Who are God’s Chosen People? Are the Hebrews still God’s Chosen people? Why or why not? What exactly was the promise of the promised land and is it still valid? Why or why not? Is the promised land still the land in the Middle East? Why or why not?
Thank you. It is from this thread:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=9668664#post9668664
Hi Abba,
Who are God’s chosen people?
They are the people who will worship him, and him alone. They are the ones God seeks.
Are the Hebrews still God’s Chosen people? Why or why not?
Yes, they are – but not every Hebrew worships God alone (money,power,satan,scientific positivisim,etc.); and hence, not all Hebrews are his people.
What exactly was the promise of the promised land and is it still valid? Why or why not?
There have been various promises about land throughout the ages.
In Genesis 12, we have a promise of a land to Abraham and his posterity for the purpose of
becoming a great nation. But, even in this first promise – all nations are to invoke Abraham’s name as a source of blessing.
Genes 12:4 “and in you all the nations of the earth shall find a blessing”.
or equivalently: “shall bless themselves in your name.”
Or again, Acts 3:25.
This promise, and subsequent ones, have a mild identity crisis – for the land promised belongs to Abraham’s descendants; and the promise was made before Israel ever came into being.
Consider:
IF one really
is the posterity of Abraham, then any promise of land which still belongs to Abraham – includes you.
The posterity of Abraham can be found in they physical descendants of Ishmael, Israel, and the Catholic Church – not to mention other people having Faith. (Many Jews converted to Christianity, and many Christians were converted to Moslems…)
In that sense, any promise of physical land – belongs to many peoples and nations; Not to just one.
— But as to the validity of the promise, itself, today;
I’m not sure; I’d have to read more scripture and carefully…
But – even if it were – Just because one is an heir, doesn’t mean there is enough to go around… such divisions of an inheritance are a matter of law.
There are, in any such circumstances both rights and duties.
And … I think today’s duties trump irreconcilable rights…
Is the promised land still the land in the Middle East? Why or why not?
The physical dirt which was Caanan is still there, yes.
But I think what you are really asking is, “has the physical promised land served its purpose” or “is the promise of physical land made to Abraham, or a later promise, still in effect to a particular ethnic group?”
I tend to think it’s the former; The promise was to achieve a purpose; to grow the people of Israel into a large nation.
Strictly speaking – Abraham himself, never really inherited this land: (Acts 7:5)
He walked it as a stranger; even though the promise was “to HIM” and his descendants;
Abraham’s portion was no more than a tomb for the afterlife; he owned not so much as a place to pitch his tent during his life.
Consider, Abraham the greatest of the promise – received nothing but a tomb. None the less, it’s the land
after the grave which is truly important:
Hebrews 3 discusses the time when the people were restless in the desert; and wished to enter the promised land where they may rest their feet. The connection is not entirely obvious, but the “rest” is the seventh day – and the seventh day is the “sabbath”. And the number seven is also an “oath” (to seven, literally, is to swear in Hebrew.).
So, to a Catholic – the promised land on earth is not the important land to inherit; It is the land of rest found mentioned in the book of Hebrews.
