VV(6) - Halidom

[David Morris]

>From: Terrance
>
>David Morris wrote:
>>----------
>>(104) Esther was thrilled.  It was like waiting to be born and talking 
>>over with God, calm and businesslike, exactly how you wanted to enter the 
>>world.
>>----------
> >
> > Esther has chosen to be reborn by the aegis of a new God.  Her old one 
>left her as a big-nosed preterite in this world, even while telling her she 
>was his chosen, elect.
>
>Chosen, but not Elect, right? The Jews are the chosen Preterite. This is an 
>important thing to know when reading P's fiction. The Chosen People are the 
>last, the Jews were the last chosen, so they understood Jesus, MT 19:30 " 
>But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first."
>

Chosen, yes.  Also "sanctified," set apart from the rest:

http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Deu/Deu007.html#6

    Deu 7:6   For thou [art] an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD 
thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all 
people that [are] upon the face of the earth.

    Deu 7:7   The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, 
because ye were more in number than any people; for ye [were] the fewest of 
all people:

    Deu 7:8   But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the 
oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out 
with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the 
hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

    Deu 7:9   Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the 
faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and 
keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

    Deu 7:10   And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy 
them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his 
face.

    Deu 7:11   Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, 
and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.

    Deu 7:12   Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these 
judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee 
the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

    Deu 7:13   And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he 
will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, 
and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy 
sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

    Deu 7:14   Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be 
male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.

    Deu 7:15   And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will 
put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but 
will lay them upon all [them] that hate thee.

>Chosen People: According to the Torah, Jews were chosen by God to receive 
>the Torah and given the special responsibility (or duty) to be “A Light 
>Unto The Nations,” thereby, spreading the word of God.

In the long run what you say is true, in that they were chosen to preserve 
God's promises and special bloodline for the way of the comming messiah, and 
that was a chore.  But they were NOT proselytizers.  They were ordered to 
keep themselves clean and separate from the ways of the surrounding 
populace.  However, converts were accepted as long as they followed all the 
laws, including circumcision.

There is some similarity with the concept of an "elect" (but not in the 
Calvanist predestination sense) in that they were given thr RIGHT way to 
salvation (all others are false).

David Morris
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