Seder 59: Exodus 19, 1 Peter 2---God's Treasured Possession

 With the Exodus the Israelites changed masters.  They went from being slaves to Pharaoh to being servants of Yahweh, the King of the Universe.  

God rescued them for a purpose, and he revealed that purpose to them at Mt Sinai.  They were to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exod 19:6), God's instruments in the program he began with Abraham to bring blessing to all nations (Gen 12:1-3).  

As God's representatives, the Israelites were to 

• be an example to the nations;
• proclaim the truth, as Moses had to Jethro in Exod 18;
• intercede on  behalf of the nations;
• preserve God's word and promises.

The covenant made at Sinai would define how a whole nation of Abraham's descendants could carry out these things.  

The Israelites accepted God's "marriage proposal," saying "I do" (v 8).  They then had to undergo a program of purification in preparation for God's upcoming appearance (vv 9-15).  

We can compare Israel's preparation period at Sinai with the experience of Jesus' first disciples who waited for Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5, 13-14).   Through this remnant of Israel God began the New Covenant community.  

Peter later drew upon Exodus 19 and some additional scriptures to describe that community in 1 Peter 2:9-10: 

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

Peter's references to a holy nation and royal priesthood come from Exodus 19.  The "chosen race" comes from Isa 43:20-21, where God refers to "my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise."

The Greek for "his own possession" in 1 Peter 2:9 is eis peripoiesin.  Carmen Imes (Bearing God's Name, p 170) points out that this Greek term is found in the LXX only in Mal 3:17, a prophecy in which God speaks of taking a righteous remnant of Israel, a subset of his larger "treasured possession."

In 1 Peter 2:10, Peter refers to Hosea 2:23, a promise that God would readopt Israel and renew his covenant with them, so that they would again be his people.  Early Christians also saw in this prophecy a hint that God would be taking people from the nations, those who were formerly "not his people," and making them his people.

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on June 12, 2021, Rob Wilson emphasized the importance of unity among the people of God.  He reminded us of a Jewish tradition, based on Exodus 19:2, that Israel (singular), as a single witnessing body, camped before Mt Sinai to hear the word of God.