themselves
as God's peculiar people? Did not they become proverbial for their pride
of race, and for saying on every occasion, "We have Abraham to our
father," and were they not especially the Pharisees among the nations?
Now it must be confessed that all these questions must be answered in
the affirmative, but when we widen our view and take into consideration
the great purpose of God in the formation and conservation of the Hebrew
commonwealth, we may see reason somewhat to modify our opinion. For the
settlement of the Jews in Canaan and their restriction within its limits
were not ends in themselves, but only means for the attainment of higher
ends which were to affect the moral and spiritual condition of "all
people that on earth do dwell." The promise made to Abraham was in this
wise: "In thee and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be
blessed;" and it was for the purpose of securing the fulfilment of the
latter part of that promise that a special and peculiar hedge was
planted around the vine which God had brought out of Egypt. It was not
meant to be a permanent arrangement, but was designed merely for a
temporary emergency, until, as Paul has said, "the Seed should come" to
bless the world with his great salvation. It cannot, therefore, be
quoted as furnishing a universal example, or as giving any divine
approval to that pride of race of which we have been speaking. Moreover,
even when the Hebrews were selected by God for this purpose, they were
told over and over again that they were not chosen for anything in
themselves, and that they had no reason to plume themselves on the fact
that they were chosen. And when they degenerated into self-conceit on
the ground of their having been so highly privileged, they were finally
cast out of the land of promise. Nor is this all. In the system under
which they were placed by Moses, they were taught to look with
kindliness on those who came to sojourn among them, of whatever race
they might be. They were not, indeed, to be a missionary people, or to
seek to induce others to settle among them, but if others came to dwell
beside them, hear how they were to treat them: "Thou shalt neither vex a
stranger nor oppress him, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."
"And if a stranger sojourn with thee in the land, ye shall not vex him.
But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born
among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers