Why Did God Choose Israel to Be His Chosen People?

Theology
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Why Did God Choose Israel to Be His Chosen People?

Israel has always held a special place in the Bible as God’s chosen people, but why did God choose Israel out of all the nations? Was it because of their strength, size, or faithfulness? Or was there a deeper purpose behind this selection? Understanding why God chose Israel can give us insight into His character and plan for humanity.

What are your thoughts on why God chose Israel? How does this choice impact our understanding of God’s promises and His plan for the world?

Check out this article for more insights: Why Did God Pick Israel to Be His Chosen People?

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*Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Luke Franzen*
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Many Christians believe that the Jewish people are special to God and are favored in an almost dual dispensational way that they are saved even though they reject Jesus Christ.
We know from scripture that it was many of the Jewish religion that were responsible for Jesus being crucified…What is your take on this ?

1 John 2:22
Authorized (King James) Version
22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

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God’s choice of Israel as His “chosen people” was not based on their greatness, righteousness, or merit, but solely on His sovereign will, covenantal love, and redemptive purpose for the entire world. In Deuteronomy 7:6–8, God makes this clear: “The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people… But because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers.” God chose Israel because of the covenant He made with Abraham—a man of faith (Genesis 12:1–3). Through Abraham, God promised to make a great nation, to bless all families of the earth, and to bring forth the Messiah.

Israel was chosen to be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:5–6), set apart to reveal the one true God to a pagan world, preserve the Scriptures, and ultimately bring forth Jesus Christ, the Savior of all mankind (Romans 9:4–5). Their election was not just for privilege, but for purpose—to be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 49:6). However, their chosenness did not exempt them from judgment. When they broke covenant, they experienced divine discipline, demonstrating that election does not override responsibility.

In the New Covenant, the promise continues—not through ethnicity, but through faith in Christ (Galatians 3:28–29). God’s plan for Israel was always part of a larger redemptive narrative: that through them, all nations might come to know Him. Thus, God’s choice of Israel was both an act of grace and a strategic move in His unfolding plan of salvation for the entire human race.

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Because God chose them, we know nothing beyond that he loved them and chose them, just as he loves us and chose us.

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Peace to all,

Logically, Adam and Eve chose the fig leaf. And Logically, God chose the Living Sacrifice. Picked to carry the Chosen Sacrifice out of Egypt were the Hebrews.

Peace always,
Stephen

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Here are the biblical reasons God chose Israel to be His chosen people:

1. Because of God’s covenant with Abraham

God chose Abraham and made a covenant with him, promising to make his descendants a great nation through whom all nations would be blessed.

Genesis 12:2-3

2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

2. Because of His love

God’s choice was an act of sovereign love, not based on Israel’s merit.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8

7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

3. To display His glory and salvation

Israel was to be a light to the nations, showing the world who the true God is.

Isaiah 49:6

6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

4. Through Israel came the law, the prophets, and ultimately Jesus Christ

Romans 9:5

5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

God chose Israel out of His grace and for His glory, to carry His Word, reflect His holiness, and ultimately bring the Savior into the world.

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There was once a rabbinic story I heard. God did not choose the Jews/Israel because they were better, more deserving, etc; rather, so goes the story: God offered His Torah to every group of people, but it was only the Jews who said “yes”. It isn’t that being Jewish is better than being non-Jewish in some ontological sense: it’s that Jews are the people who have said “yes” to the Covenant, and thus are chosen through that Covenant promise.

Now, I’m a Christian, so my take would be a bit different. Though I do appreciate the point the rabbi was making. As a Christian the chosenness of Israel is on account of one, single, human being: Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Chosen One, and it is His chosen-ness that makes Israel chosen; for the Covenant was established, and even further back–to Abraham, because it was all about Jesus. This is why when we who are not Jews, but uncircumcised Gentiles, are brought in through faith we are also chosen. Chosen in Christ, no longer strangers (as St. Paul says) to the commonwealth of Israel.

This does get us to larger theological questions: Predestination, Election, etc. As a Lutheran I, obviously, confess the Lutheran Confessions–so I believe in the doctrine of Election–we are chosen in Christ, predestined in Christ. But this is not in the Calvinistic sense; nor is it in an Arminian sense. But yes, our Election before the foundation of the world, in Christ; and our chosen-ness in Christ (and thus Israel’s chosen-ness and election) are all threaded together.

The sort of stuff Paul really gets excited about when he gets into the big picture stuff throughout his letter to the Ephesians. Too often we (especially we Protestants) get hung up and stuck at Ephesians 2:8-9, where there is a lot going on in Ephesians. And the whole point of our being saved by grace through faith is less about “getting to heaven” and more about who we are, and what God has done and is doing, in history, in who we are in Christ, God’s purposes revealed in Christ (and in/through the Church of which Christ is Head). Of course “going to heaven” is because we are saved by grace through faith–but that’s just not what Paul is really getting at in Ephesians (big picture).

Try reading through the first chapter of Ephesians and not feel just how excited Paul is, how pumped he is, to get some really big theology.

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@Fritzpw_Admin, God’s loving choices need no explanation, because he chooses people freely without making them earn or deserve his love. As Moses tells Israel:

Deu 7:6 “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Deu 7:7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
Deu 7:8 but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Deu 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,
Deu 7:10 and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face.
Deu 7:11 You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.
Deu 7:12 “And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers.
Deu 7:13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.

As a result, when God makes a covenant with the whole nation, he follows through by blessing them. However, that covenant is conditional on their obedience. On the other hand, his covenant with individual believers for their salvation is unconditional in that they don’t deserve or earn it. Thus, a remnant of believers who stay faithful remains among God’s people.

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I believe Abraham was the reason. In Genesis God tested him and Abraham passed the test. Perhaps many tests. Abraham heard a call to seperate from his people, and he obeyed. He was willing to surrender his son to God. He made peace with his kin, Lot, and they agreed to part ways peacefully instead of stepping on each others toes. Abraham had Faith God would keep His Word and give him a son and make them a people. He exhibited righteousness mediating, praying for others, and hospitality in meeting their needs. And God appears to love a metaphor. Abraham’s age and tests mirrored the coming of Christ in a miraculoua birth and a Father willing to sacrifice his Son. As above, so below.