camped at. There just isn't enough room for that many people to camp, especially how the camp came to be set up. So in truth, we have no idea where Mount Sinai was.
Right after everyone set down their tents, Yahveh calls Moses up to the top of the mountain to have a chat. This is a scene that is to going to be repeated a lot as Mount Sinai is where Yahveh gives his law, his system of living life and worship and such. But right now, Yahveh is going to set the stage by giving Israel his vision for them. And it's a beautiful vision.
"You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself," Yahveh starts. "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."
There are so many ways we can unpack that mission statement. Questions are raised, interestingly enough, about Yahveh's character. Does Yahveh play favorites? Why the Israelites? What was so special about them?
At first glance, it does sound like Yahveh is playing favorites. After all, the Israelites weren't the only slaves in Egypt. In fact, they weren't the only nation enslaved by another; this kind of thing happened all the time in the ancient world. But Yahveh chose them out of all the other nations of the earth to be his "treasured possession." Why?
Mostly it was because of a promise that Yahveh had made centuries before to a man named Abraham that he would create a mighty nation out of his children. Of course this begs the question why Abraham? What was so special about him that Yahveh chose him to be the progenitor of this special nation?
The answer is nothing.
Abraham is worthy of a character study himself, although his life is much less exciting than Moses. But the first we here of Abraham is Yahveh telling him to go somewhere (exactly where is not specified) where Yahveh will make him into a great nation (all of this begins in Genesis 12). Interestingly there is no preface about how Abraham was a good and righteous man who followed Yahveh in everything (we find out later that he didn't). Nope, just Yahveh showing up and saying, "Hey, move somewhere that I'll show you and I'll make you into a great nation." And Abraham did it. So now, hundreds of years later, Yahveh was making good on his end of the bargain.
The point in all of this is that Yahveh chose Abraham and then by extension the Israelites because he did. There doesn't have to be a deeper reason than that. Yahveh has the right to choose people for whatever he wants because, well, he's the freaking god of the universe and that's his right. Yahveh has the right to be arbitrary and has the right to make these kinds of decisions without telling us the reasons why or even having deeper reasons at all. It's a perk of the job.
But asking why the Israelites were chosen to be Yahveh's special people is asking the wrong question. The real question we should be asking is what were they chosen for?
You see while Yahveh may chose who arbitrarily, there is never anything arbitrary about the what. He didn't choose the Israelites as his chosen people for them to sit around lounging in pools of gold like Scrooge McDuck as he heaped blessing after blessing upon them. There was a purpose for them being chosen; there was a responsibility that came with it. That responsibility was being a nation of priests and a holy nation.
That of course begs the question: what on earth does that mean? What does it mean to be a "nation of priests"? To answer that question, we must ask, what is a priest? Now this is an important question, especially when we study Moses life as priests are a crucial part of ancient Israelite society.
Aside from the Catholic Church, we don't really have anything like a priest today, and even the Catholic priests aren't exactly like what priests were in ancient times. We tend to equate priests with pastors, but this is not an accurate comparison.
Our modern word "pastor" comes from the concept of shepherding. Even today we use the term "pastoral" to refer to a farming lifestyle, specifically related to raising livestock. The idea is that a pastor is someone who tends to a group of people's spiritual needs like a shepherd does sheep. We even use terms like "the flock" in a pastoring context.
But a priest was something different. We don't have the time or space to go into the specifics, but priestly ministry is a fascinating study and one I would recommend. Leviticus and Numbers particularly outline the duties of the priest. To simplify, there were three major functions of a priest in ancient Israel: the ministration of sacrifices, explanations of the law of Yahveh, and overseeing holy vows that are made. There were other minor functions as well, but it was these three that were the primary functions of the priest. And these three functions could be summed up in one word: intermediation.
Priests were essentially the go-betweens between Yahveh and the people. If someone needed to inquire of Yahveh, they went to the priest would then ask Yahveh. If someone needed forgiveness for sins, they would go to the priest who would offer the sin offering to Yahveh. If Yahveh needed something communicated to the people, he would generally work through the priests (although he worked through prophets too, which is another question entirely). It was through priests that his law was explained and interpreted. Priests served as witnesses when someone made a vow to Yahveh (such as a Nazerite vow).
It was to this that Yahveh was calling the Israelites. He was calling them to be his intermediaries to the rest of the world. This is also what is meant by calling them a "holy nation." Holy literally means set apart for a special purpose. Yahveh had set the Israelites aside for a special purpose, the purpose of being his light to the world. Yes he would bless them, but with those blessing came a great responsibility. It's like the Spiderman thing: with great power comes great responsibility.
There are two points to draw out of this. First, every blessing of Yahveh comes with a task. One of the maxims I have learned from studying the Word of God is that every gift is meant to be given. Whether you have been blessed with time, money, knowledge, wisdom, or something else, there is a responsibility to share that gift with the rest of the world. Who Yahveh chooses to be blessed with what may be random, but there is nothing random about what you are to do with that blessing. There is the responsibility to share it.
Second is that as Christians, we are a nation of priests. That concept didn't die out with ancient Israel but lives on in us. Peter and the author of Hebrews both reference this idea in their writings. As Christians, we have been blessed with the knowledge of Christ and the hope of salvation. We have the responsibility to share this with the rest of the world. As Christ himself said, we are now the light of the world; we are his intermediaries to communicate his message to the rest of the world. We have been given a great gift, the greatest gift of all, and with that gift comes the greatest of responsibilities. This is the reality of being a Christian.
After all, every gift is meant to be given.
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