In previous chapters we have looked at how God instructed Israel how they, as God’s people, were to treat strangers within Israel’s borders, i.e., integration. In this chapter we will now look at how God wants Israel to relate to foreign people outside Israel’s borders, i.e., mission. It all began when God chose Abraham to bless all thepeoples of the earth through him:
“1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
(Ge 12:1-3)
As a continuation of this blessing, God chose Israel, who came to know God and His will through the Law of Moses. But God never intended that only Israel should know God, but that Israel should serve as a priesthood for the rest of the world:
“5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
(Ex 19:5-6)
If Israel lived according to God’s will, the idea was that it would create a curiosity in the surrounding Gentile peoples and make them want to know God as well. In a pagan world, the Jewish faith would serve as a light in the darkness for the Gentile peoples around it:
“6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.””
(Is 49:6)
So, at the dedication of the first temple, King Solomon prays that God will listen not only to the prayers of the Jewish people, but also “when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel” comes to Jerusalem and prays in the temple, so that “all the peoples of the earth” will come to know God’s name:
“41 “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake42 (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, 43hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.”
(1Ki 8:41-43)
In response to Solomon’s prayer, Isaiah prophesies that strangers will turn to the Lord and that the temple in Jerusalem will be called “a house of prayer for all peoples”:
“3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” 4For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,5 I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 6“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant-7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.””
(Is 56:3-7)
Furthermore, both Isaiah and Zechariah prophesy of a future in which “all the nations” will flock to Jerusalem to meet the God of Israel:
“2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,3 and many peoples shall come, and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
(Is 2:2-4)
“23 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”
(Zec 8:23)
In conclusion, we can see that even though God has chosen Israel as his beloved possession, this does not mean that God does notlove the other nations, but on the contrary that he wants to use Israel as “a light for the nations” and extend his salvation to all peoples “to the end of the earth”.[i] By choosing Jerusalem as the place where God reveals himself and transforms the Israelites into “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”,[ii] the other nations can come to Israel and know God there.
You have read a free chapter of my book Friend of Strangers. If you like this book, please consider purchasing the ebook through Amazon. Since English is not my native language, there may be some linguistic inaccuracies. Please contact me if you find any.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[i] Isa 49:6
[ii] Ex 19:5–6