"For the Lord has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel to be his treasured possession."
Ps 135:4
Feel like continuing the thought from my previous post ...
I never quite understand why God would introduce Himself as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (or Israel)."*
"The God of Abraham" - sure I understand; "the God of Isaac" - hm... alright, he's not so bad even tho' his family is a little dysfuncitonal; "the God of Jacob" - hm... interesting & huh, that's it?
Why stop at Jacob?
Why not include "I am the God of Joseph"?
Isn't Joseph the shining one who reflects best the glory of God?
God chose Jacob, a sly character in nature. God chose Jacob (not Joseph) and named him "Israel," from whom the Israelites and the 12 tribes came. I call this radical!
* Cf. Ex 3:6, 5, 16; Deut 6:10, 9:5, 29:13, 30:20, ...1 Chron 29:18, Acts 7:32.
2 comments:
Joseph is only part of Israel, God is the God of all Israel. Addressing God as the God of Joseph sounds incomplete to the Israelites.
Thanks. This sounds simple and makes a lot of sense!
Still, you know how when we introduce ourselves, we would want to be related to someone who has a good name, not someone who's infamous. "The God of Jacob," to me, belongs to the latter category.
Of course, Doctor doesn't heal the healthy but the sick; and Jesus came for the lost, not the rightoues. Awesome.
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