{"id":51686,"date":"2019-03-20T06:19:37","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T04:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=51686"},"modified":"2022-10-11T15:45:37","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T12:45:37","slug":"reciprocal-chosenness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/reciprocal-chosenness\/","title":{"rendered":"Reciprocal Chosenness"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[395,384,539],"acf":{"old_id":"51686","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":50215,"related_cahpter":"179","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"How is this covenant different from the others?","content":"

Modern scholars often distinguish between two different types of covenant in the Bible: constitutive vs. conditional. A covenant is said to be constitutive if it simply formalizes the relationship between two parties. Such covenants are understood \u2013 or even explicitly stated \u2013 to be perpetual and unconditional. Examples of this type in the Torah are God’s covenant with Noah after the Flood (Gen. 8:21-9:17) and His covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17). <\/span><\/p>\n

The Mosaic covenant, on the other hand, is often formulated in conditional terms: God has chosen Israel, but that chosenness is contingent upon Israel\u2019s observing God’s commandments. Nowhere is the conditional nature of this covenant made clearer than in the <\/span>tokhahah<\/span><\/em> (Execration) of Deuteronomy chap. 28, which ends with a disobedient Israel being sold back into slavery in Egypt, the square one of Jewish history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet in this chapter, the relationship between God and Israel is depicted in rather different terms:<\/span><\/p>\n

You have affirmed the Lord this day to be your God, and to walk in His ways, and to observe His laws and commandments and rules, and to obey Him. <\/span>
\n<\/span>And the Lord has affirmed you this day to be His treasured people, as He promised you, and to observe His commandments (26:17-18).<\/span><\/p>\n

In contrast to the very hierarchical relationship between God and Israel in chapter 28, this passage portrays the relationship as reciprocal: Israel chooses God just as God chooses Israel. Moreover, observance of the law is described here not in negative terms (\u201cobey, or else\u2026\u201d) but rather as a positive symbol of God and Israel\u2019s commitment to one another: not only does Israel designate God by observing His commandments, but God designates Israel by choosing them as the ones to observe them.<\/span><\/p>\n

This perspective on the Mosaic covenant makes it similar to the constitutive covenants we mentioned above, which also feature laws as symbols of the nature of the relationship that is being consecrated. God\u2019s covenant with Noah frames the antediluvian world order with a set of commandments relating to the treatment of human and animal life (Gen. 9:3-6): the laws requiring all life to be treated with respect is the flip-side of God\u2019s promise never again to destroy the world by flood. <\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, the laws of circumcision express the nature of God\u2019s covenant with Abraham in that they create an irreversible sign that adheres to all of his male descendants. These examples demonstrate how the character of law \u2013 binding, perpetual, exceptionless \u2013 allows it to function not merely as a condition, but as an expression of the deep and durable bond that is the very essence of a covenantal relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: photo by Ben Schumin: <\/span>Replica of the Ark of the Covenant in the Royal Arch Room of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial \/ <\/span>wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":51687,"id":51687,"title":"dt26-Ark_replica_1","filename":"dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/reciprocal-chosenness\/dt26-ark_replica_1\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt26-ark_replica_1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51686,"date":"2019-03-20 04:19:23","modified":"2022-06-02 11:30:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":490,"height":473,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1-300x290.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":290,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","medium_large-width":490,"medium_large-height":473,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","large-width":490,"large-height":473,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","1536x1536-width":490,"1536x1536-height":473,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","2048x2048-width":490,"2048x2048-height":473,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","post_full_size-width":490,"post_full_size-height":473,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1-435x420.jpg","home_baner-width":435,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Reciprocal Chosenness","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"How is this covenant different from the others?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":51687,"id":51687,"title":"dt26-Ark_replica_1","filename":"dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/reciprocal-chosenness\/dt26-ark_replica_1\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt26-ark_replica_1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51686,"date":"2019-03-20 04:19:23","modified":"2022-06-02 11:30:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":490,"height":473,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1-300x290.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":290,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","medium_large-width":490,"medium_large-height":473,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","large-width":490,"large-height":473,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","1536x1536-width":490,"1536x1536-height":473,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","2048x2048-width":490,"2048x2048-height":473,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1.jpg","post_full_size-width":490,"post_full_size-height":473,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-Ark_replica_1-435x420.jpg","home_baner-width":435,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51686"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51686"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108517,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51686\/revisions\/108517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}