WHY GOD CHOOSES ISRAEL AS HIS SPECIAL PEOPLE AND EXACTLY WHO OWNS THE LAND OF ISRAEL?

1. INTRODUCTION.

As a Chinese I ask myself or even to God why He chooses Israel to be a blessed land and people while that are so stubborn. I think I am a way envying the love of God to this people just like elder brother envy his parent special attention to his younger brother. I also question over the war in the Middle East over the land of Israel and I found it is not the land that is in issue but the built-in hatred or unforgiveness over past forefathers’ sin. Both parties do not give way to each others and one problem over another tense up. I take this opportunity to write a term paper on this topic to help me see or understand the problem over this issue and my research was a success although I would like to quote directly from what I have learned. Hence, what I can come up with why God chosen Israelites and why the land of Israel and big issue of who right to own the land: Israel or the Palestinians?

2. WHAT IS ISRAEL ACTUALLY?

Israel is often referred to as the "chosen people", or the "chosen nation". It is a moniker that often seems to indicate that God has historically preferred and favored one nation or people over all others. The Bible is quite conclusive about the fact that God has indeed chosen one people over all others in the world. Why would God make such a distinction? It would seem to be an antithetical action for the Creator of all people to choose one people from all other peoples, to a status of "God's Chosen people". [1]We can read this through the history found in the Old Testament. Only later in the New Testament under the jurisdiction of Christ, we all others people come into God's dictionary. It was St Paul's epistle where we see the calls of God to all Gentiles.
In Jewish tradition, "Israel" signifies three distinct but closely related entities: a people descended from the patriarchs and matriarchs; a covenant originally established between God and the first of the patriarchs that was renewed and extended to the whole people at Sinai; and a land given by God to this people so that they would have a place in which to live in relationship with God and in accordance with the terms of the covenant as spelled out in Torah. God elected the people Israel, established the covenant with them, and gave them the land for a specific purpose, namely, to reveal God to the rest of humanity and to serve as a model of faithfulness so that all human beings would be inspired to partner with God in completing the work of redeeming God's creation.[2]
I Chronicles 16:13 says: O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

When God chose His special people, He chose Abram of Ur of the Chaldees. He chose Abram—later to be changed to Abraham—because the man obeyed God and put his faith in Him. Because of Abraham’s faithfulness, God promised Him that in his seed (child) would the entire world be blessed. I guess from Abraham that God promised a great nation and people under God's provision.

Through the Abrahamic Covenant, God could have chosen anyone he wished to become the Father of a new nation to be the path to or of his testimony. We do not know whether He calls other because the Bible does not relate any info about whether anyone else was called upon to father a new nation, but one thing is for certain; if anyone else was called they did not respond the way Abraham did. Abraham obeyed, and left Ur, and departed from the Pagan world to follow God. Abraham suffered to follow God instruction. So, in important that God did not choose Israel, he chose Abram, and Abram chose to accept. It is noteworthy to remember that the name of Israel only came into existence when God changed Jacob's name to Israel.

In Genesis 12:2-3 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall ALL families of the earth be blessed.

In this covenant, God pronounces blessings for all people through the action that he and Abraham have entered into agreement on. Does that sound like God favors one people over another in so far as his love and compassion is concerned? I think not. I believe God loves every nation, tribe, race and every family. I am sure it was very crucial for God to choose someone to embody the lineage of his intended blessings. The great irony of God having a "chosen nation", is that if God had not chosen someone, somewhere, sometime, then; nobody could ever be the benefactor of an all encompassing love that God wishes to bless us with!

Gen 22:17 - That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; Gen 22:18 - And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

The Apostle Paul tells us to whom the word "seed" pointed. It was not to the
Israelites:

Gal 3:16 - The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ.

Now, of course, the Israelites were involved in all of this. They were descendants of Abraham and were entrusted as the keepers of the promise—the promise that one day Messiah would come to save all mankind—including Chinese, Indians, and the English, etc. The Israelites were also keepers of the information God gave to mankind about Himself and about how they should live. This information would eventually be known as the Holy Scriptures, and today is known as the Bible.

3. THE PURPOSE OF ISRAEL [3]
That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this and the Holy One of Israel hath created it (Isa. 41:20).
According to this verse, the Jewish people exist for at least four reasons.
That people may see the Jewish people and their history and realize that they are unique to this world. When Frederick the Great of Prussia challenged a believer in his court to prove the truth of the Bible and his God, he astutely replied, "The Jew!"
That people may know the existence of the Jewish people can only be explained supernaturally. Her continued existence is not explained by luck, coincidence, or any other fluke of nature.
That people may consider that the God of the Bible has done this miraculous work and seek a relationship with the sovereign God of the universe. If the God of Israel is powerful enough to bring these things to pass and to judge not only individuals but also nations that contradict His will, He deserves our attention and our worship. What will happen to you in light of this Holy God?
That people may understand that the God of Israel is the true God of this universe. He is the One we need to listen to and obey.
Israel’s history is relevant to people the world over, Jew and Gentile alike, and prompts them to respond in faith to the Holy One of Israel. God issues the world a challenge in Isaiah 41:21–23:
Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen; let them show the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods; yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
The history of the Jewish people establishes the God of the Bible as the only One who has met this challenge to perfection. No other entity man has ever worshiped, including Allah, Buddha, or whoever, has ever been able to do these things. The God of Israel and the Bible is indisputably the one true God of this universe.
And the Bible is the Word of the one true God. He and He alone is the One to be sought and obeyed. It is He who promised He would bring a redeemer; it is He who told us in His Word how to recognize that redeemer; and it is He who has the power to do as He promised. Just as He said, He sent the Messiah of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth, who fulfilled hundreds of prophecies written about Him. Jesus summed up the teaching of the Old Testament and the challenge it issues to people everywhere: "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me" (John. 5:39).

4. BLESSING TO THE ISRAELITE THAN THE ARABS.

God gave Israel a Promised Land but yet Israelite misused God’s blessing and turned it into a curse. On the other hand, Israelite step-brother came into the story where they took the Promised Land of the Israelite after the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersed of the Jewish people throughout Europe. Now, where do the Arabs come from?

Abraham had more than one son—he had eight. Isaac, child of Sarah, was designated as the child of the promise. The promise God gave to Abraham that there would be a "seed" through which all the world would be blessed, was passed on down through Isaac.

Abraham had a son by his concubine, Sarah’s slave, Hagar—Ishmael.

Gen 16:11 - The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. Gen 16:12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers."

After leaving Abraham, Ishmael and his mother formed a tribe of their own, from which come the Arabs and many of the other tribes of the Middle East today. Ishmael and his descendants were often at war with the Israelites, and the hostilities continue to this day.

Abraham married again, after Sarah died, a woman named Keturah:

Gen 25:1 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. Gen 25:2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.

Abraham sent them all away from Isaac, because he wanted Isaac to be his only heir. We notice God still blessed Ishmael and from here there came a big nation of the Arabs. God is/was not biased against the Arab nations, or the Palestinians, or anyone else. To the contrary, he has offered even the enemies of Israel His love. To explain further I like to extract an article that talk about the sixteen facts that we ought to know about the claim of the land of Israel.

5. SIXTEEN FACTS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ISRAEL. [4]

Fact # 1: The Jewish people are the Chosen People: After Adam and Eve sinned, humanity deteriorated so badly that God destroyed the early world of men with the Great Flood. Noah and his family knew the Lord, and were spared, but after they came out of the Ark and started repopulating, their descendants abandoned God, became idolatrous, perverse and evil. Then God created a special nation to be a light to the other nations. The Creator of the universe specifically chose the nation of Israel to be that unique people who would witness to His reality.

Fact # 2: The Land of Israel belongs to God: "The Earth is the Lord's and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it" (Psalm 24:1). Since the entire world belongs to God, He has the right to apportion it as He chooses, and He specifically gave the nations their lands based on the Jewish people's right to the Land of Israel!

Fact #3: The Chosen People needed a Chosen Land, and so the God of Israel strategically chose the Land of Israel for the People of Israel: "This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the centre of the nations, with lands around her.” (Ezekiel 5:5).

Fact #4: The Land of Israel was given by God to the descendants of Abraham as an everlasting possession: "The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this Land'" (Genesis 12:7).

Fact #5: Even though Abraham had many sons, the Land of Israel wasn't given to Ishmael, or to any of the other sons of Abraham, but only to Isaac: "Abraham said to God, "oh that Ishmael might live before you!' But God said 'No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him'" (Genesis 17:18-19). God rejected Abraham's request that Ishmael be the heir of the covenant, and appointed Isaac instead.

Fact #6: Even though Isaac had two sons, the Land wasn't given to Esau, but to Jacob: One night Jacob had a dream while fleeing from his brother Esau. In his dream the Lord said to him, "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the Land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants." (Genesis 28:13).

Fact #7: There is no doubt about Israel's God-given borders because they are described for us in detail in the Holy Scriptures: "The Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, "Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever... Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you'" (Genesis 13:14-17).

Fact #8: In addition to the everlasting covenant (which includes the Land), God swore an oath to give the Jewish people this Land: Keep in mind that it's absolutely impossible for God to break an oath (see Hebrews 6:16-18).

Fact #9: Israel's sin and resulting exile from the Land of Israel never annulled God's covenant with His Chosen People, nor did it permanently abrogate our right to the Land of Israel: "Yet in spite of this (Israel's disobedience), when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors" - which includes the Land of Israel (Leviticus 26:44-45). Our exile from Israel was meant to be temporary!

Fact #10: In His prophetic Word, God promised to regather us to "our own Land": "I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own Land... And you will live in the Land that I gave to your forefathers" (Ezekiel 36:24, 28).

Fact #11: In His prophetic Word, God calls this restored Land "Israel" - not "Palestine": "I will open up your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the Land of Israel" (Ezekiel 37:12). The name "Palestine" comes from the Philistines, the ancient enemies of the Jewish people. "Palestine" was the derogatory name given to the Land of Israel by the Romans after they conquered us. But throughout the Word of God, this Land is always called Israel - never Palestine.

Fact #12: God, speaking to us through the prophet Ezekiel, informs us that this Land is specifically reserved for the Jewish people: "You O mountains of Israel, you will put forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come. For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you will be cultivated and sown. I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt" (Ezekiel 36:8-10).

Fact #13: 2,500 years ago the Lord also told us that the Jewish return to the Land would provoke a reaction from Israel's neighbors: "Because the enemy has spoken against you "'Aha' and 'The everlasting heights have become our possession'... Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who appropriated My Land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and scorn of soul, to drive it out as a prey" (Ezekiel 36:2-5).

Fact #14: God will severely judge any nation who divides up any part of this special Land: "In those days and at that time when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My Land" (Joel 3:1-2).

Fact #15: Eventually this conflict over the Land of Israel will entangle the entire world: God, speaking through the prophet Zechariah in 12:1-3, in the Sixth Century BC, predicted: "Behold I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around" (the nations will react to the regathering of the Jewish people with senseless behavior and irrational hatred); "and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples" (Israel's Islamic neighbors want to destroy the hated "Zionist Entity" because the Islamic worldview teaches that the entire world will ultimately come under the control of Islam. A Jewish state in the midst of the Moslem Middle East is by its very existence an insult to Allah and Islam, and must be destroyed. Islam can have no true and lasting peace with Israel - only a temporary cease-fire. Hostilities will once again be renewed when Islamic strength is renewed. At its core, this is a religious conflict - not a political or economic one); "all who lift it will be severely injured." (The nations of the world will be drawn into this conflict and try to remove the Jewish presence from Jerusalem. However, be warned - every nation that tries to remove the Jewish people from our Land and capital city will be severely injured). "And all the nations of the Earth will be gathered against it." (The world's United Nations will wage a final world war in the Middle East, directed against Israel). It's amazing to see this 2,500-year-old prophetic scenario shaping up before our very eyes! Zechariah's prophecy continues and informs us that the army of the United Nations will be defeated; God will destroy all those nations that fight against Israel; Israel will be miraculously saved and recognize Yeshua as the Messiah!

Fact #16: This will be a time of great difficulty for the Jewish people, but we will be miraculously delivered out of it: "Alas! For that day is great, there is none like it; and it is the time of Jacob's distress, but he will be saved from it" (Jeremiah 30:7).

6. CONCLUSION.

Israelite is a chosen people because of a closed relationship of Abraham and God. Abraham’s faithfulness had shown great respect and love from God to the extreme that He promised him great nations. He promised a blessed nations despite the later part that discouraged Him but yet our God is mercy and graceful to carry on with His promise. He later stretches out His hand for those who wish to believe and abide in Him. He does not bother what race we are from and we used Israel relationship as an example of can be done out of the fact that God is love and only want the best for mankind but when thing goes wrong, it is our problem or failure. Yes, there have been many wars down through the millenniums in the Middle East. It’s all a result of Abraham’s decision to have a child by Hagar without the approval of the Lord. Ishmael’s hand has always been against the descendants of Isaac, and Isaac’s children have always been against Ishmael’s. It’s an animosity that will live until the end of time. We can never expect to see real "peace in the Middle East." It is not only the issue of Land but the long history of hatred of built from the descendants of Ishmael toward Issac. Finally, we know that when Jesus died for my sin. We are no more considered a Jews or Gentiles but all equal under the sight of God. We notice that through the epistles of Paul, many times Paul specifically tells us that we are all blessed under one chosen people of God because:
Under the gospel, Gentiles as well as Jews (all nations) can be justified by faith when they are baptized into Christ. All who do so are one in Christ. There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. All are heirs according to the promise made to Abraham (v24-29). The promised blessing was forgiveness of sins, which came through Jesus who was Abraham's seed. The blessing came through a descendant of Abraham, but the blessing itself was "upon all nations" - it was received by both Jew and Gentile. Every promise of God to the nation of Israel has been completely fulfilled. Nothing remains except the blessing of forgiveness, and that is enjoyed equally by men of all nations. [5]

[1] Why Did God Choose Israel?
Focus on Jerusalem, Prophecy Ministry - Darrell G.Young, http://focusonjerusalem.com/whydidgodchooseisrael.html

[2] What and who is Israel? The Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies, Baltimore, http://www.icjs.org/clergy/israel.html

[3] (Israel: God’s answer to skeptics, Christianity.com, The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc© 2004, http://www.christianity.com/partner/Article_Display_Page/
0,,PTID306608CHID556136CIID1397346,00.html – whole section directly extracted)

[4] Sixteen Facts That Everyone Should Know About Israel; Moriel Ministries @ 2004
http://www.moriel.org/articles/israel/
sixteen_facts_everyone_should_know_about_israel.htm – whole section extracted but cut short.

[5] God's Plans for the Future of Israel:
Will the Jews Be God's Special People in the Millennium? Bible Study Lessons,(C) Copyright 12/78, 4/95, 7/04 David E. Pratte
http://www.biblestudylessons.com/cgi-bin/gospel_way/israel-future.php