A Kingdom of Priests (Yitro)
Of all the amazing statements that God makes in the Tanak, perhaps none is more astounding that the one He makes as he prepares the people to receive the Torah on Sinai. There He says; "Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own treasure among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine" (Ex. 19:5). God declares that while all the peoples of the earth belong to Him, Israel will be special in His heart. The notion that God would favor one nation over another seems to indicate His unfairness. That he would neglect the other nations of the earth in their favor. But by selecting Israel for this special relationship God is doing just the opposite. For in this selection of Israel, God intends to demonstrate His love for all peoples.
God Himself began human history with a promise of blessing for the first human pair (Gen. 1:28). Although they were disobedient and were cast out of the Garden of blessing, and immediately experienced the consequences of that disobedience, their rebellion did not dissuade God from His desire to bless mankind and all of the creation.
In the calling of Abraham God determines to use a family through whom he will bless the world. This family will be His agents. They will bring the knowledge of God to all the families of the earth. As such God ties Himself inextricably to this family. Michael Wyschogrod in his book "The Body of Faith", describes this relationship in theses terms; "The foundation of Judaism is the family identity of the Jewish people as the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…The God of Abraham chose this people as His vehicle in history, so that His identity is irrevocably attached to this people because He made Himself known to man as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob thereby conferring on this people a defining function in regard to this God.1
In the life and history of Israel, God intends to demonstrate His power to bless and redeem the whole creation. So in the life of Israel, they are sent into slavery, cast out of the land of promise. God then with a mighty hand delivers them from the powers of evil, and prepares them for freedom in the wilderness. Ultimately He will restore His people to their land, and fulfill the promise of blessing, which He swore to their fathers. Such a demonstration of God's power will serve to bring the whole world to faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. "The LORD will establish you as holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you will keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and walk in His ways. So all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD… (Deut. 28:9-10).
How does God intend to accomplish this plan in the life of His people? God intends the Torah to be His way of conveying His blessing to His special people. Contained within each commandment is the way in which we can be holy, joyful, satisfied, and prosperous in this life. In these commandments God demonstrates His power to fulfill the promises He made to our fathers to give them a land of their own, and a special place in the history of mankind. More so, if they will be obedient to His covenant, they will find a special calling. A calling which will put them in the service of all of humankind. "and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation" (Ex.19:6, NAS).
Israel, then will be God's priesthood to all the families of the earth. In a real sense Israel acts as God's agents for the ministering of the knowledge of God, and the giving of God's blessing to all mankind. God has established this 'economy' in order to fulfill His promise of blessing made to all of creation. R.K. Soulen in his important work "The God of Israel and Christian Theology" describes Israel's priestly role in this way; "God's work as Consummator engages the human family in a historically decisive way in God's election of Israel as a blessing to the nations. The resulting distinction and mutual dependence of Israel and the nations is the fundamental form of the economy of consummation through which God initiates, sustains and ultimately fulfills the one human family's destiny for life with God.2
This priestly office finds its greatest fulfillment in the life and ministry of Israel's greatest son, Yeshua of Nazareth. Hundreds of years before He came His coming and work were foretold by the prophet Isaiah; And now says the LORD, who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, in order that Israel might be gathered to Him (for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and My God is My strength), He says, "It is too small a thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make you a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth." (Isa 49:5-6,NAS)
That priestly work will include the fulfillment of God's desire to bring the nations into obedience to Himself. Through offering Himself up in perfect obedience to God's commands, He, in His priestly role, which is the role of all Israel, is able to bring God's redemption to all the world, as the scriptures say; So also Messiah did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, "Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee"; just as He says also in another passage, "Thou art a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek." In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, (Heb 5:5-9,NAS)
End Notes
1 Wyschogrod, M., The Body of Faith, (Northvale, Jason Aronson, 1996), p. 57
2 Soulen, R.K., The God of Israel and Christian Theology, (Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 1996), p. 111